Week 10

In what way is Buffy influenced by the romantic gothic tradition?

According to Rose (2002, p.133), the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “embody a modern reimagining of Romantic ideology.” She compares Buffy to the Romantic gothic novel Frankenstein.
There is a gothic genre present in both Buffy and Frankenstein as there are dark themes and emotional extremes such as fighting and killing. (Week 10 Power Point) The natural settings where these take place are mainly in remote dark places such as graveyards, bushes and old buildings all in gothic style at night time. Common features of gothic novels and TV shows are terror, mystery, the supernatural, death, hereditary curses and so on which we see in both stories. There is also a figure of a gothic villain, Adam in Buffy, and Frankenstein himself who hides away from social interactions and is ultimately self-destructable. But there were notable differences in the romantic ideology aspect in both stories as Buffy is a 20th century romantic hero with a feminine twist – she is strong, powerful and acts alone. Whereas Frankenstein was a 19th century male romantic hero was lonely, sensitive and misunderstood.

Yet how does Buffy also provide a contemporary critique of this tradition?
Rose (2002, p.142) states “The message of Buffy is essentially a hopeful one, as is the underlying ethic of romanticism itself. Romantic ideology suggests that answers lie within the self. We must reach inside, listen, and “learn” what our real nature is”.

When Frankenstein is created, he wants his creator’s acceptance as he yearns yet lacks for parental love. When Adam is first created he instantly kills his creator Walsh as he doesn’t want parental love because he has technology instead. Frankenstein then goes on to kill many innocent people whereas only a few innocent people are killed because of Adam’s existence. Romantic hero Frankenstein was stunting something important inside himself by rejecting community and in the end he does not die but leaves and his creator, Victor, pays the price.

This is where the significance of Buffy’s modern reimagining of Romantic ideology arises as she accepts the fact that she doesn’t have the strength to defeat Adam on her own. She understands that the most effective way to keep the humanity and defeat Adam, is the force of community. So Buffy’s friends perform a conjoining spell to enhance her strength with their individual strength so she can then defeat Adam. Buffy’s contemporary critique of the romantic gothic tradition is that “Without the combined efforts of the full community, it is impossible to defeat demons, both those made manifest and those that lie within” Rose (2002, p.142)

References:

Rose, A (2002) Of creatures and creators: Buffy does Frankenstein, in R.Wilcox & D. Lavery (eds) Fighting the forces: what’s at stake in Buffy the vampire slayer. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.