"Living Conditions" vs. "Carmilla"

I’d like to take my blog time to discuss the effectiveness of “Carmilla” and Buffy at creating compelling and thought provoking reactions in the audience by comparing Laura and Carmilla’s relationship to that of Buffy and Kathy.

As an authorial note I think it is important to state that I have not seen Buffy prior to this class. As a result my opinions regarding Buffy are not nearly as holistic as my thoughts on “Carmilla”. I am curious if those of you who have followed the series will find that my argument is flawed because I lack a greater knowledge of the show. However, I hope that my claims will be valid because “Living Conditions” is an independent/isolated episode.

In my opinion, Laura and Carmilla’s friendship is more successful than Buffy and Kathy’s at crafting a Gothic web that ensnares and captivates the audience because of the “moral grayness” present in their companionship. Even though Carmilla is a vampire, she and Laura care for each other and have a true camaraderie. When we discover that Carmilla is making Laura sick from sucking her blood, we also come to realize that she is doing it with the intent of turning Laura into a vampire. This human-like love makes Carmilla’s murder at the end of the story particularly moving and compelling. Their “gray” bond also causes the end of “Carmilla” to be all the more frightening - that a true and valued friend could be a vampire is a very scary thought and a Gothic triumph for LeFanu.

On the other hand, although Kathy as a character is “gray,” in that she is going to college to make friends and get an education rather than reek demonic havoc, her relationship with Buffy is not gray; in fact, it is black and white, simply good versus evil. Even though their relationship has the potential at the beginning of the episode (at least in Kathy’s eyes) of being like Laura and Carmilla’s, it swiftly becomes one rife with contention. Buffy rejects Kathy’s statement, “we’re almost like sisters now that we live together,” and instead decides to perpetuate opposition and deem Kathy an evil threat. Since the threat that Kathy actually poses – the stealing of the soul – is beyond the human realm of relatability, it is scary but not necessarily compelling like the “gray morality” in Laura and Carmilla’s friendship. Moreover, it is not particularly moving when Kathy is brought back to her world at the end of the episode. Granted, getting sent home is not the same as being murdered; yet even if Kathy were killed, which was Buffy’s intent, there would not have been the same emotive response in the audience because Kathy’s “grayness” was not as tangible as Carmilla’s nor was it accepted by Buffy. In my opinion, this episodic trajectory of good versus evil creates unfortunate limitations in Gothic form, which is otherwise expansive in its “gray” possibilities.