The book is a profoundly inculcating device, one that structures the way we see the world, literally shaping the manner in which we "read" our surroundings (1). Giles, imbued with authorized knowledge as both Watcher and librarian, represents print culture and embodies the fear (or "technological panic") of the invading digital hordes. He fears a world in which books no longer exist, in which his very epistemic framework is threatened by the computer's rise to prominence. In contrast, Jenny Calendar embraces the digital divine. Interestingly, her ethnic ("gypsy" or Roma) origins are deeply rooted in oral culture. McLuhan's work predicts that a reclamation of orality will accompany the rise of digital technology (2).

My paper deals with the book and the computer as alternatively clashing and complementary mediums in BtVS. I use Marshall McLuhan's work to examine the ways that the dominant medium shapes Buffy and her friends' understanding of the world. My work focuses on the episode "I Robot, You Jane" and explores the themes of technological panic and re-entrenchement of the book as dominant medium. While the role of Watcher/Librarian has been addressed in the Buffy Studies literature (3), there has been little focus on the role of the medium of the book itself. This is particularly interesting considering the prominent position that books occupy in the BtVS universe. Despite the prominence of computers in BtVS, the printed and bound word remains the privileged and reified medium, a dominant paradigm that structures knowledge and the interpretation of the world.

(1) Cavell, R. McLuhan In Space: a Cultural Geography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

(2) McLuhan, M. The Gutenberg Galaxy: the Making of Typographic Man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962. see also Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994.

(3) McNeilly, K. (et al) "Kiss the Librarian but Close the Hellmouth: 'It's Like a Whole Big Sucking Thing,'" Slayage: The Online Journal of Buffy Studies 2 (March 2001).