Edena_of_Neith here. And yes, I am male.
I have added a Spoiler Caution to this thread. Thanks for the reminder, Krug.
I will now ask some questions. Frankly, I did not know if many Buffy fans were here. And last night, I found the ENBoards down, and was occupied with an online chess match (which I lost after a long fight.)
I consider Buffy to be a very fine series, and worth as much serious discussion as the fans (including me) wish to indulge in. Why not?
Joss Whedon has this tendency to draw analogies to Real Life with his story, and sometimes the story doesn't make sense if you do not see the analogies.
This is the case, at least as I see it, for Season Three's Gingerbread episode, which draws the analogy that adults cannot truly share in the secret world of their teenaged children. Not even those who are truly understanding, appreciative, and tolerant, which isn't altogether a common thing in itself. If the adults try, there is inevitable trouble. (Heck, my own personal experience as a teenager proves that one true.)
Maddman75, on Nutkinland, commented that Joss was focusing on teenagers having a Real Life secret identity, and Buffy's secret identity as the Slayer was an analogy to this. I think he's right, and I think teenagers do have a secret ID. I think it's pretty obvious they all have this secret world they keep for themselves and their friends, and away from their parents and other adults.
What surprises me, though, is that a lot of adults seem to not understand this, not realize it, and be dumbfounded when it hits them in the face. And I should know - my own brother has children, and he is quite oblivious, in my opinion. So were my parents, to me and my siblings. Adults were teenagers, once, so one has to wonder why they so easily forget the realities of teenagers?
Although Buffy certainly needs to be taken with plenty of salt, I think it is fascinating, and offers insights that I myself seem to lack into a world I was never a part of. The world of teenaged girls. Maybe not a very good picture. Maybe a very distorted picture. But hey, my nieces say it's a pretty accurate assessment, and others I have heard online in a position to know say it's pretty accurate ... so why not have a look at it?
So, now I will ask some questions, yes. Lots of questions. Lots. For there are a lot of you to make answer.
And, I would daresay, on ENWorld there are a large number of highly educated and highly intelligent people (that's you, folks, I'm talking about.) So, I look forward to the kind of answers I will get here.
In Nutkinland, Maddman75 and some of the others are pretty sharp, and know Buffy very well, too. Of course, Nutkinland is, well, Nutkinland, and it's a rough place ... but hey, I can live with that too.