In the episode Storyteller, Buffy once again pokes fun at it’s own melodrama through the ingenious “movie within a movie” concept through Andrew’s character. As I watched this episode, I was more fascinated by what it represents for the series than the plot lines. The idea that a show based on a parody could evolve into something like this is telling. When Buffy began (as we saw in Nightmares) the show relied on a traditional villain (the Nosferatu-like master) and a traditional stereotype of the blonde cheerleader. Although Buffy, yes, is a slayer, she also expressly wishes to be a part of the high school social sphere, try out for cheerleading, going to the Bronze. She is an amalgamation of two seemingly contradictory stereotypes, yet, she expresses the wants and desires of both in her struggle to be both a high school student and a slayer.
By the time Andrew first appears to us in Storyteller, we see the transformation not only of Buffy but of the show. No longer is the show dependent on the traditional gothic villains or even the 90’s cheerleader persona. Buffy is now a complex mixture of dark and light that, thanks to the popularity and endurance of the show, is capable of becoming a character in her own right. Andrew’s comical video proves the transformation of both Buffy as a character and Buffy as a show from parodies of tradition to a new tradition in it’s own right.
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