Did you learn anything from watching BTVS ?

[TheSlayerInMe]

Ok, so seven long years we have been glued to our television screens watching episode after episode of btvs ....

Through the seven series we can see that the characters learnt a lot...

But have you ????

Did btvs make you realise anything about yourself ?....

Or did it help you overcome anything ?

For example i myself wasnt very confident at school i always got pushed around, and bullied...

But then after watching buffy i found confidence in myself and started sticking up for myself at school.... and finally people got the idea that i wasnt gonna take their rubbish anymore !

I think i realised that buffy is just a women, well a young girl when she started and she overcome so much... during them 7 years.... it was just like if she can do it i can ... u know ?

This may sound wierd but watching buffy wasnt just a hobby of myne it really did help me ! ?

So did it eva help you let us know ??? !

Much Love XXXXX

[ciderdrinker]

I do believe that Buffy (and Angel to an extent) are wonderful role models and I would be sad if I hadn't learned anything from the shows.

My first thing would be the courage to overcome the bad things that happen/going to happen. For example, recently I had to go into hospital for a minor operation and I was really nervous about it. I told myself that I was worrying unecessarily and courage comes after the doing the thing that frightens you - I totally got that from watching the likes of Xander and Willow go from being clueless scaredy-cats to invaluable assets to Buffy.

Also, I suffered a bereavement a few years ago, and the episodes about Joyce's illness and death, although painful to watch, helped me deal with it. They made me remember that what I was going through wasn't unusual, and what I was feeling just normal. In that respect it made me stronger to move on past it (especially Tara's comments about making a place for the dead person in your heart, so that they become a part of you).

I get angry when people go on about it only being a TV show. You can be seen as learned if you read a lot of books, but not if you discover things about yourself from watching made-up characters act out their darkest fear on screen for you. I don't see the distinction - TV educates the masses about a lot of issues, and through the media of Soap Operas and the like the masses get an totally human understanding of it, rather than an academic one. I don't see how that can be bad at all!

So I think you can safely say that for me watching BtVS etc is not just a hobby either but a learning experience.

[basakbangel]

Somehow I feel like I'm more confident and brave. Like not being frightened like I used to..I guess so

[Ben]

I learned a few things, dont stay by yourself when its dark, if theres a noise dont go look, and if theres a magickal talisman on the floor dont pick it up...and never wish.

But thats just me being weird...

[omri]

Oh, totally!
The show gave me confidence. It gave the power to stick up for myself. if it weren't that show I wouldn't be the person i am today. It's really intresting how I get the thought of what I'd be if it were not buffy.

[LRae12]

I learned a few things, dont stay by yourself when its dark, if theres a noise dont go look, and if theres a magickal talisman on the floor dont pick it up...and never wish.

But thats just me being weird...

that's ok...I was going to say I learned how to speak very bad grammary... Yep, Willow-speak has been passed on to my simple brain...

[Ben]

that's ok...I was going to say I learned how to speak very bad grammary... Yep, Willow-speak has been passed on to my simple brain...

Oh I know I love to speak Willow, I love all her quircky sayings. Like..
"Your worshiping the thing tht gave evil it's capital E"?

[kya-lee]

i never really paid much attention in history at school but i learned sooo much about the plain indians from watching buffy haha. its amazing the amount of education i got from the show. i found the pangs episode sooo interesting. i also liked how there was a lot of psychology references in it too.

[selenspuffy]

Oh I know I love to speak Willow, I love all her quircky sayings. Like..
"Your worshiping the thing tht gave evil it's capital E"?

Yeah, Ive learnt different and better way of talking, like Willow or buffy..I mean Buffy talk

Also, it has showed me that its possible to be a social,friendly person at the same time with being a nerd, and that its a sweety thing

Whats more, Ive also learnt how to behave in school in some ways,

Plus, Ive learnt how powerful friendship is and how quickly you can get closer to a friend.

[basakbangel]

Yeah, Ive learnt different and better way of talking, like Willow or buffy..I mean Buffy talk

Also, it has showed me that its possible to be a social,friendly person at the same time with being a nerd, and that its a sweety thing

Whats more, Ive also learnt how to behave in school in some ways,

Plus, Ive learnt how powerful friendship is and how quickly you can get closer to a friend.

Yes.. I love to talk like Willow so much too. She is so cute and the way of talking is so fun. Yes, mostly in regular tv shows if a person is nerd, she/he is not talented, not known, not liked. We again saw that could happen. And a lot of things..

[June]

I really did pick up Buffy speak. I end things in -ish and -y, but I've been trying to stop. :X

When I was younger I learned 'guys are hot', but as I grew older and watched the show, I think it really helped make me want to always do the right thing.

[Dorian's Kitten]

that's ok...I was going to say I learned how to speak very bad grammary... Yep, Willow-speak has been passed on to my simple brain...

Ahh yes me too. I definitely sound like I've learned less now that Buffyspeak has permeated my vocabulary. I like to think that it is for the best. Like maybe now I'm more approachable. I've just got to find the off switch for interviews and such.

