thesublemon:

Up on my youtube channel, I’ve recently started a new series of analytical commentary tracks for the major episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “Commentary track” is a bit of a misnomer, since there’s editing throughout. But each video will follow along the entire episode nonetheless. Since this is the 25th anniversary of when the first episode aired, it seemed like a nice time to finally share the project here.

It’s a self-indulgent project, but also one I’ve wanted to do for a while. Largely because, despite the fact that Buffy remains widely beloved, and has exerted an incredible amount of influence upon the pop-culture landscape, it doesn’t actually seem to be a very well-understood show. Which is perhaps the reason that its influence has not necessarily been for the best. To me, the core of Buffy is not things like cute dialogue, superpowered characters, or a supernatural premise. It isn’t things like found family or a musical episode. None of that is what makes it good. At least not in and of itself. What makes it good is what makes anything I like good: its ability to consistently and coherently express a complex thematic level via the medium of film.

So whether or not you’ve seen or like the show, if you’ve ever been curious about what is worth taking away from it, and why it’s stuck so persistently in the craw of pop culture–even now–you might find the series of interest.