When Dr. Layne first announced our weekly blog assignment, I decided to have as much fun with it as I could. I thought that choosing a theme would make the assignment a little more challenging, and choosing a theme like Buffy the Vampire Slayer would mean that I could live out every kid's dreams of college, and watch TV for my homework.
The show is smartly done, uses clever metaphors to make unexpected points without losing the amusing action, and rarely fits into the logic based philosophy of the Greeks. I started to worry that I had assigned myself an exercise in sophistry, and that I would only connect Buffy with the classical philosophers through daring feats of logic.
Then my girlfriend explained it all to me: Aristotle's ethics gave writers like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby the basis of the superhero character. Like Aristotle sought the essential function that distinguishes humanity, his ethics define the essential function of a superhero.
Heroism is more than strength and ability--villains have that. It's more than circumstance--the heroes go looking for their fights. It's more than winning--sometimes, even superheroes lose. In our ideal representations of heroes, these individuals use reason to reign in their desires and to harness powers beyond brute strength.
Once again, the works of famous philosophers are played out between characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Characters without superhuman strength still think ethically and do what is right. Buffy uses her ideas of what is right to mediate her desire to use her power impulsively. In season 6, when she loses her grip on the reasons behind her virtue, she becomes intensely unhappy. Only when she redirects her actions to again accord with her reason is her feeling of satisfaction restored.
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