I don't know if this is so much a learned thing, but Buffy definitely gave me a whole 'take back the night'/ 'I can kick a**' thing. I still find myself all pumped up from it sometimes. I used to feel remarkably safe jogging in the cemetery near my old place. Pretty sure that was the result of cemetery desensitization.

I also learned:
1.Beer is bad (thank goodness I prefer wine)
2.Boys turn evil if you sleep with them
3.if you have to then kill said evil boy, your friends will probably not be very understanding
4. your pain in the neck college roomie-most likely a demon
5. the trick to making those onion blossom things-soak it in ice water for an hour and then fry root-side up for five minutes
6. avoid internet dating
7. your mom really doesn't understand what you're going through
8. not only might your kid sister be adopted, she might not even be human
9. if you come back from the dead you will have a cellular tan and your hair will be a slightly different color
10. the classic punk look never goes out of style
11. if you ignore someone enough they actually may disappear
12. a book cage is an essential part of any library
13. there's a spell for that
14. (re:13) you probably shouldn't use it
15. Boys smell nice

[NileQT87]

words like "neg", "pos", "negly", "sitch" and "STAT" took me a while to decipher... and then i felt stupid.

the shows are actually pretty good vocabulary boosters. i really wouldn't have thought to use words like "font", "fence [their stuff]", "succubus", etc...

my natural speech patterns have become even more exponentially prefixy and suffixy than ever before, and i already had that problem living in california. joss morphed me even further into a valley girl. "..., much?" is something i just can't stop saying.

for some demented reason, "i just love old meat lockers" is a line that plays reruns in my head--i'm still hoping for an opportunity to use it. lol. i have no idea why that line stuck. a lot of the dialog finds its way into my conversations... unfortunately, i have yet to come up with a place to use that one.

i've had to look up archaic british things like "lady hamilton's virtue". i also find myself running to wikipedia for refresher courses on "othello and desdemona", the "illyrians", "marcus aurelius", etc... i even find myself looking up the occasional bible passage--2 of them are quoted--one bit from revelations (the "pale rider" passage) and isaiah 11:6. reading up on just what the boxer rebellion was, history of gypsies (incl. the romany)--how kali from their indian heritage influenced the vampire myths of eastern europe--their patron saint is even "sainte sara la kali", etc... helps. it actually peaked my interest in dante's divine comedy (something i was definitely already familiar with)--i find myself mentioning judas iscariot, cassius and brutus in the 3 mouths of the devil quite a bit--dante's opinion on the greatest sinners in all human history--the traitors. that's one of my favorite scenes in ats with lilah and wesley.

i find myself picking up things on tv that ring bells, like: "faster, pussycat, kill, kill" being the name of a '60s sexploitation flick.

i find myself frequently deciphering drusilla's dialog. i was pretty stoked when i figured out that "king of cups" is a tarot card... one that actually describes spike to a tee. interestingly--whereas spike is the "king of cups", angel is the "king of wands". drusilla makes a lot of sense if you know what she's talking about, it's just not always obvious.

i also find myself hitting wikipedia for historical events mentioned... or finding myself learning bits of languages like romanian (i have a pretty strong foreign language basis, so i actually was quite surprised how much of that language i could actually tell what they were saying--"nici mort, nici al fiinţei" meaning literally "not dead, not of the finite"--mort is obvious, of course... fiinţei actually looks like finite... so it's actually not difficult). my inner language major that never was has me playing nerd on all the foreign language lines. i figured out the greek phrase that giles says in prophecy girl--the word he doesn't translate because he doesn't like what it says--it means "shall be overcome". excessive trial and error googling along with language translators (yes, i can read the greek and russian alphabets). "aşa să fie" is a fun phrase that means "so shall it be"--i think that one's cool.

one of my pet projects has been to be correcting all the online transcripts (that greek bit is a good example of something not transcribed correctly--it was transcribed phonetically, and its a far cry from greek).

i also learned a huge chunk of my french (my college major) from the dubbing on my btvs/ats dvds. i have a funny vocabulary because of it. i can describe the supernatural world like crazy, but i do know some useful things too. the other way i taught myself french (besides 4 semesters in school) was translating btvs/ats transcripts for kicks. it forces you to marry the dictionary, the word reference site and sites de l'argot fran?ais (french slang) heh, it quickly makes it clear how much classes don't teach you. i'm way past what was taught due to excessive looking-up of words that don't seem like they'd be useful, but they're used regardless.

[Moscow Watcher]

Funnily, Buffy taught me to deal with my children. When I watched season 5 my daughter was Dawn's age. I watched how Buffy's overprotectiveness alienates her sister and I recognized some patterns in my attitude to my children. I hope I became less protective and more trusting. And it turned out OK.
________
Third-generation chevrolet camaro

[Kiera]

Buffy usually only helps me answer weird questions in school LOL. No, but seriously I found it to be educational, not just in the school way, but in my life as well. I was dealing with a similar "Bangel" crisis in my relationship at the time and the show's plotline helped me deal with it a bit better.

As for lingo, I've always kinda talked like Buffy/Willow so it just kind of enhanced my vocab further

[ThePoet's<3]

I suppose if I really look at the show for anything other than entertainment it teaches great lessons of acceptance - race, sex, and other social subjects.