All Good Things...

With the final episode, "Chosen," comes many questions and ideas to discuss. What is the overarching theme/ideal in Buffy? Kaveney (and one of the featurettes on the DVD) suggest the possibility of Buffy as revisionist feminist mythology. But can a feminist myth be created by a man? Perhaps. Another idea suggested on the DVD featurette intrigued me more, however. That was the idea of community. Throughout the series, we are shown Buffy as a solitary figure, despite her band of loyal friends. Her battles always seem to boil down to just Buffy and the Big Bad. The writers worked so hard to show Buffy as lonely that they did everything but play the sad-going-away-music from "The Incredible Hulk" TV show. Yet with Buffy's realization that much of her solitude was self-inflicted ("Touched") comes a greater understanding: she can do something about it. When the Potentials are empowered as Slayers, Buffy becomes one of many. She is no longer special in the all-by-myself sort of way. She is no longer the one-woman doorstop against the portal to Hell. Ideally, the community of Slayers can work in tandem to defeat evil. Not only is Buffy no longer alone, she is now linked in a very special way to something that is worldwide. Her horizons just got a lot bigger than Sunnydale and its pesky Hellmouth.

I argue for community as the overarching theme because it is the one thing that has been present from episode 1 ("Welcome to the Hellmouth.") Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and even Joyce were each looking for community, their own circle of friends and acceptance, a place where they can find identity. Even the monsters that the Scooby Gang faced during the "high school is hell" phase of the series were manifestations of the fears of students who were simply looking for a place to belong. For Buffy, finding community took the entire series. And why shouldn't it? If that was truly her quest as the hero, it seems only right that she only find it at the end of everything.

As for Dr. Berry's suggestion that Buffy is the television version of the Romantic novel, well, I remain unconvinced. For one thing, it seems to me as a writer that each season has its own narrative arc with climax and conclusion. While I realize that the sprawling Romantic novel has many subplots and crests and troughs of conflict, I think there are too many in a seven season series to make one giant novel. Perhaps, Buffy is more of a seven-book set. Another factor that hurts the massive-Buffy novel idea is the number of continuity errors in the series. Buffy has more dates of birth than anyone I've ever read about. If vampires don't breathe, why does The First hold Spike underwater to torture him? Why is there an episode about how The First's rise is all resurrected Buffy's fault, and then it is never mentioned again? While I realize that it is often best not to ask these questions and just sit back and enjoy the fun, I do think that these inconsistencies detract from the whole novel idea. To say that Buffy is Joss Whedon's attempt to televise his great, novel-like vision would be to suggest that he had a clear plan for a seven season series when he wrote "Welcome to the Hellmouth." I find this unlikely. A sprawling, Romantic novel may have many subplots and side characters, but ultimately, it should all tie together.