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A review by veleda_k
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale by James B. South
3.0
This books functions both as entertainment and intellectual exercise for BtVS fans, as well as a useful intro for philosophy novices. I knew essentially zilch about philosophy when starting this book, and I could still follow along without trouble. I don't know whether or not someone with more philosophy knowledge might find themselves frustrated.
While I didn't find any of the essays to be works of incredible genius, most of them are solid and interesting. I was especially fond of the two Faith essays (unsurprisingly, given that she's my favorite) even if I had some minor quibbles. One essay uses Faith as evidence for Plato's eudaimonism, while the other offers Faith as a possible refutation of Nietzsche's philosophy. I also liked Jessica Pratt Miller's piece on Buffy and feminist ethics.
Unfortunately, there are also some real clunkers. Neal King's execrable "Brownskirts" takes a inflammatory but intriguing premise--that Buffy, both the character and show, are proto-fascist--and completely fails to support it, egregiously misrepresenting Buffy's motives. Also, for someone who insists that Buffy is racist against demons, King is very eager to liken Jewish people to demonic forces. His intent is to prove that Buffy's campaign against demons and vampires makes her like a Nazi (no, really), but manages to do it in a way that feels grossly insensitive to real people and real victims of genocide. (He even compares vampires to concentration camp victims, because vampires go up in ash. No, really.)
Then there's Gregory J. Sakal's character analysis of Spike and Xander, which involves tearing down Xander as much as possible while venerating Spike. Sakal draws attention to Spike's better moments while ignoring his less admirable ones. For instance Sakal brings up "Crush" in which Spike feeds from a freshly killed victim only with reluctance, ignoring that in the same episode, Spike kidnapped Buffy, chained her to a wall, and threatened to kill her if she refused to love him. This sort of thing happens multiple times in Sakal's piece.
Finally, the books chooses a strange piece to end on, with Michael P. Levine and Steven Jay Schneider essentially declare that that book is waste of time, that BtVS is not deep or meaningful, has no moral value, should not be taken seriously, and that virtually every Buffy scholar is wrong, wrong, wrong, while they, of course, are among the very few who truly understand what the show is. Of course, they then base several arguments on Freud, without criticism, without examination, and ignoring all the developments in psychology since that suggest Freud is not the end all be all. All the men around Buffy should be impotent because Freud! Men need to degrade women because Freud! This, along with the authors' blatant self-satisfaction, made it impossible for me to take their arguments seriously.
I feel bad for focusing so strongly on the essays I didn't like, because I liked most of them, some of them very much. I'd recommend this book for any BtVS fan looking to critically engage with their entertainment.
While I didn't find any of the essays to be works of incredible genius, most of them are solid and interesting. I was especially fond of the two Faith essays (unsurprisingly, given that she's my favorite) even if I had some minor quibbles. One essay uses Faith as evidence for Plato's eudaimonism, while the other offers Faith as a possible refutation of Nietzsche's philosophy. I also liked Jessica Pratt Miller's piece on Buffy and feminist ethics.
Unfortunately, there are also some real clunkers. Neal King's execrable "Brownskirts" takes a inflammatory but intriguing premise--that Buffy, both the character and show, are proto-fascist--and completely fails to support it, egregiously misrepresenting Buffy's motives. Also, for someone who insists that Buffy is racist against demons, King is very eager to liken Jewish people to demonic forces. His intent is to prove that Buffy's campaign against demons and vampires makes her like a Nazi (no, really), but manages to do it in a way that feels grossly insensitive to real people and real victims of genocide. (He even compares vampires to concentration camp victims, because vampires go up in ash. No, really.)
Then there's Gregory J. Sakal's character analysis of Spike and Xander, which involves tearing down Xander as much as possible while venerating Spike. Sakal draws attention to Spike's better moments while ignoring his less admirable ones. For instance Sakal brings up "Crush" in which Spike feeds from a freshly killed victim only with reluctance, ignoring that in the same episode, Spike kidnapped Buffy, chained her to a wall, and threatened to kill her if she refused to love him. This sort of thing happens multiple times in Sakal's piece.
Finally, the books chooses a strange piece to end on, with Michael P. Levine and Steven Jay Schneider essentially declare that that book is waste of time, that BtVS is not deep or meaningful, has no moral value, should not be taken seriously, and that virtually every Buffy scholar is wrong, wrong, wrong, while they, of course, are among the very few who truly understand what the show is. Of course, they then base several arguments on Freud, without criticism, without examination, and ignoring all the developments in psychology since that suggest Freud is not the end all be all. All the men around Buffy should be impotent because Freud! Men need to degrade women because Freud! This, along with the authors' blatant self-satisfaction, made it impossible for me to take their arguments seriously.
I feel bad for focusing so strongly on the essays I didn't like, because I liked most of them, some of them very much. I'd recommend this book for any BtVS fan looking to critically engage with their entertainment.