To YOU, is Buffy more about the funny, or more about the serious? by chrisisall

BUFFYVERSE

To YOU, is Buffy more about the funny, or more about the serious?

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POSTED BY: CHRISISALL
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 13:21
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/xeyGxo
VIEWED: 11146
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:10 AM

CHRISISALL

Just curious as to how it's perceived...

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:17 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Hey Chris ol' boy! Nice Buffy question, always love a good Buffy question.

Well my answer is about the Funny! Especially as it continued because the show knew - better than most - that it had to poke fun at itself in order to keep going.

However it managed both very well. I would ultimately say though that when they did serious they did it well, but when they did the Funny, they did it with style (Season Four episode: "Johnathon".

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:17 AM

EVILDINOSAUR

to me it's both. Part of the charm of it for me is to be able to go from funny to serious in the blink of an eye.

"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:33 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

More about the both. Which is why I love Glorificus.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:48 AM

CHRISISALL

To me, at the end of the day, I feel it was always more about the serious, although they really, REALLY used the funny to slip it in on us.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:50 AM

CHRISISALL

To me, at the end of the day, I feel it was always more about the double posts.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:59 AM

DAVESHAYNE

The funny sets up the serious while the serious sets up the funny. Like the darkness and the light they exist in exquisite balance.

David

'Begone, sugar-free candy antichrist!' - Nathan Rabin.

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

"Don't worry. Captain Hammer will save us." - Penny.

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:55 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I suppose I prefer Angel because it was more serious, although it had its share of funny too.

Buffy was about both, mainly because without the funny of Xander, Oz, Clem, etc, the serious would have totally worn their spirits down.

But the most important thing about both shows, as well as Firefly, is the strength that comes from loyalty to an acquired family.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 4:23 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

While the serious is truly gut wrenching from The Body to crayon-breaky Willow , I gotta go w/ the funny.

I can just think of a scene, a line from Buffy, and instantly smile. It's JUST that good.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

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Friday, January 22, 2010 2:19 PM

PCCH7

It starts out as more about the funny, then somewhere around season 3 it starts becoming more about the serious. And that´s when it becomes more of a "great" show for me.

"Summer Glau can simply walk into Mordor.."

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Friday, January 22, 2010 3:03 PM

OPPYH

Perfect blend of both. 50/50.
Super funny, and super serious.

Best show ever.

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Friday, January 22, 2010 4:58 PM

DEWRASTLER

I watch it for the serious. If I'm going to watch an episode of Buffy (or Angel for that matter) I try to pick an episode that fits my mood or how I feel at that moment. It's kind of therapeutic. But I do agree with something Joss said in one of his commentaries that went along the line of "show the emotion, have that serious moment, but for the love of God tell a joke afterward". With the combination of the two elements it gives you this whole "it's all going to work out just fine" feeling.

________________________________
People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do

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Thursday, January 28, 2010 4:16 PM

CHRISISALL

To me, it's the serious, supplemented by the funny.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Friday, January 29, 2010 11:36 AM

KWICKO

I still love the way Joss wouldn't let the show get too dark or serious without tossing in something silly or snarky. I guess I relate to it because I'm that way in real life.

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Friday, January 29, 2010 12:35 PM

STORYMARK

Both, but the drama is what draws me. I'll watch a purely dramatic show, but it's rare that I get into a straight comedy. I need something heavy to really enjoy the laughs.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

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Friday, January 29, 2010 1:21 PM

ZEEK

The serious. I think the show is serious based, but the setting is designed to be over the top to some extent. It's there to say, "don't take life TOO seriously". The jokes are all a part of that. At least that's how I view it.

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Sunday, April 25, 2010 8:18 AM

CAMPBECC

I think it is primarily serious but it is definitely helped by the occasional comedic relief which was often provided by Xander.

Save Chuck: Don't let them cancel another great Adam Baldwin show go to http://savechucknow.wordpress.com/1-2/ to see YOU can Save Chuck

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Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:41 AM

HKCAVALIER

The thing about Joss's tv efforts outside of Firefly is that he's a compulsive shark jumper. He breaks the back of the "serious" within 4 episodes and then it's fan service and whatever he wants from there on out.

The big problem with Buffy is that he never, ever for a second took the premise seriously. Vampires are a pure, escapist joke for Joss, a ham-handed metaphor for Holden Caulfield style angst: vampires = the phonies. Joss's ocult research is nil, his interest in folklore nonexistent, so it's Saturday morning cartoon level metaphysics at best. What marks Joss as a genius is that he keeps this dreck afloat on nothing but wickedly clever dialogue and compulsively watchable storytelling.

This is why a pretty flawed show like Charmed is far more serious than Buffy ever was.

Flame me at your own risk!

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Sunday, January 23, 2011 11:51 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
Perfect blend of both. 50/50.
Super funny, and super serious.

Best show ever.

Absolutely! Which is why I also love dueSOUTH so much.

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Sunday, January 23, 2011 2:36 PM

PERFECTPARADIGM

I agree with Chrisisall - Serious heavily supplemented by the funny. I don't care about vampire folklore/mythology so I accept that they made up their own.

Alright...

Quote:
Buffy was about both, mainly because without the funny of Xander, Oz, Clem, etc, the serious would have totally worn their spirits down.

I'm going to have to disagree with this - I don't think those characters are any funnier than most of the others- Buffy, Giles, Willow, Cordelia, Spike, Anya, even Dawn and Riley, all had their fare share of the funny. Some of those characters even moreso than the ones you mentioned imo. It's like saying Wash is the comic relief in Firefly - yes, he had funny lines and was an endearing character, but not anymore than the other characters.

