Theme Of Friendship In Buffy The Vampire Slayer

A theme that has permeated throughout time, and even to contemporary epics is friendship. Friendship plays a powerful role throughout the original Star Wars trilogy and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. Both of these tales involved friendships that had important implications in the story and reflected the cultures of the times in which these films were made. Whether it was a pre-existing friendship, one between their mentors, or just amongst the people the main character met in their journey, friends always played an important role. Starting off, the more interesting friendships to examine are the narratively pre-established relationships. A brother-like friendship is displayed between Lando and Han Solo, despite the viewer

In Buffy’s story, you can see the culture of the late 90’s and early 2000’s reflected in the way she meets her friends. She meets them through interacting at school, as the internet was not very prevalent back then. In the first episode, the viewers are treated to a very stereotypical high school setup, with a heavily defined line between the popular people and the unpopular students. Buffy’s friends are the cause of her victory in the end, and a strong sense of the power of friendship exists in the finale of the series. Her friend that she picks up at the beginning, Willow, manages to cast a spell to make it so that more than one slayer can exist at a time, and her enemy turned friend Spike defeats all their enemies through sacrificing himself by wearing a special amulet. Had Buffy not had her friends in order to carry her through the final battle at the Hellmouth, she surely would have failed. Luke’s myriad of friends he picked up through his adventures is also the cause of his ultimate victory against the Empire. Han Solo takes down the shield generator for the second Death Star, C3PO rallies the Ewoks to defeat Stormtroopers guarding the shield generator, and Lando with the help of a Y-Wing destroys the Death Star. In both cases, the hero in fact only defeats the leader of the opposing force, but their friends are the ones who carry them to victory. This is a piece of something that has remained in American culture, if we all work together as friends, nothing is impossible. Friendship may seem like such an elementary concept to focus on, but it is proven over and over in film that it is key to