Going Through the Motions

In our semester finale of Buffy, the musical episode entitled Once More with Feeling, I was most affected by the opening song sung by the show’s protagonist, in which she ponders the reasons for living and continuing on in her never-ending pursuit to eradicate evil. Very existential in nature, this song can cause the viewer to be quite self-reflective about their own purpose on this Earth, and contemplate the value and meaning of their own life in a manner not typically inspired by a somewhat-corny Gothic television show. I would argue that Buffy’s plight, as we hear it expressed in song, is one that every human encounters at one point or another: a questioning of whether what were are doing with our lives is really worth it or if it is having any lasting impact on humanity at all. I believe that all people experience the same sort of exasperation with life that Buffy demonstrates with this song, but I think like Buffy it is necessary for all people to take what they have and believe in it. In a sense every person is their own “chosen one”, as they have the ability to determine the course and impact of their life through their direct actions and the adoption of projects much in the way that Buffy assumes the role of “slayer”. To find something to devote our lives to is all a human can ask for in this uncertain world, and I think Buffy and Joss Whedon illustrate this point quite well.

Blurring Dream and Reality

In Once More, With Feeling, we are faced with a demon that makes people go into musical world without knowing. When people start to talk, it just transitions into singing and dancing seamlessly. When the Scooby gang got nervous with this unknown demon, Buffy comes the group down through singing out her faith in the gang. When Giles talks about his feelings about Buffy, he just started to sing it out. The transition to the musical world is very smooth; where as the audience I had no trouble from one to the other. Because the transitions are so smooth and we are traveling back and forth between two worlds, to gets blurred sometimes. But, we can figure out when we are in the musical world if we just stay a bit longer and wait for the dramatic movements or the singing, which are cues for the musical world. Similarly, in the Nutcracker, Marie is able to move back and forth between the world that Nutcracker lives and the world where her family is in. The narrator moves between the fantasy and the reality seemly. However, this time, the two worlds are a lot more blurred than in Buffy, at times it is hard to know whether we are in fantasy or reality. We are seeing evidence of fantasy in reality (mouse king’s crown). We are seeing evidence of reality in fantasy (the clockmaker).

"Hush" vs. "Once More With Feeling"

Approaching "Hush" at the end of the semester has provided me with the interesting opportunity to compare the communication problems depicted in this episode to those present in "Once More With Feeling." In "Hush" the characters struggle with at first speaking too much and then later not being able to speak at all. From the spell of the Gentlemen, they are forced to examine non-verbal communication through body language. In "Once More With Feeling" the characters have to expose their bottled up secrets to each other through song and dance. Arguably the effect of this revelation would not have been as bad if the characters had attempted to communicate their emotions little by little over time. Even though these communication issues are expressed differently they are strikingly/frustratingly similar in content. For example, Xander and Anya are unable to effectively express their emotions for one another in "Hush," and this same communication issue plagues their relationship in "Once More With Feeling." Similarly, in "Hush" we see Buffy having problems communicating with a Riley and in "Once More With Feeling" we observe Buffy having problems communicating with Spike (boy drama!). Thus, even though the the Scooby gang appears to gain an understanding of their communication troubles at the end of "Hush," they clearly do not internalize this lesson for an extended period of time because their issues reemerge throughout the seasons and particularly in "Once More With Feeling." Jenkins and Stuart support and expand upon this claim by saying, "Although 'Hush' is certainly a particularly interesting example of how the series investigates the kinds of effects that speech can have in and on the world, it is by no means unique in having this concern. Throughout the series, speech acts are under scrutiny because they are part of the fundamental rules of the Buffyverse." Perhaps then, according to this judgement, the lack of evolution in communication abilities is actually the necessary continuation of a dialogue centered around modern issues of articulation and self-expression.

Jenkins, Alice and Stuart, Susan (2003). "Extending Your Mind: Non-Standard Perlocutionary Acts in 'Hush'", The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies. Retrieved on December 15, 2011.

Singing as Narrative Power in "Once More with Feeling"

The cool thing about "Once More with Feeling" is not that it's a musical -- the cool part is actually how the characters use their voices and their unexpected desire to break out into song to their advantage. In any musical setting of a text, whether it's through Broadway-esque song and dance or through grand opera, is going to sound a little contrived simply because the act of singing is very often attached to theatricality. So we can ask ourselves: is our discomfort watching this episode due to some sort of fear that the characters are actually addressing the problems in their lives with excessive emotionality/poetry? Are their words trite or hackneyed because of the musical idiom?

I would argue that the more important feature of the musical episode is its ability to give characters a heightened narrative voice -- it's not so much what they're saying in the songs as how they're saying it. The characters are more swift and uninhibited; moreover, singing gives them an outlet by which to "own" their relationship to and their prominence in the episode (for example, when Anya says to Xander, "this is my verse!"). It's not just that the characters are more self-aware because they're singing, and it's not just that they have varying degrees of awareness of what other people are singing about -- more than that, song gives them a way to position themselves narratively within the episode in a more subtle, colorful way. I think that pretty interesting! It also lets them infuse meaning -- the jazzy demon who holds Dawn hostage uses song to add dissonance to the word "hell" and cheerful airiness to the word "heaven."

