It was late in the Special Collections room at the National
Library of Scotland on November 27th, 2015… I had been scrutinizing
17th Century MSS all day, examining the surviving works of Robert
Kirk, the Minister of Aberfoyle, best known for his extra-ordinary monograph, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns
and Fairies – the heart of my PhD novel project at the University of
Leicester since September 2014. I had wanted to see Kirk’s writings for myself.
So much can be gained from beholding the actual handwriting of a historical
figure – the minute emphasis of a particular word, a name say, can infer so
much. And the marginalia discovered within manuscripts and notebooks – notes,
dates, addendum and doodles – can reveal much about the personality of the
writer, their thought processes, and their milieu. To actually hold one of
Kirk’s notebooks, after reading, pondering and writing about him for so long,
was thrilling; to behold his handwriting – like looking down the well of time.
Yet more wonders were to be discovered that day.
A Sense of scale (with permission from NLS)
If I had given up, downed tools, and returned to my domicile
(more of that in a minute) before perusing the last of my stack of archive
material – the least promising – then I might not have discovered what I did. I
was tired, I was hungry. My eyes were sore, and my stomach was saying:
dinner-time! But I dutifully persisted. I placed the last bound volume of 17th
Century material upon the reader. Islandised within the circle of light from my
reading lamp, the sole remaining scholar in the corner of the reading room, I
carefully opened its fragile, foxed pages...
To complete the Gothic quality of this vignette – the trope
of the ‘found manuscript’ which acts as the framing narrative for many tales of
the genre – I must add that I was staying at a castle during my time visiting
Edinburgh’s archives. In mid-November 2015 I had travelled to Hawthornden
International Writers Retreat, as one of their 5 guests for a month. I had
submitted an application for a residency, to allow me time to work upon the
manuscript of my Kirk novel in suitably atmospheric surroundings: and
Hawthornden could not have been more perfect.
Hawthorn Castle
The former home of the poet, William Drummond (1585-1649),
Hawthornden is dramatically-situated on a crag overlooking the swirling waters
of the Esk, close by Roslin Chapel, in Midlothian, 30 minutes from Auld Reekie
on the bus. Since 1982 80s it has been an International Writers Retreat, with
up to six writers staying for a month-long period to work upon their respectful
projects in ‘peaceful ease’. Lunch is brought to your comfortable room (named
after a canonical writer) is a Fortnum and Mason hamper. Apart from joining
your fellow retreatants for a pre-prandial sherry before dinner, no socialising
is expected. The castle is wifi free, and silence is maintained throughout the
day. There is a well-stocked library, along with a dungeon and Pictish caves.
One can feel the ambience of literary colloquy oozing from the walls. Les
Murray, Alasdair Gray, Helen Vendler, Olive Senior, Hilary Spurling, Andrew
Greig, Kathleen Jamie and many other writers of repute have stayed there. The
Hawthornden Prize is administered from its fastness, and every summer a ‘literary
salon’ with the winner (Colm Tóibín, Hilary Mantel and others of their calibre)
is held there. Many splendid signed first editions grace its magnificent
library – a bibliophile’s paradise.
To spend a month in such atmospheric surroundings, in the
domicile of Kirk’s near contemporary (they overlapped by half a decade) could
not have been more conducive to my project. I worked upon a 2nd
draft of my novel, writing forty thousand words, and edited the whole 160,000
word MS during my stay. I also wrote a few poems, and, of course, visited the
archives of Edinburgh at least once a week (making the most of my day out by
enjoying the museums, galleries, cafes, cinemas and social life of the handsome
city).
A Romantic Ruin: Hawthornden, the original tower
And so, coming from this castle to visit the Special
Collections did not feel like a paradigm shift, but a continuation of a
narrative, a Gothic one. It was winter too, and snow did fall while I was
there. The light above the Lammermuir Hills had a fey quality to it as I set
out early for the day in the archives. Roslin Castle was said to be haunted by
a black shuck*, the Mauthe Doog. To complete the uncanniness, opposite
Hawthornden there is the research station where Dolly the Sheep was cloned... I
was only disappointed that throughout my time at the castle I never heard a
single rattling chain, moan or bump in the night. After Mary the Chef’s
legendary feasts prepared for us every night it was hard not to sleep soundly,
especially after a wee dram or two (a fine malt bequeathed to us by the
previous retreatants). The place seemed to have a spell of almost unnatural
quietude cast over it.
