Who is the Storyteller?

The Buffy episode “Storyteller” demonstrates how stories are both “entertaining and educating”, as Andrew tells us in the beginning. Andrew’s goal while filming Buffy as she prepares to face off against a vampire army and the inevitable Apocalypse is to record proof of her powers as the Slayer and tell her story. Furthermore, he wants to capture her success on camera so that the people of Sunnydale will be aware of all that she did for them. Andrew sees Buffy as a hero and a legacy that future generations need to know about. While everyone always wants to tell an interesting and captivating story, they also want to share an important lesson with the listeners. Andrew’s message in his movie is about how much Buffy sacrifices and how hard she works in order to repeatedly save the world from supernatural monsters. In order to accomplish this, however, Andrew and many other storytellers must dramatize and exaggerate their stories to paint a more outstanding picture and to capture the attention of their audience. Readers and listeners must always be aware of storytelling bias. When Andrew is confronted with the guilt of killing his best friend, he ends up changing his story multiple times to justify why he did it and remove himself from blame. Therefore, we can never fully be sure that what the narrator says is in fact the truth of how things unfolded.