What I find rather interesting is that the myth of vampires in the Buffyverse is the same as the real vampires in the Buffyverse. The bumpy face, etc. Until Tabula Rasa, I thought their myth would be more like our (white face, cape, turns into a bat, walk around with fangs).
Mal: If anyone gets nosy, just, you know... shoot 'em. Zoe: Shoot 'em? Mal: Politely.
'Serenity'
All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American
Discussion of episodes currently airing in Un-American locations (anything that's aired in Australia is fair game), as well as anything else the Un-Americans feel like talking about or we feel like asking them. Please use the show discussion threads for any current-season discussion.
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Sophia Brooks - Feb 02, 2003 6:23:15 pm PST #1453 of 9843
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
billytea - Feb 02, 2003 6:24:17 pm PST #1454 of 9843
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
100 years is about the whole history of film.
Just to tie this back into the thread topic, in 1906 the movie The Story of the Kelly Gang opened in Melbourne. This was perhaps the first narrative film of any significant length in the world.
Penny B. - Feb 02, 2003 6:24:18 pm PST #1455 of 9843
Nobody
It isn't an arrogant point at all, Betsy. My ancestors are English, but when I went back to England I felt like the foreigner I was. I relate to the culture a fair bit, but it isn't mine.
Zoe Finch - Feb 02, 2003 6:24:21 pm PST #1456 of 9843
Gradh tu fhein
There are many, many highlanders who would dispute that.
I guess some people feel that a cultural heritage stretching back into pre-history is worth standing up for. The Scots who left took their names with them but the name is Scottish and means "son of Donald" in gaelic.
Penny B. - Feb 02, 2003 6:25:23 pm PST #1457 of 9843
Nobody
I guess some people feel that a cultural heritage stretching back into pre-history is worth standing up for.
Now I'm trying to thing of a cultural heritage that doesn't stretch back into pre-history.
Burrell - Feb 02, 2003 6:25:33 pm PST #1458 of 9843
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
I'm not sure there is one.
Okay then. So then why are they being brought together?
Betsy HP - Feb 02, 2003 6:26:51 pm PST #1459 of 9843
If I only had a brain...
But, Zoe, we're Americans now. I'm standing right here before you (well, metaphorically) with Scots blood and English blood and Bermudian blood and a whole bunch of blood I have no idea where it came from. I'm human. I have a cultural heritage stretching back into pre-history by that right.
And, frankly, if you traced your Scots blood back into pre-history, you'd find English invaders and Viking invaders and kidnapped slaves and God knows what-all. Human beings are a promiscuous lot.
Sophia Brooks - Feb 02, 2003 6:27:27 pm PST #1460 of 9843
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
This is a silly thing to be arguing about, but I don't think that anyone would dispute the name MacDonald being of Scottish Origin. But if the name is worn by an American or a Frenchperson or an Italian, that particular instance of the name is American or French or Italian. Sophia is a Greek name-- doesn't make me Greek.
Noumenon - Feb 02, 2003 6:27:42 pm PST #1461 of 9843
No other candidate is asking the hard questions, like "Did geophysicists assassinate Jim Henson?" or "Why is there hydrogen in America's water supply?" --defective yeti
Nosebiting vampires?
Pull out!
Pull out!
You've struck cartilage!
(far side)
Fay - Feb 02, 2003 6:27:59 pm PST #1462 of 9843
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.
isn't the primary "myth" or "trope" or what have you that Buffy sprang from NOT the vampire myth, but rather the horror movie cliche that the young pretty girl will get killed by the monster? But turned on its head? A youngish cliche to be sure, but I think the vampires were just sort of convenient.
Yes. Title notwithstanding, Season One cheerfully played around with a whole gamut of different cheesy schlock horror flick cliches. As did Season Two, for that matter. And non-vampire monsters have been a very big feature of the show throughout.
Whedon's strength is that he isn't limited to US-sources or influences, and I love the fact that he's so big on the irony and the layering rather than the anvils, but the shows are very clearly rooted in US culture. The fact that US culture is itself rooted in many other cultures is neither here nor there, as far as I can see. American culture isn't just European culture with added cowboy hats, it's a distinct thing with some shared sources.