HOW DOES BUFFY DECONSTRUCT TRADITIONAL LITERARY NOTIONS OF GOOD AND EVIL?
Good versus evil thematic in literature dates as far back to the beginning of the literature itself. The distinction between what is considered to be good and what is considered to be evil is based on social morals or ideals that attempt to categorise and structure the right and the wrong in mankind. The traditional text will end in the pure good conquering over the evil.
Cult television series, like Buffy, tend to develop their storylines to comment on society. Buffy breaks down the norm of literary texts in that there is no clear-cut good or bad character. In an essay by Braun (2005) on ‘The Ambiguity of evil’, she instead comments that the characters in Buffy are “morally inconsistent” and that “with many characters demonstrating both decent and demonic traits and behaviors” the evil in Buffy is often less “fixed”. A good example of this ambiguity is when the character Maggie leader of ‘the initiative (supposedly the ‘goodies’) tries to kill Buffy. Maggie has deviated from the traditional moral stance of being on the good side trying to triumph over the bad and has herself converted into what she is fighting against. Another example is of Spike who is a character who internally is conflicted with wanting to continue to be evil but who lacks that capacity to do so. Refering back to Braun’s (2005) essay, she explains the storyline of Buffy as a representation of reality and how humans actually behave.
The storyline of Buffy is enjoyable to me in that it attempts to describe truthful human interaction. Too often we watch a movie and think ‘that would never happen’. The ideals of good and evil are just that. They are what we should do or how we should act but more often then not, it is not how we behave. Essentially it is to say that if we do a ‘bad’ thing we are not a bad person. We are not perfect and that is what makes us human. The Buffy series deviance from the traditional literary notions of good and evil is more to simulate truth that we have the capacity to do both.
I thought you did a good job on this, we had similar views, like Maggie & Spike etc except you covered more parts that I left out which gave me something to consider. For instance you touched up on the history of good and evil in literature, whereas I kind of just refer to it briefly then I explore everything else. By the way the author is Braum (2000). 2005 is the year the article was retrieved (unless i read it wrong lol). Other than that I liked your answer.
ReplyDeleteNice use of images too, its the first i noticed of it. Gives it a finishing touch =]
ReplyDeleteGood response Ashleigh. It could have been interesting to examine some of the comments in your final paragraph in terms of the overarching theme of Buffy as a metaphor for highschool/college life and the moral ambiguities that are presented in such a context. A good attempt at bringing together primary text, secondary texts and personal reflection.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to post your week 8 - it's still stitting there in draft form.
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