Mr. Don Keller

Independent Scholar

New York, NY 10009

USA

dgk@panix.com

 

Buffy's Shadows or, Not Quite Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Scooby Gang 

[Click on the link above to see this paper's placement in the SCBtVS Program.]

 

I The Light/Dark Schema
Light Dark

Giles B Ange U
Kendra F Faith F
Willow Y Cordelia


This schema shows a fundamental way to set out the basic interrelationships (and tensions) between the characters in =Buffy=, with brief sidebars on where Xander lies and how later characters fit into the same niches. 

II Pandavas and Scoobies

Maps the main Scoobies--Giles, Buffy (& Faith), Willow & Xander--against the five Pandava brothers in the =Mahabharata= (themselves already mapped by Dumezil onto his three functions of Indo-European society). Possible sidebars on Willow and Xander as the Divine Twins and Giles/Buffy <--> Willow/Xander as an instance of Dumezil's "War of the Functions."

 

III The Scooby Quaternio

Takes various ways to divide a circle in fours (Jungian mandalas) and maps the Scoobies onto them (the explicit Head/Hands/Spirit/Heart of "Restless" being one). Also refers to Dean L. Miller's reduction of hero-tale characters to a necessary four: old man, hero, helper, (magic) woman.

 

IV Conclusion

However you look at them, the four Scoobies form a unified and integrated character-set functioning as the engine of the show.

Footnote: Would work best with a chalkboard, but could be done with prepared overhead transparencies.