Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Discuss Their Favorite Television Show (Smart Pop series) (33 page)

CONCLUSIONS

One of the real pleasures of viewing the
Buffy
series over the years has been to watch as, amid all the prosthetics and gore, the characters have gradually grown up. And a big part of that process for each of them has been to learn how to deal with the issues that arise out of sexual and/or emotional intimacy.

Sex in Sunnydale can be dangerous. Even deadly. But it is not bad in itself. There is often pleasure and even true love. The point is, that like everything else in Buffy’s world, there are consequences for every action. Affairs of the body and/or soul should never be entered into lightly.
For these teens, sexual and emotional intimacy is a doorway to adulthood. A means of gaining personal power. And, ultimately, an act of transformation.

Perhaps that is why the final scene of “Innocence” (2-14) has such poignancy. We know how much Buffy has gone through, how much she has suffered because of her choices, and how very much she has changed and matured through that process. Yet, her mother hugs her and says, “You look the same to me.”

Despite all the hurt, the loss of innocence, she still retains her Self. Unlike Angel’s, her soul is bruised, but still intact. The tremendous courage and integrity she has always possessed have endured the trials of initiation and she has emerged on the other side even stronger than she was before. That is what makes her a hero in the truest sense. And that is what makes love worth taking the risk.

O
NE OF THE MANY GREAT
things about
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
is it gives hope to the geek in all of us. I’m not talking about the
Über
-geeks Warren, Andrew and Jonathan, but our geek heroes Xander and Willow. Especially Willow, who gives computer nerds a warm and cozy feeling, like we’re wrapped in warm blankets. Except, of course, when she’s Dark Rosenberg, when she makes everyone want to dive
under
the blankets.

Willow’s evolution from computer nerd to powerful sorceress (I chose this word with care, more on that later) has been a fascinating journey over these last seven years. All of the characters on
Buffy
have grown, but Willow’s arc has perhaps been the most profound. A very large part of that growth has to do with her becoming, in the words of Anya, “A very powerful Wicca (sic).”

This phrase bugs me for myriad reasons, and I’m going to tell you why. In a nutshell, I’m going to say that while the creators of
Buffy
are presenting Willow as a witch/Wicca(n), they are, alas, wrong. Remember I said that I deliberately chose the word “sorceress” earlier? It’s a
much more appropriate word, largely because it’s a fantasy term that has no real practitioners in the Real World. A “sorceress” can be whatever the writers want her to be. But a witch, or a Wiccan, is something very real, and the creators of
Buffy
don’t get it right.

I could go on for a whole book (and many have) exploring the differences between the Hollywood Witch, the Real Witch, the Wiccan, the Neopagan, the Santarian, the Asatruar, etc. but I’ve only got this one essay. So, for convenience’s sake, I’ll be working with the following definitions:

HOLLYWOOD WITCH: The version of “witch” we see in the movies.

REAL WITCH or just WITCH: Real live person who may practice spell craft, but who does not necessarily believe in a god or goddess.

WICCAN: A follower of a religion that believes in a god and goddess, works with natural energies, and incorporates spell casting into ritual. Wiccans are usually Witches, but not all Witches are Wiccans.

Is this all clear as mud? It’s no wonder the
Buffy
folks have trouble with it.

(
Very important note:
Witches of all kinds [except for Hollywood Witches, occasionally, depending on the script] do not worship or even believe in Satan. Satan is a Christian concept and witches have nothing to do with him. For most people, whose whole definition of “witch” comes from the Salem witch trials, in which innocent folks were accused of consorting with the Devil, this is quite a shocker. But it’s also very true.)

Having said all this, I will readily admit that Willow is a “Hollywood Witch,” which is now becoming trendy again. The Hollywood Witch is a lot of fun for the writers, the actresses, and the viewers. She usually comes in two flavors, with slight variations.

First, there’s the Scary Hollywood Witch, personified by the Wicked Witch of the West and other haggy beings. This is the gal we’re all used to seeing around Halloween. Usually she’s got green skin, but at the very least, she dresses in black, she rides a broom, and there’s a wart.

Then there’s the Sexy Hollywood Witch, sometimes overlaid with a bit o’ sweetness to make the brew easier to drink. Such witches are Samantha from
Bewitched
, the heroine of
Bell, Book and Candle
, or Sabrina from the
Archie
comics. She’s been joined in recent years by the sisters from
Charmed
and
Practical Magic.
It’s cool to be a Sexy Hollywood Witch these days.

