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Week 10 - Redemption, Part 1
"I Hope Evil Takes MasterCard"

Opening

The big moments are going to come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.

-Whistler, to Angel, in "Becoming"

The list of Buffy and Angel characters who are faced with the choice to seek redemption is quite long. Angel. Faith. Willow. Xander. Anya. Spike. Andrew. Jonathan. Darla. Wesley. Cordelia. Doyle. Lindsey. Gunn. Perhaps even Illyria. Some succeed; some fail; some are thwarted; some turn away from the choice. This is one of the major themes of both series, so it's worth spending a bit of time to consider what salvation and redemption mean when there is no religious context.

Photo: Buffy and Faith

Clearly, the Christian concepts of salvation and redemption cannot be applied, because there is no Higher Power in the Buffyverse to accept or trust for guidance. Broadly speaking, these terms signify a process of turning from living only for the self to the exclusion of the needs of others, to a life by which all humanity is helped to suffer less. Redemption is the state of having recovered, or rediscovered, a higher purpose for one's life.1 Because the "Powers That Be" in the Buffyverse do not correspond in any significant way to modern concepts of religion, salvation and redemption can only be achieved by acts. Simple acceptance is never enough.

Episode 4.15: This Year's Girl

There are many characters in Buffy who commit evil acts. A number of them eventually face the need for redemption. All of these stories are fascinating. Faith is perhaps the easiest story to focus on, because it is concentrated into the fewest episodes. Even so, the story of her journey is longer than our time here. We will cover only the beginnings.

Continuity

  • Faith has been in a coma since before the Mayor's ascension
  • Riley has suffered a tremendous personal breakdown since the events of "The 'I' in Team"
  • Maggie Walsh's monster is on the loose. Buffy and friends now consider the Initiative to be very dangerous.

What to watch for

  • What does Faith want out of life?

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season4/transcripts/71_tran.shtml

Episode 4.16: Who Are You?

What to watch for

  • Cognitive dissonance: What events happen to challenge Faith's view of the world?

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season4/transcripts/72_tran.shtml

Questions

What is the relationship between forgiveness and redemption?

What is the difference between atonement and redemption?

How does the journey of redemption begin?

How and where does Faith's journey of redemption begin?

When Buffy and Faith fight in the church, what is the scariest part of that fight?

What must a person do to achieve redemption?

What is it about redemption that is so frightening?

What is it that makes redemption worth the effort?

What has Faith achieved so far towards redemption? What is left that she must still do?

Closing

It troubles me that people would think that God's presence shows up in extremities and emergencies but isn't available all the rest of the time. Somehow that lets those untouched by violence off the hook from the call to reverence the presence of God in all of life; or, it says that only those who have suffered terrible violation have access to knowledge of God. This is an awful idea.

So, if you find me arguing against the theological notion that Jesus' execution is a revelatory gift, you'll understand why. Jesus didn't have to die for us to know that God is present. He didn't have to rise from the dead for us to know that God's creative power is greater than death. Judaism already affirmed all this, knew all this. Furthermore, nobody has to suffer for God to be made known to us.

-Rebecca Ann Parker

Additional Reading

Brock, Rita Nakashima, and Rebecca Ann Parker, Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Erickson, Gregory, "Sometimes You Need a Story": American Christianity, Vampires, and Buffy. Wilcox, Rhonda V., and David Lavery, Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Forster, Greg, Faith and Plato: "You're Nothing! Disgusting, Murderous Bitch!" South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Keller, Donald, Spirit Guides and Shadow Selves: From the Dream Life of Buffy (and Faith). Wilcox, Rhonda V., and David Lavery, Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Money, Mary Alice, The Undemonization of Supporting Characters in Buffy. Wilcox, Rhonda V., and David Lavery, Fighting the Forces: What's at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Riess, Jana, What Would Buffy Do? San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Sakal, Gregory J., No Big Win: Themes of Sacrifice, Salvation, and Redemption. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Schudt, Karl, Also Sprach Faith: The Problem of the Happy Rogue Vampire Slayer. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Stevenson, Gregory, Televised Morality: The Case of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dallas: Hamilton Books, 2003.

Stroud, Scott R., A Kantian Analysis of Moral Judgement in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

[1] Sakal, Gregory J., No Big Win: Themes of Sacrifice, Salvation, and Redemption. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.