Nia wk 10

In what way is Buffy influenced by the romantic gothic tradition? Yet how does Buffy also provide a contemporary critique of this tradition?

Romantic gothic tradition is based on the “admiration for a male Romantic hero who struggles with the oposing forces within his phyche. The conflicting pulls of social/ antisocial impluses, emotion/ intellect, and perhaps most manifest these opposing forces.” The view upon the traditional gothic hero is “as a lonely, sensitive, often misunderstood crusader against injustices of the fates and the cruelty of man.” (Rose, 2002) Critiquely Buffy in turn takes on most of these characteristics of gothic romantic tradition however alternatively , as a female, that captures a feminine narrative with significant ties to the community and her ‘scooby gang.’

Rose, A (2002) Of creatures and creators: Buffy does Frankenstein, in R. Wilcox & D. Lavery (eds) Fighting the forces: what’s at stake in Buffy the vampire slayer. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.