May 13, 2006

  • Watching Buffy

    We rented some movies this week - Murderball (Which I haven't watched yet,) Rize, and a couple of episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

    The hubby and I had actually seen Rize already, we went to it at the lost and lamented Lamphouse Theatre in Twinkie Flats. (Sigh, just when you think you are finally getting a bit of culture and diversity in your corner of the world, you find yourself knocked back into the S.o.S.) We had seen Tommy the Clown perform on an awards show on TV and neither of the kids got what we were talking about, so they watched most of it with us. They were impressed by the dancing, and a bit disturbed by the dangers that affected the lives of these kids.

    We also curled up on the couch for a Buffy marathon. We recently rented the first season DVDs, and the kids were fast fans. And why not? It's funny, smart, and action packed. (Not too mention the regularity with which young people are saving the world. ) I actually missed this one the first time around when it was on TV - I was busy with college, and then later with parenthood. And now I am rather relishing getting to go back and enjoy the show.

    I was thinking about what draws me into the show so thouroughly, even though I'm a good decade away from teenage-girlhood. It's very simple, really. If you grew up female in this culture, you probably know the whole drill. The Keep-Safe Drill. Avoid going out after dark alone, lock you car doors, park by lights and in view of the building if at all possible, have the security guard walk you to the car, have your keys ready when going to your car, hold them between your fingers to use as a weapon, consider carrying pepper spray, stick to well-lit areas, etc.etc.etc. And there's the whole 'if you are attacked' strategy to consider - should you run? scream? be silent in the hopes you won't lose your life? fight back? what?

    Very simply, if you have lived with this sort of low-grade version of fight or flight mode every time you have left the house alone after dark from the time you were fourteen and had learned of words like 'rape' and 'assault,' it is nice, cathartic even, to see someone fight back and win. (Okay, so I know it's vampires she's fighting off, and that vampires are pretend, but can we just assume that there's a level of metaphor involved?)