"Who am I? Who are you?": On the narrative imperative of not knowing who you are in Buffy.
- Dr Sue Turnbull (La Trobe University)
Identity - a quest told as longform narrative drama.
Types of Narrative Structure on TV:
Episodic Series - 13 -26 episodes
finite stories in each episode
little or no on-going character development (ie The A-Team)
Serial
on-going story with finite ending (Pride and Prejudice)
Soap
Never-ending story, no end in sight
Relationships are primary (Bold and the Beautiful, Neighbours
Dallas season eight is a dream sequence in order to bring a deceased character bak to life.
Impulse in soaps to explain shifts in real world terms.
Narrative structure in Buffy:
- Episodic story arcs (Monster of the Week)
- Seasonal Story arcs (Season one repeats movie)
- Cross Seasonal story arcs (relationships b/w characters)
- Cross Series story arcs (Buffy Series 4 and Angel series 1)
Humanist definitions of identity:
Identity is fixed, stable, finite, coherent.
Poststructuralist identity theory:
- Identity (subjectivity) unfixed
- always in process of becoming
- socially constructed through language
= characters are conflicted beings.
Buffy's identiy crisis in series one:
- Wanting to achieve identity
- Resenting secret identity
- Struggling in her good daughter role
- Confronting her sexual identity
Precariousness of:
peer group;
adult identities;
desire;
double identity;
discovering an identity you don't want;
rejecting an identity;
loss of identity;
stolen identity.
Finding out one does not exist; the existential crisis of Dawn.
(Clip shown from Ep 5.02 "Real Me")
"Nobody knows the who I am... I'm not a kid."
Adolescent identity crisis played large.
In "The Gift" her identity is confirmed by an act of love.
Narrative imperatives: The Invention of Dawn
- major story arc
- reconnect to teeenage audience
- Identity in action
- Dawn discovers she does not exist as an "I"
- No centrality or coherence
- She does exist as a "you"
- Her existence is socially confirmed by the love of others.