Thursday, November 12, 2020

Cropping the Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer seems to have become available for free to Amazon Prime members again and I've found myself strongly enough in the mood to watch it even if it is a lousy cropped version. I hear it's not the infamous "remaster" but an older version that simply crops the 4:3 image to fit 16:9 screens. It seems puzzlingly difficult for people to release one of the most popular and influential genre series in a decent format. Part of me wonders if it's due to a general Hollywood clique vendetta against Joss Whedon. It seems more likely to be a matter of people in the tech department making creative decisions beyond the scope of their job descriptions. Alas for the dearth of humility in Hollywood.

Anyway, there are less irritating ways in which watching Buffy is different to the last time I watched it, I think, around ten years ago. Now that I'm teaching at junior high schools, I find my point of view definitely more with Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) than with Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her gang. That may change as I continue to watch. I remember the characters started to seem less and less like teenagers, which I suppose is natural given that they literally do grow a bit. Giles even seems to briefly take the lead role in the third episode, "Witch". I wonder if the writers were still trying to get into their Buffy place.

I can't get over how little everyone looks. Did everyone gain four inches of shoulder width by the final season? Maybe it's something to do with lighting and makeup.

It's nice seeing season one Willow (Alyson Hannigan), still in uber nerd mode. Though I sometimes wonder if characters like this, who magically seem to know everything about computers and chemistry, were part of the reason we have a generation of academics who are so comfortable with lying and overstating their qualifications. There was a period where shows were so focused on telling children not to be ashamed of being a genius that they didn't seem to take into account there may be some children who aren't geniuses. But then we have Buffy herself, who's no genius, but can swing an ax prettily enough.

I guess it's kind of weird that I like Buffy a lot more this time. I guess I always liked her but the combination of writing and Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance really do convey someone who is a natural leader while also being a teenager struggling with adults who don't understand her problems. But that's the sort of thing that will always appeal to a young audience--agreeing with them that their troubles are relevant by respectfully portraying someone who has some of the same troubles. It doesn't hurt to emphasise them to a more cosmic level, either.

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