Yet something of its magic must have rubbed off on me as I
trekked to the bus-stop in Bonnyrigg, holding onto my hat in the hoolie that
assailed Midlothian during my stay, because it was amongst some old papers once
belonging to William Drummond himself that I discovered a most remarkable find ... a
bona fide found manuscript*[i], one
that bore Robert Kirk’s name...
I cannot say more than that at this stage, as it research I
have not yet published, so forgive me if I do not go into details here. Suffice
to say, to come across such a find felt like such an affirmation, the ultimate
seal of approval from Kirk (and Drummond). Their shades must have been looking
over me that day – and I raise a glass to them both.
***
Kevan Manwaring
is a writer and PhD Candidate at the University of Leicester. He is the author
of The Long Woman, Desiring Dragons, The
Bardic Handbook, Oxfordshire Folk Tales, Northamptonshire Folk Tales, and
is the editor of Ballad Tales: an
anthology of British ballads retold (The History Press). He blogs and
tweets as the Bardic Academic. The
Knowing – A Fantasy, published as an e-book 20th March, 2017, is
available on Amazon.
[i] Authentic
Inauthenticity: The Found Manuscript, Contemporary
Scottish Gothic: mourning, authenticity and tradition, Palgrave Gothic
Series, 2014: 54-88.
Any reader of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) remembers
how Lucy Westenra transforms into a vampire after the continuous attacks
ofthe Count.Her transformation into the so-called
‘‘bloofer lady’’ emphasises her new existence as an undead creature.
Nevertheless, as Leslie Ann Minot examines, the ‘‘bloofer lady’’ has ‘‘received
relatively little critical attention compared to the multiple, complex
psychosexual analyses of other scenes of ‘‘vamping’’ in the novel’’ (207). But
why this lack of interest ? And why did Stoker decide to change Lucy into this
new beast? This blog post will try to find some answers to these questions.
Sadie Frost as the "Bloofer Lady" in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
To begin with, I will explain the term ‘‘bloofer lady’’.
Even though the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) does not recognise this
expression, the Urban Dictionary describes it as ‘‘a (female) vampire;
most probably from a child's mispronunciation of beautiful’’. It also gives a
quote from the novel. Stoker may have employed the phrase after Dickens’s
‘‘boofer’’ for ‘‘beautiful’’ in his Our Mutual Friend (1864-65), adding
the ‘‘l’’ to the word as a possible relation to ‘‘bloody’’. Therefore, with
this term, we can imagine a connection between the vampire and her victims, the
children of Hampstead Heath. This could be one of the reasons why scholars
reject any further analysis on her figure, that is, Lucy’s unsavoury attacks
upon children.
One of the main features of this new vampire is her maternal
luring of children. Together with the obvious sexuality female vampires portray
in Dracula, the image of Lucy as the ‘‘bloofer lady’’ holding a child in
her arms to feed on it leads to unpleasant conclusions. Stoker insists on reminding
us of Lucy’s depravity when the vampire hunters gather to kill her and she
tries to seduce Arthur:
‘‘The sweetness was turned to
adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous
wantonness…With a careless
motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now
she had clutched strenuously to her breast…When she advanced to (Arthur) with
outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his
hands. She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace,
said, ‘‘Come to me Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are
hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!’’’
(196-197).
This juxtaposition of her desire of consumption of the
child’s blood with her wantonness towards her suitor suggests that her means of
ensnaring the infants can be sexual. Thus, was Stoker warning Victorian society
against possible child abusers like the ‘‘bloofer lady’’? There is, I think,
some evidence to support this point of view.
