Week 10: How do you think Buffy has influenced the contemporary vampire drama True Blood and the Twilight series of novels and films?

I had never watched an episode of Buffy before the screening that was shown to us. I had heard of the show before though and I remember it being popular when I was younger. However I have seen all of the Twilight films and some of the True Blood series and after watching Buffy in class I could already pick up on similarities and influences that Buffy had on both of these vampire films and series. Although watching Buffy now, it seems a bit dated due to the advance that we now have in technology the monsters look slightly fake. I think i definitely would have watched Buffy if I had the chance to when I was younger and if I get the chance over the break I will probably watch more episodes as I do really enjoy vampire shows.  I didn't realise how much of an influence Buffy had until reading the secondary texts and some articles. Porter (2004) believes that Buffy reinvented vampire myths for this millennium and O'leary (2010) believes that Buffy became one of the most influential television shows of the past two decades and basically invented the TV genre of urban fantasy.

There has been a marked increase in recent years in the number of television shows with a supernatural theme. This trend combines inhuman characters such as witches and vampires with teen angst (Braum 2000). This is shown throughout Twilight and True Blood but is not a new theme as Buffy uses this theme that in turn was influenced by shows such as horror films and teen dramas. However the more recent representations of the supernatural especially in Twilight, vampires are portrayed as being magical and desirable rather than evil. I think that was heavily influenced by Buffy, although there are enemies in Buffy such as the monsters she kills and in Twilight such as the Volturi there is also desire and love interests between both Buffy and Angel and Edward and Bella. Angel and Edward are both vampires but instead of being considered evil and bad both Buffy and Bella and drawn to them and cant help but fall in love with the vampires. Although there is an influence of horror throughout Buffy, i think that the way Buffy has influenced True Blood and Twilight has slightly removed the connotation that all vampires are evil. Twilight and True Blood also have strong female characters that become braver and less naive as the narrative progresses. I think that this was influenced by Buffy as she is shown to be smart, courageous and someone that vampires cannot resist even if they know it is wrong. All three couples from Buffy (Buffy and Angel), True Blood (Eric and Sookie) and Twilight ( Edward and Bella) have sexual tension between each other as all of the vampires do not want to loose control. I believe there are many similarities and influences that Buffy has had on True Blood and Twilight which i find really interesting as they all were similar yet all incredibly successful. Maybe its the forbidden love story that has fans hooked. For me its the brave female characters in all of the series and films which draws me to vampire and supernatural stories and i will be watching more of Buffy when i get the chance.

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Braum, B. (2000). The X-files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The ambiguity of evil in supernatural representations. Retrieved from:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_28/ai_64688900

Porter, P. (2004). Retrospection and anticipation and the cult following of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Retrieved from: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/30/1088488020260.html

O'Leary, T. (2010). Buffy, The Vampire Innovator: How so Many Stories Owe Everything to Joss Whedon. Retrieved from:

http://thetorchonline.com/latest/buffy-the-vampire-innovator-how-so-many-stories-owe-everything-to-joss-whedon/