Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 97

B u ff y t h e V a m p i r e S l a y e r

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jobs.

Buffy: Giles isn’t going anywhere, Will. He’s still librarian.
Willow: Okay, but I’m writing an angry letter.
Later, Buffy rum inates a bou t the events.
Buffy: You know, nothing’s really gonna change. The important thing is that I kept
up my special birthday tradition of gut-wrenching misery and horror.
Oz: Bright side to everything.
Buffy: I’ll just feel better when I get my strength back.
Xander: Give you a hand with that, little lady?
Buffy: You’re loving this far too much.
Xander: Admit it, sometimes you Just need a big, strong man...Willow, give me
hand with that?

The dialogue is full of references from pop culture which form a sense of
exclusive membership for adolescents. In fact, the fan-made web pages and other
fan-generated texts devote considerable effort to accumulating quotes from the
show. On the web page called B uffy s Passion, fans can send in suggestions for
entries on the “E verything I need to know about life I learned from B uffy list.’’ The
list has approximately 150 entries as of November 27, 1999 and includes wisdom
such as:

Destiny's a drag, bu t ya gotta do w hat ya go tta do.
Long sto r ie s .. .aren't.
Everybody has demons, som e are j u s t ug lier than others.
Living on the Hellmouth, alw ays make sure things are metaphysical.
The three key wordsf o r any Slayer are preparation, preparation, and preparation. ”
Or, fa iling that, **Hows my hair?'*
The earth neve r opens up to sw allow you when y ou want it to.
A s gorgeous as the tea cher may be, she m ay be a p ra ying mantis, so stee r clear.
To read m akes one's speaking good.
Being popu la r is no t Just a right, it's a responsibility.
Nerds are in.
I f e v e ty vampire th at says he was a t the crucifixion really was, it w ould be like
Woodstock.
N o one needs weapons, bu t they make som e f ee l manly.
One lie a nd one drink can g e t you eaten by a g ia n t snake.
Love can be nice, bu t it can also be a drag.
There's m om ents in y ou r life th at make you. That set the course o f who you 're
gonna be, Sometimes, th ey're little moments. Sometimes, th e y 're not.
The real w orld w ill n eve r require chemistry, math, o r the E nglish language.