It’s been a busy couple of weeks leading up to our Spring Break. A week ago Monday—February 23—the English Club (named in honor of former CU English professor Mabel Powell) sponsored a BtVS “Watch-and-Learn” evening. When I’ve done something like this in the past, the difficulty is always trying to decide on a single episode that will both reward analysis (actually, that’s pretty easy) and won’t require too much backstory exposition for those unfamiliar with the show. Coincidentally, the night before the Campus Activities Board movie had been Twilight—we really had not known this when we scheduled the event—but once I discovered that, I decided on ep. 2.22 “Becoming, part 2.” Although as the finale of season 2 it might seem to require a boatload of exposition, the major points are pretty easy to explain and I had access to the “Previously on Buffy…” lead-in from “Becoming, pt. 1,” which hits most of the highlights. Buffy season 2, and the 2-part finale in particular, I thought, epitomize BtVS as the opposite of Twilight.
Coincidentally, about the same time, I came across this post effectively “defending Buffy to the unitiated.”
As it turned out, almost no0ne who turned out for the BtVS event had read Twilight or seen the movie. But it didn’t matter much, as “Becoming (2),” written and directed by Joss Whedon, is still a bangup ep. no matter how you approach it.
And speaking of Joss Whedon, Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies is now subtitled “The Whedon Studies Association Journal,” marking the the official formation of the Whedon Studies Association with issue #27. Start working on those Dollhouse and X-Men papers now.
I loved reading this account of the “Watch-and-Learn” approach. Thanks for posting it in addition to linking to the post on “Defending Buffy for the Uninitiated.” I am thrilled to see the new name for Slayage! That’s very exciting news.
My co-author and I are trying to put together a similar “Watch-and-Learn” event at Mars Hill Graduate School around Firefly and particularly our area of study concerning Shepherd Book’s faith and loss of self.
Thank you! Great idea to do something like this for Firefly. I look forward to hearing about it.