Illustration of the "Bloofer Lady" by comic artist Jae Lee
Perhaps thanks to his background as a journalist, Stoker
introduces his creature ‘‘the bloofer lady’’ through articles in the Westminster
Gazette: ‘‘The neighbourhood of Hampstead is just at present exercised with
a series of events which seem to run on lines parallel to those of what was
known to the writers of headlines as ‘‘The Kensington Horror’’, or ‘‘The
Stabbing Woman’’ or ‘‘The Woman in Black’’’’ (165). However, he also takes
advantage of the ‘‘developing conventions of crime and sex-scandal reporting in
the English press into which the ‘‘Maiden Tribute’’ campaign fit’’ (Minot 209).This scandal refers to the movement against
adolescent prostitution exposed by the Pall Mall Gazette newspaper in
1885 by editor W.T. Stead, a friend of Stoker.Stead claimed that ‘‘countless girls were being sacrificed to the
insatiable ‘‘London Minotaur’’ in a horror far worse than those recalled in
myths of ancient Greece’’ (Bingham and Settle).
One of the means of attracting girls into prostitution echoes
the way the ‘‘bloofer lady’’ approaches her victims by luring them away. In the
novel, it is mentioned that one child ‘‘wants to play’’ with the ‘‘bloofer
lady’’(182), though we do not see what games they play together. This can
represent how children and teenagers were chosen, followed and ensnared by a
‘‘nicely-dressed lady’’ of a gang who provided virgins to their clients. The
‘‘bloofer lady’’ can be compared to the ‘‘decoy girls’’ who ‘‘we know that they
promise gifts, money, nice clothes, pony rides, and freedom’’ (Minot 213).
Stead denounced this entrapping in his newspaper giving the experiences of some
victims. Stead even ‘‘bought’’ a 13-year-old teenager, Eliza Armstrong, to
condemn the ease to obtain those sufferers. He was convicted for it to a
three-month term at Coldbath Fields and Holloway Prisons.
In Dracula, children not only like the ‘‘bloofer lady’’,
but they also are familiarised with her: ‘‘It is generally supposed in the
neighbourhood that, as the first for a walk, the others had picked up the
phrase and used it as occasion served’’ (Stoker 165). Minot states that
‘‘through the representation of child victims in the Hampstead Heath scene,
Stoker is able to tap into an ambivalent public discourse about victims,
villains, and heroes that employs fear of and proactive use of imposture’’
(217). I agree with her: victims are afraid of but at the same time desire to
be with the female vampire.
To sum up, I have attempted to answer the two central
questions that the creature of the ‘‘bloofer lady’’ seems to pose. First of
all, I consider it strange that no more attention has been paid to this important
section of the novel. I consider the reason to be down the taboo nature of
abusing an infant or teenager, which seems to have out critics off analysing
these scenes. Moreover, this blog has tried to see why Stoker transforms Lucy
into this dark seductive vampire whose prey are children. My conclusion is that
the author was interested in portraying the social problem of children
prostitution. Stoker’s friendship with the editor W.T. Stead, who fought
strongly against this crime and published articles about it in his newspaper Pall
Mall Gazette, encouraged the writer to include the issue in the novel.
Tatiana Fajardo Domench is currently studing an MLitt in the Gothic Imagination at the University of Stirling.
Works Cited:
Bingham, Adrian and Settle, Louise, ‘‘ Scandals and
silences: the British press and child sexual abuse’’ (4th August 2015) in
‘‘History and Policy’’
http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/scandals-and-silences-the-british-press-and-child-sexual-abuse
(accessed 1st April 2017)
Kreisel, Deanna K. ‘‘Demand and Desire in Dracula’’ in
‘‘Economic Women: Essays on Desire and Dispossession in Nineteenth-Century
British Culture’’ (ed. Lana L.Dalley, Jill Rappoport) (Ohio State University:
2013)
Minot, Leslie Ann, ‘‘Vamping the Children: The ‘‘Bloofer
Lady’’, the ‘‘London Minotaur’’ and Child-Victimization in Late
Nineteenth-Century England’’ in Victorian crime, madness and sensation (ed.
Andrew Maunder, Grace Moore)(Aldershot: Ashgate, c2004), ch.14.
Stoker, Bram, Dracula (First published 1897), Oxford World’s
Classics (Oxford University Press: 2011)
Urban Dictionary, ‘‘Bloofer’’
http://www.urbandictionary.com/ (accessed 1st April 2017)
Images:
. Sadie Frost as the ‘‘ Bloofer Lady’’:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fb/8f/a1/fb8fa143d57ee0ad6041add20a03dfd7.jpg
. Illustration of the ‘‘Bloofer Lady’’ by Jae Lee for
Dracula (Penguin Classics:2006) :
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3a/d3/a9/3ad3a960c5de94a40580886f60e94d7c.jpg
The Gothic Reading Group will be meeting on Wednesday 22nd
March to continue this semester’s on-going discussion of all things Eco-Gothic.