Willow handled her evil twin fine!

Xander: Hey, wait till you have an evil twin. See how you handle it.

Willow: I handled it fine.

---- "The Replacement"

Several posts ago, Abby argued that in "Doppelganger" Willow did not change in response to encountering Vamp Willow.

“Although VampWill presents her with the opportunity to see herself externally, she does not fully embrace these observations to amend her internal self-suppression. The fact that she turns into DarkWillow later in the series illustrates this lack of internalization.”

Au contraire, ma soeur! (On the contrary, my sister!) I’d argue instead that Willow did change due to her encounter with Vamp Willow, and that those changes may have in the end resulted in Willow turning into Dark Willow.

I’ve always interpreted the closing scene of “Doppelgangland” as providing a glimpse of Willow’s first realization that being assertive and possessing power can have positive effects. Willow was initially going to stay home, floss, do her homework, die a virgin and not go out with Buffy that night because she’d seen where the path of evil lead to in Vamp Willow who ruined everything she touched, but after Percy acts so obsequiously towards Willow and gives her the book report outlines, Willow instantly changes her mind and wants to go out that night at 9. Vamp Willow’s intimidation got results and Willow’s life is made easier and more enjoyable because of it. Willow couldn’t help but see the possible implications of this event.

In the next episode, Willow talks about how the “Ascension” was mentioned in a book Giles hid from her but that she read anyway- and she says this in front of Giles. This is the same girl who in the episode before did everything Giles asked her without complaint or delay. If he said jump, her response would be to ask how high. But now she’s willing to incur his wrath in her pursuit of magical knowledge and abilities, which even then with her fledgling power was a major source of self-esteem for Willow that gave her a greater sense of agency.

Two episodes later, Willow goes on a black-ops mission that results in Faith kidnapping her on behalf of the Mayor. Willow kills her captor vampire (with magic), sneaks around City Hall, and snoops through the evil Mayor’s stuff until she finds key documents that she filches. Faith discovers Willow in the Mayor’s office and threatens her with a knife, but Willow doesn’t even flinch. After a tense hostage exchange, Willow is reunited with Buffy and the Scoobies and is able to provide them with the invaluable information in the documents she stole. The old Willow, pre-encounter with her vampire self, might not have had the self-confidence to attempt these feats if it were not for seeing her “evil twin” show strength, courage, and leadership qualities that gave Vamp Willow power and control. It’s possible that old Willow would have taken the route Faith at the time called sensible- fleeing the building as fast as possible and not dilly-dallying in City Hall trying to find useful information while vampires might be looking for her. The information Willow acquired proves helpful to the gang as they battle the mayor. Being aggressive and not meek once again gets Willow results.

Several episodes later, Willow bursts through another one of the self-imposed barriers she considered after encountering Vamp Willow but before seeing the results her evil doppelganger got with Percy. Yes, that’s right, Willow loses her virginity to Oz. And they are all lovey-dovey afterwards. Would old Willow have done this? Maybe, maybe not, but clearly the new Willow did and is happier for it. Percy shows up once in the next season and calls Willow a nerd when he doesn’t realize Willow is listening in, a statement which puts Willow’s back up as she points out the ways she is not the nerd-like character she used to be. Willow has dramatically changed since high school, and she wants people to recognize that fact.

Through the next few seasons, Willow grows enormously in magical power, self-confidence, and
assertiveness so that by the end of the season five she is able to go head-to-head with a god for a short period of time. In season six she raises Buffy from the grave and scares away the very powerful demon Sweet. Her wardrobe changes accordingly. But at the same time, the unique mixture of her magical power and desire to control things and make them better leaders her to tamper with Tara’s memory, poison that relationship, and then stumble through many of the stages of addiction (to magic). Things are just starting to look up for Willow by the end of the sixth season, when (spoiler alert) Tara is shot by Warren and Willow tries but fails to bring back Tara from the dead with magic. As a result Willow turns into Darth Willow and flays Warren alive, hurts her friends, and tries to end the world. Sounds like something Vamp Willow might do if she could, right?

I’d argue that this chain of events shows that Willow saw the positive results that come from being more like Vamp Willow, internalized those lessons and applied them to her life, became more self-confident and assertive, but then eventually went too far and turned into a being 100x worse than Vamp Willow. Willow’s encounter with her doppelganger initiated a slow but dramatic transformation in her character, mostly for the better (other than when she was addicted to magic and depressed due to Tara’s death). But in season 5 and 7, just before and after her darkest period, Willow is mystically more powerful than Buffy, capable of holding down serious relationships, and serves as the leader of the White Hats/Scooby Gang/Potential Slayers in Buffy’s absence.

Fear Itself - good or bad episode?

I happen to agree that while "Fear Itself" was an entertaining episode, it didn't quite reach the level of wittiness and self-awareness that I have come to typically expect of Buffy episodes. The characters, in addition, do not engage with their fears as much as they could if Joss Whedon were have them personally identifying them instead of just alluding to them -- thereby anchoring to the text possible solutions.

