Suspension of Disbelief

In the episode Tabula Rasa, in which the main characters of Buffy lose their memories temporarily, but still retain some of their basic personality traits, the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, seems to be making a point about the concept of the suspension of disbelief that is an essential part of Gothic media. Just as Buffy retains her “slayer” abilities and instincts while she has lost her memory, so too do the rest of the characters readily accept that they are living in a world where monsters exist despite having any prior knowledge of this fact. Whedon seems to be saying that regardless of situation, this is an undeniable part of the Gothic, that both the audience and characters within the story must accept that they are inhabiting a world separate from reality, in which monsters and the paranormal are facts of life. This theme relates directly to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, in which the protagonist, Catherine Morland, bored with the uneventful life of occupying a large castle, decides to apply the rules of the world within her precious Gothic novels to the real word, creating her own adventures.

Returning to Buffy, Whedon, in another display of self-awareness, also appears to be making a statement about characters in the Gothic, literature in general, and perhaps even reality, that people or characters are who they are, regardless on memory or situation. Buffy and the “Scooby gang” are heroic and individual personalities despite their disabilities in this episode.