Storyteller

By comparing the character Andrew from the Buffy episode Storyteller, to the protagonist of Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland, one can see just how Joss Whedon, the creator of the series was influenced by Jane Austen’s Gothic novel. In Storyteller, Andrew, a captive of the Scooby Gang due to various crimes committed in the past, decides to document Buffy’s battle against an impending apocalypse. Similar to the way in which Morland creates her own Gothic world based on her readings, Andrew fabricates large parts of his documentary to add entertainment value. The camera that Andrew carries around for the episode is essentially a metaphor for the particular biased lens that he sees the world through, as the camera only records when Andrew wants it to, so he can shape the world around him in any way he sees fit. An example of this is the multiple takes of Spike Andrew captures, each one demonstrating a different version of the vampire, as the viewer of the documentary, not the episode as a whole, only can form an opinion on Spike based on a very brief clip. The episode as a whole demonstrates the power a narrator has to shape a story in the manner that he sees fit, and how this ability can entirely affect the way in which an audience can interpret events.