Xander's Role In Buffy The Vampire Slayer example essay topic

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a difficult media to classify into one genre. An obvious classification of the programme's genre would be horror; but this isn! |t entirely true, because the show has more concepts and themes that a horror movie would, and deals with more issues as well. The show uses elements contained in the more fantasy-orientated horror movies (such as Dracula): these include mythological beings such as vampires, demons and zombies; things that aren! |t always contained in horror movies. In the episode! SSDead Man's Party!" , the show deals primarily with the undead (a vampire appears near the beginning of the episode, and has very little effect on the story). Mythology is also applied in the form of a Nigerian mask, which raises the dead.

Mythology has not always been applied in horror movies that use such creatures, but most movies that use these creatures (especially those containing vampires) almost always follow several rules. Examples of such rules are:" h A vampire cannot enter a home unless invited first! V afterwards they are forever welcome". h Vampires can not come into contact with direct sunlight". h The only way to kill a vampire is to penetrate its heart with a stake. These rules are also applied in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and some others are devised in order to enhance storyline's. This would associate Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the horror genre, although there is more to the show than vampires: there are situations involving teenage angst (especially in the given episode, because it deals with the consequences of Buffy running away from home).

Some people have likened Buffy the Vampire Slayer to a hybrid of Dracula and Beverly Hills 90210, which might be an accurate description! V the show does contain elements of a horror movie and tries to include situations experienced in a teenage soap (the characters attend high-school and experience friendship and love). Mise en scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is usually quite similar in each episode, and! SSDead Man's Party!" isn! |t really an exception to this belief. The settings used are Buffy's house (located in a middle-class suburb), the school corridors and library, and Giles! | apartment. The behaviour of the actors, in terms of humour, is often cynical and sarcastic, and though most characters share this, it does vary depending on each character.

There are times when the characters behave threateningly towards other characters, such as near the end of the episode in which Giles threatens Principle Snyder to let Buffy back into the school. Some of the behaviour seems a little apprehensive, or awkward, especially with Buffy and Joyce; they both seem to feel intimidated by each other's presence. Behaviour seems to change often during the party: Buffy feels overwhelmed and that she doesn! |t belong, and the other characters (especially Willow, Xander and Cordelia) appear ignorant towards Buffy. There is also a scene in which the characters show anger towards Buffy, who becomes very upset by this, but then the scene is interrupted and the characters instantly resolve their feelings towards each other. The behaviour of Angel also seems quite distant, and generally unlike the character.

Lighting in this episode is quite mundane, although there are a few anomalous uses of light. At night, the lighting is dark, but it is easy to see what is happening. Indoor lighting is moderately lit, except in a few locations, such as the basement, which is a little dark, with beams of sunlight coming through windows. The light in Giles! | apartment is lower than most other settings, and the moonlight shining through the window in Buffy's bedroom is unusually intense.

The lighting in the emergency room of the hospital is also lower than expected, yet enough to make a reflection in the heart monitor. The costumes consist of everyday wear, and doesn! |t really show any distinct patterns, except near the beginning of the episode where Willow, Xander, Cordelia and Oz wear darker clothes and Xander wears a cross around his neck. The only other pattern visible would what Angel wears (though this may not be observed if someone had only seen one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) which always seems to be black. Props in!

SSDead Man's Party!" are also quite common with other episodes, and even other programmes of a similar genre. There are the! yen routine! | props, such as telephones, and then there are props specific to the episode, such as the mask. Some items are used as weapons, such as a vase, a shovel, ski poles, and of course wooden stakes and crosses etc. The camerawork in! SSDead Man's Party!" is pretty unremarkable.

Establishing shots are used sometimes, in order to identify the settings, and much of the shots consist of medium long-shots, which is probably more convenient during the more action-orientated scenes. There is also evidence of hand-held camera work, at the party and on the street when Giles hits a pedestrian. The editing involves using cuts to move from shot to shot, which is interesting because the spin-off Angel uses a variety of editing techniques. However, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer cuts are used all the time. There is a scene in!