But what I thought was interesting is related to what some other people have brought up in posts already – the physical containment of the characters’ fears. Shouldn’t that make their problems more manifest? Shouldn’t that have the effect of highlighting fears instead of making them more intangible? In fact, I think part of what makes this episode rather gothic is the idea that physical containment – especially that which places characters near just those people with whom their fears are associated – will only make the characters more focused on each other and less on the actual, psychological source of their stress. The fear demon is extremely small but maybe only in the context of what seems like a very large, labyrinthine dorm. In keeping with that idea, one of the characters (I don’t remember who), notes that “No matter how hard you fight, you just end up in the same place.” So regardless of whatever it is they seem to have done throughout the episode to separate out their actual fears from the distractions of what their relationships appear to be, the characters all end up in the same place. They haven’t really solved anything, despite their creepy, sinuous wanderings through the house.

The Man Behind the Cape

2011 Radio Interview with Dracula

JERRY

Welcome back to LITE FM. Tonight we have a special guest interview with the one and only…Dracula! He’s here in the studio with me right now, so listen up ladies because I hear he knows how to treat a woman!

DRACULA

Thanks, Jer. Happy to be here.

JERRY

So as per our usual routine I’m going to ask you a series of set questions so that our listeners can get to know you a little bit better.

DRACULA

Excellent.

JERRY

First question: What has been the most significant accomplishment in your life and why?

DRACULA

Good question, I’d have to say that my most important achievement to date has been my mastery of the Water Cycle. I know that answer may be surprising but weather has always fascinated me. Moreover, this knowledge has been integral to my understanding of the world and myself.

JERRY

Haha, well that’s a first! What’s your favorite kind of weather?

DRACULA

Fog. Next question.

JERRY

Okay, so at what point does a girl become a woman?

DRACULA

I’ve actually considered this question a lot these days but I think a girl becomes a woman when she becomes too big to carry off easily in the middle of the night.

JERRY

Excuse me?

DRACULA

Uh. Well. It’s harder to sweep a woman off her feet because she already has misconceptions about the trustworthiness of men. What? Did you think I was talking about kidnapping children or something crazy?

JERRY

Right…Well I guess that means we don’t have the typical misogynistic heart breaker in our studio tonight.

DRACULA

Heh.

JERRY

So do you consider yourself a giver or a taker?

DRACULA

I think any successful relationship has a mix of both. Honestly, I’m probably more of a taker but the key to maintaining any sense of balance is mutual consent.

JERRY

Uhp, looks like we got an old fashioned gentleman in the studio tonight! He asks for permission and everything! So who do you think is the most popular person in the world right now?

DRACULA

Lady Gaga, hands down. I absolutely LOVE her song “Marry the Night,” not to mention “Bad Romance”!

JERRY

Hmm, wasn’t expecting that, not gonna lie. Anyway, what would you like to see done to improve the public’s understanding of the importance of organ donation?

DRACULA

I think we should kill everyone who doesn’t agree to participate in organ donation. This would leave a lasting impression on the survivors and create new normative practices…uh-huh-uh, jokes! I think we should have celebrities like Sarah Michelle Gellar speak in informative commercials on TV to educate the youth about the vitality of this issue.

JERRY

I have to admit, she was great in Buffy! She could say something like, “Take organ donation seriously or I’ll slay you!”

Well that’s all the time we have on the show tonight. Thanks for stopping by and giving us the opportunity to ask you a few questions. Don’t forget your fedora!

DRACULA

Ha, thank you – it has been a real pleasure. It’s going to be sad to see you go.

For my “Buffy vs. Dracula” post I wanted to do something different and creative so I made this script to further the manifestation of the Dracula mythos in contemporary society. I liked how Spike subverts the Dracula convention by discussing his “actual” personality. This element of the episode is both comical and intriguing. I hope that I accomplished this same effect by depicting the characteristics of Stoker’s traditional Dracula in an original, amusing, and self-aware manner.

Musicals and Fairytales - Wait, what?

So I was thinking about "Once More, With Feeling" and The Nutcracker and the King of Mice and it occurred to me that each embody and parody different predominantly comedic mediums (in the Shakespearian happy-ending sense): respectively, musical theater and bedtime stories/fairy tales. Several people - Sydney and Madison off the top of my head - have already posted about the self-awareness and parodic nature of "Once More, With Feeling". Joss Whedon particularly takes advantage of the melodrama and overblown emotions inherent in musicals in order to effectively bring all of the characters' quietly simmering problems come to a boil and/or flaming pile of tap dancers. I apologize for that metaphor and the even sadder failed pun. Anyhoo, Hoffman makes a somewhat similar use of children's fantasy worlds. The Nutcracker and the King of Mice inhabits Marie's fantasy world but just as Tara singing "Under Your Spell" seems all fine and dandy till we realize she is literally under Willow's memory charm, Marie's romance with her Nutcracker doll seems perfectly delightful and innocent until she marries him at the ripe old age of eight. This story is clearly far more ambiguous than "Once More, With Feeling" but it has a similar self-awareness about genre/for lack of a better word storytelling method. Godpapa Drosselmeier literally tells a story to Marie at her bedside, which draws the reader's attention to The Nutcracker and the King of Mice as a very unusual bedtime story. The sheer all-over-the-place-ness (for lack of a better... word?) of both the story and story-within-the-story manages to parody the fantastical nature of children's bedtime tales, what with the overly-vengeful mice and the cooking-for-hundreds queen. The main story is told in the exact same manner as the fairytale inside it, save that it perfectly blurs the lines of imagination and reality, just as a good children's tale should. Yet Hoffman uses this hazy both real and not-real world to show horrors potentially present in a child's life: even if we decide to believe that the eight-year-old's marriage is part of the fairytale charm (and I'm sure few, if any, would decide to do this), the cruel laughter and disbelief of Marie's parents is troubling enough. Likewise, Whedon uses Anya and Xander's song to show the horrifyingly mundane problems that can plague any relationship. I think all in all, these last two texts in our semester go to show the versatility of Gothic storytelling: it may be a musical, it may be a fairytale, but it can still give you chills and reveal something about humanity.

