Hooking an Audience: Intertextuality, Reflexivity, and the Aesthetics of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Kyrie A. Taylor
Dr. Elizabeth M. Clark, Faculty Mentor
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran for seven seasons. The television series won 34 awards and was nominated for 99. Created by Joss Whedon, Buffy was fascinating to viewers because of its powerful main female character, dramatic love stories, and witty references to other media artifacts and popular culture. Intertextuality, the shaping of a texts meaning by referencing other texts, and reflexivity are important critical elements of media used by writers to connect different audiences. Even though each episode followed a similar plot line format, the series also retained viewers through the use of specific aesthetic elements. These elements were used to dramatize the common struggles, goals, values, and stories of the universal human experience. An analysis of color, lighting, sound, camera movement, and special effects reveals a better understanding of the intertextual references throughout the series. Such an analysis has the potential to further illustrate why audiences returned to Buffy.
Keywords: Aesthetics, Intertextuality, Reflexivity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, television, popular culture
Topic(s):Communication
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 10-2
Location: VH 1320
Time: 8:15