HUM 3085: Television and Popular Culture

HUM 3085: Television and Popular Culture

HUM 3085: Television and Popular Culture

Dr. Perdigao

Spring 2009

Normal Again?

Buffy: ... and that Sunnydale and all of this, none of it was real.
Xander: Oh, come on, that’s ridiculous. What, you think this isn’t real just because of all the vampires and demons and ex-vengeance demons and the sister that used to be a big ball of universe-destroying energy?

Doctor: In her mind, she’s the central figure in a fantastic world beyond imagination. She’s surrounded herself with friends, most with their own superpowers. Together they face grand, overblown conflicts against an assortment of monsters, both imaginary and rooted in actual myth.
Doctor: Buffy, you used to create these grand villains to battle against. And now what is it? Just ordinary students you went to high school with. No gods or monsters, just three pathetic little men... who like playing with toys.

Buffy: ‘Cause what’s more real? A sick girl in an institution, or some kind of supergirl, chosen to fight demons and save the world? That’s ridiculous. A girl who sleeps with the vampire she hates? Yeah, that makes sense.

Doctor: The sister. She was introduced last year. It didn’t make a lot of sense though, did it Buffy? She altered the fabric of her reality drastically.

Joyce Summers: I know you’re afraid. I know the world feels like a hard place, sometimes. But you’ve got people who love you. Your dad and I, we have all the faith in the world in you. We’ll always be with you. You have got a world of strength in your heart. I know you do. You just have to find it again. Believe in yourself.

Doctor: It’s no use... we’ve lost her.

“You’re Welcome”

Angel: He’s got a soul now. And he saved the world. And he’s out there on the streets. You know, helping the helpless.
Cordelia: Okay, Spike’s a hero, and you’re C.E.O. of Hell, Incorporated. What freakin’ bizarro world did I wake up in?

Cordelia: I naturally assumed you’d be lost without me, but this?
Angel: I am lost without you.
Cordelia: You just forgot who you are.
Angel: Remind me.

Cordelia: You’ll win this in the end. I, uh... just wish I could be there to see it.
Angel: What do you mean? You’re not...
Cordelia: I can’t stay. This isn’t me anymore. You can say good-bye to the gang for me, explain everything once you understand.
Angel: That’s gonna be never. I need you here.
Cordelia: Don’t make it hard, Angel. I’m just on a different road - and this is my off-ramp. The Powers That Be owed me one, and I didn’t waste it. I got my guy back on track.
Angel: Cordy, there’s just--
Cordelia: We take what we can get, champ, and we do our best with it.

“Normal Again”

  • 6 years in institution
  • When they try to break through, more fanciful the imaginings become
  • Multi-layered delusions where she sees herself as a hero, with latticework to support, friends and families
  • Father says, “That’s the sister, right?” (when Dawn is mentioned)
  • But other points of view—trio, Spike and Xander—who is right?
  • Buffy admits she was in institution, stopped talking about it (“Hush”?)
  • Buffy says she’s coming apart, mother’s voice crosses with Dawn’s
  • Spike tells her to live and stop with the hero trip
  • Last summer was getting better—awakening but the friends pulled her back (when she dies)
  • Buffy says goodbye to her mother and thank you…
  • Says sorry to everyone. Everything is going to be okay.
  • “We’ve lost her.”
  • Breaks:

Mother: “Welcome home, sweetie”

Buffy says she wants to be healthy again

Lets demon loose

“You’re Welcome”

  • Charisma Carpenter as special guest star—like Tara had been until episode when she dies
  • M. Night Shamalan? Closing curtain on self—when he says Cordelia, and she says yes… (already showing us she is dead?)
  • Altered reality—erased memories with Connor (like in “I Will Remember You”)
  • Who retains memories of the day—now, Angel and Cordy
  • Corporate puppet—“Smile Time”?
Top View