Is the house really haunted? Or do you just think it is?

So, to expand in a rather untimely manner on Dylan's post about "Fear, Itself", I'd like to talk a little bit about Gothic settings. I recently started thinking a lot more about the settings of the texts we've encountered this semester, and I think the haunted frat house in this episode is particularly interesting. It's a much more contained setting than most of the other texts we've read, to the extent that Giles has to cut a door into the house with a chainsaw. Similarly, The Castle of Otranto is mostly contained to the castle and the connected-by-secret-passageways church. This setting does not contain the story in quite as restrictive of a way as does the house in "Fear, Itself", as a scene also occurs in nearby caves, but nevertheless the focus on these Gothic structures (the house and the castle) seems significant. As The Castle of Otranto was one of the founding texts of the Gothic, the scary castle trope seems to stem from this. It's probable that the idea of a house of horrors that Joss Whedon turns on its head is directly descended from Walpole's castle.

Even more interesting than just having the location of the action (mostly) restricted to a particular building, in both texts the characters' Gothic horrors are directly connected to said buildings. In "Fear, Itself", Gachnar's symbol is drawn on the floor of the house, and his sphere of influence seems to be restricted to the house. In The Castle of Otranto, the curse on Manfred's lineage is due to him taking over the castle which was not rightly his, not to mention the fact that this curse manifests itself in large legs walking around and helmets falling from the sky. Despite this correlation between the structures and the horrors, the character's true problems come from within themselves. It's already been discussed at length how the Scoobies' fears manifest themselves in the house and create the horrors they encounter there, but likewise, as I commented on Dylan's post, Manfred causes one of his own worst horrors when he accidentally kills his daughter after mistaking her for Isabella. His insane fear that his lineage will not survive causes him to kill his own offspring.

I opened my computer an hour ago [that was, 3pm] and thought "I'll check facebook for a quick bit of procrastinating before I write my final blog post!" I thought I'd check for notifications, and read a few top posts on the feed — my average facebook visit is under five minutes.

I found out that a friend of mine from high-school died. It's been five months since we graduated. He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Maine. And now he's gone.

I don't want any comments about your sympathies. I couldn't fish for that. I understand; how could you read this and not feel sympathetic? I'm merely trying to figure it out and get work done at the same time. After all, death is a gothic theme; and while my relationship with him was not as close as Willow's and Xander's to Buffy, but I wouldn't hesitate to pull him out of Heaven back onto this Hellish earth, knowing full well what I've done.

I hope you don't think I'm being callous for doing this. I'm crying while I type this. Blurring the lines between my life and personal emotions and my schoolwork. I suppose that's the beauty of a blog; and slightly gothic, too. I might not even post this. But I don't know if it would be more callous to write the blogpost I was planning on without mentioning Martin. I'm going to be thinking about him for the rest of the day. Writing does help me cope with things. I can't pretend nothing has happened, and I can't not write this blog post. Or, I could, but....

I'm going to go blow my nose and wash my face now. And then leave the library.

I do wonder how this will change my relationship to the Gothic.
————————————————————————————————

Years ago, Martin and I made a Gothic/Adventure Film Parody. I was the Chosen One, of course, fighting Mustached Vampires in an old abandoned castle. The work was more heavily influenced by fighting films—the director (another friend) was a big fan of Terentino and the Matrix—but it was not without Gothic influence. You can watch it here, if you want a 20 minute time-waster. Look out for a dead seal. (It's not the highest production value, but you should be used to that after our group projects...).

As I said, I can't avoid Martin's death. And as much as my knee-jerk reaction is to hide under my covers for a month, I can't avoid living my life either, including writing this blog post. So I can only do both at once, in the most sincere and respectful way I know how.

I wasn't super close to Martin, but he was a friend, not an acquaintance. I would be shocked if anyone from my high school died, but there are only a handful I would cry for. It's made worse by the fact that, as I was frequently annoyed by Martin, I wouldn't make an effort to spend time with him. I hardly saw him senior year. That doesn't mean I liked him any less: one of the times we ran into each other in the hall, we had an awkward hug. I miss him.

