(SPOILER CAUTION) A lot of questions about Buffy the Vampire Slayer

[Edena_of_Neith]

Questions

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SEASON ONE QUESTIONS

- Why didn't Buffy simply kill the vampires threatening Xander and Willow, then tell Giles where to go, and live her life? Giles could not force her to do her job as the Slayer, could he? He certainly offered no incentive to her (and yes, people are selfish.)
- Why didn't Buffy demand terms and conditions favorable to her? Such as a reduced (or no) schoolwork, automatic A grades (yes, that's cheating), personal protection from the principal and others, etc.?
- Why didn't the authorities (remember, this is season 1, not 3 or 4) bring in the National Guard and/or Army to deal with the problem in Sunnydale? (Not that they could have handled it, but the authorities could have tried.)
- WHY is the Watcher's Council a bunch of incompetents and idiots? (They shouldn't be, since they have centuries of experience dealing with this situation.)
- Why didn't Giles force Buffy to sit down and actually TALK with him?? I mean, a long and serious talk where hard terms and conditions were hammered out. It was a serious life and death situation, the kind of situation where people do tend to sit down and make plans concerning it, and hammer out terms for dealing with it.
- Why didn't Buffy force Giles to sit down and actually talk with her?? (as per above)
- Why didn't the vampires use guns, bludgeoning weapons, and knives? That one female vampire did ... vampires may be mostly stupid, but not all are.
- Why didn't the vampires attack and kill Joyce, to strike at Buffy indirectly, or take her hostage, to entice Buffy into a deathtrap? (The same applies to Xander, Willow, and Cordelia.)
- WHY didn't Xander and Willow not also travel around with holy water, stakes, and other life protecting equipment? (including heavy weapons Buffy could have given them - why didn't she?)

Now, I'm looking for analogies to Real Life here.
Obviously, you can say they did not do these things because the show would not have worked had they done so. The plotline would have failed. Characters would have died. This is obvious (I could argue a full government military takeover of Sunnydale was inevitable ...)
I'm looking for the more subtle stuff. The Joss Whedon stuff, which made this show so special.

Here's a question you need not answer:

WHY do I always come to like something AFTER it's over? (I only came to like Buffy this year, and this was it's last year.)

 

[stevelabny]

- Why didn't Buffy simply kill the vampires threatening Xander and Willow, then tell Giles where to go, and live her life? Giles could not force her to do her job as the Slayer, could he? He certainly offered no incentive to her (and yes, people are selfish.)
- Why didn't Buffy demand terms and conditions favorable to her? Such as a reduced (or no) schoolwork, automatic A grades (yes, that's cheating), personal protection from the principal and others, etc.?

CUZ SHES A HERO. heroes do good deeds without asking for rewards.

- Why didn't the authorities (remember, this is season 1, not 3 or 4) bring in the National Guard and/or Army to deal with the problem in Sunnydale? (Not that they could have handled it, but the authorities could have tried.)

The Sunnydale problem wasnt as obvious in season 1. Also, you can probably safely assume that Angel/ the Mayor/ anyone else was taking care of stuff behind the scenes.

- WHY is the Watcher's Council a bunch of incompetents and idiots? (They shouldn't be, since they have centuries of experience dealing with this situation.)
- Why didn't Giles force Buffy to sit down and actually TALK with him?? I mean, a long and serious talk where hard terms and conditions were hammered out. It was a serious life and death situation, the kind of situation where people do tend to sit down and make plans concerning it, and hammer out terms for dealing with it.
- Why didn't Buffy force Giles to sit down and actually talk with her?? (as per above)

The Watchers arent idiots. Theyre just very stuck in their ways. Giles didnt talk to Buffy because he had no idea how to deal with a teenage California girl. Buffy didnt talk to Giles because he's an adult authority figure. Teenagers and adult authority figures NEVER sit down and talk to each other. This is the circle of life.

- Why didn't the vampires use guns, bludgeoning weapons, and knives? That one female vampire did ... vampires may be mostly stupid, but not all are.

Vampire ego. Now that their bodies are weapons, they will usually fight without any extra weaponry. Also, real world issues like budget probably affect this.

- Why didn't the vampires attack and kill Joyce, to strike at Buffy indirectly, or take her hostage, to entice Buffy into a deathtrap? (The same applies to Xander, Willow, and Cordelia.)

