Before there was Twilight or The Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer paved the way for teen vampire romance stories that continue to proliferate throughout today’s film and TV landscape
This month Buffy the Vampire Slayer celebrates its 25th anniversary. Throughout its run from 1997 to 2003, the series saw incredible critical acclaim, with multiple accolades. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays vampire slayer Buffy Summers, is credited with changing the way female protagonists were viewed on television and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on the show.
The show’s case and crew constantly broke barriers in an otherwise formulaic space. Body swaps, musicals, and an episode solely revolving around the shock and grief experienced the day someone dies: no background music, no sharp one-liners, and no monsters. And it worked.
Every idea that seemed ridiculous, BtVS could transform into something meaningful. The show’s creator, Joss Whedon, stated that his goal with Buffy was to break down stereotypes surrounding female protagonists. When people hear the show’s title and see pictures of a pretty blonde cheerleader, they assume there’s nothing beyond the surface. “The idea of Buffy was to subvert that idea, that image, and create someone who was a hero where she had always been a victim,” Whedon said.
Before BTVS, the vampire genre was not marketed toward teenage girls. For example, Nosferatu (1922), based on the 1897 novel Dracula is highly regarded as the godfather of vampire cinema. While there are hints of romance, it is undoubtedly a horror film: a silent film meant to haunt. Isle of the Dead (1945) similarly sought to scare audiences with the mythical vorvolaka, a Greek vampire that drains the energy of those around it so it can remain youthful forever. Once again, a film focused on a supernatural threat but was set during war and plague, appealing to older audiences. More recent to Buffy‘s time was Daughters of Darkness in 1971, but this gothic horror was far from what we see in the vampire genre today. The creature was inspired by one of the most prolific female serial killers in history, and she was intentionally dressed in Nazi colors to disturb those who dared to watch.
So what were the common denominators of the vampire genre before BTVS? They were all marketed towards adult viewers, “true love” played a minuscule role in the plot, and vampires were certainly not the heroes of these stories.
Along came Buffy Summers and the vampire world as we knew it changed forever. Suddenly, a show about demons was aired on the young WB Network (now known as The CW), and the protagonist was not a mad scientist or a war veteran, but a fashionable teenage girl eagerly saying, “if the apocalypse comes, beep me!” Young girls everywhere were drawn to the slayer, mainly because only young girls could be the slayer. Almost every hero introduced to the show was a teenage girl. Whether it was tough-as-nails slayer Faith Lehane or sapphic Wiccan Willow Rosenberg, the show proved that the vampire genre wasn’t exclusive to older horror lovers.
However, it wasn’t just Buffy as a character that was revolutionary for the genre, but also the way in which BTVS focused on lve and sexuality. While the series follows her calling to slay demons, nevertheless, throughout the show’s run, Buffy develops romantic relationships with two vampires, Angel (David Boreanaz) and Spike (James Marsters), setting up a legacy of teen vampire romance storylines that are a fixture in today’s film and TV landscape.
Where most vampire lore previously revolved around a creature seducing its victim merely to feed om them (using romance as a weapon), BTVS focused on how love could help a villain overcome their past (using romance as redemption). Both Angel and Spike fight to get their souls back to be with Buffy, who was always well aware of her worth.
In 2008, Twilight emerged onto the scene, and thanks to the legacy of BTVS, it wasn’t at all unusual that a teenage Bella Swan would fall for (and eventually marry) a centuries-old vampire. Furthermore, just like BTVS, the Twilight saga focused on the main female character’s life, Bella Swan, rather than the feelings and experiences of “the monster,” Edward Cullen.
Twilight broke records in 2008 when it grossed over $7 million in ticket sales during its opening night, in no small part die to the film’s younger demographic. It’s hard to imagine a teenage-centric film like Twilight doing well, much less earning cult-classic status, without a pre-curser like BTVS.
Not too long after the success of Twilight, viewers saw a new spin on the high school vampire tale with the CW’s The Vampire Diaries (TVD), a series with more obvious parallels to BTVS. While Orphan Elena Gilbert was no Buffy Summers, she was a grief-stricken teenage girl in the middle of a love triangle between two vampires. In TVD, Elena (Buffy) instantly falls for the noble vampire Stefan Salvatore (Angel) but finds herself slowly growing towards the “bad boy”, Damon Salavatore (Spike), over time. Even TVD showrunner Julie Plec acknowledged that she took major inspiration from BTVS when crafting episodes and dialogue.
(Fun fact: both BTVS and Twilight exist in the TVD universe. In the second episode of TVD, Caroline Forbes asks Damon why he doesn’t sparkle like Edward Cullen. “This book, by the way, has it all wrong,” he says holding up Twilight. “I live in the real world where vampires burn in the sun.” Another meta moment comes in the sixth episode of Season 2, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” when Damon calls Elena “Buffy” during her self-defense training.)
Similarly, in 2008, HBO’s True Blood introduced the world to Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress. She finds herself in between sentimental vampire Bill Compton and bad boy Eric Northman (at this point, you understand how love triangles work). Like Twilight and TVD, True Blood adopted BTVS‘ successful formula that made the vampire genre synonymous with forbidden love.
Before BTVS, vampires were not a figure to be desired or glorified. They were described as evil in human form – ugly, monstrous beings who were the enemy of pure souls. Suddenly, in 1997, vampires like Angel and Spike appear human and handsome. They even helped Buffy and the rest of her gang in their quest to save the day. While they had their darker sides, BTVS proved that these mythical creatures were capable of love and redemption. “I came along, and [Spike] wasn’t designed to be a romantic character, but then the audience reacted that way to it,” Marsters said in a recent podcast appearance.
Ian Somerhalder, who played Damon on TVD, found himself in a similar situation due to the precedent of BTVS. “[Damon] could walk into an orphanage and literally kill 20 kids in cold blood, and the audience would go, ‘Awww, well you know, listen, he was really upset abut Elena…’ and you’re like, ‘Wait, what?'” the actor said. “People gave him so much leeway, and it was a fascinating study on humanity and the psychological component of when you love a character – just very much how women or men will love a family member or a partner or significant other even when they are, you know, mean or destructive.”
BTVS introduced the idea of “the vampire with a soul.” On-screen vampires Stefan Salbatore, Edward Cullen, and Eric Northman can all thank Angel for the popular archetype they fit in to. “If we could live without passion, maybe we’d truly know some kind of peace,” Angel once said. “But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered, and dank. Without passion, we’d truly be dead.”
The vampire genre on screen owes a great deal to the Buffy-verse for redefining what it means to be a hero or a villain. Throughout seven seasons, Whedon, Gellar, and the rest of the cast redefined a genre, proving that young girls do indeed run pop culture. 25 years later, we’re still asking, “What would Buffy do?”
Original article at L’OFFICIEL.
This article has been reproduced for archive purposes.