I'd guess I'm not the only person in this class who has lost a friend our age. I'm sure Janelle has. It's different than losing older relatives, or even a pet. I knew I'd outlive my cat, I knew he had cancer. I cried. And life goes on.

I've never been good at imagining death. And so now it hits me very hard that Martin is just the first. All my friends will die. I don't want to cry for them too.

And so to Gothic literature. It's not much of a leap for me; I love Buffy, and am a fan of the Gothic style. Even if I wasn't taking this class, I might go watch a Buffy episode to cheer myself up—though I'd be thinking about Mustached Vampires the whole time. These authors we read must have all had friends who died. Yet they through in death so casually. Do they forget how it feels? Certainly not.

I can't say I truly know how it feels. It's only been two hours. It hasn't really adjusted to my life yet.

I think death in Gothic literature is related to the reason why Whedon has everyone sing. We can be overblown about it. And by being so blatant, we can be trivial and light about it. We can throw in some humor in our other-wise serious Gothic novel, and legitimately laugh about it.

Writing doesn't just help me cope, it's the only thing I can do right now, sitting as I wait to go home Saturday and praying I won't be too late for the funeral. And still hoping the whole thing is some hoax, a joke blown horribly out of proportion, before the good old crew could bring in the crowd control, with me standing at the side, watching and laughing. Like it used to be. I miss them all.

Gothic. Singing. Perhaps it's like that with some Gothic authors. A way to cope; not just with death, but with fears, with transformations in society.

What crazy things did we get up to? I can't even think of them now. What stories can I tell about Martin? He battled in the local hardware store (I sort of cleaned up after him). We jumped off bridges into the ocean. I fucking set him up with his first girlfriend. He wasn't a big fan of society himself, or rather, he was open to showing how crazy it could be by being even crazier. We were in Amnesty International together. We never got anything done.

I've decided one of the worst things that can happen is having a friend die, without knowing if he (or she) knows that you'll be thinking of him (her). Martin and I didn't talk as much as we used to senior year: I was busy with mostly AP classes, and their homework, and Martin and I didn't even have the same lunch periods. We talked maybe once after graduation. Five months ago. He used to annoy me, as I said, by being the epitome of a pretentious hipster silently judging without even meaning to or trying. And I never got to make it clear, not recently, what a profound impact he had on my life, or how often I think of him. I showed Mustache Story to my dorm.

I pride myself on being the kind of guy who grows up to be the crazy "uncle" of his best friends' kids. As much beef as I gave Martin, I would have wanted him, or expected him, to be the crazy uncle of my kids, if I ever have any. He'd be better than any Van Helsing.

The Gothic contains a blend of romance and death. They seem to be pretty similar things. When you're in love, when you first come to acknowledge that there's a special person in your life, so many little things remind you of that person. When someone you loves dies—it's the same thing.

Where do we go from here?

I had planned on tying this episode in to "Tabula Rasa" and exploring where the Buffy cast goes from here—to a blank slate rather than dealing—and then to dealing. But after I checked facebook, I ask the question, instead of answering it. And I mostly failed at relating this to the gothic, but you may have your own ideas about it all. (And I'm aware, that even though this was an interesting idea to explore, I could have done it better, if I waited a while and edited it, for example—and that you'll protest that I'm being too humble, that it doesn't need to be better explored—but that won't make it any less true, and I don't care. What I mean by that—there's so much more analysis that can be done. About the Gothic. About Singing. About Death. But I'm exhausted and can't think too deeply anymore, and I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions, and I don't care—even though I'd love to, for my own sanity, draw up everything in a neat, tidy end, like Dracula. Damn, if I was actually trying to write this, it could be pretty good.)

Where do we go, from here?

————————
I'm not planning on this being my last post. I've wanted, for a while now, to do a "What is Steampunk and how does it relate to Gothic?" piece, as the resident expert. I think it would interest y'all, and be very relevant to the class. At the rate things are going, it might be a while... and I might never get to it. But I'd like to think I will.

The only thing I'd request from you, is that you don't comment unless you actually have something to say or add, something which has nothing to do with me. I hate imposing myself on others and their feelings, and I've clearly done that if I've gone ahead and posted this anyway. I also hate telling people that I hate imposing myself, because it feels fake, like I'm trying to make myself feel better or more humble—I'm saying I hate it, but clearly I'm doing it. I can't throw my life on a pedestal for the purpose of exploring something like the Gothic's relation to death in front of the whole world and still be humble. It's not a humble thing to do, to show my feelings so publicly. It has nothing to do with humility.

Why does death bring us together? Why can't we be together before? Why don't we know how important it is to keep our community close until times like these? Because then we are conflicted: we want to be together, but we feel bad. Why the fuck does death bring communities together?

Time is weird. I can't edit this right now, there's no truth in anything I can think about it anymore, and while it does end rather messily, I've read it over and it's okay. And it's a blog. ...for those of you that have read, thank you. Also for Janelle, thank you for giving me this outlet, even if I did abuse it a little.

