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Week 5 - Spiritual Mentors
"I Need You To Be My Watcher Again"

Background - A Brief History of Faith

Photo: Faith the Vampire Slayer

We'll meet a new character this week, a new vampire slayer named Faith. Faith was called when Kendra died; Kendra was called after Buffy's first death. Faith comes from a broken home; her mother, now dead, was an alcoholic. Faith is gregarious, talks big, and likes to be the center of attention. She also has huge trust issues, and keeps everyone at a distance. Her relationship with Buffy has been particularly volatile, and Buffy is jealous of the attention that Faith gets. Faith's romantic associations are always one-night-stands; she has a "use them and lose them" attitude towards men.

Faith watched as her first Watcher was killed by an ancient and powerful vampire called Kakistos. Faith ran away to Sunnydale, and was followed by Kakistos. She was ready to run again, but Buffy helped her face and kill Kakistos.

Faith lives for the pleasure of slaying. As she says, "Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?" She has no interest in the larger issues of good or evil; she simply loves to fight, and can't believe that Buffy does not.

Opening

The Zen Master warns: "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" This admonition points up that no meaning that comes from outside of ourselves is real. The Buddhahood of each of us has already been obtained. We need only recognize it. Philosophy, religion, patriotism, all are empty idols. The only meaning in our lives is what we each bring to them. Killing the Buddha on the road means destroying the hope that anything outside of ourselves can be our master. No one is any bigger than anyone else. There are no mothers or fathers for grown-ups, only sisters and brothers.

-Sheldon B. Kopp

The negotiated learning relationship between Buffy and Giles may be described as education rather than training. As Peters points out, training is concerned with "some specifiable type of performance that has to be mastered." Its focus is on transmission of skills, from an authority to a passive recipient, where the authority knows why the work has to be performed and the recipient simply does it.

Education, though, takes place through "conversation" rather than "courses," in which "lecturing to others is bad form; so is using the remarks of others as springboards for self-display. The point is to create a common world to which all bring their distinctive contributions." The goal of education is "transformation," since "education implies that a man's outlook is transformed by what he knows," rather than a "transmission" of a set of behaviors. It is clear from what has been said so far, that the relationship between Buffy and Giles is one of education: she doesn't need training in the quarterstaff, but she does need his distinctive contribution of esoteric knowledge and she needs the relationality of friendships to achieve personal growth and transformation.

-Zoe-Jane Playdon

Episode 3.7: Revelations

Continuity

  • Angel is back from hell, but only Buffy knows this. He still has his soul (from the end of "Becoming").

What to watch for:

  • Contrast between Giles and Gwyndolen Post (other than the obvious)
  • The relationship developing between Buffy and Faith
  • The rift between Giles and Buffy

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season3/transcripts/41_tran.shtml

Episode 3.12: Helpless

What to watch for:

  • Giles' turning point from obedience to disobedience
  • Giles working to restore his relationship with Buffy

Transcript is available at http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season3/transcripts/46_tran.shtml

Questions

The Watchers' Council operates on a hierarchical model, with the expectation that orders will be obeyed without question. Buffy's style, based on peer relationships and loyalty between friends, creates irreconcilable conflicts with the council. Could there have been any other ending to "Helpless"?

What is the trust relationship between a mentor and a student?

We've seen Gwendolyn Post as an alternative style of mentoring. Why does Giles succeed as a mentor? Could Gwendolyn Post succeed, based on her style and rapport with the slayers?

How can you measure the success of a mentor?

Is obedience a good characteristic in a student? Why or why not?

In "I Only Have Eyes for You," Giles was convinced that the poltergeist was Jenny Calendar. Buffy knew that he was wrong. In "Helpless," Giles also takes a wrong path. How should a student handle situations when a mentor is wrong?

How can Giles and Buffy act to minimize the damage done to Faith?

Even mentors learn in their relationship to their students. What does Giles learn in "Helpless"?

When we see our mentors fail, how does that affect our relationship with them?

Who decides when a student is ready to leave the mentor?

In "Lies My Parents Told Me," Buffy tells Giles, "I think you've taught me everything I need to know." Can the student fully mature without leaving the mentor?

Can we grow without mentors?

Follow Up

How do Buffy and Giles rebuild trust?

Closing

Your teacher can open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

-Chinese proverb

Additional Reading

Kawal, Jason, Should We Do What Buffy Would Do? South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Kopp, Sheldon B., If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! Toronto: Bantam Books, 1972.

Miller, Jessica Prata, "The I in Team": Buffy and Feminist Ethics. South, James B, ed., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2003.

Playdon, Zoe-Jane, What You Are, What's To Come: Feminism, Citizenship, and the Divine in Buffy. Roz Kaveney, ed., Reading the Vampire Slayer, second edition. London: Taurisparke Paperbacks, 2004.

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

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