Duality in "Doppelgangland

So in this episode, Buffy and her pals tackle a problem that I find applicable in both a Gothic and everyday sense. The idea that there is a “good” and a “bad,” or a least a dark and a darker side in all of us. Joss Whedon’s approach to duality is most obvious in Willow. Her dominatrix of a doppelganger contrasts starkly to the fuzzy, pink, “Old Yeller” version. However Will, as well as much of the gothic literature we have covered contains several less obvious, but equally prominent binaries.

Willow’s duality is more than just the switch from plaid to pleather. Her doppelganger is representative of not necessarily an entirely evil side, but rather several aspects of herself that she has yet to discover. The most eminent of these is her sexuality. This is the first episode in which Willow says, “I think I’m kinda gay.” As VampWill is walking through The Bronze, the woman whose hair she runs her fingers through is Tara. The doppelganger literally gets all tangled up in her, an obvious foreshadowing. If doppelgangers were simply an opposite representation of self, than Willow rather than her darker counterpart would have done this. But because it was VampWillow, the viewer can fully understand the doppelganger as more of an unexplored self. As a vampire, the alternate Willow is no stranger to the dark arts. This is very different from just plain (as plain as a witch can be I suppose) Willow, who begins the episode simple suspending a pencil in midair. Again, this duality is not black and white, rather a gray area for Willow to explore.

In terms of sexuality, Willow and VampWillow remind me of the disparity between the character of Dracula. One one hand Dracula is dead, a shell of the man he once was. He sleeps in a coffin and lurks in the night. However, to stay alive he must suck the blood of his victims, an act portrayed by Stoker as extremely sensual, and nothing short of lively. Though Willow is very much alive, sexually a part of her might as well be undead in this episode. It is only through VampWillow that she begins to see herself in a more sensually liberated sense.

Looking further into both this episode and our literature, we can find many other doppelgangers like these. For example, Faith and Buffy, Guido in “Transformation,” Carmilla and Laura in “Carmilla.” I look forward to discussing the ultimate in doppelgangers, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. Though I’ve never read it, I was in the chorus of a rather sad community theater production of the musical version. I guess it just goes to show, there is no escaping the Gothic anywhere in our lives.

As an aside, for those of you with a penchant for embarrassing the “wiggins” out of me, no video evidence of this show remains.

You know who you are.