Independent Scholar
New York, NY 10009
USA
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 Giles
B Ange U
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. |