Buffy The Vampire Slayer example essay topic

With Buffy the Vampire Slayer taking the Australian television market by storm, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Buffy does more than just kick vampire butt. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar not only entertains teens nation wide, but also questions morals and values - the same values that have been plaguing the gothic genre since Bram Stoker's Dracula - and socialists with the majority of young Australians' lives. Popular culture is becoming increasingly consumed by a moralistic tone, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the perfect example. Ever since Stoker wrote his highly publicized novel in 1897, Dracula has had a large effect on today's society. The classic good versus evil morals that Stoker introduced in his book is highly evident in many television programs presently reaching out to a wide range of audiences.

The series involving Buffy is based upon this very theme. Gellar plays the heroine, the good guy (or girl) that must defeat evil at all costs. While she is sexy, sleek, exceptionally strong and wears the right clothes - in other words, the perfect heroine in the minds of wide eyed teenage Australians - the job she has to perform saves lives. The enemies she has to defeat are both scary and extremely dangerous. The wider audience not only sides with Buffy, they connect with her. And it is this connection that sets the perfect platform for moral and valued lessons to be passed on.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an adapted version of Dracula, clearly evident through the vampire theme of the program, yet it is also argued that in Stoker's text, the same good versus evil battle was born. When the good guys in Dracula are up against the odds, the odds of a stronger and smarter enemy, the faith they have in the good fight get them over the line. The message this conveys to audiences worldwide is both strong and important. Buffy might be all about entertainment and appealing to the emotions, yet clearly the series does more than just entertain. And yet the meaning behind Buffy doesn't stop there. One of the most recognisable features of the gothic genre is also evident throughout the series.

Bram Stoker was the first to publish a book that questioned the morals of an individual, the idea that every person had two sides - that of a light side and a dark side, or a good and evil personality. The idea of a vampire's bite, created in the novel Dracula, is completely based around the value of turning to the dark-side. Star Wars and Hitchcock's Psycho are also highly-rated films that have questioned the same notion. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another in a series of followers who have dealt with the same morals of the individual.

Yet while the idea was first raised in the sixteenth century, it still very much applies to today's young society. This is where Buffy steps in and leads Aussie teens down the right path. In the episode 'Buffy vs. Dracula', Gellar's vampire-slaying character is struck with the allure of the dark side. The dark side is very evident in today's society, although it comes through different forms. Teenagers face many choices whilst growing up in the twenty-first century, and while the temptation of the darker option can often strong; Buffy shows that choosing the lighter side will be the most rewarding. It is a value that is very important, and while Buffy is not the first to raise it, Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-establishes the morale.

Showing a young audience the right way to act is another reason why Buffy and popular culture does more than just entertain. With Australian society becoming increasingly americanized, it is important that popular culture does more than just 'rot-the-brain' of the average Aussie individual. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer make the difference between high culture and popular culture difficult to define. Socialising Buffy with her audience creates a relation between the program and the viewer, and it is through this connection that the important values and morals evident in the show can be passed on. Many argue that pop culture does little more than appeal to the emotions, and contains unrealistic role models and societies. Shows like Buffy, and those that will hopefully follow, look to be adding more to popular culture than just entertainment, as well as improving the lives of an audience begging for guidance.