CLARA: WEEK 10

3) How do you think Buffy has influenced the contemporary vampire drama “True Blood” and the “Twilight” series of novels and films?

Braum (2000) says that “recent years have a marked increase…of these newer representations of the supernatural...including both inhuman beings and ordinary characters” (p. 67). Buffy definitely paved the way for the genre and has influenced various aspects of contemporary vampire dramas such as True Blood (TB) and the Twilight (T) series. In other words, there are parallels between the Buffy series and that of the other vampire films or stories today. For instance, there are similar archetypes in these three films but they do not necessarily follow the storyline. There is Buffy who is the heroine with superhuman abilities, TB’s heroine has supernatural abilities and T’s heroine has more interpersonal skills than relying on dormant gifts that develops later. These films also share the obvious fact that the protagonist is female with a ‘good girl’ complex and must always struggle emotionally (physically at times too) with the male antagonist, who is typically the ‘misunderstood bad boy’.

Another aspect of similarity is the representation of the fluidity of ‘evil’ and ‘good’ in which the boundaries are gradually pushed (Braum, 2000). It seems with Buffy, there are no fixed antagonists like Spike’s character who is meant to be the enemy; he crosses over the boundary into the friend zone at times. Even with T, the heroine – Bella makes friends with the ‘monsters’ whether they are vampires or werewolves and TB’s Suki is always surrounded by vampires, whether she wants or not. So, it takes on the idea of the love-hate relationship between the good guys and bad guys – struggling to co-exist. Basically, both Twilight and True Blood share the same themes as Buffy has already explored – this includes a common setting of the plot in a small town, isolated from the rest of society and explores sexuality between human and non-human compatibility.

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