Harmony of Personality in "The Replacement"

This idea of a doppelganger that is applied in this episode is much closer to the doppelganger of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde than seen in “Doppelgangland” because it uses the concept of splitting a person, rather than duplicating them. In the case of Willow in “Doppelgangland,” the two Willows are the same person, but extremes of her different traits. In “The Replacement” the two Xanders are, supposedly, the real Xander, but split into two halves of a whole. The same idea is true in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, since the experiment was meant to separate two sides of the same person into the ‘wild’ side and the ‘proper/academic’ side. However, despite the hypothetical separating of personality traits, neither the mature Xander from “The Replacement” or Dr. Jekyll are able to completely rid themselves of their ‘worse’ half within their better half. Xander is still goofy and odd, despite being more mature and assertive. Dr. Jekyll is still plagued by the desire to be wild and let out the Mr. Hyde aspect of himself, even though the separation is supposed to cure him of that.

I think that this is summed up well in “The Replacement” when the gang is curing Xander of this split and describe how it is natural for the two halves of him to be together. Although this doesn’t directly address the issue at hand, it does indirectly suggest a reason for why these overlaps are present. Essentially, it is impossible to truly separate your personality into two distinct halves, as proven in the two doppelganger episodes of Buffy and in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is unnatural for there to be such a complete separation within in a person, since the two halves of someone are supposed to work in harmony together to create a single entity that is balanced and whole. Without a system of checks and balances on ourselves there is no way that we can truly exist in a comfortable way. Even though there are times, such as with Anya, that the two halves conflict that is merely a way to prevent extremes.

This conflict that is seen between the two halves of Willow, Xander, and Dr. Jekyll are all stemming from the same source, the repression of a certain side due to the confines and expectations of society. For all of these characters, their ‘bad’ or ‘wild’ side isn’t necessarily evil, but rather rebels against social norms and expectations. I think that this is particularly evident in the case of Dr. Jekyll because he has such a strong side of him that was chafing against the restrictions of the Victorian Era. I think that this was the source of inspiration for a lot of the creative outlets seen during this time. Dracula addresses this idea of repression through the vampire and the contrast between Lucy and Mina, as well as by simply asking the reader to use their imagination and escape the mundane troubles of the world around them. Jane Austen uses imagination in the same way, as an outlet for the repressed side so that it doesn’t burst forth in the way that Mr. Hyde did. This concept of repression is such an overwhelming theme in Gothic literature because it was so evident in the society at the time and the expression of one’s repressed side was so feared by society. The fear of part of yourself leads to increased repression and also an unbalance in your character, causing conflict, rather than harmony, within yourself.

A Feminine Dracula

When Stocker presented his Dracula to the world, his vampire had “massive” eyebrows, “heavy moustache” over the mouth and “squat fingers”, a description that will undoubtedly bring a pure, rough muscular character to the reader’s mind. In the modern time, the popular vampire show Buffy brings Stocker’s Dracula back in its episode Buffy vs Dracula. In the show, the new Dracula took on a very different physical appearance, which reflects our current perception of Dracula. The new Dracula has no facial hair besides places of absolute necessity, such as the thin eyebrows and long gelled hair, long and thin fingers. The new Dracula has lost many of its strong masculinity cues, which makes him a lot more feminine compare to Stocker’s Dracula. This feminizing trend is due to the romanticizing of the Dracula character. One of key trait of Dracula is his ability to seduce women. In order to be seductive, he must look attractive to charm the ladies. The one described by Stocker just won’t sexually arise women on sight. Our logical reasoning, our resistance to accept the supernatural, creates this barrier. This is the exact problem that Van Housing and his team were facing when trying to identify Dracula. Even today, when we well know the story of Dracula, we expect a handsome vampire to seduce women because when the beautiful vampire is seducing the woman on TV, the audience is also been seduced to buy the story. And we are superficial beings, where magic plays very little part in our life and body image is everything.

The Heroine and The Addict

The thing that has stuck with me from “Tabula Rasa” (aside from the extremely grating quality of Michelle Branch’s voice), is how even when the Scooby Gang has no memory of who they were, they still retain certain aspects of themselves. According to Jacqueline Reid-Walsh, “the Gothic taps into unconscious needs and fears”(503). And though that is one of the more obvious points of the episode, I think by maintaining those attributes at the heart of his characters, particularly Buffy’s “I’ve got this under control” attitude and Willow’s attraction to Tara, Joss Whedon is making a larger statement about their roles in the show.

In her article entitled “Power Girl/Girl Power: The female action hero goes to high school: a review of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Reid-Walsh highlights how “young women...prefer stories with strong, active female protagonists”(503). Obviously, Buffy fits this description perfectly. She’s feisty, funny, and “has a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.” Buffy is on the surface, many things young girls should and do aspire to be. This idea is only perpetuated further as Buffy/Joan maintains these characteristics. Even though she knows nothing about herself, she still tries to be the ideal “ female protagonist” (503).

