What We Fear: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Adaptation Statement
Throughout history, stories of vampires have represented sexuality, immigration, disease, race and war in culture. They’ve also been known to represent the fear of love, loneliness, betrayal, and hunger. Vampires are not a new fascination in society, they are portrayed as lonely creatures or outsiders and many people identify with the feelings of being the outsider amidst society. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a popular television series that was aired from 1997-2003. The show begins with Buffy Summers, a 15 year old girl, discovering that she is “The Chosen One”, joining a long line in history of other women in Sunnydale, California to have been chosen to fight forces of evil. Buffy the Vampire Slayer does a good job of not creating sympathy when it comes to vampires except when it comes to Angel. However, unlike other popular vampire tv shows and movies in which immortals and mortals stay in love, Buffy kills Angel. Personally, what I enjoy about the show is the way it represents Buffy’s relationship with different vampires and how she deals with her position and duty as the Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn’t like other vampire shows or movies. It is different from The Vampire Diaries or Twilight in the ways that firstly, Buffy has the duty of killing vampires, she doesn’t have time to accept the creatures or understand that before she knows she has to kill them. When Buffy does fall for a vampire, she still knows that she needs to kill him, and she does. Secondly, the female protagonist is the hero and the protector. Buffy protects her friends, her family, and even her own watcher. For a female in a tv show to be so strong and brave was a big thing in 1997. I do not want to change that part of the show because it encourages women empowerment. The setting of Sunnydale is essential to the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because Sunnydale High School sits on top of a “Hellmouth” that serves as a gateway to the demon world. Changing the setting of the show wouldn’t work unless there was another town that sits on a Hellmouth somewhere. It’s not a coincidence that Buffy and her mom moved to Sunnydale, everything in the show happens because it needs to in some way. Buffy is brought there to be told she’s the chosen one, later in the show Buffy is brought a sister who serves as a key to another realm, and things appear to her as she needs them. The time period could be changed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer maybe to the future and where she is now, or to the past. However, I believe the time period it’s already in is good for the show because they don’t have great internet or cellphones but it’s still modern and relatable. For my adaption of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I am planning to write a short story based on season 2 of the show from Buffy’s perspective, that portrays her emotions and thoughts on killing Angel, being a female protector, and what makes vampires monsters. I want my adaption to show a different side of the difference between monsters and humans. I want to show the fear Buffy has throughout the season and relate it to the culture fears that vampires represent as a whole. I want to focus on the scene in season 2 when Buffy kills Angel. I want to help portray the image more of how she realized the line between monster and human and how she decided she needed to kill him, rather than making it a sappy scene like the show. I do not want to change the setting or time period because I don’t want to take away key parts of the actual story. |