TwilightMania

Thedeadbolt.com has an article on Twilight vs Buffy. Being a huge fan of Twilight and Buffy, I’m curious to hear everyone’s true opinion on the two comparisons. I like them both so much, that I have fansites for both. (The Buffy site is in progress) So, tell me what you think.

Vampire mythology has been translated and interpreted in many varied ways throughout several different generations. With the birth of film and television, the facility to portray different vampire legends and theories surrounding the mysterious bloodsuckers has allowed many creative minds to add to the mythology while transforming it into their own unique visual concept. As early as the 1920s, vampires were finding their way to the silver screen in movies like the German made Nosferatu, which went on to inspire the creation of even more vampire films that are still captivating moviegoers to this day with such hits as the Stephenie Meyer based Twilight saga starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner. Vampires have turned up in parodies, horror films, and even romantic comedies and serious dramas, all made under the common bloodsucking concept, each one with their own unique liberties that have expanded the mythical vampire history.

In recent years, pre Twilight, one of the most successful additions to the vampire universe in both film and TV was the massively popular Joss Whedon TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Originally a film starring Kristy Swanson as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie concept of Buffy was subsequently turned into a television series by creator Joss Whedon and aired for seven seasons between UPN and The WB. The TV series followed the heroic high school exploits of Buffy Summers, a vampire slayer played by Sarah Michelle Geller, tasked with saving the world while living a normal life among loyal mortal friends, working with her Watcher, and co-existing with a variety of good and bad vampires, including Angel and Spike, that she also relates to and even falls in love with.Joss Whedon was able to add his own unique layers to the vampire mythology by infusing traditional aspects of vampires – death by sunlight and their aversion to holy water along with the very well known stake to the heart – with relatable real life drama that young teens could identify with as they came of age. To the fans that tuned in to Buffy each week, it was relatable drama because not only do we often feel the isolation that a vampire feels but we also know deep down that there are vampires walking among us each day, figuratively speaking.

   When Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, many fans were left bereft with an ending to the series that was very much open-ended. For Buffy fans, a lot of questions weren’t answered. Regardless of the series finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was very important in offering a new, more human view of vampires by turning them into compassionate creatures. In many ways Buffy the Vampire Slayer followed in the emotional footsteps of Interview with the Vampire, which empathized with the tortured vampire character instead of rehashing the traditional two-dimensional malicious fanged bloodsucker dressed in a cape.

With the success of the Twilight saga, a new vampire story is adding to the vampire lore. Stephenie Meyer’s vampire world is very similar to the Joss Whedon-verse. But the layers within Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and the Twilight world at large are also very different than those within the Buffy series. 

  In Twilight, the introduction of Edward Cullen and his clan follows very much in line with the idea of a reformed vampire making the personal choice to refrain from killing humans as a way of distancing themselves from the mentality of being a “vicious bloodsucker”. In the Buffy world, while Angel was “ensouled” by force after his alter ego, Angelus, angered a gypsy clan and was cursed with a soul, Spike, one of Angel’s “children” reformed by choice. The romantic notion that follows Spike’s story allowed the James Marsters character to change his nature because of his love for Buffy, the slayer. This of course went against Spike’s very nature as a vampire, a forbidden love between bitter enemies. In the Twilight series, Edward and his family do not encounter a Slayer but instead have a rivalry with the werewolf pack of the Quileute tribe. This Twilight storyline can also be found in the Underworld series as the Lycans and vampires battle for supremacy.

 Deeper into Twilight, New Moon Eclipse, and beyond, The Cullens, as they are described in the Twilight novels, do not share the same traits as the vampires created by Joss Whedon. The Stephenie Meyer vampires don’t incinerate when exposed to the sun. Instead the Meyer Twilight vamps become more beautiful than they were before. The Joss Whedon universe established vampires that follow more in line with traditional lore. However, their physical appeal, especially in the reformed heroes, is a quality that they do share with the vampires in the Twilight, New Moon, and the remainder of the Twilight series.

The Cullens are described as being astonishingly good-looking, each in their own individual way from their piercing eyes to their elegant grace. As compared to Buffy, Angel and Spike are both good-looking in their individual ways but the transformation from human guise to vampire facial transformation is something that has not been explored yet in the Twilight series. James, the villain in the first Twilight film, managed to transform slightly when he bit the character Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), which slightly touched on the subject. But the brief transformation tease was nowhere near the same degree as the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Perhaps the most important difference between the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series and Joss Whedon’s Buffy is the absence of fear in Twilight. Bella is not afraid of Edward’s true vampire nature, which can be attributed to his constant human guise. While Edward of twilight and his family are exceptionally powerful and lithe, those attributes only strengthen their physical appeal. The underlying concept of their true nature only becomes evident with James and his clan, and to a slightly lesser degree, Jasper who continues to struggle with his bloodlust in Twilight and New Moon. Edward’s protectiveness of Bella also serves as a motivator in his ability to try and reign in his more natural impulses of hunting and killing. Edward’s pseudo father Carlisle is able to control his bloodlust so well that he seems almost unaffected in any way by Bella’s all too obvious mortality. In the TV world of Buffy, the true nature of the vampire is made evident in every episode since the very essence of the show is about Buffy being a slayer, and therefore Buffy must slay vampires and demons. In Buffy the element of fear was (and is) always present.

With two similar yet distinct interpretations of vampires and their history, Joss Whedon and Stephenie Meyer have both reshaped and remixed the popular vampire concept and character to create a more compassionate and human world for them to live in. The interaction that the vampires in both Buffy and Twilight maintain with humans is as important as their depictions, both physical and emotional.

For Edward Cullen, the brooding physical appeal is as much a draw for Bella as Angel and Spike’s prowess and sexual appeal was alluring for Buffy. Buffy’s relationship with Spike was much more destructive than the relationship that Bella has with Edward, as Meyer’s romanticized version of a forbidden love has been tamed to a lesser degree. This could be due in part to the series’ large youth audience, although Edward is not entirely perfect in his portrayal of the tortured heartthrob. With millions of fans worldwide, the Stephanie Meyer vampire saga has clearly been embraced with open arms and not met with much resistance. For fans of the Buffy franchise, their heroes, Spike and Angel, will forever be seen as desperados who went against their very vampire nature to protect the woman they both loved. The notion is romantic, yes, but what vampire story would be complete without it?

With the New Moon clock winding down toward the first day of filming on March 23, Twilight fans worldwide will be eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Twilight series, where Edward and his family continue their road to redemption.

So the final question remains … Which is the better vampire universe, Twilight, New Moon and beyond or the world of Buffy? Tell us what you think.

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Tags: Angel, Bella, Buffy, Edward, Spike, Twilight