Structural Identity, or Saussure Visits Buffy/Angel’s World:  What’s the Difference?

Christianity can be a problematic necessity in the Buffy/Angel universe.  Since much of western vampire mythology effluences Christianity, a Christian context cannot be ignored, but in order to maintain the audience appeal and widen the scope of the diverse themes of the show, Christianity must be torqued to accommodate the supernatural-generated themes.  One useful way of understanding the reconciliation is to view the show in terms of Ferdinand Saussure.

Saussure’s analogy of a chess game serves to illuminate the necessary format for reconciling orthodox and unorthodox Christianity in Buffy and Angel.  The analogy is simple.  The chess game is closed.  Only two players are allowed to play; however, within that closed system are infinite possibilities of moves.  Such is the Buffy/Angel universe.  It, like the chess game, is based on a closed, oppositional system that allows infinite relations/moves. 

Christian opposition plays itself out over and over again in Buffy and Angel, but it is most apparent in character identity.  The characters become known only by what they are not.  They are often set up against their opposites, creating definite signification while reinforcing the Christian concept of polarities, with Angel being the most well defined oppositional character.  Within Angel, the two factions that define Christianity are allowed full play.  Angel is a structural microcosm for the entire universe, and it is in his moments of doubtful self identity, when he ceases to identify himself with one of the polar opposites, that we see the orthodox Christianity more fully revealed.

By:  AmiJo Comeford

Graduate Student, PhD Program, English

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

ami_comeford@hotmail.com

Why Are the White Hats so White? 

Self-Identity and Problems of Ethnic Non-Diversity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

            In his texts, theorist Edward Said posits a theory of cultural identity asserting people define themselves in opposition to others; there is always a dichotomy between “us” and “them.”  The “us” in Said’s studies are the (white) Europeans (and Euroamericans), while the “them” are all other, darker cultures, specifically the cultures of the East.  In representations of this dichotomy, “the Oriental is irrational, depraved (fallen), childlike, ‘different’; thus the European is rational, virtuous, mature, ‘normal’” (Orientalism 40).  The European, then, claims his/her superiority based on the perceived inferiority of the “Other.”  This in turn gives the superior culture the alleged “right” to punish and subject the “Other”; as Said states, this punishment is required “when ‘they’ misbehaved or became rebellious, because ‘they’ mainly understood force or violence best; ‘they’ were not like ‘us,’ and for that reason deserved to be ruled” (Culture xi).

            This same theory can be applied to the Buffyverse, in which the “us” (Buffy and the Scoobies) are clearly defined by their whiteness, while the “them” (the forces of evil the gang faces every week) are often portrayed as dark and sinister.  The Buffyverse privileges whiteness above all else; for example, even Kendra, the black slayer who appears briefly in this all-white world, is described by Lynne Edwards as “tragic mulatta.”  Although this label is troubling, Kendra’s death is inevitable, not because of her “tragic” status, but because a heroic woman of color cannot survive in Buffy’s white world.  The heroes’ status is predicated on their whiteness, and anything that threatens that whiteness must be, and even deserves to be, destroyed.

By:  DeNara Hill

Graduate Student, PhD program, English

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

HDeemoo@aol.com

Mirror, Mirror:  Creation of Self-Identity through

Chosen Associations in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

            Due to the fact that one of the primary themes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is growing up, coming of age, the Buffyverse contains many characters who search for a way to define themselves.  One example of this is Willow; she often attempts to find self-worth through her magic abilities.  Other characters go so far as to completely re-invent themselves, much like Spike’s transition from shy poet William to “The Big Bad.”  Such methods of creating an identity commonly include a change in clothing, abilities, and attitudes.  However, other, more subtle methods of self-definition are also used in the Buffyverse.  This paper focuses on one such method that is often overlooked:  the definition of self, as reflected in those people with whom one chooses to associate.

            Throughout the series, characters find self-worth and existential meaning by voluntarily linking themselves to others.  Not only do characters find value in what their friends think of them, but also in how others view them and their friends (or would, if they knew the gang’s true activities).  For example, Willow’s friendship with Buffy is not only about having a best gal pal, but about Willow finding self-worth because she helps the hero.  Using the Lacanian mirror-stage model as a theoretical base, (a psycho-analytic philosophy which focuses on self-identity through reflection) this paper will explore a variety of relationships in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how various characters define themselves through the reflections they cast in those around them.

By:  Tamy L. Burnett

Graduate Student, PhD program, English

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

tburnet1@bigred.unl.edu