However, this episode shows Willow in a far less positive manner. The beginning depicts her as nothing short of a magic addict. Though she believes she is doing good, her actions are extremely selfish and almost immoral Young female viewers are far less likely to connect to Willow, as she is on a downward spiral in her life, though as the Scooby Gang, and especially Tara discover, it is difficult to dislike a formerly beloved character. It is also interesting to that when her mind is wiped clean, she retains not her attraction to magic, but her attraction to Tara. So in her most natural state, Willow’s “unconscious needs” are for love (503). A concept as fabled as magic, but far more true. So to return to this idea of the “unconscious,” “Tabula Rasa” solidifies this Gothic convention(503). It made me wonder what I would remember if my mind was magically wiped clean. I’d like to think that I would hold onto positive qualities, maybe even things I don’t know I have. As this episode shows us, sometimes it’s the things we take for granted that are actually the most important. These are the things we should get hooked on, not the superficial stuff.

Also, just so we’re clear. Drugs are bad. Live above the influence.

Power Girl/Girl Power: The Female Action Hero Goes to High School (A Review of the Television Show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Review by:Jacqueline Reid-Walsh and Krista Walsh

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , Vol. 42, No. 6 (Mar., 1999), pp. 502-503

Dominant Personalities: "The Replacement" and Hyde

After watching "The Replacement," I couldn't help but be struck by the dominance of Xander's "goofy" personality.  While "Suave" Xander was clearly part of Xander's overall identity, the "goofy" part generally overrides that aspect.  The episode visually confirms this when the Xanders are rejoined.  Instead of assuming "Suave" Xander's clean-cut appearance, the rejoined Xander maintains the disheveled and dirty appearance of his "goofy" side.  The episode also verbally confirms this interpretation.  Giles, seeing the two Xanders laughing and joking together, recognizes this before they are reconnected and remarks, "He's clearly a bad influence on himself."  Although these two sides of Xander are initially the complete opposites of one another - Xander even says of his "suave" side, "He can't be me.  He's too fancy" - they eventually embrace their inherent similarities.  In doing so, they essentially reconnect themselves and make Willow's job easier.  All she has to do is provide the magic that will reunite these two halves, for, as she tells them, "Your natural state is to be together."  As such, "The Replacement," like "Dopplegangland," plays with the idea that dopplegangers don't always represent the "evil" or "opposite" side of the original character.  Rather, "The Replacement," more specifically its treatment of Xander's doppleganger, imply that dopplegangers are the same "person" as their originator.  In fact, they merely represent the amplification of different aspects of that person's character.

Robert Louis Stevenson plays with a similar idea in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although Jekyll's relationship with his alter ego, Hyde, is incredibly different from that of the two Xanders, there are some notable similarities.  Jekyll, as he tells Utterson, initially performs his experiment because he wants to separate his "good" side from his "evil" side.  He does so because he believes it will bring him peace.  He tells Utterson that both sides of his nature represented his true self: "Both sides of me were in dead earnest; I was no more myself when I laid aside restraint and plunged in shame, than when I laboured, in the eye of day, at the furtherance of knowledge or the relief of sorrow and suffering" (78).  He becomes Hyde because it allows him to fully separate these disparate elements of himself, which previously fought against one another, and brings him peace.  He believes these personas will be completely different people and won't truly be cognizant of the other's actions: "The unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil" (79).  However, his experiences as Jekyll and Hyde teach him differently.  As he spends more and more time as Hyde, the connection between his "good" side and his "evil" side grow stronger.  In the end, the two become inextricably linked and Hyde gradually subsumes that of Jekyll.  He becomes aware of his actions as Hyde and must face their consequences.  While his two personalities begin to fight for control of Jekyll's body as if they are different people with different agendas, Jekyll comes to accept that he is responsible for Hyde and that Hyde represents a part of him.  He is reluctant to acknowledge the, "details of the infamy at which I thus connived (for even now I can scarce grant that I committed it," his words suggest he does recognize this suggestion.  He fights this knowledge and continues to refer to Hyde as if he was a distinct person.  What Jekyll failed to realize, and continued to fight until the end, were that Hyde and Jekyll were the same person; they were just different aspects of his original personality amplified differently.

In the end, Jekyll and Xander have completely different relationships with their dopplegangers.  Xander, although initially hostile to "suave" Xander, eventually learns to like him and appreciates what that side of his personality has to offer.  From his interactions, Xander becomes more mature and learns to become more confident and forceful.  At the same time, he retains his goofy personality.  In contrast, Jekyll learns that the "evil" and "good" sides of humanity are interconnected for a reason.  As Hyde gains power and begins to take over, Jekyll comes to regret his decision to separate the two and his excitement at the prospect.  He learns, as we talked about in class after "Dopplegangland," that people can't really be one or the other; they need their "good" and "evil" sides to be complete.

  

Types of Doppelgangers: In nice little categories. (I’m still confused by Transformation, guys.)

When I saw "The Replacement" I was struck by the difference between the Xander doppelgangers and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. Each Xander is like the whole Xander but with different aspects of his personality stressed. This contrasts with Mr. Hyde, who literally has no good traits, or is, essentially, a demon.

