'Pretty Girl Chasing the Monster’: The Subversive Horror of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Words by Lizzy Jones
‘Hush’ Episode 10, Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
From the very first scene of the pilot aired in 1996, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS) sought to overturn the traditional tropes surrounding female victimisation in horror. The episode opens with a young couple breaking into a high school after dark. The girl Darla, in typical clichéd fashion, proclaims her fear and reluctance; she is the very picture of a cold opening kill, a trope typically associated with slasher films such as Scream (1996). Darla even bears a striking resemblance to Drew Barrymore in the opening scenes. With building suspense, slight noises emphasise the silence of the school and the young man coaxes her further into the empty corridors. Yet in a sudden twist, the girl transforms into a vampire before brutally sinking her fangs into her companion’s neck. This set the tone for the rest of the series, which continued to self-consciously subvert and reinvent horror tropes.
Opening scene of ‘Welcome to the Hellmouth,’ Episode 1, Season 1.
The most obvious subversion in BTVS is Buffy herself. At a time when TV’s only other female hero was Xena, Buffy represents a cultural breakthrough. The pretty blonde girl is the hero. A young sixteen year old girl is the one alone gifted the power and strength to save the world repeatedly from apocalyptic disaster. Yet she does so while remaining relatable to young female audiences. She is fashionable (a personal style icon of mine!), cares about her popularity, cheerleading, and wants nothing more than to be a ‘regular’ teenager. Her typical ‘girly’ interests are not compromised for the rather violent activity of slaying, and from the first episode is shown to be integral to not only her personal identity but her identity as the slayer. When at the Bronze (the local music venue in Sunnydale), Buffy identifies a vampire in the crowd not through some sixth mystical sense but through his rather dated outfit. This lays the foundation for the development of Buffy’s slayer identity throughout the series; she doesn’t play by the ancient mystical rules. Much like how she doesn’t conform to the tropes of horror. For the vampires and demons who are meant to scare the audiences, she is the boogeyman. While Joss Whedon’s feminism is far from perfect, the message of female empowerment found in BTVS was certainly culturally significant, particularly for the horror genre.
Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy Summers
She doesn’t just subvert the stereotypical victimisation of the young blonde girl, but also that of the Final Girl trope. The Final Girl is the one who makes it out alive, yet also spends her whole time being terrorised. While Buffy is certainly brave and courageous throughout the series, it doesn’t shy away from exploring the trauma of being the slayer on her psyche. Alongside the status of the Slayer as the only ‘chosen’ one, the series explores how emotionally and mentally she is the ‘Final Girl,’ even if this isn’t in the literal sense, through her feelings of isolation due to challenges only she can understand as the Slayer. However the first way this is subverted is that in the series Buffy dies twice and is resurrected, first through CPR and then through magical means. For her first death, the almost mundaneness of her revival juxtaposes the mythical prophecy of her death. She is defeated and killed by the monster, yet it is subversive means which allows her to endure and overcome the Big Bad. In the second instance, Buffy is pulled from heaven and the series explores her traumatic readjustment to living when her friends do not understand her seeming ‘ungratefulness’ at being brought back to life. While typically the Final Girl is isolated through the death of others and her own survival, in season 6 Buffy is emotionally and mentally isolated because of her death. The series finale is also the ultimate subversion of the Final Girl trope. In it, the Slayer powers are granted to all girls who had the potential to become a slayer; there is no more ‘chosen one.’ Buffy is no longer isolated through her ancient prophetic fate. Instead, she stands as part of a community who share her experiences and together they face and defeat the ultimate ‘Big Bad’ together.
‘Prophecy Girl,’ Season 1 finale
Whedon also sought to reinvent horror tropes, as can particularly be seen in the memorable episode ‘Hush’ in season 4. When all the characters lose their voices, the episode is thrown out of familiar territory and into the silent horror genre of the 1920s. ‘Hush,’ which many agree is one of the scariest Buffy episodes, relies on the fundamental mechanics of horror. The silence requires the participation of the viewer to fill in the gaps, with it being so heavily visual, the audience cannot look away without missing key elements of the story. BTVS is characterised by the quick, witty, and humorous banter of the characters, termed ‘Buffy speak.’ Yet in ‘Hush,’ that is stripped away. The episode also uses carefully choreographed scenes which subvert expectations. It evokes laughter and fear, but even the humorous moments are haunted by a sense of unfamiliarity, namely the ominous lack of voices and the ever-present threat it poses. The monsters are the Gentlemen, who move by floating and whose gestures are unnatural and disjointed. This is contrasted by the wild, animalistic movements of their henchmen. The grimacing smiles of the Gentlemen throwback to the 1928 movie ‘The Man who Laughs.’ In the episode it is discovered that the Gentlemen are fairytale creatures, who can only be defeated by the Princess’ scream. This, of course, is Buffy. The intrigue in this episode lies in its subversion of a subversion. The fairytale genre is one that often features a damsel in distress, something which Buffy is repeatedly shown to not be. Yet through incorporating fairytale into horror, it is Buffy’s embracing of the role as a screaming victim which is the key to defeating the Gentlemen. Screaming, such a staple of the horror genre and a sign of victimhood, is transformed into the weapon that will destroy the threat.
The Gentlemen from ‘Hush,’ Episode 10, Season 4
‘The Man Who Laughs’
