Monday, March 10, 1997 in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

This may not be as obvious to those who follow me on Prosebox… but I am a deep fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In way more ways than my parents thought healthy. I have always been fascinated and obsessed with Mythology and Lore. I grew up studying Greek and Norse mythology and knew more about Loki and Hera than most kids know about Sesame Street by the time I was 7. Vampires and Werewolves became a natural branch of that study when I became 8 and both the Monster as Metaphor and Monster as Monster aspects of those creatures fascinated me. As did the regional specifics and Cross-Culture inconsistencies. Some vampires are devastatingly OCD; some Vampires have severe magical components that include shape shifting and mesmerism; and Were-Creatures always reflect what is considered the Alpha Predator of the region. Werewolves, WerePanthers, WereBears… hell, if there is an isolated enough place where the Alpha Predator is a Fossa, they’d likely have Were-Fossas!

The movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released in 1992. At this point, I was 8 years old and interested in Vampires and enjoyed the film. Some aspects seemed silly; but the concept of a Prey Species developing some form of Resistance seemed like a clever and natural progression. If the “blonde teenage girl” is going to be a primary prey animal; the idea of a “blonde teenage girl” acting as bait, trap, and defeat seemed logical.

Fast forward five years. I’m still into Vampires and Mythology; but at 13 years old… I’m also getting into religion and philosophy (in part due to Confirmation, in part due to a renewed interest in Star Wars). This is back when even regular cable had a TV GUIDE STATION; and I saw this annoying channel called WB was going to air Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The listing occupied a full two hours which seemed logical for a 86 minute movie. 86 minutes of film with 34 minutes of Commercials… the math worked out. I got comfy on my parents bed and settled in to watch; expecting to see Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland.

Instead, the Camera showed a poorly lit (poorly filmed) School Hallway with some skeezy dude and a girl that looked too old to be in High School but was wearing a “I’m a good girl” High School uniform looking outfit. I was confused. I switched back to the TV GUIDE STATION quickly and… yes. This night, this channel, this time… Buffy. Switched back. Skeezy Dude and School Girl were walking around the hallway, discussing if anyone was around. When it seemed the coast was clear; School Girl turns around with some weird monster make up on her face and bites the guy. I turned the television off. I was super annoyed. They had advertised Buffy and then aired some B Monster Movie in its place. I shrugged… that is what happens, I guess, on struggling networks. They plan these grand things and then realize they don’t have the funds to afford to air higher priced stuff. I didn’t give the network or program another thought.

Until many months later. It was nearing the end of Summer and back then; my summers were spent living in my parents’ basement. You see, my mother’s father had begun living in Arizona with two of his other daughters; but Arizona summers suck so he’d come back to Iowa and crash in my room for three months. This allowed me to sleep in the basement which was (1) much cooler temperature wise; (2) much bigger space wise; (3) much darker light ways; (4) and much more entertaining as the basement held The Computer and a TV.

Back in the 90s, Public Access Programs were all over the board on Public Access Networks. You’d have programs of people spouting conspiracies; some programs about the magic of numbers (because even Public Access Networks were looking for grant money)… but there was a program on Public Access I would try to catch whenever I could… which, honestly, was rarely. Sometime around 2 in the morning on Saturday Nights/Sunday Mornings; there was a Television Show sponsored and starring a local Comic Book Store Owner. The owner and operator of Xanadu Comics would air a weekly program on Comic Books, Nerd TV, Warhammer… this may be hard to remember considering the popularity of Geek Chic in the modern world… but for a 13 year old getting bullied for a love of Star Wars, Comic Books, and Mythology… a Public Access Show like this was the height of awesome. It was a rare public acceptance of Geek Culture and a celebration of Nerd Interests. I would have been a faithful weekly watcher of the program but… seriously… 3 am for a pre teen? That can be a hard weekly time to hit.

However, as I had mentioned, I was living in the basement as it was the late summer. I could stay up as long as I wanted to and had a TV in “my room” so I could watch in bed. The Xanadu Comic Hour came on and I decided that I was going to watch the whole hour before going to bed. The Host introduced and greeted the week’s guest: The show’s Television Expert and announced that the week’s program was going to talk about Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I was very interested. Was the movie getting a comic book? A tv show? A cartoon?