Kyle posted about how vampires are doppelgangers of their human selves, and this made me realize the similarities between these doppelgangers (Willow and Vamp Willow, Souled Angel and Unsouled Angel, Souled Spike and Unsouled Spike) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is like the demon vampires while Dr. Jekyll is like the holistic humans/souled vampires. Demon Anya and Human Anya also function like this, although Human Anya has trouble with not being a demon.

Then I realized that I was probably making the wrong comparison because none of these characters have main roles in "The Replacement" and started to think about how the Xanders are quite similar to Guido and the dwarf in Transformation. Both Xander and Guido are aided by their respective doppelganger incidents. It’s hard to say that Guido’s dwarf is him, but the dwarf’s appearance and voice mimic the ugliness in Guido’s character. Perhaps his ability to apologize to Juliet and her father to forgive him reflects Guido’s buried ability to do this himself. (Buried very deep, guys. Very deep.) Even so, this is not the most linear of comparisons. I think that in some ways the two Xanders are the most pure form of doppelgangers we have come across, although in some ways the least pure. If we define it so that two doppelgangers combined represent the whole character, then the Xanders come closest to doing this. If we define it so that one of the doppelgangers represents an extreme aspect of the character, then Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Anya, and the vampires are the closest. Guido and the dwarf seem to come somewhere in between because of the mystery surrounding the dwarf’s character.

Thinking about all of these different variations on doppelgangers made me wonder what a doppelganger pair that represented both extremes would be like, and also why we haven’t seen this before. Maybe it’s because the Gothic often deals with character ambiguity, since this ambiguity in regular people is a common everyday conundrum that everyone comes across. Maybe it’s just because if both doppelgangers were extremes there wouldn’t be a relatable character for the viewer/reader. Anyone have any thoughts?

Two better than one?

The part of the episode entitled The Replacement, a tale in which Xander gains a doppelganger, that I found to be most interesting was when Xander comments that his doppelganger, not an evil one, but rather a more motivated copy, accomplishes many of the things that Xander himself wishes he was capable of. This is the first time that I have seen a sort of “good” doppelganger appear in literature, TV, etc. and I found the conflicts that such a being presents to be fascinating to examine. What if each of us had another body that was indistinguishable from ourselves that went around doing all the things we wish we were bold enough to do? Would we be happy to sit idly and accept the credit for the actions of our doppelganger? Would we be motivated to go out and do these things ourselves, now equipped with the knowledge that some part of our being was capable of accomplishing these things? These are questions that I certainly don’t have an answer to, but ones that I found arose in both The Replacement and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In Stevenson’s novel, we see the brutal downside of unleashing an unrestricted and ambitious version of oneself, but in Buffy, Xander’s doppelganger does not go down this violent path, begging the question: are two better than one?

The Two Sides of Xander

While watching “The Replacement,” I firmly believed that “suave” Xander was a demon imposter. “Real” Xander, to me, was perfectly in his element while acting goofy and clumsy and looking ridiculously disheveled. However, as the episode unfolded, I was quite taken aback by the realization that both Xanders were actually two halves of the same whole. The biggest concept I’ve taken away from all our talk about dopplegangers this week was that dopplegangers, although very different from the true person, have many of the same underlying characteristics. For example, in “Dopplegangland,” as the episode progresses, Willow begins to identify more and more with her darker vampire half because those traits are innately inside of her, regardless of whether she acts like it or not. Yet. In today’s episode, Xander was split in two, distributing his strong points in “suave” Xander and his weaker traits in “real” Xander. However, when Xander is a whole, he still has both parts of his personality. We talked about in class how this shows a dominant personality trait. Xander is naturally more prone towards funny and goofy Xander. This is portrayed when both halves of Xander start hanging around each other and suave Xander starts using similar phrases and making more jokes like his messier half. Furthermore, when Xander is being combined into one person, his personalities jump right back into his goofier and disheveled looking body. This just further proves that although Xander has the confidence and smoothness of suave Xander, it is much more repressed than his quirky personality that I, personally, have grown to love. At least now, after this experience, Xander can realize and accept that he is capable of accomplishing a lot, just like he saw his other half do.

The Replacement or The Transformation

I looked up the word replacement and the best I came up with was: the action or process of replacing (to assume the former role, position, or function of). I find the title of the episode so interesting because it brings up the question what is being replaced? The obvious answer is Xander, but that leads to more questions. To make things even crazier, can a person be replaced by themselves? The word replacement implies two separate characters: one to replace, the other to be replaced.

Everyone has a fear of being replaced in some way, whether is a social or job-related context. In Xander’s case, he is being replaced by alt-Xander. At the beginning of the episode, we are given an overview of Xander’s life: he lives in his crazy parents’ basement, he is losing his job soon, and his girlfriend is beginning to realize that her life needs more purpose than anything Xander is able to provide. His terrible situation is comparable to Guido’s, who is broke, drunk, and completely alone. The two of them are unable to pick themselves up and it requires the appearance of a better version of themselves to motivate them. The dwarf and alt-Xander live their originals’ lives better than the originals could. The major difference, however, is the inherent characteristics of both Xander and Guido. Guido is self-serving and arrogant. He refuses to accept that any part of himself could be as twisted and repulsive as the dwarf. He finishes the short story just as obnoxious as he was before the dwarf appeared. There is no transformation, but rather, more of a replacement: the dwarf attempted to take over Guido’s life and Guido subsequently rids himself of the dwarf. Xander on the other hand seems to transform. The appearance of alt-Xander allows Xander to take control of his life and become a grown-up. At the end of the episode, he has an apartment, a promotion, and more confidence. Usually he is completely bullied by Anya, but in this episode, he finally restores some equality to the relationship. Xander seems to take more of a lesson from the doppelganger experience. I guess my overall point is that I find the fact that the titles of the episode and of the short story misleading. They force us to approach the two pieces with certain prejudices which turn out to be completely false.

Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

"The Replacement": An Unsatisfying Surprise

As someone who never watched Buffy before this class, I had never seen “The Replacement” before today. However, judging from its title, and the screen shot of the two Xanders on the title page, I thought I had a pretty good idea what it was going to be about. Xander, directionless and living in his parents’ basement, is dissatisfied with his life, but seems unable to change it. Suddenly, he is “replaced” by a demon that not only has his face, but is also better at his life than he is! I imagined a sort of Tom Sawyer-meets-A Christmas Carol situation, in which Xander watches his life proceed without him, and comes eventually to realize that, despite needing to be so often saved by the Scooby Gang, he does have something unique and valuable to offer the world. Of course, that’s not what happens, and I couldn’t help but be a little annoyed when Giles announces that both Xanders are the “real” Xander. The foreshadowing that the Suave Xander was some kind of imposter was so heavy, that I don’t see how the audience could have come to any conclusion, without Giles’ revelation. Now, I’m all for surprises, particularly in television, movies, and literature, but I feel that surprises are most satisfying when we can go back and look at the text and see that we were in fact lead toward the surprise, though we did not know it at the time. Otherwise, we feel cheated. In the case of “The Replacement,” I felt cheated.

Undiscussed Doubles

Though this is a minor point, I think it is important to mention. From the beginning of "The Replacement," Whedon foreshadows the significance that doubles will play in the episode. In the first scene, Riley and Xander are shown sitting next to one another on a couch, their respective girlfriend sitting between their knees. When Riley starts to massage Buffy's shoulders, Xander instantly mirrors his motion. However, instead of receiving the moan's of appreciative pleasure that Riley is able to coax from Buffy, Anya pulls away in pain. There is a sense that Xander tries to emulate Riley's actions as a boyfriend because he finds himself to be inadequate. While Riley is a strong, forceful fighter in the initiative, Xander is constantly being emasculated by his once-demon girlfriend and the female members of the Scooby Gang. Even Willow admits that "all of us save [Xander]". Throughout the episode, there is the recurring idea that Xander is failing at life. This is most exemplified in the scene in which Anya demands that Xander buy the house so that she doesn't have to visit him in a hovel where someone has urinated on the hot plate. By mimicking Riley, doubling his actions, Xander attempts to become a better boyfriend. Ultimately, though, Riley admits to Xander that he knows Buffy doesn't return Riley's affection. It is Anya and Xander whose relationship develops and improves throughout the episode. By ending with the scene in which Riley tells Xander that Buffy doesn't love him, Xander can start to understand that he should not be mimicking Riley's actions, but maybe getting to know himself better, maybe through his experience of split identities, that he can continue to grow and mature in a way that many of the other characters have.

Vampire-Dopplegangers.... next thing you'll be telling me about mole-rats or violincellos... oh wait...

One of the things that I struggled with the first time that I watched Buffy was the nature of the vampire in the show. Sometimes it seemed to change, by some unknown rules – I knew Whedon planned everything, for the most part, but I couldn’t figure out how the vampire, one of the most intrinsic parts of the show (the others being Buffy and Slayer), worked. Why were some vampires so dull, listless and easy to kill, while others were emotional and near human, stronger and full of personality? I didn’t want to accept the idea that – well, it is a TV show after all, it needs devices, so vampires important to the story get personality and are uber-hard to kill (like Angel, Spike, and The Master [remember him from “Nightmares”?), and normal vamps are mere things for Buffy to chase and dust.

Naturally, that is going to be partly true. But after talking about doppelgangers in class, I’ve thought of a new way out, a set of rules to describe how vampires work in Whedon’s universe. Vamp Willow held the key for me (not talking about Dawn here). Each vampire can be seen as an alter-ego of the human it used to be. Let’s face it: “normal” people in Buffy tend to be parodies of normal people in the real world, a little bit dull and uninteresting  and not-entirely-three-or-even-two-dimensional – and there are only so many ways to re-emphasize those qualities, so the “normal” vamps are also a bit dull, and easy to kill. Over the course of the series, we get to know more about pre-vamp Angel and Spike, and their vamp-selves certainly work as an alter-egos, either by emphasizing characteristics that conflicted with and were therefore hidden in their “human” personality, or by exaggerating and worsening character traits (in a way, a reverse Guido…). I don’t want to spoil things (mostly about Spike) for those of you who haven’t seen the show. Ask me if you want my less cryptic analysis….

So the vampires can be viewed like the dwarf in “Transformations”: they’re both technically demons, but also a rearrangement/re-emphasis of their human “doppleganger’s” personality.

Oz

The idea that a dopple ganger is really just another side to a person, and not necessarily their opposite is one of the things that I notice the most in this Buffy episode.

I think Joss Whedon found a brilliant way to introduce another side of Willow in this episode, that makes her later personality/character development even more believable.

However, the person that interests me the most is Oz. I don't know how many people noticed, but when vampire Willow gets back where she belongs, the person who pushes her onto the stake is Oz. So, given the episodes we've watched with Tara, I'm not giving anything away when I say Oz and Willow don't stay together.

The way Whedon uses Oz to kill Willow in the alternate reality shows that there are too many differences between the sides of their personalities that they don't always show. This emphasizes the idea that many of the Buffy characters have parts of themselves that are dark or evil.

... I sort of lost my train of thought...

The "Transformation" of a Doppleganger

Before I begin my actual post, I have a fun fact to share: Caroline makes a Buffy reference in the premiere of the 7th season of Bones.  She refers to Brennan's and Booth's group as the "Scooby Gang."  Considering David Boreanaz plays Booth, I assumed it was consciously done.

Ok, now on to my actual post . . .

I really enjoyed "Dopplegangland" because, in focusing on Willow's doppleganger and her interaction with this reflection of herself, it gave her a chance to shine.  Although the episode contains a plethora of dopplegangers for each of its main characters - you could argue that Willow has at least four (Anya, Vamp Willow, Percy, and Cordelia) - I'm going to focus on her most obvious doppleganger (ie. Vamp Willow) because it reveals the most about the role of the doppleganger in Gothic literature and Willow's personality.

As we observed in class, dopplegangers serve as mirrors in Gothic literature, which enable their counterparts to see their true selves clearly and without bias.  In doing so, they enable characters to confront themselves and, if they so desire, to change themselves for the better.  In "Transformation," Guido encounters his doppleganger, a horribly misshapen dwarf with supernatural powers, on a remote beach near Genoa during a storm.  While Guido doesn't immediately realize that this mysterious character is his doppleganger and that his ugly appearance symbolizes the degraded state of his soul, the narrator imparts this knowledge clearly to the reader.  The supernatural events surrounding the dwarf's arrival on shore, especially the horrific storm that appears out of nowhere, intimates to the reader that the dwarf is more than he appears.  As such, we are not surprised when he strikes a bargain with Guido and exchanges his chest of riches for Guido's beautiful and perfect body.  We, the reader, know that the dwarf has no intention of honoring his agreement with Guido and suspect he will most likely use his new body for nefarious purposes.  After three days, Guido reaches this conclusion and sets off to Genoa in search of his body.

He finds "himself" at Juliet's house and discovers that "he," with deep humility and a clearly penitent spirit, has reinstated himself into Torello's good graces and won Juliet as his bride.  Naturally, this discovery outrages Guido and incites him to confront "himself."  Thanks to the actions the dwarf carried out while inhabiting his body, Guido now sees himself for the terribly selfish monster his beautiful form previously masked and decides it will be better to die than continue on his current path.  Although Guido is willing to sacrifice his life to protect Juliet from having to marry a dwarf, who Guido believes is some kind of demon, he does so for selfish reasons and doesn't place himself in danger until he has the greatest chance in returning to his body.  Guido claims to have been transformed by his encounter with his doppleganger; however, he admits that he confronted the dwarf not because he realizes the error of his ways and wished to reform change himself for the better but because he cannot bear the thought of someone else possessing Juliet, especially someone he knows to be as ugly as the dwarf.  He does tell us that he has ostensibly become a better person - he is more faithful and kind - but he cannot mask the fact that he hasn't completely transformed as a result of his ordeal.  He still retains a semblance of his old personality, albeit a weak shadow of its former depravity.  Indeed, Guido, as a mere human, couldn't completely leave his old self behind because he and his doppleganger were the same person; their personality traits were just magnified in different ways.

"Dopplegangland" plays with this idea as well.  While the audience's initial introduction to Vamp Willow suggests that she possesses a completely different personality from the real Willow, the episode goes on to emphasize the fundamental similarities between these two figures.  Whereas Vamp Willow embraces her sexuality and comfortably wears more form-fitting outfits, Willow clearly cannot conceptualize herself as a sexual being when she dons the same outfit.  Her "oh" of surprise when she notices how Vamp Willow's outift accentuates her "assets" indicates that she never really thought of herself as a sexual being before this moment.  After all, there is a reason for the big pink Granny sweater she sports during the episode, and the other "cute" outfits she wears during the early seasons of Buffy.  Most obviously, Vamp Willow revels in violence while Willow shrinks from it.  However, she doesn't shrink from punching Anya in the face when she tries to undermine the situation and direct Vamp Willow's followers to hurt Willow and her friends.  The two Willows also share a fundamental dislike of their current reality.  When Vamp Willow complains, "This world's no fun," Willow seems surprised and remarks, "You noticed it too?"  Despite their differences, Vamp Willow and Willow clearly represent different aspects of the same personality, for they share a fundamental dislike of the current status quo - the world in which the episode occurs.

Willow ultimately recognizes these similarities.  When she confronts her doppleganger, Willow states, "I know we have a big nothing in common;" however, she cannot bring herself to kill her alter ego.  Buffy, in contrast, is poised to strike the death blow to Vamp Willow before Willow stops her.  Willow's inability to dispose of her alter ego and her desire to help her return to her world, which is more fun anyway, emphasizes that Willow understands she and her doppleganger are merely two different aspects of the same person.  She establishes a friendly relationship with Vamp Willow and even affectionately advises her, "Good luck.  Try not to kill people."  Most importantly, Willow admires the freedom and power of Vamp Willow.  She has no desire to be "Old Reliable" anymore but is reluctant, like all people, to step outside her comfort zone and to change.  While she initially decides to retain her pre-Vamp Willow personality, telling Buffy, "I see now where the path of vice leads," the change wrought by her alter ego in Percy convinces her that acting like Vamp Willow has its advantages and would make her a "better" person.  Consequently, she decides to skip homework for the night in favor of attending Oz's gig.  In contrast to Guido, whose experiences evince little change in his overall personality, Willow changes completely after meeting Vamp Willow.  She abandons her "goody two shoes" demeanor, for a more relaxed outlook on life.  Like Guido, she doesn't become fully bad, but merely incorporates a more exaggerated aspect of her existing personality into her external character.

Overall,  "Transformation" and "Dopplegangland" reveal that dopplegangers are not the exact opposites of their look-alikes.  Rather, they amplify existing parts of their look-alikes' personalities that their look-alikes have repressed.  Thus, Guido becomes a "better" person following his encounter with the dwarf and Willow becomes more "reckless."

Outfits, Lightsaber duels and Lesbian Willow.

To say that I have a slight fondness for Wikipedia is to say that Buffy has a slight fondness for pleather. A simple check of George Washington’s birth date and I will find myself four hours later glued to an article detailing the rules of light saber dueling. So when I turned to Wikipedia in order to refresh my memory of the episode, I veered into dangerous territory: the article on evil twins. After wading through some very detailed descriptions of Wonder Women, my attention was drawn to the physical disparities between doubles. From glasses, goth lipstick to the clichéd goatee of Spock in Star Wars, the exterior plays an important part in defining the roles of characters.

Willow begins the episode as an oversized child. Her outfit, a fluffy reveals her innocence. She is neither put together nor cohesive, a clash of patterns and tights and (shudder) sneakers. Her incohesive outfit choice both reflects her sunny personality and the insecurity of her character. Upon first glimpse of her, Vampwill notes with disdain “Well, look at me, I’m all fuzzy.” The double-meaning of fuzzy (fuzzy as well, fuzzy, and fuzzy as sweetness and confusion) demonstrates the importance of Willow’s appearance as a character of both good and insecurity.

Vampwill’s outfit serves to portray the corruption of sweet Willow’s character to both the audience and to the other characters. Without witnessing evil deeds, her black sexy ensemble reveals her intentions. Dark lipstick and a leather suit mark her as something dangerous, sexualized and non-Willow, that we cannot help but assume the worst. While wearing Vampwill’s outfit, Willow herself recognizes the importance of the exterior in marking her personality. “Look at my outfit! I’m a bloodsucking fiend!” Her acceptance of the exterior in reflecting and reinforcing the interior reveals the importance of, well, outfits.

This episode itself seems to play upon literary stereotypes of evil twin-dom. Buffy the good slayer is blonde and light, Faith the bad slayer is brunette and coarse, Giles is older and wiser than Wesley. Yet the series itself is devoting to undermining these stereotypes of the gothic. Buffy’s exterior, that of a beautiful cheerleader, belies the steely power that being the slayer grants her. Her outside appearance contradicts the stereotypes we’ve come to expect. In Buffy, two distinctly different tropes exist internally: that of a beautiful cheerleader and that of an ass-kicking demon-slayer. While Faith provides us with an external doppelganger, her real double exists inside.

At the end of Doppelgangland, evil vampWillow is killed and all returns to normal. Willow returns to her uniform of ugly sweaters and floral skirts with tights. When the sudden niceness of Percy reminds her of the benefits of her evil self, she sits ups straighter, gains a new confident and resolves to go out. We can see the change in Willow is for the better, despite her maintenance of the fuzzy. Yet all this focus on the exterior during the show has allowed us insight into her interior, her feelings of rejection, her future sexuality and even her power as a witch. In Buffy, yet again, Joss manages to use gothic tropes to reveal more complex characters than stereotypes we originally perceived.

Thank God that’s done. I was in the middle of a mad-Wiki sesh on Joaquin Phoenix. Who knows why.

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.

Doppelgangers as a Plot Device

It seems to me that doppelgangers fit very well into the set of gothic conventions, because they take a process that feels one way, and externalize it so that it actually is that way. We see many examples of internal personality conflict, even within this one episode: Anya is struggling against her demonic proclivities to embrace the high school student within, and Faith is feeling some insecurity about the divide in her loyalties between the Scooby gang and the mayor. The difference with Willow is that her struggles are physically present in the form of an alternate Willow, and there is a clear contrast between doormat, shy Willow, and dominatrix, vamp Willow. While I don’t pretend to understand the exact rules of magic in Buffy, it is interesting that Willow was feeling a tangle of emotions and ended up accidentally conjuring herself from a separate reality. I know that Anya’s spell went wrong when Willow saw the visions of the parallel world, but there could have been a lot of other ways for it to go wrong… Why this one? Could it have something to do with the spell caster herself?

It is also interesting that the doppelgangers never seem to survive as a continued manifestation of another facet of a person. They seem to arrive, serve a purpose, and disappear, as a sort of out of body experience that leads to greater self-awareness. Still, they represent the beginning of a larger process. Willow will struggle with her role in the group and her own selfishness for the rest of the series, and the problem is only exacerbated as she becomes more and more of a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Anya and Faith also struggle with their darker and more vulnerable sides throughout the series, and their process is very similar to Willow’s, although they lack the doppelgangers to make it as explicit.

Doppelgangers as they are presented in The Transformation are entirely different. The dwarf is very similar to Guido in personality, and the primary difference is based in physical attributes. Rather than recognizing a contrast and trying to reconcile the sides of his nature, Guido is meant to recognize his own traits in the dwarf and be sufficiently disgusted to change his ways. While I remain unconvinced that Guido truly regrets any of his actions, hypothetically the contrast in physicality (which is very important to Guido) will be enough to show him that he is an unattractive person, in terms of personality. This use of doppelgangers is reminiscent of A Christmas Carol, in which Scrooge has the opportunity to view himself from a distance and see himself as others see him.

However doppelgangers are presented, we see them as apparitions that briefly highlight a disparity or reveal the possibility of change. They ultimately do not need to continue to be present after a certain point, because if they do their job correctly, the character with the doppelganger will have internalized the experience, thus absorbing something of the doppelganger into him or herself. They’re not meant to stick around and exist on their own, they are only injected to prove a point. For Willow, this means becoming a little more confident and assertive (and, yes, sometimes erring on the side of selfishness). For Guido, perhaps this only lets him know that he has to be subtler in his manipulations of the surrounding characters so that they believe that he is a good person, but even so, he has learned something from his doppelganger.

Can't judge a doppleganger by their doppleganger

One of the major differences between the Buffy episode and "Transformation" is that Guido ultimately recognizes how his good looks have helped his life. Although Willow sees what she really looks like, she is not able to gauge how her life is affected by her looks. Of course, she has always been contrasted with Buffy, who is the "pretty" one as defined by the show, but nonetheless Willow's looks are never seen by her as an asset. This element is important in my opinion because physical beauty has played a crucial role in the gothic. Shelly uses Guido's good looks as a juxtaposition to his evil heart. Moreover, Guido fully understands how different someone's life can be if they had been blessed with good looks or if they had been cursed with bad ones. Willow does not have this sort of epiphany seeing her doppleganger. She can only acknowledge the evil side of her vampire self and not the physical one. However, as viewers, we get to see how Vampire Willow uses her looks during the episode. It is not by accident that normal Willow is dressed in a grandmotherly pink ruffly sweater with long white pants (not sure what they are called pantyhose?) and a skirt. Vamp Buffy is dressed more provocatively and is more seductive in her actions. She "works" the room at the bar and is very touchy-feely with her fellow vampires. This is behavior we never see in Willow. It is magnified when she dresses up in the provocative garb and is unable to pull off the mannerisms of Vamp Willow. Clearly normal Willow is unaware of how her looks can benefit her. In comparison with Transformation, Willow's doppleganger portrays her personality flaws while Guido's doppleganger should only be taken at face-value (I had to say it). Guido does not get to look into a mirror at his personality but just his face. Willow sees her face but focuses on her personality. The point is, dopplegangers can have different meanings to their doppplegangers.

The Benefits of Dopplegangers

In my post, I’d like to focus on the positive aspects of meeting your doppleganger in both the Buffy episode of “Dopplegangland” and in Mary Shelley’s “Transformation”. I think Katherine did a great job summarizing the respective transformations of Willow and Guido, so I’m going to look a little more deeply at the constructive things each individual learned from their “other half”. In the Buffy episode, we watch Willow struggle with her own identity as “old reliable”, a pushover, and no fun. I thought it was very ironic that when Anya asks Willow to help her with a spell, Willow immediately perks up. This demonstrates that Willow’s practice of magic makes her feel powerful, important, and needed. This also may foreshadow Willow’s future descent into darkness and evil because, although in every other aspect of life, Willow is timid and easily controlled, in her magic, she has the control and is in charge. On another note, Willow’s doppleganger, Vamp Willow, served as a precious buffer for Willow to truly look inside herself and see what she thinks about herself. Vamp Willow acts as a barrier so that when regular Willow dresses up and pretends to be Vamp Willow, she can truly look at her normal, human self and see her faults for what they are. This allows her to assess how she acts in situations and makes her realize she would like to channel more of the confidence and sexiness of her alter ego. This mirror effect can be seen as beneficial to the development of Willow into a person that she can be proud of. It also helps her accept who she is and aids her in realizing that all people have good and bad traits. In “Transformation”, Guido literally becomes the physical manifestation of his internal ugliness. This provides him with a sort of awakening that allows him to see himself for what he truly is. However, Guido does not fully take the opportunity to evaluate himself, like Willow does, and merely wants his own life back. He takes away the bare minimum from his awful ordeal and only tries a little to act like a better person. Both characters had the opportunity to better themselves after meeting their other halves, yet Willow was the only one who took advantage of the occurrence.

Authorial Voice in "Storyteller" and Northanger Abbey

Nicole’s post inspired me to consider the role of authorial voice as it relates to viewers. As Nicole aptly stated, Austen uses narrative intrusion to teach her readers how to understand novels. Andrew is similarly forced to see his mistakes and learn how to reconcile his delusional fantasy with reality. However, instead aligning Andrew with the reader – someone who is acted upon – I’d like to argue that he is very much like Austen in that he teaches the viewers to re-evaluate and reconsider gothic conventions and character roles. He not only learns a lesson, but teaches one too.

Throughout “Storyteller,” Andrew maintains a distinct authorial presence – opening the episode by saying, “join me gentle viewer.” His opinion, just like Austen’s, is blatantly expressed as another level of the narrative. He is swift to point out that people play certain roles – the heroine, the bad guy, etc. – and these roles are dramatized in the episode through glorifying flashbacks. At one point he even comments, “unfortunately vampires have jobs to do.” This quotation illustrates the seemingly static parts characters play. However, as Lauren pointed out in her post, many of the characters (particularly Buffy and Catherine) resist their roles. Although “Storyteller” and Northanger Abbey conclude with happy storybook endings, these ends are achieved with uncertainty, fear, and vulnerability.

I think that Andrew’s unreliable narrative intrusion forces the viewer to think, “what is really behind a story?” Is it truth? I’m not convinced. Thus, we cannot just be idle viewers or reader, accepting an authorial voice. Yes, it is possible to agree with the narrator, such as Austen, but this agreement comes from an internal and reflective struggle within us that causes us to make our own judgments. In having strong authorial presences, both “Storyteller” and Northanger Abbey force us to look at, and think about, what we are told and what we are actually seeing so that we can learn to have our own opinions and understanding of what is actually behind a story.

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

After reading Amelia’s post, I began thinking about the differences between Guido in Mary Shelley's Transformation and Willow in "Doppelgangland" in terms of their respective transformations. We discussed a lot in class how Guido doesn’t really seem to undergo a major change because he doesn’t even recognize the dwarf as his doppelganger. He is so blinded to the horrible aspects of his own personality that he is unable to see himself reflected in the monster in front of him. He thinks the dwarf is hideously ugly and evil; however, these are actually his own characteristics mirrored in the dwarf. He grows jealous of the dwarf's selfish attentions to his lover, and feels tricked; however, he spent his fortune seeking selfish pleasure, and, like the dwarf, used trickery to create a false facade that he still had money. The things he hates the most in the dwarf are his very worst faults. I think this stems from the fact that people hate that most which they reject or refuse to see within themselves. The main realization Guido has while embodying (literally) the dwarf is that his physical form is beautiful. Thus, although we are lead to assume he has experienced an emotional as well as a physical transformation at the conclusion of the story, Guido really only changes and learns to appreciate physical appearance. He is unwilling to put in the difficult work to transform himself into a better human being. Like I mentioned in class on Wednesday, he was able to make the grand gesture of killing himself and the dwarf for the girl; however, he was previously unable to change his life for her, to live for her. It’s much easier to die for someone than to life for him/her, in my opinion.

Unlike Guido, Willow recognizes the darker aspects of her personality after meeting her doppelganger, and seeks both completion and redemption at the end of the episode. At the beginning of the episode, she wants to be more badass and seeks to bring out those characteristics within herself that she had previously suppressed. When faced with her doppelganger, she realizes that she has the ability to stand up for herself while also still being the same, reliable Willow that does homework and helps with Scooby Gang research. Being faced with her alter ego allows her to see herself more clearly and to grow because of it. In the scene where she pretends to be her doppelganger, she speaks about herself and realizes that most of her frustration and desire to be dangerous came internal judgment and assumptions rather than actual, external feedback from her friends. By refusing to kill her doppelganger and physically embracing her at the end of the episode, Willow embraces her darker self while also accepting and appreciating the nicer aspects of her personality. At the end of the episode, she jokingly says that she wants to enter a convent to atone for the sins of her dark doppelganger. This demonstrates that she has truly experienced a transformation. She faced her darker self and learned from the encounter, rather than rejecting or killing a different part of herself.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!