Monday, July 27, 2009

Hulu and the parallels between The Whedonverse and the Rowlingverse

My Buffy DVDs still aren't here so I'm watching it on Hulu.com. For a few days there, I forgot about Hulu. Then I decided that since I bought the DVDs, I'd rather wait and watch on my big TV instead of the little netbook. Plus, Hulu freezes on me sometimes and that's kind of annoying.
However, tonight I gave in and watched the What's My Line Pt 1 and 2 where Willow and Oz finally meet, Xander and Cordelia hook up, Kendra the Vampire Slayer shows up, and Drucilla becomes strong again. In these two episodes in Season Two the show deepened and broadened.

A few thoughts, fresh from watching:
1. Drucilla and Spike make me think of River and Simon from Firefly. Dru/River is the weak/crazy one who needs looking after but then becomes the really strong ones who protect Spike/Simon. The difference though is Drucilla and Spike's devotion is based on lust and River and Simon's on sibling love.
2. Introducing Kendra from a different country is like the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The larger world of the supernatural/wizards is brought to the main characters' world. The mythology of the story is cracked open and set in a global context, which I just love.

Goblet of Fire is my favorite HP book because of that. JKRowling called it her pivotal book where the series grows up, opens up, and introduces more explicitly more serious issues like rights for all sentients beings, and the reality of Voldemort and evil comes out.

And the romantic relationships among the main characters in both series become more serious too. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of Buffy develops. Not sure what I think of Xander and Cordelia but it could give hints of how Zoe and Wash got together. Because not everyone gets them at first.

Sigh. I love Zoe and Wash.

ETA on July 28: just got a call that I have a package waiting for me. Is it finally my Buffy DVDs? Now I'm extra motivated to finish this freaking grant proposal and go home to find out.

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