Buffy

I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  When it was running I caught a few episodes, but that is it.  I was never a fan.  Mostly because I caught a few in season 6 and 7 and that was it.  Some shows you need to be there right from the start.  My other exposure was two children in grade 5 who I helped when I volunteered.  They were complete Buffy Addicts.  They would talk about the characters like they were close friends, and so I became curious and watched the few episodes that I watched.  And was disgusted.  I missed the first few high school seasons and was right into the college seasons and the dark sexual themes of that the series took.  But was focused on the fact that it was a show that some ten and eleven year olds were watching.  What was their mother thinking, letting them watch this stuff?  She wasn't, likely thinking, ore she watched the first season and thought the content "G".  Much like all the parents who let their grade three and four children watch South Park, the adult focused animated cartoon.  Underline adult.  They probably watched in passing an episode and saw that it was a cartoon and gave it a pass.  Along with all those television schedulers who let it go into prime time or children time-slots with Barbie and Mattel toys advertised in the commercial intermission.  

A lot of these shows is funny, but the adult themes are there and children who see them, will repeat them.  Like you know when someone is dead, because they shit themselves.  That was an actual quote from an episode.  

I know that parents can't monitor everything that their children watch, some children have parents that monitor everything and others are lax.  Some parents say no gun games, but others do not and that is where the banned children go to play those games.  That is a fact.  You can hold your child's hand through everything or you can let them go and explore the world.  Thought choice.  Middle of the road seems the best, be with them when you introduce them to new content and be there to answer questions.  Or perhaps watching movies before you let them see it and deciding then if you want your child to see it.  When you do be there to answer the questions, but that means being aware what they are watching.  

On to Buffy.

I was surprised.  Very surprised.  I like it.  It covered quite a few subjects that I was not sure they would cover and they did them tastefully without a lot of religious overtones.  In season 4 someone died and there was a funeral and people picking up the pieces.  There was someone who was there that had experienced death before and they offered support correctly, they said that it had happened to them, but it was not the same and they were just offering a shoulder and someone to talk with out making it all about them.  

There was a story about addiction and stories about love and loss.  There were stories about so many things all cloaked in supernatural events.  But, I am not sure that it is a show for young children.  Season five took on a serious level of darkness and I am sure that it is not something that I would expose to young people unless I knew they were ready.  

There is a lot of creativity, an episode of no voices in season 4, an episode of show tunes and dancing.  If there is an episode where everyone is cartoon characters, then I will have, doff my cap to them, after checking to see who did it first, Buffy or Farscape.  Wait, Farscape wins.