For those unfamiliar with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who may inadvertently confuse it with the earnest melodrama of Twilight, this video, created by a rather talented person at rebelliouspixels.com, will hopefully clear things up.
It's quite satisfying to see Buffy cut through the stalkerish liturgy of undead teen heartthrob Edward Cullen, whose expressions are routinely pulled from the "guy you alert the flight attendant about" collection. (Joke stolen shamelessly from the Rifftrax. Heartily recommended)
And highlights a major flaw in the idea of Twilight as the ultimate Gen-Y text. Namely: WHERE IS THE SARCASM? WHERE IS THE IRONY? Sure, it has the moping, the detached cool, the angst. And hey, I'm not saying it wouldn't be possible to fall in love with a sparkly-diamond vampire. And as a gesture of said love you might even stifle your derisive laughter at how ridiculous it looks, but stop taking everything so seriously! Seriously!
Buffy fought vampires and demons yes, but she also fought against the horror genre. The teen romance genre too. And every other trope the show experimented with in its 7 years. All the propheices, the liturgy, the cliches, the melodrama of the tortured much-older vampire boyfriend. Everything was approached with a large helping of sarcasm. Healthy skepticism, irreverence, whatever you want to call it. Seeing through the bullshit is another good one.
So let's just get this straight: Buffy is a sophisticated, postmodern take on the horror/teen/tv-serial genre, with an ensemble cast orbiting a strong, complex female protagonist. Twilight is.. uh.. not.
So just be careful about comparing the two in future, k?
-hobospaceman
kissing toast?