This time around we’ll be focusing on sublime pastoral landscapes.
During the session we’ll be thinking about the pastoral mode
in relation to the poetry of the Mistress of Udolpho herself, Ann Radcliffe.
Radcliffe’s novels are interspersed with poems which are often described as
being either composed or sung by the heroine at times when she feels
particularly inspired by her natural surroundings. In this post I’ll be considering
how a sublime aesthetic experience effectively kick-starts the process of artistic
creativity.
The novels of Ann Radcliffe are famous for their lengthy
passages of landscape description in which she evokes the art of Claude Lorrain
(c.1600-1682), Salvator Rosa (1616-1673) and Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Their
rugged yet idealised pastoral landscapes populated by shepherds and banditti
going about their daily lives, but it is the soaring trees, rocky edifices and
wide expanses of open water that dominate the canvases and subsequently shaped
Radcliffe’s impressions of Italy.
Pastoral Landscape by
Claude Lorrain (1644)
In A Sicilian Romance
(1790) Madame de Menon is travelling through such a landscape as painted by
Claude when she is reunited with her young charge, Julia:
‘Her thoughts,
affected by the surrounding objects, gradually sunk into a pleasing and
complacent melancholy, and she was insensibly led on. She still followed the
course of the stream to where the deep shades retired, and the scene again
opening to day, yielded to her view so various and sublime, that she paused in
thrilling and delightful wonder. A group of wild and grotesque rocks rose in a
semicircular form, and their fantastic shapes exhibited Nature in her most
sublime and striking attitudes. Here her vast magnificence elevated the mind of
the beholder to enthusiasm. Fancy caught the thrilling sensation, and at her
touch the towering steeps became shaded with unreal glooms; the caves more
darkly frowned – the projecting cliffs assumed a more terrific aspect, and the
wild overhanging shrubs waved to the gale in deeper murmurs. The scene inspired
madame with reverential awe, and her thoughts involuntarily rose, ‘from Nature
up to Nature’s God.’ The last dying gleams of day tinted the rocks and shone
upon the waters, which retired through a rugged channel and were lost afar
among the receding cliffs. While she listened to their distant murmur, a voice
of liquid and melodious sweetness arose from among the rocks; it sung in the
air, and captivated her heart.’[1]
Alison Milbank argues that Madame’s aesthetic experience has
‘an actual, practical effect’ in that she is not paralysed by what she sees,
but achieves transcendence which leads her to achieve her aim of being reunited
with Julia through ‘voluntary passivity’.[2]Julia is similarly responsive to the
environment, and the sublime surroundings frequently inspire her to sing,
compose or recite poetry:
‘She loved to indulge
the melancholy of her heart in the solitude of the woods. One evening she took
her lute to a favourite spot on the seashore, and resigning herself to a
pleasing sadness, touched some sweet and plaintive airs. The purple flush of
evening was diffused over the heavens. The sun, involved in clouds of splendid
and innumerable hues, was setting o’er the distant waters, whose clear bosom
glowed with rich reflection. The beauty of the scene, the soothing murmur of
the high trees, waved by the light air which overshadowed her, and the soft
shelling of the waves that flowed gently in upon the shores, insensibly sunk
her mind into a state of repose.’ (Radcliffe, 1993: 42)
Evening Landscape by
Salvator Rosa c. 1640-3
In such a state of repose, as Archibald Allison deems
necessary in order to fully appreciate the sublime in his Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste (1789), Julia is in
the perfect state of mind for artistic creativity to flow, and proceeds to sing
the following ode:
EVENING
Evening veil'd in dewy shades,
Slowly sinks upon the main;
See th' empurpled glory fades,
Beneath her sober, chasten'd reign.
Around her car the pensive Hours,
In sweet illapses meet the sight,
Crown'd their brows with closing flow'rs,
Rich with chrystal dews of night.
Her hands, the dusky hues arrange
O'er the fine tints of parting day;
Insensibly the colours change,
And languish into soft decay.