The two men proceeded to discuss the events of Season One and interesting leaked developments coming down the line of Season Two. I was particularly intrigued by the idea of Vampires as both Monsters and People; particularly people that could be cursed. I was fascinated with the use of Monster of the Week being parable and metaphor for real life issues. And then.. when they discussed that (spoiler) Buffy had died and come back at the end of Season One… and that Season Two would (at some point) discuss what it meant… one slayer dies, another is chosen… but how does that work practically? After the interview, I knew I had to start watching this show. Maybe I wouldn’t like it. Maybe I’d be deeply offended at the mythology (it happens sometimes; if a movie’s Vampire myth-base seems too ridiculous, I can’t even stomach to watch it… literally the reason I haven’t/won’t watch Twilight).

Thus, I started watching Buffy Season Two. And loved it. The further that season got with the Angel Character, the more it screamed IDENTITY to me. Which… is ridiculous. Clearly, I’m hand over fist a Xander. But… especially before getting diagnosed/medicated? The moody, brooding, stand offish but willing to help, man of contradictions that Angel represented? Yeah, actually. That was me. That was me all over. In many ways to this day I still dress a bit like Angel. But, no. Dude. High School… my fashion was dictated by the Angel color scheme. And I would freak out a little if Angel was wearing an outfit I owned. Because I wasn’t going out to get exact pieces; I was just filling my wardrobe with dark reds, long sleeves, button ups, long dark coats… I was just embracing the look… but more often than not, my embracing of the look turned out to be the exact look from an episode later. And at 120 lbs… I wasn’t “buff like Angel” but from a distance, I could still cut a bit of a haunting figure.

Like too many things in life, I wasn’t able to be as vigilant about my Buffy Watching as I would have liked. I caught Season Two religiously (97-98). Same with Season Three (98-99). But when I entered High School in 99… I didn’t have the time to dedicate to TV anymore. I was doing Orchestra, and Theater, and Swimming… I’d still try to catch it… but even when I tried, I had to hide it. My parents weren’t too keen on me not moving past the Vampire Phase and watching the WB with all of its “teen sex and bad moral programming” was something to be ashamed of. So I missed most of Season 4 and all of Season 5. When I moved off to college, we didn’t get the UPN so I was unable to watch Season 6 or 7. But we did get the WB and I watched Angel religiously. I even invited friends over for the Angel Season 5 Series Finale when it aired in 2004. BUT by that time....

Before the millennium switch, TV ON DVD wasn’t really as big of a deal as it is today. Hell, throughout most of the 1990s, we were still using VHS around my area! But when I went to college; I noticed Buffy Season 2 on Sale for 20 bucks. I grabbed it. I had to have it. It had to be in my beginning DVD Collection! And I realized… I could get Season 1, and watch that finally. I could buy the seasons as they released and watch all of it. I could own all of Buffy and all of Angel. And I did. And I started hosting viewing parties for friends around the college who had wanted to see it but hadn’t. Or loved the series but weren’t allowed to watch it in their homes; so they wanted to catch up on episodes they missed. In my time at college, I introduced 5 people to Buffy and watched all of Buffy and Angel 5 complete times for/with them.

It got to the point where people would call to tell me when a College in the United States began teaching a class that included Buffy. And it began to happen more frequently. Buffy as understood by TV trends. Buffy as understood by Women’s Studies. Buffy as understood by Teen Development and Social Interaction. Buffy as understood by Analogy and Metaphor. Buffy as understood by Theme and Literature. It was spreading as not only a fun show, but a good show, a well written show. A show that had something to say.

Now… 20 years after it first aired; the two-part premiere Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest.... it still has something to say. There are now people all over the world that know and love the TV show. There are kids in their early teens right now that join the forums and facebook groups and talk about their first experience watching it… years after New Episodes stopped being made.

It may seem ridiculous that the story of a teenage girl fighting vampires would impact this many people, from this many places in the world, for this long. Maybe it is ridiculous. But we live in a ridiculous world. And some truths are universal: