Kicking off our Buffy Blog Series this week, in our exploration of Season Six, we have a previously unpublished Halloween post exploring third and final Halloween episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the third part of Sheffield Gothic's 2014 Buffy Halloween Series by co-organiser Mary Going (you can read part one here and part two here): yes, our blog may be haunted! As always, if you want to share your thoughts on Buffy and Halloween, or any of our previous posts, use the hashtag #BuffySlays20.
The
final episode in the trio of Halloween specials of Buffy the Vampire Slayer occurs in the sixth and penultimate season.
This is the season that literally brings
Buffy back from the dead, and the show itself is similarly resurrected onto a
new TV channel, UPN, following a decision from WB not to renew the show.
(Reactions to Season Six) |
It is in
this season that we are given the infamous musical episode ‘Once More With
Feeling’ (we’ll get back to you on a Sheffield Gothic Musical) that inspired
sing-along viewings and an album release.
However, this season also deals with a lot of darker themes. Buffy becomes less metaphorical and more
literal as it leaves behind childhood and moves more clearly into the realm of
adulthood, addressing themes such as addiction, kleptomania, the consequences
of misogyny, and death (and resurrection) are addressed. Even mental illness is explored through the
episode of ‘Normal Again’ as the very reality of the world of Sunnydale, that
has become so familiar to Buffy and the viewer, is questioned. As a result, the sixth season is often
considered to be the darkest season of Buffy.
I bet you say that to all the girls; ‘All
the Way’ S06E06
So how
does the final Halloween episode fit into a season that is undeniably so much
darker in content that the previous seasons?
Moreover, how does this episode compare to the first and second
Halloween specials?
This episode
opens with a scene featuring the now obligatory Halloween costumes. Giles has chosen a rather fetching blue
Wizard costume; Xander is decked in the attire of a pirate; and Anya is dressed
as an Angel. Or more specifically a
Charlie’s Angel, and the ex-Vengeance demon elaborates, this is a ‘special kind
of angel called a Charlie. We don’t have
wings, we just skate around with perfect hair fighting crime.’
(Xander and Anya, dressed as a Pirate and Charlies' Angel) |
Not
everyone in this scene, however, has donned a Halloween costume, and there is
an immediate sense that Halloween has lost some of its charm for the
Scoobies. The scene is set in the Magic
Box, a shop now owned by Giles following a brief spell of unemployment. And at this busy commercial holiday, the
Scoobies have been roped into help. The
shop itself is packed with customers and children Trick-or-Treating, all
suitably adorned in Halloween attire.
For Buffy and her friends, though, they are there to serve customers,
hand out sweets to the children, and restock the shelves.
Naturally,
this is something that Buffy tries to get out of. As we have discovered through the BTVS Halloween episodes, an informal
rule exists in the supernatural world whereby on this night ‘supernatural
threats give it a well-deserved rest.’
Buffy cunningly uses her experiences in which this rule is broken to
offer to patrol instead of helping out at the shop. Yet contrary to her wishes,
Giles reminds her that ‘if anything calamitous should happen, history suggests
it’ll happen to one of us,’ and Buffy is stuck in her retail nightmare.
However,
history does have a strange way of repeating itself, and as the episode unfolds
the unspoken rule of Halloween is, of course, broken. It is interesting to note the difference
between the previous Halloween episodes and the way this rule is broken. The violation of this all important rule is
typically brought about by magic – first by Ethan Rayne casting a spell over
the costumes sold in his shop, and then by the accidental summoning of the Fear
demon Gachnar. However, in the final Halloween installment, it is a group of local
vampires who choose to disregard traditional Halloween etiquette; not magic,
but simply a rejection of societal customs.
(Dawn out with some boys, who are definitely not vampires, on Halloween) |
Perhaps
here, then, is the crux of the episode: the notion of choices and
responsibility. This is also fundamental
to the season as a whole, as it addresses the liminal area between childhood
and adulthood. Aptly titled ‘All the
Way,’ this episode follows the Scoobies and their decisions, or their
struggles, with the concept of commitment and following through with their
decisions in a more adult context.
Xander publically reveals his engagement to Anya, and then wrestles with
the reality of this decision. Willow and
Tara struggle with their differing ideals of magic and its use as it begins to
impact their relationship (foregrounding Willow’s later addiction to magic). Buffy herself is revealed to be adapting to,
or failing to adapt to, her role as a parental figure to her sister Dawn in the
wake of their mother’s death.
But
central to BTVS as a series is figure
of the teenage girl, and it is through Dawn that this is played out. Questioning her lack of Halloween costume in
the opening scene, Dawn responds to Anya by stating, ‘Like I’m six years old?
Halloween’s so lame.’ As the episode progresses, it is clear to the viewer that
the teenage Dawn is attempting to appear as grown up, as adult, as
possible.
Disregarding
her assertion to Buffy that ‘I’m not gonna be roaming the streets,’ this is
exactly what Dawn ends up doing. Rather
than staying over at her friend’s house, Dawn and her friend Janice instead
meet up with some older boys. The group
proceeds to prank some local houses, including throwing eggs and letting the
air out of car tires, before heading over to the woods in a stolen car.
(Dawn and the not-just-a-boy-actually-a-vampire Justin) |
What
Dawn and Janice do not know, however, is that these boys are vampires. The viewer is made privy to private
conversations between the boys, out of Dawn and Janice’s earshot, as Zack first
asks Justin, ‘what about, uh, you know, going all the way?’ This euphemistically refers to sex and the
ritual of losing virginity (and innocence), which can further be regarded as a progression
from childhood to adulthood. However,
unlike your average teenage boys, the predatory nature of these boys is
emphasized through their vampiric identity.
Another
scene reveals, again only to the views, Justin’s vamp face. The group is
invited into the house of an old man for some special Halloween treats, and
under the guise of helping him in the kitchen Justin sucks his blood. Running from the house, Justin exclaims to
Zack ‘Dude, that guy was rank,’ to which Justin replies, ‘Bet a spritz of Dawn
would wash that right out. So what do
you think? Lunchables? Or should we go all the way and turn ‘em?’
Here,
the previous comment regarding ‘going all the way’ is transformed, or perhaps
simply its latent and more sinister nature is revealed. The vampire, and the act of drinking a
person’s blood and turning them into vampires themselves, becomes a metaphor
for sexual consent. While it does of
course have ramifications for sexual relationships of all ages, sexual consent
and virginity are specifically considered here within the context of the
teenage sphere, as teenagers begin to explore their own sexual identities
amongst a backdrop of various social pressures.
This
theme is crucial to many early Gothic novels.
Again, we can look back to Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) where rape is a constant threat to
Emily in the castle of Udolpho. The
threat of rape is, however, more explicitly portrayed through the Matthew
Lewis’ The Monk (1796). In this novel, the eponymous Monk exploits
the disguise of his religious habit to seek out the heroine Antonia. As his habit hides his true face (which we
can compare to the vamp faces of Justin and Zack) he attempts to seduce and
then rape Antonia, an act in which he is eventually successful.
Returning
to Sunnydale, Dawn and Janice are inevitably rescued by Buffy with the help of
Giles, and Spike. Giles interrupts Zack
as he is biting Janice, and responds to the vampires retort of ‘Like you
weren’t asking for it’ with the simple but powerful phrase, ‘I feel certain she
wasn’t’ before staking the vampire. Here,
Giles is not only protecting a helpless victim, but he is also protecting her
agency and ability to choose whether or not she is bitten, whether or not she
is turned into a vampire, and whether or not she consents to sex.
Spike,
too, gets involved in the fight.
Although a vampire himself, he berates the vampire gang for not
following the rules of Halloween. One
vampire proudly states ‘Me and mine don’t follow no stinkin’ rules! We’re
rebels!’ which seems to offend Spike’s vampiric pride. Naturally, Spike quickly replies ‘No. I’m a rebel.
You’re an idiot,’ and he then proceeds to kill the ‘rebel’ vampire with
a crossbow.
But
again, like the episode itself, the focus within this scene is upon Dawn. As her sister Buffy is fighting vampires
alongside Giles and Spike, Dawn is left alone with Justin the vampire. Physically pinning her to the ground, Justin
attempts to pacify Dawn in an attempt to achieve his objective of ‘going all
the way.’ Yet while Dawn agrees with
Justin’s comment that ‘you like me too,’ her refusal to consent to his (sexual)
desire is made clear as she stakes him. In
a way, Justin impales himself as he leans down to bite Dawn, who holds a stake
in her hand, pointing upwards.
Nevertheless, the stake is undoubtedly in Dawn’s hands, and this
understated act further reveals the key message of BTVS: women are not
helpless victims to be killed off or raped: they can, and will, fight
back.
To
return to the original question set out in my first post, what makes a series
about a teenage girl come vampire slayer so enduring, the answer can be found
here and in the previous Halloween episodes.
This is not a show simply about teenage girls, and this is also not a
show simply about vampire slayers. BTVS combines the two, as it is
simultaneously a show about a teenage girl and
a vampire slayer, meshing together the ordinary and the extraordinary, the
natural and the supernatural, to create a show that continues to resonate with
audiences today.
Mary Going is a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield researching the representation of Jewish figures in eighteenth and ninteenth century fiction, and she is also co-organiser of Sheffield Gothic. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.
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