Wide o'er the waves her shadowy veil she draws,
As faint they die along the distant shores;
Through the still air I mark each solemn pause,
Each rising murmur which the wild wave pours.
A browner shadow spreads upon the air,
And o'er the scene a pensive grandeur throws;
The rocks-the woods a wilder beauty wear,
And the deep wave in softer music flows.
And now the distant view where vision fails
Twilight and grey obscurity pervade;
Tint following tint each dark'ning object veils,
Till all the landscape sinks into the shade.
Oft from the airy steep of some lone hill,
While sleeps the scene beneath the purple glow;
And evening lives o'er all serene and still,
Wrapt let me view the magic world below!
And catch the dying gale that swells remote,
That steals the sweetness from the shepherd's flute;
The distant torrent's melancholy note
And the soft warblings of the lover's lute.
Still through the deep'ning gloom of bow'ry shades
To Fancy's eye fantastic forms appear;
Low whisp'ring echoes steal along the glades
And thrill the ear with wildly-pleasing fear.
Parent of shades!-of silence!-dewy airs!
Of solemn musing, and of vision wild!
To thee my soul her pensive tribute bears,
And hails thy gradual step, thy influence mild.
This poem is heavily inspired by William Collins’ ‘Ode to
Evening’ (1746). Like Collins, Radcliffe personifies evening as a maid, or
muse, who inspires musical performance in harmony with the melancholy scene. Music,
like the fading evening light, is transient – a fleeting moment of beauty that
will pass in a matter of moments. Radcliffe’s use of the veil motif to describe
the onset of evening is another aspect of the poem adapted from Collins’ ode,
but the idea of obscurity is also central to Edmund Burke’s conceptualisation
of the sublime.In his Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our
Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), Burke suggests that the sublime
is the most powerful emotion we are capable of experiencing, and that our
inability to perceive or comprehend something in its entirety is a source of
sublime terror as ‘the ideas of eternity, and infinity, are among the most
affecting we have.’[3]
Wanderer Above the
Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)
When it comes to summing up what makes a landscape sublime,
Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above
the Sea of Fog (1818) pretty much encapsulates the concept. The image of a
man standing on a precipice with a vast, mountainous landscape unfolding before
his eyes invites the beholder to contemplate their own precarious position in
the world from a position of safety. Faced by the enormity of God’s creation
and human mortality we are awe inspired and drawn to meditate on the
relationship between man and nature.
Ken Hiltner’s study of the environment in Renaissance
pastoral poetry identifies an ‘environmental consciousness’ in the mode and he
goes on to argue that the pastoral responds to the mounting anxiety about the
threat urban expansion poses to the natural environment.[4]
It will be worth considering, then, how the Gothic responds to this issue by
exploring how Radcliffe contrasts the experience of pastoral aesthetics with those
of urban luxury and vice.
During the session on Wednesday we will have more time to
consider the relationship between pastoral poetry and the Gothic, and the influence
of the Burkean sublime on Radcliffe’s work. If there is a particular example of
pastoral Gothic you’d like to share – whether it’s an extract from Paradise Lost or an ode by your
favourite graveyard poet - bring it along. We’ll be meeting in Jessop West room
G.03 from 4pm-6pm. As always, snacks and sweets provided. All staff and
students welcome!
Hannah Moss is a
first year PhD student at the University of Sheffield researching the
representation of art and the female artist in Gothic novels of the long
eighteenth-century. We cannot confirm or deny whether she has a portrait hidden
in her attic.
[1]
Ann Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance,
(Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 1993), p. 104.
[2]
Alison Milbank, ‘Introduction’ to A
Sicilian Romance, (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 1993), p. xviii.
[3]
Edmund Burke, APhilosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful, ed. Paul Guyer, (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2015), p.51.
[4] Ken
Hiltner, What Else is Pastoral?
Renaissance Literature and the Environment, (Ithaca & London: Cornell
University Press, 2011).
