Sara the vampire watcher

By Sara Allen
Collegian Staff
April 12, 2006

Do you own seasons one through seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Check. Are you able to recite three or more complete episodes? Check. Do you memorize and act out fight scenes with one of your best friends? Check. Do you sleep with a stake under your pillow? Okay, no, but that would be really cool. Do you think your life is too normal, wishing for the life of a Slayer? Double check.

Sara Allen enjoys “Buffy-fighting” with her friends outside of Olney Hall. Photo
courtesy of Sara Allen.

If you haven’t figured it out already, Buffy is my guilty pleasure. Starting out as a light viewer, I came in when season two was still on television and watched it when I felt like it. After a while though, I needed more—I bought the first season and began taping the episodes that were on when I wasn’t able to get myself to a television. That’s about when the obsession started.

I’m not really ashamed to say that I like Buffy; I just don’t talk about it much, unless it’s with a fellow addict. Take, for example, my friend Ryan. He’s a year older than me, and when I came to La Salle and befriended him, we instantly bonded over a mutual love of the show. Now, we act out the really cool fight scenes anywhere we can, in the quad, in Backstage, in our respective rooms. He’s always Buffy and I always get to be Faith. (I never, ever get to be Buffy.)

Go ahead, admit it. Even if you don’t watch the show, you’re intrigued. Slaying, inappropriate romantic debacles, the undead, cute boy vampires… The list of amazing qualities about this show could go on and on. (And even if one of those doesn’t get you, the fact that I publicly “Buffy-fight” should. Maybe you’ve even witnessed it.)

However, the thing that got me hooked to the show wasn’t the inappropriateness or even the vampire boys; it was how the show tapped into a deeper, so-true-to-human-life-it’s-scary level. At its barest form, Buffy is just about a young girl trying to find herself in the harsh and scary world, and I guess when I started watching the show I really related to the “fight until you get out alive” mentality. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

I love Buffy. I’m not asking that you do the same, I’m just asking that you give it a try. Underneath all the supernatural happenings, you might find a show you can actually relate to. Yes, you, those who claim to hate fantasy shows. You might be surprised.

allens3@lasalle.edu