Buffering the Vampire Slayer
I’ve always been an avid fan of podcasts, but in recent months my habit has been increasing somewhat. Even while I was walking the Camino De Santiago, I’d listen to a couple of podcasts each day, catching up on shows such as The Art of Catholic, The Catholic Man Show, and Hobo For Christ.
Early on in my journey across Spain, iTunes recommended a podcast called “Buffering The Vampire Slayer”. This was a podcast about the popular Joss Whedon show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which tells the story of a teenage girl who fights the forces of darkness who converge upon her town of Sunnydale.
I had seen the movie while I was still a teenager and, although it was a little goofy, I rather enjoyed it. I was initially unconvinced by the subsequent TV adaptation, but I soon grew to like it. Throughout university, my housemate Andy and I would always set aside time to watch the latest episodes, as well as those of Buffy’s companion show, Angel. It’s therefore not much surprise that I decided to heed iTunes’ recommendation and give the podcast a go…
“We’re, like, the Slayerettes”
The podcast is hosted by two ladies, Jenny Owens Young and Kristin Russo. I was delighted to find that they were methodically working their way through all seven seasons of Buffy, devoting a podcast episode to each episode of the show. Since this project was still in its infancy, I was able to bring myself quickly up-to-date.
I’ll admit that there are some things about the podcast of which I wasn’t a fan. Buffy certainly contained some gay themes, but there seemed to be a propensity to read gay themes into practically everything. In the discussions, there was sometimes a certain brand of feminism exhibited of which I’m not especially fond, but thankfully the hosts promised to limit their use of the word “patriarchy” to only once per episode!
Despite these reservations, I couldn’t help but enjoy the podcast. The back-and-forth between Jenny and Kristin is natural and energetic. Their exuberance and love for the source material is delightful and more than a little infectious. As a delightful touch, Jenny puts her considerable song-writing skills to good work by composing a new song which is played at the end of each episode, summarizing the events of the show that week.
“Do we really need weapons for this?”
I’m writing this post because of something that was brought up during during the podcast. In the pilot of Buffy, she opens up a chest and inside it we see her arsonal of weapons for fighting vampires. Inside this trunk was a container which held what looked to be communion wafers:
Both Jenny and Kristen expressed their confusion at this. When I reached my hostel for the night, I wrote them the following email to explain why Buffy was in possession of communion wafers, and to drop a little bit of Eucharistic knowledge…
Hello!
I’m currently walking across Spain, on the Camino De Santiago, and I just listened to the second episode of your podcast where you expressed surprise at Buffy’s possession of consecrated hosts…
This actually has some tradition in vampire lore. You find them used in some movies, but more importantly, please see the attached screenshot from the text of Bram Stoker’s book “Dracula” where you also find them mentioned:
[Dracula] turned and sprang at us. But…the Professor…was holding towards him an envelope which contained the Sacred Wafer. The Count suddenly stopped, …and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our crucifixies, avanced…
(Stoker does make a few technical mistakes in his book, such as not understanding the meaning of “an indulgence”)
The overall idea makes sense in that Vampires are repelled by things which are purifying (e.g. garlic) and holy (e.g. crosses). The Eucharist is both. In fact, there is quite a nice bit of irony that vampires, creatures which survive by feeding off the flesh and blood of their victims, are REPELLED by the Flesh and Blood of Christ.
Hope this clears things up 🙂
Buen Camino,
David
#TeamGiles
I had a pleasant surprise when I listened to the subsequent episode:
With the exception of my comment about Stoker’s misunderstanding of indulgences and the text from Bram Stoker, I was really touched that they read out my entire email and received it with such interest and enthusiasm. I particularly liked the fact that Kristen said that this might now become her favourite vampire weapon because of its depth of meaning.
Isn’t theology great?
