8/6/2019 BTVS Essay

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8/6/2019 BTVS Essay

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literally in BtVS. The pack group together, pick out stragglers and

aggressively seek things for their own benefit. Its devastating, hes

turned into a sixteen year old boy. Of course you will have to kill him,

Giles sarcastically explains to Buffy after she mentions of Xanders

strange animalistic behaviour. This comments on both the literal, andmetaphorical sense of the way teenagers reputedly act as a pack. The

metaphor is finally amplified to the point where it no longer applies to

real life problems when the pack inhumanely attacks Principle Flutie,

which in no way can be correlated with the behaviour of any ordinary

adolescent.

Divorces, new boyfriends and other parental issues are rife in our modern

society. In the episode Ted, Whedon cleverly utilizes this to create a

strong storyline for the episode, and make a statement about current-ageteenage life. The episode begins with tense music, as Buffy and her

friends venture into her house and stumble upon Buffys mother kissing

Ted. Although this scene was set up to appear that there was a more

prominent evil inside the house, her mothers flamboyance is equally as

frightening to a young teenager. From this point onwards in the episode,

Buffy regards Ted as a bad person, and somebody not to be trusted. At

the very end of the episode, his secret becomes apparent when part of his

face is buffeted off to reveal his robotic core. At this point the metaphor

is exposed; that Ted really is too good to be true and has some

superhuman qualities. Another minor metaphor present in this episode is

when Xander and Willow are exploring throughout Teds house and find

skeletons in his closet. The term skeletons in the closet is widely used

as a reference to somebody whos keeping secrets, but as often happens

in BtVS this is made literal.

The use of metaphor in BtVS reflects the constant struggles of every

teenager to overcome the challenges that school poses. Whedon explores

many different aspects of teenage life through the inspired transposition

of metaphor into reality. In the pilot episode Welcome to theHellmouth, Whedon first touches on the idea that metaphor can be used

to describe adolescent conflicts. The Pack amplifies one of the main

causes of teenage angst; the pack mentality possessed by many youths.

Like many mothers, Buffys is embarrassingly open and falls for Ted, the

embodiment of perfection, later discovered to be hiding skeletons in the

closet. Utilizing these many different topics of metaphorical storytelling,

Whedon succinctly embraces and illustrates teenage issues in an easily

digestible manner.

Benjamin Versteegen, 10NW