This is the third in a series on what makes the television show 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' great in my eyes. The first focused on how creator Joss Whedon turned the genre on its head... in the opening scene; while the second was about Buffy's extensive use of metaphor. This third blog is on the place of God in Buffy.
A lot of Christians do not like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' because they see it as dark and about the occult and misuse of teenage sexuality and that it displays religion in a bad light. (Most of these claims have been made by the Parent's TV Council). In general though they have either not given the show a chance or they are just looking for something to complain about.
When it comes to Buffy I would argue that it is a show teeming with God and Christian values, and I am not the only one.
Dr. Jana Reiss says, "Over time I also came to see that Buffy offered strong spiritual values that came, ironically enough, in a vampire-ridden package that people of faith often dismiss out of hand... During its seven-season run from March 1997- May 2003, it was easily one of the more moralistic programs on TV, depicting a world in which evil never goes unpunished and doing good is its own reward." (xi)
Dr. Reiss is a Christian author who has a Masters of Divinity degree from Princeton (the basic degree for being a pastor) and a doctorate in American religion from Colombia; she also ran a Twible for a number of years where she did one tweet for every chapter of the Bible.
Similarly Relevant magazine said that Buffy and Angel, "are perhaps the two most occultic shows on the air… vampires, demons,paganism- these shows are the gristle watchdogs love to chew, and rightly so. They're dark, broody, fascinated with life's shadows. Their characters couldn't care less about God. Yet, thematically, these are two of the most religious programs on network TV, secular universes saturated with grace."
I decided I will do three main God things in Buffy, two specific, one more general.
The general one first: Buffy wears a cross around her neck which repels vampires. The symbol of the cross burns vampires and keeps them away. As well as that Holy Water hurts them and they are scared of churches.
More specific examples. In the season four episode 'Who Are You' (4.16) vampires, inspired by Adam (this Frankenstein like monster made by the US Government) take over a Church. They admit they stay away from Church because they are scared of God but say there is nothing to fear because… "where is the thing I was so afraid of… you know, The Lord?" No sooner has he spoken the words but Faith (as Buffy, in this episode Faith has switched bodies with Buffy) comes into the church 'to pray' and proceeds to slay him. God answered the taunt, He sent His servant, in Buffyverse terms, into the Church 'to pray'. Implication being that Buffy and Faith serve God by slaying monsters, it is their prayer.
Third one: When Buffy quits as the Slayer in the finale of season one 'Prophecy Girl' (1.12) because she is scared she will die she removes her cross and says that she quits. To Buffy the symbol of her being a Slayer is the cross. To me this implies that a Slayer is a servant of God and is symbolised by the cross she wears around her neck.
To close this blog I want to quote Jana Reiss: "Just as God is nowhere mentioned in the book of Esther, God is merely implicit in the Buffyverse, present every time the characters put their own lives on the line to save others." (xiv)
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