Buffy spends her pilot episode following the arc of the reluctant prophesied hero. The choice of starting point for this series is interesting. Buffy clearly has clearly already done much fighting and vampire-slaying before the first time we see her, so why *is* this the first time we see her? What's so special about a new school?
This is the beginning--not just of a transfer to a new school-- but of Buffy facing and answering the question of whether to embrace her destiny as Slayer full-time (as accelerated by her meeting Giles). This sets up a conflict between two aspects of Buffy, engagingly developing both of them. Buffy's initial opposition to her responsibility strongly establishes her desire to live some semblance of a normal life while simultaneously showcasing her fantastical abilities. It's this that convinced me not only to continue to episode 2, but that I had to watch the rest of the series. Two things are abundantly clear from this episode. 1. Buffy is a force to be reckoned with; killing vampires already comes easily to her and she can clearly handle herself in a fight. 2. Buffy is not contained by (1); she has concerns about things like school, friendships, romances, fashion, beauty, and her mother. She wants what most girls want; to be seen simultaneously as strong, beautiful, and kind in a world that all too often tells us we have to pick one out of three. And she fights for it.
Put briefly: this pilot is brilliant because the protagonist is established as both real-world-person and epic hero, strongly, in the course of forty-five minutes. That we can both sympathize with Buffy and sit in awe of her should not be undervalued; too many fantasy and action heroes lack the former which weakens the effects of the latter.
This is the beginning--not just of a transfer to a new school-- but of Buffy facing and answering the question of whether to embrace her destiny as Slayer full-time (as accelerated by her meeting Giles). This sets up a conflict between two aspects of Buffy, engagingly developing both of them. Buffy's initial opposition to her responsibility strongly establishes her desire to live some semblance of a normal life while simultaneously showcasing her fantastical abilities. It's this that convinced me not only to continue to episode 2, but that I had to watch the rest of the series. Two things are abundantly clear from this episode. 1. Buffy is a force to be reckoned with; killing vampires already comes easily to her and she can clearly handle herself in a fight. 2. Buffy is not contained by (1); she has concerns about things like school, friendships, romances, fashion, beauty, and her mother. She wants what most girls want; to be seen simultaneously as strong, beautiful, and kind in a world that all too often tells us we have to pick one out of three. And she fights for it.
Put briefly: this pilot is brilliant because the protagonist is established as both real-world-person and epic hero, strongly, in the course of forty-five minutes. That we can both sympathize with Buffy and sit in awe of her should not be undervalued; too many fantasy and action heroes lack the former which weakens the effects of the latter.