Violence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It's hard to address spiritual or moral issues in Buffy without also
addressing the question of violence.
Stripped for a second of supernatural issues, Buffy Summers falls into the
profile of a superhero, such as Superman or Batman, who finds the bad guys and
makes sure that they get dealt with.
However, the classic superhero generally takes care of the bad guys by turning
them over to the law. That is problematic in Buffy, because there is
no law to deal with vampires or demons, and because, even in Sunnydale, the law
is not capable of dealing with the supernatural. There is never any serious
suggestion of turning to the law; Buffy's mission is to fight evil, and kill
it. Is Buffy a vigilante?
Perhaps even that wouldn't be so difficult to accept, if one could always be
sure that only the evil undead would be killed. However, problems and
ambiguities abound:
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Not all undead are evil. Some actively work for good.
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All but the most ancient of vampires appear to be human, except when they are
feeding or enraged. Indeed, as the series progresses, we also meet demons who
can pass as human.
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Like people, vampires and demons may be morally complex and ambiguous. Angel is
the first such character we meet; he is still evil, but because of his curse,
he cannot act on it. More of these complex characters develop as the series
progresses, and none is more ambiguous than the vampire Spike.
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Buffy must sometimes decide not to kill a vampire or demon, even when she knows
it is fully evil. So the standard of when to kill or not kill is no longer
straightforward.
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Sometimes humans join forces with evil. How should these people be dealt with?
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Even under the best circumstances, the Slayer works outside the law. When the
battle with evil claims a human life, Buffy cannot turn to the law for justice
or protection.
The issue of violence magnifies the problems that Buffy faces in life. It is
not merely that she must put her life on the line. She also risks her
soul, through hardening against the continuing violence, or through the very
real possibility of killing an innocent. She may risk arrest and imprisonment
for fulfilling her sacred obligations as the Slayer.
How was Buffy "chosen" for this task? This is never really made clear, except
to the extent that her calling is itself supernatural. It is hinted that she
may even be part-demon herself. However, she would have remained unaware of her
calling without her Watcher, and the Watchers Council, apparently, does have
the means to locate a newly chosen Slayer.
It is the Watcher's job to train the Slayer, and provide her with guidance in
locating, identifying, and killing all manner of evil. Giles, as Buffy's
Watcher, has an enormous library of demonology and witchcraft. Most of the
texts, prophecies, and spells are in Latin, giving the whole business an air of
ancient heresies to be fought, and casting the Slayer as a sort of post-modern
inquisitor, making the world safe against evil.
It is precisely this air of fighting against heresy and bloodsucking demons
that allows Buffy to get away with murder. Indeed, the idea of a "slayer" does
exist in Balkan vampire mythology, and the killing of a vampire—in vampire
lore, at least—has always been a harmless thing.
The Watchers Council, such as it is, provides the thin line the separates Buffy
from vigilantism. Even the Watchers Council is subject to corruption, though,
and as we see in Season 3, the city government of Sunnydale is corrupted by
demons and vampires as well.
In the Buffyverse, nothing is ever simple, and everything eventually has
consequences. Even slaying, as Buffy learns time and again.
Next: Force, Coercion, Violence, and Abuse