Sheffield Gothic's Top Ten Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
If for some inexplicable reason you have somehow managed to
escape the cult phenomenon that is Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
then let me tell you now, you have really been missing out. With its debut
episode airing twenty years ago on 10 March 1997, it has since become a cult
classic and favourite of Gothic fans and scholars alike. Receiving both
critical and popular acclaim, the series is often (and correctly!) listed as
one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and its sheer success and popularity
can be seen through the expansion of the Buffyverse. Buffy ran for seven
seasons, and in 1999 Whedon also launched a spin of show, Angel, which
itself ran five seasons, while novels, comics, and video games have further
developed and expanded this supernatural universe. If that’s not enough, Buffy
can attest to a huge fandom that is still thriving today, and critical
interest in the show is showing no sign of slowing down with the seventh
Biennial Slayage Conference being held at Kingston University, London in 2016
(which was also the first time the conference was held outside North America).
So, you might ask, what is all the fuss about? Before diving
into what I think are the best Buffy episodes, it is probably a good
idea to explain what the series is about. Essentially, the show is about a
teenage girl (Buffy Summers – and yes, we’re all aware that Buffy is a weird
name) who just happens to be the Slayer; we follow Buffy as she slays vampires
and other monsters while also trying to survive high school, university, and
the general transition between teenager and adult life. If you’ve seen the not
so successful film of the same name (1992), then the first episode basically
picks up where the film leaves off: following a vampire-related
incident at her previous school, Buffy’s mum moves the Summers family to
Sunnydale hoping for a new, vampire-free start.
Xander, Giles, Buffy, Cordelia, and Willow
However, thanks to the new librarian Giles who identifies her as the
Slayer and soon becomes her Watcher – a sort of mentor who helps to train and
guide the Slayer – and the fact that Sunnydale is conveniently located right above a
Hellmouth, Buffy cannot escape vampires of her identity as the Slayer. It might
be worth mentioning here that there can only ever be one Slayer at a time, and
she is always female (#GirlPower). When the Slayer is killed, the abilities of
the Slayer are awoken in another potential Slayer, and another Watcher steps in. Of course,
it wouldn’t be high school without friends, and at Sunnydale High Buffy also meets Willow and
Xander, who will become part of the Scooby gang with Buffy, and Cordelia, the
typical popular girl; in their own way these characters help Buffy slay a lot
of Vamps and other creepy monsters whilst also battling the horrors of high
school and then adult life.
Whedon’s initial concept of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to
‘twist Horror movies’ and empower the young girl who is typically killed off in
the Horror genre. Rather than creating another film where a young, typically blonde girl gets
trapped in some dark alley, only to be killed (often violently) by a monster,
Whedon inverts the formula and creates a story where the girl fought back.
And, as he explains in the video below, in the TV show he expanded this narrative
to explore the fact that high school is essentially a Horror movie. It is this foundation,
and the fact that the show was constantly pushing boundaries and conventions, that set Buffy apart from other shows and has
ensured its impact and influence is still being felt and discussed today.
So, without much ado (Whedon pun intended), here’s my list
of the ten best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the order they
aired.[i]
Welcome to the Hellmouth, Season 1 Episode 1
What better place to start that at the beginning. Ok, so in
many way this is the typical pilot episode: we meet Buffy on her first day at
Sunnydale high, and through her we are introduced to Xander, Willow, Jesse,
Cordelia, and of course the librarian Giles, who also happens to be new (what a
crazy random happenstance!). Although its clear that Buffy is trying to leave
behind her vampire-slaying past, Giles’ not-so-subtle hints – candidly offering
her a book titled Vampyr in the
school library – and the discovery of a dead guy in the locker room with
puncture marks on his neck quickly reveals that this is not an option.This episode marks the first, and very
mysterious appearance of Angel, who is in no way sparkly but definitely very,
very sexy. This episode also has one of the best opening scenes which
immediately sets the tone for the whole series: watch out for the young blonde
because she may not always be as defenceless as she first appears, and I’m not
just talking about Buffy. So ultimately, this is not exactly your typical
pilot. Welcome to Sunnydale, and welcome to the Hellmouth.