"The Replacement" - An Educational Episode

“The Replacement” is a conventional Buffy episode…NOT! Why start my blog post off like that? Glad you asked! This little joke mimics the episodic trajectory of “The Replacement” because it sets up a likely premise and then suddenly subverts it. The episode performs this same trick by intimating that Xander’s doppelganger is Toth in disguise and then revealing that this is NOT the case. In reality Xander’s doppelganger is the physical manifestation of “different properties” of his character. This actual explanation comes as a genuine surprise because it inverts our expectations given Buffy’s typical manifestation of the supernatural. Through this intentional obfuscation, the episode discusses the importance of “knowing thyself,” a prevalent concern in contemporary society, with a relatively small pinch of gothic spice.

This surprise twist makes us recognize that through our study of gothic texts we have unconsciously gained the ability to suspend our disbelief in order to learn about society and ourselves. This episode, through its unpredictable nature, forces us to be actively aware of this inculcation. Even though this doppelganger scenario takes root in supernatural forces, it actually brings us back to “reality” so that we are not simply carried away by the presence of monsters or the intricacies of Buffy’s story line. The structure of this episode explores the only remaining “shock factor” untouched previously in the preceding four seasons, and in doing so reminds us of our own role in the gothic genre: to be skeptical and curious about the dark and paranormal elements around us so that we may gain an understanding of society and the way we fit into it.

Once the structure of the episode grabs our attention, we are able to examine “The Replacement’s” use of the doppelganger convention. Like “Transformation,” this episode depicts a doppelganger that accomplishes good deeds. Xander’s doppelganger secures a job promotion, buys a new apartment, and sweeps Anya off her feet. As Xander puts it to Willow, “A demon has taken my life from me and he’s living it better than I do.” These achievements are similar to the dwarf’s triumphs of regaining Torella’s affection and winning back Juliet’s hand in marriage. Even though Xander and Guido share the same initial reaction, to kill their respective doppelgangers, they do not partake in similar final responses. By the end of the episode Xander accepts his doppelganger as the physical incarnation of his suave and professional characteristics. By aligning himself with his doppelganger, Xander learns how to become a well-rounded person. The presence of the doppelganger is vital to his self-understanding because prior to this encounter Xander does not see his full potential. Xander’s doppelganger explicitly assures him that he is adept at being professional:

XANDER
Now, hold on a sec. If you weren't putting
the whammy on people with the shiny thing?
How did you do it? How'd you get the promotion?

XANDER-DOUBLE
Well I'm good at that stuff.

XANDER
I am?

XANDER-DOUBLE
Yeah.

Thus, from Xander’s acceptance of his doppelganger, he learns how to be the best version of himself. Buffy notes towards the end of the episode that, “[Xander and his double] are kind of…the same now.” This quotation illustrates how Xander successfully evolves in light of his doppelganger experience. Xander’s doppelganger encounter shows us that the solutions to all our insecurities are already present within us, as long as we are open to receiving them.

Smile, Even Though It's Finals Week!

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

A Lesson Before Doppelganging

Much like Guido, Willow does not change after she encounters her doppelganger, VampWill. Although VampWill presents her with the opportunity to see herself externally, she does not fully embrace these observations to amend her internal self-suppression. The fact that she turns into DarkWillow later in the series illustrates this lack of internalization. In my opinion, the reason she does not learn from VampWill is because Willow views her as separate from herself rather than the manifestation of her evil side. Willow makes this delusional assessment in spite of Xander and Buffy’s assertions that VampWill is Willow:

WILLOW
This is creepy. I don't like the
thought that there's some vampire
out there that looks like me.

XANDER
Not looks like -- is.

BUFFY
It was you, Willow, in every detail.

Instead, Willow continually struggles with this idea that she and VampWill are one in the same. At first her rejection of this unity manifests itself subtly in her language. For example, Willow says, “What are we gonna do with…me? Other me.” This quotation illustrates how Willow modifies her speech to reflect her own disagreement regarding their relatedness by linguistically removing VampWill from herself. However, by the end of the episode Willow strongly and intentionally declares that VampWill is a separate entity from herself: “I mean, she’s not me – we have a big nothing in common.” This statement contradicts other elements of the text that point to the opposite conclusion, such as the fact the VampWill is gay and later Willow turns out to be gay.

This outright denial of VampWill as her alter ego confounds Willow’s ability to actually learn from this doppelganger encounter. Even though Willow seems to potentially gain some knowledge of herself from this experience, but she does not actually follow through with the lesson. When impersonating VampWill she says of herself, “She’s so weak and accommodating. It’s pathetic – she lets everyone walk all over her and then she gets cranky at her friends for no reason.” This quotation appears to be evidence of a progression in her self-comprehension, but perhaps Willow is merely imagining VampWill’s opinion of her rather than expressing an understanding of her own flaws in light of interacting with her doppelganger. Her meeting with Percy at the end of the episode provides evidence for this hypothesis because she reverts back to her goody-goody ways by attempting to apologize for not having his paper written. Thus, either she briefly learns something about herself from VampWill and promptly forgets or she never gains any self-comprehension in the first place.

