! Slayer self defense
I think those reading this page would have a fair idea about BuffyTheVampireSlayer. For a quick rundown, let's answer a couple of brief questions.

Who is Buffy Summers? Or rather, what is she? Well she said one time she wanted to be a firefighter, a job placement program thought she'd make a good cop, she was a BurgerFool, a school counsellor, worked in a cafe, and...what's the word? ''Slayer.''

Okay, what does a Slayer do? It's their duty to hunt down and kill vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. Must be why her school she'd be good in the police force, except she goes several steps further than any officer has the right to.

What does this have to do with self defense? We can pick up on a lot of ways what she does is good and what she does is bad.

Buffy herself has said how you should NeverBeAHero. In this case she is absolutely right, doing what she does and becoming a [[VigilanteMan vigilante wo\man]] can get you killed. However with that said you can avoid what would be a mistake emulating her while still seeing how watching what she does can still be applied should you face a similar sitch.

How can what she does is bad, you may ask? She's been doing this for fifteen years, three is more than most Slayers achieve. By going through her actions we can identify what's right and wrong, and how they might apply to us.

First thing's first, how does Buffy usually perform her duty? She goes about at night in the hopes that she will come across some nasty to slay. No no no no no, hell no. I don't care if SarahMichelleGellar has a black belt in taekwondo, if she did this [[ThisIsReality in the real world]] she'd end up killed. Now of course there are no vampires or demons in RealLife, there have been vampire attacks (no, really, check out True True Blood.) There's no Slayers either. Chalk one up to Little Miss ''Everybody sucks but me,'' and yes I hated hated hated her attitude in this scene as well. Of all her failings this might be Buffy's biggest one, yes if you are faced with a monster you can apply some of what she does to defend yourself, yes you can use it to defend others. The last thing you want to do is to go around looking for trouble. I'll go into detail about this below.

Now having explained why you do not go out on patrol, let's look at what happens when she does go out on patrol. One way we'll do is is to compare her to Riley when he went on patrol. In his case he acted much different, in that he came across as actively hunting for something. Now this would indicate to would be assailants that there was a predator in their area and he was best left alone. On the other hand one demon might feel threatened by such behavior and feel the need to challenge him. Buffy, and Faith, or Angel, Spike, in fact they can all be guilty of this. Except they are not as obvious about it.

On the other hand the Scoobies and Buffy act and dress normal, for all intents and purposes they do the job better because they do not present themselves as a threat, however they do present themselves as prey. In their case they are able to take care of themselves but the ideal is a happy medium: to present yourself in such a way that will make an assailant have second thoughts about attacking, yet not encourage trouble. There are many ways to achieve this: how you walk, how you dress, act, however this is not a guide to what you can do, it's examining what a Slayer does. One good example of someone who does it right is Angelus in the episode ''Phases.'' What's he doing? For all intents and purposes he's just out for a stroll, holding a flower. Several things work in his favor however. One is his size; there are people out there much bigger than him yet he is usually classed as TheBigGuy. This would scare off some would be attackers. Another is here he is very obviously the predator, the NiceGuy act is just that, an act, but let's say for a moment it wasn't. He gives no motive for someone to attack him, the fact he's a CompleteMonster notwithstanding.

Speaking of which, rep has a lot to do with how someone is perceived, and whether or not they might be attacked. In Angelus' case none of the good guys who know who he is would go after him without backup. The same can be said of those who know Buffy's history: not as a Slayer, but as someone who burnt down the school gym, said to have violent tendencies and have at least two murder charges brought against her. Notice also how she can quickly defuse a situation when she began becoming a BullyHunter and word got around she beat up others, at the price of many seeing her as a freak (an issue that would become resolved when Sunnydale finally waking up to what was happening.) While not ideal, at least her rep meant she wasn't subject to rape attempts after fighting off would be rapists and her arrest over Kendra's death.

More to come.

