"Fear Itself"

I wish we had watched “Fear Itself” right before Halloween so I could have gotten some costume ideas. However, the theme of fear can be discussed year-round. We all have fears, a lot of which we hide from other people. By doing this, we actually hurt ourselves more by isolating ourselves from people who care and could help us conquer our sometimes irrational worries. In this episode, everyone’s greatest fear becomes reality. Buffy thinks she is alone in the world and unworthy of love or friendship, which makes her turn inward, away from her friends who want to be there for her. Therefore, she gets separated from those who can help her defeat the Big Bad in this episode. In the frat house turned house of horror, Xander’s worst fear portrays itself in the guise of him being invisible to everyone around him. As all of his friends move on to college and bigger and better things, Xander feels lesser than them and worries that he will simply be left behind and forgotten. This fear is manifested in him being invisible and useless in helping his friends escape the terrifying house. Willow’s greatest fear is that she is not a powerful or successful witch. She also doubts that her friends have faith in her ability and don’t take it seriously. Following the guideline that what one fears is manifested in the frat house, when she attempts a simple spell, Willow is chased by her haywire tracking spell. Finally, Oz is terrified of losing control of the werewolf inside of him and hurting someone he cares about, especially Willow. Therefore, he secludes himself inside a bathroom to try and regain his humanity. Each character, not other characters or external forces, gives power to their own fears and makes them into reality in the frat house. Because we worry so much about something internally, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is ultimately our downfall in which we succumb to our fears. Everyone in this episode is so afraid of how their friends see them that they don’t realize that they are obviously friends for a reason and it is completely normal for everyone to be afraid of something. The only thing that matters is how much power we give to our fears. For example, Catherine in “Northanger Abbey” lets her imagination and fear get away from her and allows her worries to create a much more sinister abbey. In Buffy, the characters’ fears make the fake plastic spiders and skeletons come to life until they are faced with a demon that is mere inches tall. Once faced with a not so scary monster, they can put their fears into perspective, conquer them, and move on.