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Buffys Deeper Meanings Essay

Decent Essays

With Buffy the Vampire Slayer taking the Australian television market by storm, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Buffy does more than just kick vampire butt.
Star Sarah Michelle Gellar not only entertains teens nation wide, but also questions morals and values – the same values that have been plaguing the gothic genre since Bram Stoker’s Dracula – and socialises with the majority of young Australians’ lives.
Popular culture is becoming increasingly consumed by a moralistic tone, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the perfect example. Ever since Stoker wrote his highly publicised novel in 1897, Dracula has had a large effect on today’s society.
The classic good versus evil morals that Stoker introduced in his book is highly evident in …show more content…

When the good guys in Dracula are up against the odds, the odds of a stronger and smarter enemy, the faith they have in the good fight get them over the line. The message this conveys to audiences worldwide is both strong and important. Buffy might be all about entertainment and appealing to the emotions, yet clearly the series does more than just entertain.
And yet the meaning behind Buffy doesn’t stop there. One of the most recognisable features of the gothic genre is also evident throughout the series.
Bram Stoker was the first to publish a book that questioned the morals of an individual, the idea that every person had two sides – that of a light side and a dark side, or a good and evil personality. The idea of a vampire’s bite, created in the novel Dracula, is completely based around the value of turning to the dark-side. Star Wars and Hitchcock’s Psycho are also highly-rated films that have questioned the same notion. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is another in a series of followers who have dealt with the same morals of the individual.
Yet while the idea was first raised in the sixteenth century, it still very much applies to today’s young society. This is where Buffy steps in and leads Aussie teens down the right path. In the episode ‘Buffy vs. Dracula’, Gellar’s vampire-slaying character is struck with the allure of the dark side. The dark side is very evident in today’s society, although it comes through different forms. Teenagers face many choices

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