12th Sep '12 10:51:02 AM SomeSortOfTroper

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I spent a lot of time reading that section. Rereading it. Asking myself "What the hell is this trying to say". I figured that if I understood, I could change it, make it easier to understand, see what connection to tvtropes it had. Turns outs that somebody is trying to explain ideas about self-defence using Buffy and Angel (superheroes who don't fight for self-defence) as examples. It's a bad idea in many ways but chief in my view is that it doesn't belong on an Analysis page.

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! Slayer self defense
I think those reading this page would have a fair idea about BuffyTheVampireSlayer. For a quick rundown, let's answer a couple of brief questions.

What does this have to do with self defense? We can pick up on a lot of ways what she does is good and what she does is bad.

More to come.

13th Aug '12 4:54:12 AM tsstevens

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12th Aug '12 9:42:46 PM tsstevens

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! Slayer self defense (or how Buffy is right in how you should NeverBeAHero and doing what she does and becoming a [[VigilanteMan vigilante wo\man]] can get you killed, and how you can avoid what would be a mistake emulating her while still seeing how watching what she does can still be applied should you face a similar sitch)
I think those reading this page would have a fair idea about BuffyTheVampireSlayer. For a quick rundown, let's answer a couple of brief questions.

What does this have to do with self defense? We can pick up on a lot of ways what she does is good and what she does is bad.

More to come.

13th Oct '11 5:36:44 AM SomeSortOfTroper

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this is closer to WMG.