Angel: 'Don't worry, I don't bite'
I, Robot…You, Jane, Season 1 Episode 8
Ok, so on its own I probably wouldn’t have included it on
this list, although I do love the premise that you can upload a demon onto the
Internet. The main reason I’ve included this episode is that its essentially Ultron, and yes I do mean The Avengers: Age of Ultron also
directed by Joss Whedon (again, what a crazy random happenstance!). In this
episode, Willow accidently scans a book from Giles private collection rather
than an ordinary school library book, and in the process uploads and then releases the demon Moloch onto the internet. Being a power hungry demon (now in love
with Willow and talking to her in an online chat using the name Malcom - cue lessons about the dangers of online dating), Moloch
starts to take over the internet. With the help of some helpful Sunnydale
residents, Moloch builds himself a robot suit into which he uploads himself as part
one in his scheme to take over the world (and Willow). Sealing him into the
suit and destroying him is the only way Buffy and the Scooby gang can put a
halt to his plans. So an evil entity uploaded onto the Internet, planning world
domination, and building a robot suit to physically house him and allow him to
fight and destroy the world - sound familiar?
The demon Moloch in his Robot suit
Halloween, Season 2 Episode 6
Halloween is the
first of three Halloween episodes in Buffy,
and what’s not to love about an episode where the characters turn into their
Halloween costumes. I discuss the episode in more detail in a previous post, but its still worth mentioning here as Buffy transforms from the slayer
that we have all grown to know and love into an eighteenth century Gothic
heroine. With Buffy confused and helpless, it falls to Xander, now a soldier, Willow, now a (sexy) ghost, and Cordelia dressed as a cat
(not everyone transforms into their costume) to set things right – with the
help of Angel, your friendly neighbourhood vampire.
Ghost Willow, Eighteenth-Century Buffy, and Army Xander
Doppelgangland, Season 3 Episode 16
As we follow Buffy
through her journey as the Slayer, what’s great about the series is that other
characters and their own unique, individual journeys are also depicted,
including Willow’s journey into witchcraft and discovery of her own self and sexuality.
This episode is one of several that follows Willow’s spells gone wrong: helping
former Vengeance demon Anya, Willow and Anya accidentally release Vampire
Willow from an alternate dimension (see previous episode The Wish, Season3,
Episode 9). A lot of confusion occurs regarding Willow and her vampire doppelgänger – to say nothing of the other doubles that are explored in this episode – and
at one point Willow even plays the part of Vampire Willow: if you’re at all
interested in Gothic doubles then this is really the episode for you. Although
Vampire Willow is eventually returned to her own dimension (and then quickly
staked), our Willow has learnt a lot about herself, and how to be assertive
with what she wants. And, of course, she realises that Vampire Willow is ‘kinda
gay,’ providing a great piece of foreshadowing.
Seeing double: Willow and Vamp Willow
Hush, Season 4 Episode 10
Hush is quite
simply a beautifully terrifying episode. Following critical praise of the
show and in particular its dialogue, Whedon set out to challenge himself and construct an episode
almost entirely devoid of speech. In the whole 44 minute episode, there are
only 17 minutes of dialogue, and you don’t need to take just my word for it
that Whedon succeeded in his aim: not did Hush
receive high critical praise, but it is the only episode of the series to
be nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. This
episode is truly brilliant, and without giving too much away, it features what
series writer Doug Petrie states were ‘the creepiest villains we’ve ever done’:
The Gentlemen[ii]
The Gentlemen, their accompanying straitjacket-wearing minions, and their
mythology are fashioned in the style of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Having
stolen all the voices in the town, The Gentlemen smile unsettlingly as they cut
out their victims’ hearts; without a voice, their victims are unable to scream.
'Can't even shout, can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by.'
Fool For Love, Season 5 Episode 7
Like all good vampire fiction, the mythology of the
fictional world is an integral part of the narrative, and in this episode we
learn a lot about the mythology of the Slayer from a vampire who has killed two of
them: Spike. We also learn a lot about the history of Spike himself – who was
an unsuccessful and quite terrible poet before he was made into a vampire – and
in turn we learn more about the show’s vampire foursome, Darla,
Angel, Drusilla, and Spike, as they travel the world indulging their sexual,
vampiric, and murderous desires. Although Buffy pays Spike to tell her what he
knows about killing Slayers (and we learn exactly how he acquired his trademark
leather coat), she is unhappy with what he reveals and, after insulting him,
leaves. Spike eventually follows her home intent on finally killing her.
However, finding her upset at her mother’s illness, we are instead presented
with a touching scene as vampire comforts, rather than kills, the Slayer.
