How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?
To figure out the question, we have to know traditional TV programming notions of good and evil. Braum (2000, p1) describes it as “nothing new in using supernatural settings and characters to play out narratives of good versus evil.” The word “versus” shows the relation between good and evil in notions. It is at opposite position. However it is changing in recent TV programming like Buffy. The image of monsters and aliens or the image of military and governments are no longer just evil side and good side any more. Based on the analysis of Buffy and X-Files by Braum, the presenting of evil changed from monster to human needs, which is the motivation and essence of evil. He also takes some particular example of Buffy to show his point, for instance, the character Angle in season 1-3. Deconstruction is a kind of method to analyze the essence under the surface like dismantlement. When you tear open all the stuff but the central, you will find that the truth is uncertain such as “no evil and no good.” According Braum (2000, p6), the notion of good and evil is “underneath our civilized demeanors.” And he says, “We all have the capacity for evil.” The interesting sentence he used, “clearly evil in one episode, and remorsefully, genuinely good in another”, can imply the fact of evil and good, which I strongly agree with.
Braum, B. (2000) The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved 18 October, 2005 from: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_28/ai_64688900
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