Tuesday 18 November 2014

Buffy and the Vampire slayer

The final project is to view Restless, the final episode of series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, noting ideological references in dream sequences. We are asked to view and make notes.

The family start a vidfest but all fall asleep.

Dream of a wolf or is it a cat?

Willow
 
Willow starts a drama class in a dream. She turns up for what she thinks is a drama class only to find that she is in the play Death of a Salesman, and dressed for the part. There is a cowboy in the play. Something is following her. 

"Everyone is wondering about you, the real you", she is told by Tara. "If they find out they will punish you, I can't help you with that." "What's after me?", Willow wonders.

This is a clear play on our fears of being exposed acted out in a dream. Willow is attacked then she and Tara emerge from the curtains. 

Willow is then in front of the class presenting a book when she is again attacked. Again, exposing a fear of being exposed unprepared in front of a group. Wakes from her dream gasping.

Xander
 
Xander goes upstairs and gets invited into Joyce's room. He calls himself a 'Comfortador', a play on 'Conquistador'. Is seen by a large group in the bathroom. (being gazed at again). He becomes the brother of Buffy, gazes at her wondering what to make of the situation. Then he is driving an ice cream van. Two girls in the back kiss and ask him to join them. The dream is satisfy a lustfulness, made all the better as the girl in the front with him is cool about him joining the other two. Xander climbs into a dark room with pounding around him. The scene changes again as he is back in school. He too wants to know what is after him. Asks Giles, who explains in French.

Sees an older man who challenges him, denies he is a 'Comfortador', but instead is a Whipping Boy', set on a sacrificial stone. He is chased by he knows not what into the room where the pounding continues.

Willow and Xander engage with Giles. "Something's after us", says Willow, "an animal force". "That used to be us" replies Giles. Finally, he is confronted by his father tearing at his emotions - a sort of Oedipus complex.

Giles
 
Giles tries to explain what is happening in a song. Senses danger but does not know what.

Buffy
 
Buffy's dream starts with being confused in her room. She seeks her friends. Finds her Mum in the walls of the school. She sees Riley, planning a scheme for world domination. "We're not demons." Buffy says. She cakes her face in goo she finds in a bag. Emerges in a desert, she sees another woman who claims she is destruction. "The Slayer?" wonders Buffy. Fights the demon, tells her that it is over. 

Buffy wakes on the floor. The demon comes back. "It's over", she repeats.

They all conclude around the table. Joyce enters. "The spirit of the first slayer tried to kill us in our dreams" announces Willow. "Oh, you want some hot chocolate." is Joyce's response.

"You think you know what's to come", says Tara's voice. "You haven't even begun."......

NB - A consistent theme in each dream is the man with the cheese; probably meaningless - a bit of a tease.




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