Sci-fi elements in Buffy - HELP!

[The Curmudgeon]

Hey guys

I'm writing an essay for my Uni course about the changing face of science fiction on television. I have to choose TWO shows to talk about, so I'm going for X-Files and Buffy.

See, I thought I could just say "sci-fi/fantasy" in my essay, but that's been given the big "no." So I have to justify what exactly makes Buffy qualify as being seen as science fiction.

I've listed that its inpsired by Frankenstein and all the behaviour modifying stuff, as well as the episode where the pod things came from space...

Uh - yeah. I need help. I'm sure there's someone on here that can list a few notable sci-fi elements to Buffy.. otherwise I'm kinda screwed..

Thanks


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[Highlander II]

Vampires and werewolves aren't enough? They're typically 'fantasy' sure, but if you follow the definition of science, both are created through biological transformations - that's the science-y part, since today, in our world, there is NOT a way to change someone from a plain old homosapien to a blood-sucking fiend or a being that transforms itself into a giant ugly wolf 3 nights a month. It just don't happen.

(I don't know why it's always thought that 'science fiction' only refers to 'technology' - it doesn't.)

That should get you started - broaded the definition of 'science fiction'. You may have to research to get some of the bio and chem terms lined up, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?

 

[Pyan]

A superstrong teenage vampire-killer? Witchcraft? Re-animation? Adam?
What other definition could you give to the series?

 

[Kostmayer]

Not to mention the Buffybot.

 

[Highlander II]

A hell god, an evil preacher who absorbs / melds with The First... The First

demons of all varieties

zombies

Hit BuffyGuide - I think that's the one that lists the kills - should give a good idea of the 'uglies' that show up.

 

[Ehkzu]

Honestly, Buffy is mainly fantasy. However, it wandered into scifi territory when she entered college and encountered The Initiative, a secret government military organization that treated the whole demonic underworld as a science fiction issue and treated it with science fiction stuff--primarily the behavior mod chip they put in vampires to "fix" them. And Adam was a science fiction monster/antagonist. And this plotline filled that whole season--4 I believe. Remember Buffy guessing that they gave the baddies a military moniker? And of course the best line of this plotline--when the manager of The Initiative, upon meeting Buffy, told her she thought the Slayer was a tale told by vampires and Buffy replies "I guess you were mythtaken."

Also, later on, the Nerd Trio were largely scifi in character, starting with the Buffybot.

So I'd talk about how these days the traditional hard demarcations between genres are breaking down--just as in art the line between painting and sculpture has been crossed and mingled often in 20th-21st century works of art.

Or how Gershwin commingled jazz and classical music in his compositions.

A lot of stuff still dwells within the old boundaries, but there has always been boundary-crossing by innovative creators in all the arts, ever since when.

 

[dekket]

Could you perhaps go the other direction and work with the X-Files being Fantasy rather than Sci-Fi?
From what I remember of the series, there was just as much paranormal/supernatural in the series as there were scientific/technological.