SSDead Man's Party!" where we cut into pitch darkness, whereas a fade could have been used to good effect, but I think the reason we cut instead is in order to create an anti-climax, because the cut is made during an intense battle between the characters and the undead. Music is used often throughout! SSDead Man's Party!" ; sometimes it is used atmospherically, and sometimes it is simply there to fill silences (scenes with just one character, resulting in no dialogue) The same composition is used at least three times in the episode, and is used to different effects. The first time it is used is when Buffy is unpacking her things! V it creates a feeling of insecurity, because Buffy doesn! |t know if she can integrate back into her normal life since she went away.

The same music is also used in Giles! | kitchen in order to show how happy Giles is now Buffy has returned. The music is used again, when Buffy, unable to take the animosity of her friends, prepares to leave home, and in the subsequent confrontation with Willow. It is also used in the aftermath of the battle with Ou Mobani, yet this time it is used to show relief. There is another composition used during battles in this episode, though it is not clear whether these are the same pieces. The music used during the fight sequences is more energetic, fast paced, yet tries to outline the danger of the situation. An intriguing feature of the music in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the use of a band.

Not only does a band play the music used in the scene during the party in! SSDead Man's Party!" , but in other episodes, when the gang hang out at! yen The Bronze! | (a regular setting which, sadly, is absent from! SSDead Man's Party!" ), a band also plays the music there. Special effects are also used in! SSDead Man's Party!" quite regularly. The first effects we see are when we go over previous events on the show: we see a portal to something.

The effects most of the time are quite obviously computer generated, such as the! yen glowing eyes! | effect on the mask and the face of Mobani (though the glowing eyes of Mobani are in sync with what is simply a flash of white light). Another recurring effect that is shown in! SSDead Man's Party!" is the death of a vampire: the vampire stops moving before disintegrating into a pillar of dust. The! yen dust! | effect appears to use post-production computer generation, as well as editing, similar to the transporter effects used in Star Trek. The show has a regular line of characters, which seem to appear a little stereotypical at times, yet each character has their different traits and uses. Buffy is the main character, resuming the title role of the Slayer.

Buffy is the Slayer: a girl born once every generation with the strength and skill required to hunt and kill vampires. Buffy has a role reminiscent of the situation that first appeared in the early Spider-Man comic books: she is a superhero who is uncomfortable with her responsibility, because she never wanted to be what she is, and her role as the Slayer interferes with her life. Buffy is also haunted by the fact that she had to sacrifice her lover in order to save the world. Giles is the watcher, a person chose to care for and aid the Slayer. It is within Giles that the most stereotypes exist in the show.

Giles is English, which results in him having a rather typical English accent, a tendency to drink Earl Grey tea, and a job as a librarian. A rather subtle stereotype within Giles that we see in! SSDead Man's Party!" is that he doesn! |t use an electric kettle! V instead he boils water on the stove. Xander's role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is to provide humour, though this is done by almost all of the characters, however, Xander does it in abundance. Oz is there for similar reasons to Xander.

Willow is seen as the studious girl, whose involvement with Buffy complicates her life. There is also Cordelia, who is the opposite of Willow (Cordelia is more of a! yen cheerleader! | type girl), yet her association with Buffy has the same effect on her life too. The character of Angel in! SSDead Man's Party!" is used to represent Buffy's guilt towards what happened to Angel! V Angel only appears in Buffy's dreams. The narrative in Buffy the Vampire Slayer flows rather easily, but the story has to be interpreted by the viewer!

V there are no voice-overs or flashbacks to explain events (past or present). The only disruption in the flow of the story would be the dream sequence. The importance of this sequence is unknown, and it may just represent Buffy's anxiety about returning to her life in Sunnydale, and Angel's presence may just show that she misses him.