Buffy was still new on the scene in season 1, her personal life wasnt general knowledge yet. Plus, supporting characters as victims is the easiest way to make UNINTERESTING supporting characters.

- WHY didn't Xander and Willow not also travel around with holy water, stakes, and other life protecting equipment? (including heavy weapons Buffy could have given them - why didn't she?)

Again, this is Season 1 youre asking about. This is all new to everyone. In most cases Buffy would try to keep the others out of the fights as opposed to later seasons where she has no problem going into battle beside the mere mortals.

Now, I'm looking for analogies to Real Life here.
Obviously, you can say they did not do these things because the show would not have worked had they done so. The plotline would have failed. Characters would have died. This is obvious (I could argue a full government military takeover of Sunnydale was inevitable ...)
I'm looking for the more subtle stuff. The Joss Whedon stuff, which made this show so special.

Riiiight. Not trying to offend you. But you won't be able to get deep meaningful answers from such simple questions. For the type of Buffy psycho-babble youre looking for try going here: http://www.slayage.tv/index.shtml
All sorts of wannabe-literary types will pretentiously break down the Buffy-mythos into all the themes and symbols Joss and the writers intended and hundreds more that were never inteded.
I went to a Harry Potter Symposium just like it this July. Amusingly pretentious. The average essay probably isnt worth the paper its printed on but hey, these people actually sell BOOKS on this stuff. See Amazon.com

Here's a question you need not answer:
WHY do I always come to like something AFTER it's over? (I only came to like Buffy this year, and this was it's last year.)

I dont know you. Were you old enough 7 years ago to appreciate the show? Do you live somewhere with a WB channel? Were you trying to hard to be "cool" to discover a good show? Do you not actively look for new TV shows (or other entertainment) figuring that someone else should do the work for you? It could be anything ranging from bad luck to serious psychological problems.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Please! Let us know how far along in the series you are. One of Joss Whedon's bits of genius is feeding us little bits of continuity over 7 years, and we need to know what we can safely tell you!

- Why didn't Buffy simply kill the vampires threatening Xander and Willow, then tell Giles where to go, and live her life? Giles could not force her to do her job as the Slayer, could he? He certainly offered no incentive to her (and yes, people are selfish.)

I think Buffy realized she couldn't just walk away at that point. She realized that she had some responsibility that she needed to take on.

- Why didn't Buffy demand terms and conditions favorable to her? Such as a reduced (or no) schoolwork, automatic A grades (yes, that's cheating), personal protection from the principal and others, etc.?

I don't think most kids think that way. I know I didn't know all the possible options I had as a kid, so I'm sure Buffy is the same way. Plus, Buffy wants more than anything else to be a normal kid. I don't know how far along you are in the seasons - that would be good to know, as Giles does stand up for her in just this way at one point. I don't want to go into details in case you haven't gotten that far yet.

- Why didn't the authorities (remember, this is season 1, not 3 or 4) bring in the National Guard and/or Army to deal with the problem in Sunnydale? (Not that they could have handled it, but the authorities could have tried.)

Difficult question to answer without spoilers. If you've seen Season three go ahead and check out these spoilers.

Spoiler

Eventually, they do. In season three a government operation is one of the main elements of the season.

- WHY is the Watcher's Council a bunch of incompetents and idiots? (They shouldn't be, since they have centuries of experience dealing with this situation.)

I don't think that Vamps and Demons are as much of a problem normally - its because of the Hellmouth that Buffy sees so much action. That means the Watchers are not all that field-tested. They are very set in their ways, but I don't know if I'd call them incompetents and idiots.

- Why didn't Giles force Buffy to sit down and actually TALK with him?? I mean, a long and serious talk where hard terms and conditions were hammered out. It was a serious life and death situation, the kind of situation where people do tend to sit down and make plans concerning it, and hammer out terms for dealing with it.

- Why didn't Buffy force Giles to sit down and actually talk with her?? (as per above)

Well, first off, it wouldn't make great TV. Secondly, Giles can't force Buffy to do anything, really. He has to maintain secrecy too. And over the course of time, they do talk.

- Why didn't the vampires use guns, bludgeoning weapons, and knives? That one female vampire did ... vampires may be mostly stupid, but not all are.

Joss Whedon uses guns rarely. Guns draw attention. And dead people probably taste bad.

- Why didn't the vampires attack and kill Joyce, to strike at Buffy indirectly, or take her hostage, to entice Buffy into a deathtrap? (The same applies to Xander, Willow, and Cordelia.)

Stay tuned.

- WHY didn't Xander and Willow not also travel around with holy water, stakes, and other life protecting equipment? (including heavy weapons Buffy could have given them - why didn't she?)

Things aren't that bad all the time in Sunnydale. Xander and Willow have access to that stuff if they need it, they just don't need it all the time.

 

[s/LaSH]

SEASON ONE QUESTIONS

1 - Why didn't Buffy simply kill the vampires threatening Xander and Willow, then tell Giles where to go, and live her life? Giles could not force her to do her job as the Slayer, could he? He certainly offered no incentive to her (and yes, people are selfish.)
2 - Why didn't Buffy demand terms and conditions favorable to her? Such as a reduced (or no) schoolwork, automatic A grades (yes, that's cheating), personal protection from the principal and others, etc.?
3 - Why didn't the authorities (remember, this is season 1, not 3 or 4) bring in the National Guard and/or Army to deal with the problem in Sunnydale? (Not that they could have handled it, but the authorities could have tried.)
4 - WHY is the Watcher's Council a bunch of incompetents and idiots? (They shouldn't be, since they have centuries of experience dealing with this situation.)
5 - Why didn't Giles force Buffy to sit down and actually TALK with him?? I mean, a long and serious talk where hard terms and conditions were hammered out. It was a serious life and death situation, the kind of situation where people do tend to sit down and make plans concerning it, and hammer out terms for dealing with it.
6 - Why didn't Buffy force Giles to sit down and actually talk with her?? (as per above)
7 - Why didn't the vampires use guns, bludgeoning weapons, and knives? That one female vampire did ... vampires may be mostly stupid, but not all are.
8 - Why didn't the vampires attack and kill Joyce, to strike at Buffy indirectly, or take her hostage, to entice Buffy into a deathtrap? (The same applies to Xander, Willow, and Cordelia.)
9 - WHY didn't Xander and Willow not also travel around with holy water, stakes, and other life protecting equipment? (including heavy weapons Buffy could have given them - why didn't she?)

Now, I'm looking for analogies to Real Life here.
Obviously, you can say they did not do these things because the show would not have worked had they done so. The plotline would have failed. Characters would have died. This is obvious (I could argue a full government military takeover of Sunnydale was inevitable ...)
I'm looking for the more subtle stuff. The Joss Whedon stuff, which made this show so special.

1 - I guess because there's something deep inside certain people that leads them to do things that would be deemed 'heroic'. It's a species-survival instinct. If something's out eating your kind, and you do nothing about it, your kind gets eaten. Doesn't matter whether it's a cave bear or a vampire, the instinct is still there. Buffy just knows that it's the right thing to do, fighting vamps, and wouldn't feel right not doing it.

2 - Humility? It's going to get you a high profile if you get all these privileges, and Buffy's past is not one where a high profile is useful: as revealed in season 6,

Spoiler

she spent time in an asylum before her parents split up, because someone read her diary and thought that all this talk of vampire slaying was just a bit alarming.

3 - Bureaucracy. (sp?) That, and the fact that they probably are doing something about it, somewhere else. This isn't the only hellmouth (see also: Cleveland), it isn't the only place where evil stalks (there are US specops teams in Central American jungles hunting demon infestations), and to boot, the local officials are not exactly going to put a stop to it all: the Mayor, as revealed in Season 2,

Spoiler

is in fact seeking ultimate power by means of ritual, demon-summoning, and nastier things. He doesn't want the government stopping him, which explains why they only really set up shop once he's gone.

4 - The Watchers are getting a little complacent. They're used to getting their way, they're the culmination of many thousands of years of tradition. When someone gives them lip, they don't quite know what to do; they're supposed to be the boogeyman of the supernatural world, and the father figure to the Slayers, and when that breaks down they're a bit helpless.

5,6,8 - Memory fades, it's been the best part of a decade.

7 - Instinct. Why don't wolves use guns, bludgeons, etc? Because they can't, sure, but also because their key instincts are to jump on something and bite it, not stay at a distance. Vamps have been around all of human history; guns haven't, so if they'd been forced to rely on them, they'd be pretty screwed by the time guns actually appeared. Remember, a vamp isn't a human with pointy teeth, it's a vampire.