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! Once More With Feeling is all a metaphor for Joss' feelings about the show being Uncancelled
This was the impression that I had after watching the episode, and was surprised to find no mention of it on the web. I'm either a genius, an idiot, or it's common knowledge. Anyways, here's how I see it, song by song:
* Going through the motions: The song is all about how Joss has run out of both enthusiasm and fresh ideas. By this point he was working heavily on Angel and developing Firefly. He felt there was nowhere new to go and nothing new to do. He was simply "going through the motions" on the writing (this could explain the lazy "magic addiction" storyline). The end lines, "I can't even see/if this is really me/and I just want to be/Alive" reinforce how confused he is, and how he just wants to write quality television.
* If We're Together: About his (perhaps false) confidence that with the rest of the Mutant Enemy crew, they'll be able to get through the problems all the same. The song is a gung-ho "We can do anything" number, but as the rest of the episode shows, all of the characters were phoning in the confidence. They all have serious doubts about where they're going. This could be Joss saying that he knows the crew ultimately depends on him for leadership, and that their presence doesn't help his feelings of disassociation.
* Under Your Spell: Joss describing how much he does love the show. A sweet love ballad, this tells us that even though he's lost, he does love Buffy and is permanently "under her spell." Buffy was the first feature screenplay he ever sold, and the first show he ever had. He deeply loves Buffy. You never forget your first. 
* I'll never tell: All about how Joss feels guilty about wanting to do other things. Despite wishing he could develop other projects, he feels "engaged" to Buffy; that he must stick it out to the end. But, of course, he'll never tell anyone about it. This would explain why he's never confirmed any of this WMG in an interview (either that, or the WMG is totally false).
* Rest In Peace: Joss pleading with the show to leave him alone and let him rest in peace. He desperately want to leave, to "take [his] love and burry it in a hole six foot deep," he he can't make himself do it. As Spike is uncontrollably in love with Buffy the character, Joss is uncontrollably in love with Buffy the show. Lines toward the end express how he feels he gives everything to the show, and gets nothing in return: "I know/I should go/But I follow you/Like a man possessed/There's a traitor here/Beneath my breast/If my heart could beat/It would break my chest/But I can see/You're unimpressed/So leave me be/And let me rest in peace." After the song, Buffy walks away, leaving Spike in a grave. "What? You're leaving?!" Spike yells after her. This is Joss further expressing how, even if he could shake Buffy, he'd be drawn back to it.
* Standing: Giles talking about standing in Buffy's way of growing into an adult it really taking on the voice of the show, standing in Joss's way of growing into a more versatile writer. Joss feels he's grown as much as he can with Buffy. The more complex character relations of Firefly were a taste of what he could be doing, but now he's back writing Buffy. After working for years on the show, what has he got in return? More Buffy. Joss is expressing how much he loves the show but feels it's in his way.
* Under your spell/Standing (reprise): The earlier love song, about how much Joss loves Buffy, is now turned into a song declaring how he can't escape. He could have let the show just end after season 5 (as he had planned to do), but once it was picked up by UPN he was powerless to leave. He's under it's spell, and feels he has no control, the same way Tara feels she has no control with Willow. 
* Walk Through the Fire: Like it or not, Joss is decaring that he's here. He'll walk through the fire (the fire can be both writer's block and disassociation) and let it burn. "I touch the fire and it freezes me/I look into it and it's black/Why can't I feel/My skin should crack and peel/I walk a fire path." These lines from Buffy about how she feels nothing sonce coming back clearly echo Joss' feelings since the show came back. After going through the horrible pain of killing his creation at the end of season 5, anything else he does with Buffy feels hollow. "Now through the smoke/She calls to me/To make my way across the flame/To save the day/Or maybe melt away/ I guess it's all the same." The "she" is not just Glory, but the show. It's calling Joss like the Siren's song. His show has been uncancelled, and he can either "save the day" (i.e. continue making groundbreaking television) or "fade away" (let the quality slip and have the show end as a joke). Joss seems to agree with Neil Young, that it's better to burn out than fade away. The finale of season five was burning out, and now he feels he's doomed to let the show fade away. And with his indifference, he feels it's all the same. Spike's lines, "I hope she fries/I'm free if that bitch dies/I'd better help her out" continue the theme of wanting the show gone, but still doing everything he can to keep it going. 
* Something to Sing about: Joss' feelings of alienation are brought to the forefront. "There was no pain/No fear no doubt/'Till they pulled me out/From Heaven/I think I was in heaven." Constantly fighting with the network had caused pain, and he was always afraid that they would wreck his wonderful creation. With Buffy over, he was finally free from the pain and fear, and doubts about whether his writing was the best it could be. Then the show came back, pulling Joss from that heaven. Or, at least, what he thought was heaven. He still doesn't know if it was better to have the show cancelled or back on the air. Hence, his doubts about "heaven." Buffy pleads for the demon to give her something to sing about, as Joss is pleading for something to write about, as he feels the show has run it's course. It no longer gives him the sense of satisfaction it once did.
* Where do we go from here: Joss (and by extension, Mutant Enemy productions) wondering where he go's from here. "The battle's done/And we kind of won/So we sound our victory cheer." He succeeded in getting the show back, and is knows he should be happy. But where does he go from here? Like season 8 of Stargate SG1 or season 4 of Babylon 5, he tied up all the plot threads. He brought his work to a satisfactory conclusion. Now he has to keep it going after the "battle" (i.e. narrative) is done. "Why is the path unclear/When he know hope is near/Understand/We'll go hand in hand/But we'll walk alone in fear." The show is back (hope) but the path of where to take it is unclear. Joss will work with the cast and crew he loves (the hand in hand part), but he knows he'll be walking alone in fear, since he's the creator, head writer, and executive producer. He feels he may be the only one with doubts. 
* Coda: "This isn't real/But I just want to feel" Buffy sings right before making out with Spike, actions that will change the show forever. Perhaps Joss is saying that he knows Buffy/Spike isn't meant to be, and he's just doing to get some kind of emotion going in a show that's otherwise lifeless to him. The episode ends on a question, "Where do we go from here?" The words are left echoing on the screen.

11th Sep '11 9:31:29 PM ethansloan

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6th May '11 6:03:30 PM SpellBlade

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Character Derailment is Flame Bait, and since the ''entire thing'' is centered around it, Imma zap the whole thing.

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