Just to refresh everyone’s memory, BtVS is a show about a demon-slaying, kickboxing, satirical TV heroine, who, with the help of her friends, has stopped the apocalypse, killed numerous vampires, demons and other ‘beasties’, saved Graduation Day and fought to the death (literally) with Glory.  She has basically “saved the world – a lot.”  Throughout this, audiences have seen Buffy fall in love with Angel – the vampire with a soul, spontaneously acquire a younger sister, find out her new boyfriend is involved in a corrupt paramilitary organization, come to terms with her mother’s, as well as her own deaths and work through a ‘unique’ relationship with Spike.  Are you lost?  Not if you are a student of Buffyology.

It is defined as “That branch of knowledge concerned with the texts of Joss Whedon and followers, produced late 20^th century to present,” (www.geocities.com/buffyology) and it’s not just limited to lunchtime gossip.

Since the inception of BtVS, the academic world has been sent into a flurry of activity.  Essays have been written by countless media students, which explore anything from the patriarchal and feminist symbolism of the show, to a study of Angel’s body and representations of masculinity in the media.  And as university theses started to deconstruct and analyse every possible aspect of the often considered ‘typical teen drama,’ popular-media studies lecturers were awakened to ‘Buffyverse’ and inspired to pen their own essays, many of which have been published in academic journals.

One such academic is Georgian English Professor, Rhonda Wilcox, who wrote one of the first Buffy essays in 1999 to be published in the ‘Journal of Popular Film and Television’.

During a recent article in ‘Covering Ideas’, Wilcox maintained, “Although the show has a large teenage audience, the calibre of writing and literary allusions makes it a work worthy of serious study.” And that, “This view places me directly in the center of a quiet but growing group of academics who are using products of popular culture as both a central theme in their writings and as a teaching tool in their university classrooms.”

And it is not only limited to American classrooms.  Here in Australia, universities throughout the country are using BtVS in their teachings of popular culture.  For instance, Macquarie University offers a unit ‘Reading US Culture’, in which BtVS is used as a way to analyse such topics as gender and race relations, the imperial self, puritanism and the valorisation of innocence over social analysis.

Of course, Rhonda Wilcox does admit that, “In the general academic world, people tend to sneer at it.  Academics who are fascinated by Buffy support each other against the mockery that we endure.”

From her essay in the ‘Journal of Popular Film and Television’, Wilcox has gone on to co-found a website with fellow academic, David Lavery, named ‘Slayage: The Online International Journal for Buffy Studies’, which can be found at www.slayage.tv .  The enormous success of the site led to the pair to co-edit the first academic book published on the show, a collection of scholarly essays entitled, ‘Fighting the Forces: What’s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.

More recently academic team Lisa Parks and Elana Levine edited and published their book, ‘Red Noise: Critical Writings on Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.  It includes such essays as ‘Buffy and the New Girl Order: Two Waves of Television and Feminism,’ ‘Looking Human is So Overrated: Race and Displacement in Buffy and Roswell’ and ‘Buffy as Femme Fatale: The Female Heroine and the Male Cult Fan’.

Because of such scholastic interest, on October 19-20, 2002, The University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom will host, ‘Blood, Texts and Fears: Reading Around Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ – the first academic conference devoted to the show.

The conference premise states, “Since the series first aired, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been appropriated, discussed, deconstructed and dismissed by a multitude of communities within the public sphere.  This conference seeks to address the diversity of ways in which the series has permeated popular and academic discourse and cultural contexts alike.”

Originally planned as a single day conference, organisers have had to extend the format, adding a second day, due to the overwhelming amount of feedback, from all over the world, to both attend and present papers.

Speaking at the conference will be South Australian, Gerry Bloustein, author of ‘Buffy Night at the Seven Stars: experiencing the global phenomenon of Buffy at the glocal level’, which probes the nature of his local Buffy fan group in Adelaide.

Bloustein explains that the essay, “Explores the phenomenon of this experiential community, mapping the relationship between fandom and such ‘sub-cultural’ groupings, highlighting the importance to both of local space and place.”

He goes on to recount how several years ago, Monday night at the Adelaide pub ‘Seven Stars’, became Buffy nights.  A night when, “The whole lounge bar ignores the pokie machines and idle chatter and becomes dedicated instead to shared intensive viewing.”

At the conference, Bloustein will discuss how, “While the fans also share their enjoyment of the programme in more private spaces, in their homes and online, the shared activity in the pub both legitimates and constitutes their sense of (sub) cultural identity, belonging and authenticity.”  Legitimate being the key word.

It seems that every BtVS fan has had to legitimise their fandom at one time or another, to those that have never watched the show.  In 1998, Entertainment Weekly writer, Ken Tucker said, “Like people who say they hate hip-hop without listening to it, those who disdain Buffy without watching it are to be pitied for their lack of open-mindedness.  What fun they’re missing with the only teen show that manages to work on multi-levels, nourishing adult viewers as well.”

Salon.com writer, Stephanie Zacharek, supports this in her article ‘Buffy’s Will to Power’.  “There are still people out there who will refuse to believe that a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer could possibly deal with anything remotely sophisticated, let alone some of the darkest, most deeply recessed sexual fears and belongings of the soul.”

