Despite bad animation, poor costumes and make-up I found Buffy The Vampire Slayer quite entertaining. I guess this was mostly because of the characters and their relationship with eachother. All of the dispute and cooperation among these high school kids made the whole thing interesting.
What mainly got my attention though was how Buffy found herself an actual team to fight against vampires soon after she started her new school. As Xander told Willow, the fact they faced vampires all together made them share a secret.
As I was thinking about Buffy's new team another team came to my mind: The Harry Potter Team. The similarities between certain roles of characters is very interesting. Buffy, similar to Harry, is a chosen one who had no say in whether he/she wanted to be that way. It's not hard to draw a connection between Hermione and Willow considering that they are both depicted as nerds, who seem to know things that other do not. Ron and Xander also have similar roles in that they seem to be more of the human side in their teams. They get angry, they make hasty and arbitrary decisions but they are still an important part of the team. Giles, I thought, had a similar role to the Dumbledore's role in Harry Potter as the older character acting as a mentor to the younger ones but not being directly involved in all of the things going on.
I'm sure if I go back and think a little deeper I might be able to find even more examples of teams of four with similar roles. The team of four with the chosen one, the smart one, the human (emotional) one and the mentor seems to be a guarentee winner as long as things around it are supported.
This is a great connection. I think that having the four contrasting characters really does make a good team in both situations. Everyone contributes something, and they all balance each other out.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting, I'm not the greatest Harry Potter fan but it was interesting to see how you connected the characters to each other. It actually gave me more insight into the characters from Buffy. I wish you would've used a comment or a specific example comparing both the characters in Buffy to that of Harry Potter. Maybe Buffy can be seen as the female version of Harry, except instead of defeating Lord Voldemort she defeats vampires.
ReplyDeleteI like this connection! I never really thought about how well the characters from these two series parallel each other.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when you think about it, there is somewhat of a formula when it comes to series in which a teen saves the world. There is always a wise adult who helps show the kids the way, a "nerd," the hero, and the goofy best friend. There are obviously differences between every series, but this pattern, especially a trio, is seen in a lot of places... Even Stevens, Boy Meets World, Lizzie McGuire, and many others.
I also meant to match up Harry and Buffy as the not-so ambitious, "I just want to live a normal life" teenagers who have the big responsibility of saving the day because of being the chosen ones.
ReplyDeleteHaha I totally see the similarities! Ron is kind of goofy, but still a vital part of the team - much like Xander. Hermoine likes potions and she's the brain - quite similar to Willow. Dumbledore isn't as witty as Giles, but they are both wise teachers to the rest of the gang. I also think that we can add Cordelia to the mix as Draco maybe? Even though Draco doesn't join Harry's gang (as far as I know at least), he is played as a lesser villain compared to Voldemort. Cordelia isn't really played as a villain anymore, but I think that there's a slight resemblance.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great comparison! And even though I'm a pretty big Harry Potter fan, I honestly don't think one quartet is better than the other. I do like how Buffy has a balanced amount of females to males. It doesn't force the assumption that a couple must be made as a 3 guys to 1 girl group often suggests. Also, I like how in Buffy the "Hermione" is more of the right-hand man of the main character. No offense to Ron, but I think that its beneficial for the group's dynmaic if the brains of the group to be represented closer to the lead.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Azi, it does make sense to have the brains be the more important character. However, I think the gender of the characters rather than their brainpower holds more significance here. Generally, girls tend to have best friends who are girls, and boys' best friends are usually boys. While this is not always the case, this seems to be the reason Willow is the best friend to Buffy while Ron is Harry's.
ReplyDeleteI had never considered this before I read it and it is completely true; the role that each of the members of the team help create a balance and makes them stronger as a team.
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