Dr. Oliver Krüger

SFB Ritualdynamik

Institute for the Scientific Study of Religion

University of Heidelberg

Akademiestr. 4-8

69117 Heidelberg

www.oliverkrueger.org

oliver.krueger@urz.uni-heidelberg.de

 

Buffy and its religious Consequences in Germany – Slayage, Teenage and supernatural Powerwomen

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

 

When the Buffy show (Buffy – im Bann der Daemonen) started on German television in Octobre 1998, nobody really recognized the coming social consequences of this serial. Being broadcasted on afternoon time (in a cut version) the adventures of the highschool student Buffy first seemed to be one of those American teen oriented TV shows, including a little kind of magic and demon stories. And till now, in Germany Buffy never gained this cult status as in the USA.

 

But since the Buffy serial continued to show all these conflicts of how to become an adult in a very positive manner, Buffy became a shining example for young, powerful superwomen. Her physical strength reflected her mental – Sherlock Holmes like – abilities, which were combined with beautiness and smart rhetoric. But these important factors of teen´s or young women´s identity – think of thematizing lesbian sexuality – was framed by a special religious context: the field of Wicca, witches and neopagan esoteric. Fragments of Wiccan and diffuse esoteric knowledge – especially ritual knowledge – have been presented throughout the whole serial. So the question arises, what social and religious effects Buffy and her friends have in the sphere of the so called, non-institutionalized invisible religion (Luckmann). In my paper I want to present some results of my empirical study among Wiccan and neopagan believers. The qualitative interviews, which I did with them, have the theoretical background of a sociology of knowledge: thus, they do not only reflect a religious biography but also a media biography (including books, television, internet etc.).