High School Is Hell Response

After finishing reading the article “High School is Hell” I was enlightened to a deeper level of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After watching the first episode I had the impression that it was a TV series geared towards teenage girls and high school drama The article brought to light several different, more complex underlying themes that are embedded in every episode. These ‘hidden metaphors’, I believe will make the show much more interesting for me to watch - because it requires more thinking and analyzing of the plots within the episodes.
One particular large underlying metaphor that I particularly liked was the dual use of “High School is Hell” as a metaphor. It is certainly true that at some point in everybody’s high school career it can feel like hell. We certainly all must face our demons throughout high school. Buffy provides viewers with a relatable character to the target audience - teenagers - that they can look up to. Even though she certainly faces terrible situations throughout her high school career, which certainly seem insurmountable, she manages to ‘face her demons’ both literally and metaphorically. Saving her high school life, as well as usually her literal life.
When watching further episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I will try to observe these double metaphors hidden throughout the episodes. I am interested to see the literal monsters they use as metaphors for the ‘monsters’ we face in our high school careers. I am especially interested to find the situations where the metaphors are “…more real than the reality.” (Tracy Little, P.6) as is explained in the article. Overall, this article provided me with insight that is going to allow me to really enjoy the episodes and respect them beyond a shallow TV drama.

Blog #6 Buffy Episode 1

For my personal choice blog, I decided to watch Buffy the Vampire because it was the only television show I recognized. I figured it must have been popular at one time for a reason. In episode one, Buffy is going through the common scenario of being the new student at a school. Like any normal teenager, Buffy is nervous about meeting new people and making new friends and simply ‘fitting in’. Upon arriving to the school she has a talk with the principle, in which she reveals the reason for her change of schools - she burnt down the gym in the last one. When the principle asks why she would do that, she makes a slip of the tongue saying “vampi- Espestos”. Oddly the principle buys this lie and allows Buffy to enroll in the school. This Is where the reader gets the sense that Buffy is more than just an average teenage girl trying to fit in. She has a dark secret, obviously doing with vampires. Buffy further proves that she is not a normal teen when she accidentally drops her steak, which is picked up by a boy named Xander. The mystery about Buffy is further increased when her history teacher, Mr. Giles, hints at her knowledge of being a ‘Slayer’ - which Mr. Giles later explains means that her destiny is to destroy all vampires and fight the forces of hell. She doesn’t want to accept the status of slayer, because as is hinted before, it was the reason she was expelled out of her old school. Buffy is in a classic superhero scenario, torn between living a normal life and being a hero and fulfilling her destiny. It will be interesting to see which side of this debate she chooses. I believe she will choose to fulfill her destiny and protect innocent people. This is because of the strong morals she presented throughout the episode to everyone she met.

Blog #4 Jaynestown

I decided to watch the next episode in sequence so I watched Jaynestown. I noticed again in this episode the strong emphasis on personal relationships between the characters. I expected the characters to act more mature in a more advanced civilization. Though on some worlds, despite their advanced technology their cultures seemed fairly primitive. Most worlds are very similar to old western towns, without adequate law enforcement that were sometimes corrupt. The bars in the Episode highly remembered old-style taverns.
In Jaynestown Jayne pulls a heroic deed by trying to free all of the mudders. And although this backfires to a decent extent, the mudders still regard him as a hero; so much so that a mudder boy jumps in front of a bullet meant for Jayne, killing the young mudder boy. This casues Jayne to be ridden with guilt, just like Batman is for his inability to protect everyone in the city, and taking each life as his fault.
The  statu]e for Jayne, that she didn’t particularly feel she deserved, reminded me of a theme in the movie The Dark Night. The themes in both films showed that to be a true hero, that your people, or city really need. Sometimes you can’t receive all the glory for your heroics - because that is still the best thing for your people. In The Dark Night, Batman had to portray himself as the bad guy, because his city needed a villain, and he was the best villain they could have.

Firefly: Our Mrs. Reynolds

In this episode, Our Mrs. Reynolds, the first thing I noticed was the amount of gender discrimination. Throughout the beginning of the episode multiple women were given gender stereotypes. Especially the antagonist in the episode, Mrs. Reynolds. She used this gender discrimination in order to take advantage of the crew of the ship in several scenarios. Often she used her sexual appeal to get them to lower their guard, and then she would attack them. Disproving the stereotypes she put off, and was given. The episode started off in what appeared to be the old south west, where the village’s custom to the space crew they had joined in the bonding of customs where the plot of the episode orginates and the captin has a miscumunication with the villagers and their customs. (classic Pocahontas scenario) The village princess obviously assumes the two are wed and aboards his ship waiting to carry her bridal duties.
Another theme I found interesting was the focus on relationships throughout the episode. I would expect a civilization much more advanced in the future would have different norms and customs that would be considered more civilized. This has been the trend in the past, and I would expect it to be the trend in the future, Though perhaps the reason for their lack of sophistication is their lifestyle as essentially rebels. I am curious to see further into the episodes if characters from more sophisticated areas act how I would expect a advanced civilization too. Though I may start from the beginning in order to better understand the storyline.