As a result of this misguided conception of her connection to VampWill, Willow is fated to become DarkWillow in the future. She does not actually learn how to be more assertive or aggressive because she does not recognize that the moral of the story is the moral of her story. At very best, Willow comes to acknowledge that there are other avenues to success besides virtue. For her initial statement, “I see now where the path of vice leads. [VampWill] messed up everything she touched. I don’t ever wanna be like that,” proves to be wrong when Percy behaves. However, she hardly adopts this badass lifestyle as a replacement to her doormat disposition. The concluding scene of “Doppelgangland” gives the impression that Willow views Percy’s compliancy as a fortunate coincidental byproduct of VampWill’s actions that she is happy to take advantage of in the moment. The episode does not intimate that she grasps the importance of expressing her darker side on a regular basis in order to avoid becoming evil. Fortunately, from Guido and Willow’s failures, we learn the significance of holistic self-expression and the benefits of living a balanced life through moderation. Thus, the lessons from the presence of the dwarf and VampWill render the need for our own doppelganger encounters unnecessary.

"Once More With Feeling" and The Nutcracker

I really enjoyed "Once More With Feeling."  Like a lot of people, I found the lack of musical talent a little painful to listen too; however, I thought this episode was one of the most "Gothic" episodes we've watched this year.  Like The Nutcracker, it didn't provide a neat solution to the underlying discomfort that characterized it.  While the demon, or devil, left at the end of the episode and stopped forcing the inhabitants of Sunnydale to sing and dance whenever they faced problems in their life, it created more questions than it answered and left the audience with an unresolved sense of dissatisfaction.

As Janelle told us in class, "Once More With Feeling" is a revelatory episode.  It brings to the surface all of the underlying tensions and problems in the Scooby Gang which will be resolved, one way or another, in "Tabula Rasa."  Although the cheery "musical" tone of the episode initially obscures many of these issues, it provides an important commentary about the state of the relationships between the members of the Scooby Gang.  On the surface, the Scooby Gang is united in their fight against evil.  Yet, problems are clearly brewing.  In addition to the problems directly voiced by the members of the Scooby Gang, the episode reveals that the bonds holding the Scooby Gang together are slowly breaking down after six years together.  While singing helps the Gang's members finally speak about the issues that have been troubling them, it also prevents them from listening to those of their friends.  Buffy's training session with Giles most clearly demonstrates this fact.  Giles pours his heart out in song about the fact that he feels he must leave Buffy in order to make her a stronger and more independent person though he knows it will pain him.  Buffy doesn't hear a word.  Instead, she is training and, when Giles finishes singing, says, "I'm sorry.  Did you say something?"  Xander and Anya have a similar experience during their number.  Although each finally vocalizes his/her fears about the future and the durability of their relationship, it is very clear that they don't hear or acknowledge each other's feelings.  In short, the singing allows the characters to vocalize their problems but prevents them from addressing those of their friends.  As such, it serves as a purely divisive force.

I suppose one could say that "Once More With Feeling" has a happy ending.  The demon leaves and Sunnydale returns to normal.  However, he isn't really vanquished.  The tensions his singing revealed still exist and will lead to the rupture of the Scooby Gang in "Tabula Rasa."  Similarly, nobody recognizes or addresses Buffy's depression.  Although Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara discuss it in "Tabula Rasa" they don't really try to act on it.  Additionally, they fail to recognize or try to stop Buffy's self-destructive behavior for the rest of Season 6.  As such, the demon's visit effectively sets in motion the events that lead to the destruction of the Scooby Gang.  He cannot successfully be vanquished because the effects of his visit will last and continue to wreak havoc.  Despite the episode's seemingly happy ending, the audience is left with a feeling of uneasiness.  In my opinion this is what makes the episode truly Gothic.  This ending reflects the realism of the real world problems that the Gothic genre seeks to address.  Social problems cannot be solved easily in an episode, or a book.  They require work and often continue to exist.  "Once More With Feeling" acknowledges this by revealing the problems that will play out during the rest of the Season and maybe the rest of the show's run on television.  There is no indication that they will neatly be solved or will be met with happy endings.  The Gothic genre is about addressing and confronting real-world problems.  "Once More With Feeling" certainly does this.

The Nutcracker serves as a good analogue to "Once More With Feeling," or, I guess, one could say vice versa.  Like "Once More With Feeling," The Nutcracker's ending, for all intents and purposes, is happy. However, it also leaves its audience feeling dissatisfied and unsettled.  The text reveals the presence, or the possible presence, of the problems surrounding Marie.  Marie's parents not only dismiss her adventures with the the nutcracker as the figment of her imagination but they seem unconcerned that these adventures have harmed her.  Most importantly, the story suggests the possibility that she is being sexually abused by her godfather; however, it doesn't provide a clearly happy ending to this situation.  Instead of becoming a strong and independent woman, Marie falls in love with her godfather's nephew, who is clearly many years older than her, at the age of seven and marries him at the age of eight.  Like "Once More With Feeling" the ending leaves the reader feeling like there are unresolved issues that cannot and will not be addressed.  Consequently, I believe "Once More with Feeling" and The Nutcracker are the most "Gothic" texts that we "read" this semester because they react realistically to the social problems that they discuss.

