It can be kind of embarrassing to admit just how many books and articles one has read about the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. If you try to explain too much, people tend to look at you funny. Unless they are one of the lucky few who have actually seen the show, and then their eyes like up with excitement just like yours. I've read quite a bit about Buffy, but not as much as Jana Riess. I've certainly read the three big collections of academic essays about the show. Jana's book is easily the best one I've come across. It's a small gem, an instant classic of pop culture criticism. (The author is the religion book review editor of Publisher's Weekly, a church member, and sometime participant on this list. In the acknowledgments she thanks the audience at the Sunstone Symposium for allowing her to present and give shape to her ideas in 2003.)

Riess' approach is eclectic a la Joseph Campbell. She draws her analysis from all sorts of places: scripture, drama, novels, philosophy, and various religious traditions. Although she mainly leans on Christianity and Buddhism. Anyone who is skeptical that a "mere" TV show can sustain this sort of thick depiction will soon be convinced otherwise by Riess' intelligent, crystal-clear prose and thinking. (This book is a lot of fun to read, unlike the post-modernist critiques of many of the essays in the aforementioned academic collections. They made my little head hurt.) She has appended extensive guides to Buffy's main story lines and characters so you won't get lost, and also included detailed end notes for further reading. There's also an original interview with actress Eliza Dushku, who played the dirty-girl slayer, Faith. Eliza talks about her experiences working on the show, and her own spiritual background (she was raised LDS and currently has a love/hate relationship with the church.)

The recently departed TV series "Friends" can be taken as typical commercial American television fare: a pleasant show, very funny at times, about pretty people drifting through life getting exactly what they want, without sacrifice, or consequence. Buffy, on the other hand as one critic put it, is one of the most religious programs on network TV, "a secular universe saturated with grace." Riess' book moves from the particular details of the slayer's personal spirituality, to a consideration of her friends (the "Scooby gang"), to an examination of what might be called the "prophetic" themes of the show: saving the world and personal deliverance. Although this is a book about pop culture, it's not "pop" religion; Riess writes responsibly about serious stuff. Buffy as self-sacrificing savior symbol; death as a gift (a catchphrase all too familiar to Buffyphiles); the power of friendship; and negative emotions as a vital part of experience all receive chapter-length treatment.

I have a slight disagreement with Riess about the show's use of humor. She views the slayer's quips as mostly a weapon against her enemies and a healthy sign of Buffy's assertiveness ("Want to see my impression of Gandhi? Well, if he was really pissed off...") This is true as far as it goes but the show is itself a satiric deconstruction (oh that word!) of the horror genre with its typical terrified blonde female victim at the center. What drew me into the show was its dazzling blend of horror, mythic heroism and sarcasm. Maybe I identify with Xander too much but his self-deprecating irony seems as valid as Buffy's verbal aggressiveness. (But the dumb guy just should have gone ahead and married Anya.)

It is in the last three prophetic chapters of her book that Riess gets as close to straight Mormon preaching as she does. The language isn't specifically LDS, but see if this doesn't ring a few bells:

"Buffy is a Christ figure, but only insofar as she is constantly averting the apocalypse through self-sacrifice. On Buffy, people atone for their own sins. Redemption is hard work and it is up to us. Redemption is a process requiring action; words are not enough. There's no salvation by grace in the Buffyverse; Angel and other characters find salvation only in work, self-sacrifice, and courageous choices." (pages 119-121, ellipses removed)

Although a little later Riess does point out that "an unthinkable act of grace" occurs in Sunnydale, on Christmas Day, during the episode "Amends." You will have to watch it for yourself on DVD or the re-runs to find out what it is.

Riess is also very good on "the Monster inside"; that is, how the characters come to terms with, and own, the dark parts of themselves (yes, Jung gets mentioned here a lot.) The very controversial (and dark) season six was about the Scoobies facing down their own evil.

"Buffy is all about confronting our dark sides and learning to live comfortably--or at least to coexist nonviolently--with our monster selves. Many people would rather deny their dark shadow, pretend it isn't there. But ignoring it entirely, according to the show, is as dangerous as allowing it to rule our lives. As Willow learns in season seven, she doesn't need to be a bigger, badder badass than the source of all badness. She needs to control her darkness so that it does not control her. In the end she discovers that it's enough just to be Willow, with all of her complexities, all of her darkness, and her much stronger goodness." (pages 117-118)

Well, I could go on about this wonderful book, about a wonderful show, but that would be gushing. All I can say is that in this one Riess really lives up to the spirit of the 13th Article of Faith. She sorts through all sorts of spiritual odds and ends, holding fast to what is good and beautiful. Highly recommended.

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R.W. Rasband
June 19, 2004