Spike killing his second Slayer
The Body, Season 5 Episode 16
This episode needs to come with a warning. It is a beautiful
episode, brilliantly written, directed, and shot, but it will also leave you
emotionally ruined for days. Broken into four distinct ‘acts,’ each beginning in total silence and with a close up shot of Joyce’s face, The Body follows Buffy’s discovery of the dead body of her mother
at home, her journey into the acceptance of her mother’s death, and the grief
of other characters as they learn of her death and struggle to come to terms
with what this loss means to them. Devoid of music and incorporating many
disorienting effects, The Body
depicts what Whedon has termed ‘the black ashes in your mouth numbness of
death.’[iii]You should definitely watch this
episode, but be prepared to have an avalanche of uncontrollable emotions when
you do.
Buffy discovering her mother's body
Once More, with Feeling, Season 6 Episode 7
I believe that a fundamental
part of the Gothic is its campness, and the performative aspects of the Gothic go hand
in hand with its dark and gloomy elements; so, what’s more camp and
performative than a horror TV show musical? That’s right, this episode of Buffy is a musical, complete with song
and dance numbers such as ‘Going Through the Motions,’ ‘Rest in Peace,’ ‘Under
Your Spell,’ ‘Walk Through the Fire’ and the unforgettable ‘The Mustard.’ Of
course, this isn’t your standard musical, and in fact the residents of
Sunnydale are being compelled to break into song and dance and express hidden
truths by a demon, but it totally works. The success of this episode has
inspired other shows to incorporate the musical episode format, and yes, you
can still buy the soundtrack.
Once More, With Feeling poster
Normal Again, Season 6 Episode 17
This is another episode where Whedon yet again pushes the
boundaries of the TV show. What if every crazy, unbelievable, vampire or
monster or witch related event that has happened throughout Buffy was actually a hallucination
taking place in Buffy’s head? What if there is no such thing as vampires or Slayers
or monsters, and instead, Buffy has been in a mental hospital the whole time.
In this episode, Buffy is poisoned and starts to hallucinate an alternate
reality where for the past six years, and the past six seasons, she has been
living in a mental hospital. Or, perhaps she has been hallucinating the
Buffyverse as we know it all along and she really is in a mental hospital. As the episode
falls and jumps between each reality, we are never presented with certainty
either way, and, as Whedon says, ‘if the viewer wants, the entire series takes
place in the mind of a lunatic locked up somewhere in Los Angeles.’[iv]
Alternative reality: Buffy in a mental hospital
Chosen, Season 7 Episode 22
With the final
episode of Buffy Whedon takes us back
to its beginning, and back to the heart of the show: empowered girls and women
who can and will fight back. This episode is not so much about one girl, the
Slayer, the Chosen One, as it is about relationships, friendships, and
community. It is up to Buffy, the Scooby gang, and a group of potential
Slayers, along with Spike, to stop the approaching apocalypse brought on by The
Big Bad of the season: the First Evil. The First is using a group of creepy
monks called the Bringers and the Turok-Hand – Ubervamps who are ridiculously
strong and definitely not sexy in any way – and where else would you choose to
start the apocalypse but the Hellmouth conveniently located under Sunnydale
High. Angel returns as well to offer his help, providing plenty of hilarious
Angel/Spike jealousy. Not only is this a great episode, but it is a great show
finale.
'Where do we go from here?'
------
Do you agree with our
list? Are there any episodes you think we have missed? Or do you have your own favourite that
you want to share? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.
Mary 'Slayer' Going is a PhD Researcher at the University of Sheffield and member of Sheffield Gothic. her research focuses on representations of Jewish figures in Romantic and Gothic fiction. She is our vampiric expert, especially when it comes to Buffy.
[i]Disclaimer:
these are not necessarily my favourite episodes, which involve a lot more Spike including Pangs, season 4, episode 8, Something Blue, season 4
episode 9, and Tabula Rasa, season 6, episode 8. #TeamSpike
[ii]Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season; "Hush" Featurette. [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
[iii] Whedon, Joss (2008). Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fifth Season; DVD commentary for the episode "The Body". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
[iv]"10 Questions for Joss Whedon". New York Times. May 16, 2003.