Fear, Itself

I really disliked “Fear, Itself” and therefore have had trouble writing a blog post for it (I also got confused as to which episodes we were supposed to blog about). I’m not entirely sure why I’ve had so much trouble sitting down to write about it, I suppose part of it is that I don’t find the plot of this episode as witty as some of Joss Whedon’s other work. He uses a quintessential haunted house as the setting for an episode, which has a very anticlimactic ending, that he obviously did on purpose, but I still dislike it. In many ways, this is the closest that Whedon comes to critiquing Gothic tradition because he creates a the most stereotypical setting of all time and adds the most stereotypical antagonist of all: fear. Gothic tradition is based on the confrontation of fears and the fear of the unknown, which is precisely what this episode is about. Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Oz are forced into confronting their worst fears, but the end result isn’t that they actually dealt with their fears, rather they kill a little monster. Although it is clear that Whedon made the demon so small in order to demonstrate how inconsequential their fears are, the characters don’t actually deal with them or truly realize the implications of the episode. I don’t remember exactly how the rest of the season progresses from that point, but I don’t think that Buffy ever loses her fear of not succeeding.

Once More, With Feeling

Perhaps I have spent one semester too long watching avant-garde film, but I couldn’t help but compare the self-awareness that Joss Whedon wrote into “Once More, With Feeling” with the work of Yvonne Rainer. It goes beyond what I said in class about her performances of choreographed dances with natural movements. The idea that “life’s a show and we all play our parts” is something that Rainer works with as well. The idea that life is both a ‘show’, but at the same time “life is just this, it’s living”. This balance between acting the way you’re supposed to, but being honest with yourself and others is challenging and something that Yvonne Rainer’s work addresses as well. Although we go about our daily activities, which seem normal, we are really performing a continuous dance, whether it is for ourselves or for others depends on the person and situation. Sharon Lockhart is a filmmaker who was very influenced by Rainer and a lot of her work uses this same idea of choreography versus naturalism. Her film NŌ (2003) is about Japanese farmers working on their field. It initially appears very natural, until it becomes apparent that that are staying within a very strict frame to compensate for the camera and their movements are actually in accordance with Lockhart’s instructions. The balance between playing a part and dealing with real-life problems is challenging because we want to place people in little defined boxes so we know what to expect of them. When the normal routine of our daily lives fails, we are left without a routine and without a ‘manual’ on how to deal with the situation. This episode dramatizes the ‘show’ aspect of our lives in order to bring out the unexpected and awkward secrets that everyone has been keeping.
This breaking of the pattern is part of what the Gothic tradition deals with. Previously we’ve only referred to it as a way of dealing with the contemporary fears, but fears are really what is outside our pattern and known spheres, which is exactly what Buffy and the Scooby gang are dealing with. Buffy is afraid of her friends finding out that she was really in heaven, Willow is afraid of losing Tara, and Giles is afraid of what will happen when he leaves. For this episode, instead of the ‘big bad’ being a supernatural creature or manifestation of a fear, the characters must deal with their fear of confronting each other and their personal problems.

"Gingerbread" - More Than a Yummy Cookie

Much like The Turn of the Screw, “Gingerbread” obfuscates the line between the normative and the supernatural. On one hand there is the potential murder of two children with a police investigation, and on the other hand there is the Hansel and Gretel fairytale enacted by a demon. The ambiguity of this dichotomy is unsettling in its own right, however the effect of this grayness on the characters in the episode is arguably more frightening. For, in keeping with the typical Buffy trajectory, Buffy kills the demon at the end of the episode clarifying the initial discrepancy between the worldly and paranormal hypotheses. However, the crazed collective consciousness performed by MOO still lingers as a real potential threat that could come about at any time. The fact that the viewers recognize this mob mentality as a persistent human danger once the supernatural framework dissolves makes this episode effectively gothic.

Nonetheless, it is interesting how the supernatural schema of this episode enables all the characters to forgive and forget MOO’s actions. To a certain extent, this response is understandable, after all Hansel and Gretel had the citizens of Sunnydale under a magical trance. However, this stupor is nearly identical in force to the illusions created by real charismatic leaders. As a result, the episode gives the impression that such magic is not really needed to incite collective consciousness against supernatural practitioners or minority groups. After all, the Salem Witch Trials and the Holocaust provide historical evidence for this intimation.

Still, collective consciousness is not always bad in nature. For instance, the Civil Rights movement exemplifies positive action performed by a large group of people to achieve constructive goals of equality. Thus, this episode guides the conversation about actual worldly fears beyond the threat of negative mob mentality to the general issue of how society manifests its desire for “justice”. From the content of “Gingerbread,” viewers are forced to consider if there is an alternative to playing the blame-game in order to feel self-righteous. The problem then becomes society’s initial antiquated response to injustice, which Joyce expresses at the town meeting, “I say we start by finding the people who did this and making them pay.” Thus, “Gingerbread” incites a conversation about the expression of society’s longing for justice by identifying the flaws in its current manifestation through supernatural circumstances.