A Hollywood Witch, be she Scary or Sexy, can be easily spotted by the special effects guy who is always at her side. She chants in a funky language, her eyes go black, lightning shoots from her fingers, winds
come out of nowhere (prettily tousling her long hair), things levitate, fly around the room, lose their skins, etc. It’s pretty cool.

REAL WITCHES CAN’T DO THIS. And yes, there is definitely such a thing as a real witch.

The greatest problem in the depiction of Willow and her witchiness is that the creators of
Buffy
were not content with making her a sorceress, or even a Sexy Hollywood Witch. They decided to go one step further and fold the current hot religion of Wicca into the mix.

And there, my fellow Willow fans, is where things start falling apart.

The problem lies in the fact that Wicca is a real, genuine, bona-fide religion recognized and protected under the United States Constitution. Despite challenges from such noted conservatives as Jesse Helms, cases such as
Dettmer vs. Landon
(1986) stand to establish its authenticity as a viable religion. Even the
United States Military Chaplains Manual
recognizes Wicca as a religion. Yup, that’s right—a Wiccan is every bit as real a follower of her or his faith (Xander’s hilarious comment about “manwitches” notwithstanding, there are male Witches and Wiccans and they aren’t called “warlocks”) as a Methodist or a Jew. (“A Wiccan, a Methodist, and a Jew walk into a bar . . .”)

And unfortunately, if one goes by what we’ve seen on the show and in the various official books such as
The Watcher’s Guide
, nobody connected with the show has done a lot of research into what being a Wiccan means.

Heck, they haven’t even gotten their grammar right. Willow is repeatedly and very clearly referred to as a “Wicca,” which is comparable to saying a “Christia.” One who follows the faith of Christianity is a Christian, one who follows the faith of Wicca is a Wiccan.

What’s worse is what you’ll find in
The Watcher’s Guide.
On p. 146 is an essay on “Witches and Sorcerers.” Giving credit where it’s due, there’s a lot of good info on the history of witchcraft, and in general it’s a positive piece. And then the words “devotees of the goddess Wicca” appear.

Um. Well. First of all, there
is
no “goddess Wicca.” There are many speculations as to the origins of the word “wicca,” but it’s never been the name of a goddess. The most likely origin is from the Indo-European word
Wikke
or
Weik
, which pertains to magic or sorcery.

Now, admittedly, as I have indicated, it’s not as if it would have been easy for the creators of
Buffy
to come up with a nice, simple definition of Wicca that all practitioners would agree on. However, at the risk of not satisfying everyone, let me give it a whirl and we’ll see if Willow really can accurately be called a Wiccan or if she’s just another Sexy Hollywood Witch.

1. F
IRST AND FOREMOST
, W
ICCA IS A RELIGION
. Divinity is represented in a pair of opposites: a god and a goddess. The goddess is regarded as the primary divinity and the god is her consort. Some believe that each god and goddess who has appeared in mythology is separate and real; others think that there is a main divinity with different aspects, much the same way an actor can play many roles.

Wiccans often honor the god and goddess through the Celtic Wheel of the Year, with eight holy days known as Sabbats:

February 2: Imbolc (Candlemas, or St. Brigid’s Day). This holiday belongs to the goddess. Her light in the world is fire and candlelight, not the sun; we begin to believe that spring really is on the way. (If you view these holidays as spokes on a wheel, its opposite is Lughnasad, which is traditionally a day to honor the god.) In the U.S., this is also Groundhog Day, which is a contemporary “ritual” involving a groundhog testing to see if winter is really over (a sort of divination spell), or if it will last six more weeks—coincidentally, when the next Sabbat is celebrated. Most Wiccans love a good laugh and get a chuckle out of this.

March 21–23: Ostara, the Vernal Equinox. The Christian holiday of Easter is derived from “Ostara” or “Eostre,” an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. Rabbits and eggs represent fertility and the awakening world. Day and night are of equal length. It lies opposite the Autumnal Equinox, of course.

May 1: Beltane, or May Day. Some traditions, such as the Maypole dance, still survive—and well, let’s just say that the rather phallic image of the “maypole” isn’t an accident. This holiday marks the union of the god and goddess. The reason there are traditionally so many weddings in June is that it was bad luck to be wed in the same months as the Divinities, but the month after was believed to be blessed. On the Wheel, it is opposite Samhain. Both are major holidays.