9 - Not sure, but maybe they're used to the Safe Streets of Quiet Sunnydale. (Ha.) People typically don't have the urge to request obscure supernatural defences when wandering the streets. People are great at pretending horrible things won't happen to them. Above all, people get used to having a superhero to bail you out of trouble. Oh yeah, and Xander and Willow 'level' later on and take on vamps on their own in hand to hand combat.

Those are my answers. Do they make sense?

 

[Heretic Apostate]

As long as we're asking questions:

Do all the vampires awake with the ability to do martial arts?

 

[drothgery]

As long as we're asking questions:

Do all the vampires awake with the ability to do martial arts?

Doesn't seem like it (unless they had studied them in Real Life). But supernatural strength and an immunity to most forms of damage will help a lot.

 

[Crothian]

They plugged into the matrix

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

To Stevalabny

Posted by Stevalabny

Riiiight. Not trying to offend you. But you won't be able to get deep meaningful answers from such simple questions. For the type of Buffy psycho-babble youre looking for try going here: http://www.slayage.tv/index.shtml
All sorts of wannabe-literary types will pretentiously break down the Buffy-mythos into all the themes and symbols Joss and the writers intended and hundreds more that were never inteded.
I went to a Harry Potter Symposium just like it this July. Amusingly pretentious. The average essay probably isnt worth the paper its printed on but hey, these people actually sell BOOKS on this stuff. See Amazon.com

From Edena_of_Neith

Relax. It's all in fun - at least for me it is for fun. Whether the answers are serious or not serious, I look forward to the replies I get.
Heh, and I do not know the right questions to ask concerning Buffy. I need to ask the questions, to find out what questions to ask, and I mean that!
Thanks for the URL. I'll check it out. People discuss their favorite authors all the time. They have fun (well, sometimes they argue an awful lot (regards the Tolkien boards))

Posted by Stevalabny

CUZ SHES A HERO. heroes do good deeds without asking for rewards.
The Sunnydale problem wasnt as obvious in season 1. Also, you can probably safely assume that Angel/ the Mayor/ anyone else was taking care of stuff behind the scenes.
The Watchers arent idiots. Theyre just very stuck in their ways. Giles didnt talk to Buffy because he had no idea how to deal with a teenage California girl. Buffy didnt talk to Giles because he's an adult authority figure. Teenagers and adult authority figures NEVER sit down and talk to each other. This is the circle of life.

From Edena

Thanks for the feedback.
I agree, that teenagers and adults simply do not sit down and talk to each other. I guess this is an analogy that Joss is drawing.

Posted by Stevalabny

Vampire ego. Now that their bodies are weapons, they will usually fight without any extra weaponry. Also, real world issues like budget probably affect this.

From Edena

Real world budgets? Couldn't vampires simply steal what they wanted? Breaking into stores would hardly be a problem for them!

Posted by Stevalabny

I dont know you. Were you old enough 7 years ago to appreciate the show? Do you live somewhere with a WB channel? Were you trying to hard to be "cool" to discover a good show?
Do you not actively look for new TV shows (or other entertainment) figuring that someone else should do the work for you? It could be anything ranging from bad luck to serious psychological problems.

From Edena

Yep, was old enough. Yep, have WB. Nope, not trying to be cool. (I'm Mr Carte Blanche, as some here know.)
Nope, don't ask folks to do the work for me.
Don't take my question so seriously! I'm kidding. That question was meant humorously.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

To Kid Charlemagne

Hey there Charlemagne. Nice to meet you!

I have seen all of Season 1, Season 2, Season 5, Season 6, and Season 7. I have seen part of Season 3. I have seen about three episodes of Season 4.

Hmmm ... looking at your feedback. Thank you for posting it.
Obviously, I'm not really up on Season 4 and the Initiative. Don't know much about them.
I saw how Buffy used Drusila against Spike in Season 2. Very effective trick, and it saved a lot of people.
Now that you know what I've seen (and now that I've got the Spoiler Caution up) feel free to post to me, at least about all the Seasons I've seen.

It's difficult for me to post here. Everything is black. I have to highlight everything in order to read it. And I have to keep relogging in. (sighs) Ah well. At least Netscape shows something. MIE shows nothing ... my posts and threads simply do not exist!

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

To s/LaSh

Hey there, s/LaSh. Thanks for the reply.
I seem to remember you from way back. Nice to see you again.
Looking at your answers. Thanks much. I do have more questions! (Yes, your answers do make sense)