I chose to discuss the main issue of the episode, “Surprised”, from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In this episode, it is Buffy’s birthday and her friends throw her a surprise party, which is sadly interrupted by Vampires. These vampires are carrying boxes filled with the Judge’s body parts to a near by place. The reason for this is because they want to bring him back to life, so he can kill Buffy and her vampire boyfriend, Angel. The Judge is known for his ability to strip people and creatures of their humanity by a simple touch. Angel’s soul is sadly taken at the end of this episode after having slept with Buffy for the first time.
The argument being made in this episode is the fact that without humanity, a person is no longer the same and is in fact “soulless.” This is shown throughout the episode especially when the Judge ends up taking Angel’s humanity away from him. Angel then becomes soulless and ends up attempting to harm and potentially kill Buffy. This is also shown after Buffy and Angel sleep together that he changes into a different person, literally. Buffy says in next episode, “After we slept together, he was a different person.” Basically the creator is trying to convey, through the use of metaphors and monsters, that once a person loses their humanity, they will be completely and utterly different.
This links us back to the real world because even though a human cannot have their humanity stripped by a creature, however they can be born without a good human nature or in fact “lose” it through a traumatic event. Once a person has lost their humanity, they are no longer sympathetic, kind, or have an ounce of goodwill in them. They are simply coldhearted and soulless or often described as dead just like a vampire in this show. But, what traumatic events cause the loss of a person’s humanity? Can a person really be born without humanity or is humanity just a word that stands for something abstract? The main question is, what is humanity and how does it affect the personality of a person?
I think this is a great, insightful topic. How do you want to relate this to the real world? Like rulers of terrorist parties?
ReplyDeleteI want to relate it to the effects of authority positions and power on humanity and how these effects can cause a person to "lose" their humanity. It is a work in progress!
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