Buffy the Vampire Slayer - We All Sound Like Teenagers From the 90s

Episode 5 May 03, 2019 01:02:28
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - We All Sound Like Teenagers From the 90s
Fanthropological
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - We All Sound Like Teenagers From the 90s

May 03 2019 | 01:02:28

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Show Notes

This week, the Nicks tackle iconic 90s nerdy show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They'll talk about the emergence of genre television, what Buffy means as a Strong Female Characters & how the whole world now sounds like 90s teens! Here are some of the sources we used for the episode: [The Importance of Being the Zeppo: Xander, Gender Identity and Hybridity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Mark Camron](http://www.whedonstudies.tv/uploads/2/6/2/8/26288593/camron.pdf) [Buffy Summers: Third-Wave Feminist Icon](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/how-buffy-became-a-third-wave-feminist-icon/493154/) [The Complex Feminist Legacy Of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’](https://decider.com/2017/03/09/the-complex-feminist-legacy-of-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/) [How Buffy the Vampire Slayer transformed TV as we know it](https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/10/14857542/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-explained-tv-influence) [10 Ways Buffy The Vampire Slayer Changed the World](https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/262778/10-ways-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-changed-the-world) More information about Epic Film Guys' Livestream for the Cure can be found [here](https://fundraise.cancerresearch.org/fundraiser/1947095)! Z's Beowulf blog can be found [here](https://bloggersbeowulf.com/)! G's Bandcamp page is [here](https://fragileair.bandcamp.com/)! ### Fandom Facts “The series narrative follows Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers", or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers or the 'Chosen Ones' are "called" (chosen by fate) to battle against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Buffy wants to live a normal life, but as the series progresses, she learns to embrace her destiny. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang".”

Wikipedia - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

* The Buffy subreddit has us covered this week for fan data; [in a survey conducted in 2017](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/7eipxc/rbuffy_2017_survey_results/) (you can also check out [one from 2013 to compare](https://www.reddit.com/r/buffy/comments/1i9pwc/official_rbuffy_survey_results/)), here is some interesting tidbits: * Gender: _Unlike_ much reddit data we see, the results are pretty evenly split with about 51% female, 47% male, and 1% as non-binary, intersex, agender, or genderqueer. * Age: Most fans are 25-34 (i.e. grew up with the show; 44%) and there are more fans younger than 25 (36%) than there are over 34 (19%) * Least favourite season: #1 (38%) * Most favourite season: #5 (30%; Introduction of Buffy’s sister, Dawn) * Most folks [watched the show from the beginning](https://i.imgur.com/BJWKdiu.png). * If you look through the tag cloud of non-Whedon shows that people also like, [huge amount of diversity](https://i.imgur.com/gz7NSW1.png) (anything from Desperate Housewives to Evangelion, Band of Brothers to Critical Role) * Google trends data only goes back to 2004, which is not too long after the show ended in Spring 2003. [Interest in the show has gone downhill pretty linearly from 2004 to 2007, and much more slowly from then until now](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Buffy%20the%20Vampire%20Slayer). Surprisingly, a lot of interest from Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia (in that order)... and then the United States. * It was one of the first shows on the WB network ### First Impressions #### T: I remember watching Buffy in late elementary school (middle school, if I had one). I think I followed the show pretty steadily until some point probably mid-way into high school when Buffy went to college. It was… pretty popular, or at least it felt that way because I remember one of my teachers, admittedly, a fairly young teacher, was also a big fan of the show (and she really latched on to the female empowerment part of the show). I think for me, it was the cast of characters that really got me interested, and how the story rolled out. Yes, I probably had a crush on Buffy, Cordelia, and Willow, but at the same time, Giles and his dry humour were great, as was Xander’s goofiness (and I think the Scooby-do-esque monster of the week thing kept me interested too). #### Z: I never watched Buffy while it was airing. Probably too busy with video games (discovering emulation, later getting deep into RPG Maker 2000). But, I heard about it all the time in university at Artz Haus -- about the musical episode, about how the show was so awesome, I’m sure I heard the names Willow and Tara a few times, and yet I never actually saw any of the show then either. It wasn’t until I was commissioned to write a review for an episode for a collection in the “Outside In” series Robert Smith? Is behind in 2018 that I finally sat down and watched the episode “Smashed”. Though I did see the movie when it came to VHS...and as a ~7 year old not at all a fan of horror I remember it being one of those movies meant to be funny and turn tropes on its head, but not knowing those tropes (just that zombies and vampires were scary), I’m pretty sure I found it scary and therefore bad. ### Observations _What we thought about the thing / fandom after reviewing it. Try to make this more of a review style._ ### Conclusions _Any concluding thoughts on the fandom._ ### Famous Last Words What did we have to say about next week’s topic, RWBY, with only our first impressions? \ **G: **Does the fandom care that its a web series and not a television show?_ \ _ **T: **How influential is the art style in drawing people in? Are there folks who still watch it despite the animation style?_ \ _ **Z: **It looks like an anime… but is Western produced … are there fans who prefer the Japanese dub? ## Where can you find us? Pretty much everything we do is `something/thenickscast`, but specifically... * If you're looking for this podcast (Fanthropological), you can find it at [Fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) or on different podcatchers including [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2IVp8MBIUyCqlKyZn79iHn), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210?mt=2), [Google Podcasts](https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLnBvZGlhbnQuY28vZmFudGhyb3BvbG9naWNhbC9yc3MueG1s) and many others! * Keep up-to-date with our latest goings-on on [Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast), or [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast), all `@thenickscast` * We also occasionally create extra content about fandom including convention coverage and interviews on [YouTube.com/thenickscast](https://youtube.com/thenickscast) * We have some fine merchandise available at [shop.thenickscast.com](https://shop.thenickscast.com) (and we'd love your support!) * If all else fails, you can email us: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) ## What is "Fanthropological"? Every week, Fanthropological delivers about an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation! We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture. ## Credits * All music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!

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