West Australian Buffy fan and University media student, April Cousins, says that she is forever having to validate her fandom and defend the show.  “I remember in my first year at Uni, part of an episode was shown during a lecture,” Cousins recalls.  “In discussion afterwards, my tutor, who had never watched an episode, made the huge mistake of knocking the show.  Was he ever sorry!  Immediately about 10 people jumped to its defence.”

April states that to fully understand the show, you need to have watched every episode and those who criticize BtVS reveal this lack of viewing.  “You can’t just watch an episode here and there to fully understand the brilliance of the show.  Episodes are never stand- alone.  Issues from season four can set up an episode in season six,” informs Cousins.

For example, in two episodes aired during season six, the character Anya is seen to have a bunny phobia.  In the musical episode, ‘Once More, With Feeling,’ she sings about evil bunnies, only to bring this phobia to light again in the following episode, ‘Tabula Rasa.’  Humorous it is, however, true fans can report Anya’s phobia of the cottonball-tailed animal, as an ongoing fear.  In a Halloween episode in season four, Anya is told to find a scary costume for the party.  She arrives in a furry bunny outfit.  When boyfriend Xander asks, “That’s your scary costume?” Anya replies, “Bunnies frighten me.”

Similarly, in season six, episode ‘Gone’, when Buffy turns invisible and Xander asks, “Wait a sec.  Have you been feeling ignored lately?” refers back to  ‘Invisible Girl’ in season one, when an ignored student turned invisible.

Rhonda Wilcox adds to this when saying, “People who watch it casually can get some fun out of it, but they underestimate how much there it to be enjoyed.”

Indeed, most of the humour in the memory loss episode, ‘Tabula Rasa’ relied on the knowledge of the shows’ history.  For instance, when Spike declares, “I must be a noble vampire.  A good guy.  On a mission of redemption.  I help the helpless.  I’m a vampire with a soul,” Buffy replies, “A vampire with a soul?  Oh my God, how lame is that?”  Why humorous?  Spike has described himself exactly how Angel is described and Buffy loves Angel.

But fighting the critics is not the only opposition BtVS fans face.  Supporters of the show, outside the United States, are in constant battle with television stations and their airing of the imported cult television show.

In Britain, the role of censorship and editing of episodes has been a huge grievance to the countries fans.  This is due to the fact that US science fiction and fantasy is predominantly scheduled in the 5-8pm timeslot on free to air television and many of the scenes are unsuitable for that particular time of day.  “We have a responsibility to this audience and therefore episodes are occasionally edited to ensure they remain suitable for the audience available to view at that time,” said Sophie Turner Lang, acquisitions editor for the BBC.

The BBC’s censorship has interrupted the story arcs, with scenes and sometimes, entire episodes cut from broadcast, in order to follow their taste and decency guidelines.  Channel four, who obtained the rights to air Angel, also decided that it wasn’t necessary to coincide the show’s transmission with BBC2’s BtVS, despite the fact that both series share storylines.

In Australia, Buffy and Angel fans may complain of the late timeslot, sometimes erratic scheduling and everlasting wait between seasons, but at least Angel found out about Buffy’s death just two days after it occurred on our televisions.

Out of the non-American BtVS fan’s struggle with network executives, has evolved the importance of the Internet to the ‘Buffyholic’.  The online community of BtVS fans can support each other’s grievances towards television stations, inform fans on missed or upcoming episodes and generally share all things Buffy.

The average fan website engages in actor biographies, character profiles, quotes, quizzes, images and links to fellow Buffy sites.

One such site can be found at www.sunnydale-slayers.com/quotes.htm , where website creator Maureen Wynn highlights her desire to join the online fandom community.  “Life is strange when you’re a fan - I’ve watched BtVSlast night and made a list of the best lines.  Sort of a Buffy quote list.  I just felt the need to share.”

Among the many Australian fan websites is ‘SBIA – Support Buffy (and Angel) In Australia.’  A site where supporters can add their name, website address and favourite character to a ‘supporter list’.

Also found online is ‘MEETUP’, a free service which provides the communication technology to enable Buffy fans to MEETUP with each other locally.  ‘International Buffy Fan MEETUP Day’ is on the 1^st Thursday of every month.  Fans can visit the website www.buffy.meetup.com and narrow their search down to their local area.  Once found, eg Perth, fans vote for their favourite venue in the area.  The venue with the most votes is where they MEETUP on the day.

When asked in ‘Science Fiction Weekly’ if he shared William Shatner’s opinion that the most ardent fans need to get a life, Joss Whedon replied, “The show’s designed to foster slavish devotion; it has for me and I entirely respect it in others.”

So what’s life like for the average BtVSfan?  “I never miss an episode, but the show hasn’t taken over my life,” shares April Cousins.  “Mind you, when I’m watching the show, anyone who dares interrupt is in for it,” she laughs.

And is a fan able to choose a favourite episode?  “That’s impossible,” she states adamantly.

So in every generation there is a chosen one.  She, alone, will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness.  She is the Slayer.  And in every generation there are the fans that get addicted … the way addicts do!
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