And the big bads, who were supposed to be the threat and cause of the seriousness, were usually funny and humorous themselves.

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Monday, January 24, 2011 1:54 AM

RIVER6213

I'm not into it anymore, but I liked the serious aspects of the show more than the humorous parts.

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Monday, January 24, 2011 6:13 AM

LWAVES

Buffy is a great blend of both serious and funny, which is one of the reasons why the show works. If I had to pick it would the funny that keeps me coming back, although it's a close call. It's knowing its ownself well enough to take something really bad, make fun of it and then get all action-y on it.

Jonathon's episode is a stand-out for me. Something to completely throw the viewer off balance. How many other shows could turn a bit part character-with-no-name into one of the most likable characters who gets his own episode and be a season's big bad (sort of).
Oz was always my fave for the funnies. Closely followed by Giles and Willow. But like others have said each character had their moments or lines and again it shows that minor characters are just as important as the major ones.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 10:59 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Hey Lwaves. Dragging this up from the past - but I just re-watched the episode Dead Man's Party (S3Ep02) in which all the principal characters are having a go at Buffy for running away the previous season, and finally Buffy say's:
"Great anyone else want a go at me -- you over there by the dip!"

And it's Jonathon! Classic!

Guy has the best look on his face too.

....and yes, re-watching Buffy AGAIN!

There's really nothing quite like it on TV anymore.

Cartoons - http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 11:13 AM

BYTEMITE

HKCav: I never watched Buffy, but I feel compelled to point out that every vampire after Dracula became a ham-fisted metaphor for Byronic angst and debauchery. Joss is parodying something that in all modern depictions is already a parody of itself. Vampires are impossible to take seriously nowadays, metaphysics or not, and I know of some of the really old and obscure stuff about not sleeping under moonlight and regular iron (not silver).

In conclusion, goddamn vampires.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasticRacism

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:00 PM

HKCAVALIER

I dunno about that, Byte.

If you said every vampire since Interview with a Vampire, I'd agree. Anne Rice ruined the genre and created the template for an entirely folklore free vampire based on blood viruses and nonsensical "science." But before that, vampires were mostly terrifying ghosts that simply had to be destroyed, a la every Hammer Film starring Christopher Lee. Vampires stalked our nightmares, not our singles bars. Frank Langela had a celebrated run on Broadway and then in the 70's remake of Dracula selling the sizzle, but that was still the exception rather than the norm.

But it wasn't just vampire folklore that Joss had absolutely no time for, but demonology and all things ocult/spiritual to boot. If it was just campy vampires, that would be one thing, but his entire metaphysic for the Buffyverse is trash and never even tried to be anything more.

See, in Firefly, even though ol' Joss is an avowed atheist, he gave Book some of the best lines and always kept things properly ambiguous on that score, as they are in life. That gave Firefly the kind of depth Buffy never saw. Imagine if every plot of Firefly hinged on proving what a fool Book was and what a crock of shit religion is. It would be pretty distracting, no?

In Buffy,the entire spiritual realm is his junkyard where he holds his metaphysical demolition derby. I found it crass and juvenile.

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:10 PM

BYTEMITE

Oh, oversexualized and overidealized vampires had existed long before Anne Rice. The Vampyre (bonus points for the idea coming from and being partially written by Lord Byron) comes to mind, as does Camilla (a particularly vampy - and lesbian - vamp).

And I mean, we're talking about metaphysics. This may be the douchebag in me talking, but metaphysics ain't exactly Principia Mathematica.

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Thursday, February 9, 2012 2:55 PM

HKCAVALIER

Surely, and Dorian Grey also is a sort of vampire--and, indeed, Bram Stoker's novel was full of sex. That wasn't my point. Only that the "vampire genre" was not a total joke since Dracula. Nothing ham-fisted about Camilla. I do credit Anne Rice with rendering vampirism a joke.

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 10:25 AM

LWAVES

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSomnambulist:
Hey Lwaves. Dragging this up from the past - but I just re-watched the episode Dead Man's Party (S3Ep02) in which all the principal characters are having a go at Buffy for running away the previous season, and finally Buffy say's:
"Great anyone else want a go at me -- you over there by the dip!"

And it's Jonathon! Classic!

Guy has the best look on his face too.

....and yes, re-watching Buffy AGAIN!

There's really nothing quite like it on TV anymore.

Hey Som. I've seen much older threads dug up recently. Maybe the dead really are rising.

Yeah the look on Jonathon's face is great. I'm sure it's why they kept bringing him back because he played that role perfectly.
Was that his first appearance? I always thought he appeared earlier than that but also remember that the party was his first showing. I may be confused because he has several little scenes before the whole 'killer at school' episode later on which brought him to the front.

I revisited Buffy a about a year and half ago and I keep thinking I should rewatch Angel but there's just too many other shows on the go at the moment. Maybe over the summer.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Sunday, February 12, 2012 10:46 AM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Hey L

I think Jonothan first appeared season two. The episode where Spike & co crash the school. If I recall correctly he gets jumped by a woman dressed in police uniform, who in turn I think is looking for Buffy... I'd have to revisit the episode to make sure.

As for re-watching Angel. Go for it.

I'm re-watching season Three of Buffy and when I'm done with that I'll do the cross overs with Angel too.

Cartoons - http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012 1:21 PM

PENGUIN

King of the Mythical Land that is Iowa

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