Back when we had to choose an article about Buffy, I chose one exploring the show’s use of fashion and color. I’d like to refer back to that article, entitled “Real Vampires Don’t Wear Shorts: The Aesthetics of Fashion in Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and written by Leigh Clemons, for my final blog.
Clemons discusses the final song in “Once More, With Feeling” in which each of the characters is wearing an outfit based around a different color of the rainbow. When reading the article I had trouble picturing this, as it had been a while wince I’d seen this episode. I was expecting each character in bright, blatantly colorful ensembles, but this is about the only subtle moment in the episode. Nevertheless, I think it is an effective image. The moment serves accentuate the different directions each character will soon be taking (or have already started down) after this climactic episode that can be seen as a turning point for the series.
The two best examples of this are Buffy in red and Willow in purple. Willow is seen in purple from the start of the season, as her decent into darkness begins. She has already abandoned the brighter, warmer colors she wore through most of season five, and the shade of violet she wears during “Where Do We Go From Here” is about as bright as she gets until the episode “Seeing Red”, when her white shirt is splattered by Tara’s blood. Red is a warm color that also has dark connotations of lust and devil-like behaviors. Buffy in red represents her feeling that, since being dragged out of heaven by her friends, her life is really hell. Spike is also dressed in red, so Buffy’s red top also reflects the beginning of her fling with him. Besides these two (or three, if you count Spike) obvious color choices, the rest of the characters are less obvious. It seems that the others were dressed not to represent a specific emotion, but to show contrast between two characters by dressing them in contrasting colors. In each contrasting pair, one is about to leave the other: Giles, in green to contrast Buffy’s red, is about to withdraw support from her fight; Tara’s bright yellow stands out against Willow’s purple; and Xander’s orange foreshadows that he will be leaving his bride-to-be, dressed in something blue, at the alter.
I’ll end this post by addressing the question raised in class: why was this episode chosen to be a musical? I think the reason was to unsettle us. We hear rising music and see coordinating dancing and expect happy endings. But there were no happy endings to be found, which leaves us with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Buffy’s entire purpose is really to modernize the gothic genre, and make fun of it at times. It seems fitting that the last episode we watched in class brings another genre, that of musical theater, into the work to alter to suite the purpose of the series.
Clemons, Leigh. "Real Vampires Don’t Wear Shorts: The Aesthetics of Fashion in Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies. Web. 12 Dec. 11.
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