*** SOLD OUT *** But, tickets for the second section are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-marxist-guide-to-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-a-six-week-online-course-tickets-103610222966

Joss Whedon's cult-classic television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been praised for its strong female characters, innovative storytelling, and snappy dialogue. Because of its focus on character development and groundbreaking narrative-complexity, Buffy has received more critical attention from academics than most television series, even during this alleged "Golden Age of Television." Much of the critical discourse surrounding Buffy has been focused on feminist readings or on how the show's stylistic and narrative innovations have influenced television as a medium.

In contrast, this course will take an alternative critical approach to the television series Buffy: The Vampire Slayer with an in-depth look at Buffy from a Marxist perspective: uncovering the ways in which Buffy's emphases on collective labor, shared power, and anti-authoritarianism are inherently anti-capitalist even as these values become undermined by the introduction of the problematic portrayal of Buffy Summers's working-class mirror, Faith. The course will meet six times and will focus on Buffy Summers's hero journey as a narrative not just of rising feminist-consciousness, but also class-consciousness as we see Buffy evolve from an unvalued labor tool of The Watcher's Council to accepting her position as the most powerful person in the world.

This course is perfect for any Buffy fans who enjoy discussing the series and who wish to understand theories of class or Marxist criticism in greater depth. Students will acquire a greater analytic understanding of the series as well as a greater familiarity with Marxist termoniology and greater competence in performing readings of class in film and literature.

Each week, students will complete reading and watching assignments and then we will discuss those assignments during our weekly class meetings. Our weekly meetings on Zoom will be a mix of lecture and discussion and intended to be academically-rigorous as well as enjoyable. Students are encouraged to have a pre-existing familiarity with the series before registering and have current access to Buffy episodes for completion of class watching assignments. All reading assignments will be provided by the instructor electronically.

Buffy holding a hammer and sycle after leading a worker's revolt in "Anne."

"TENTATIVE" CLASS SCHEDULE*

Week One: I'm the Slayer Ask Me How: Introduction and Analyzing the Value of Collective Labor in Buffy's Narrative Structure

This week will serve as an introduction to Buffy and to each other. I will explain the necessary terminology for doing class analyses as well as the economic, historical, and cultural context of the American 1990s alongside Joss Whedon's class background and the glorfication of "mall culture."

Week Two: This Isn't About Wishes, It's About Choices: Understanding Marx through Buffy

Students will read selections from Karl Marx's Grundrisse and watch Buffy episodes "Anne" (3.1) and "The Wish" (3.9). In Season Three, as Buffy struggles to define herself outside of her relationships, these episodes delve into the degradation of identity caused by labor and the inherent corruption of mass-production.

Week Three: Proper and Joyless: Faith and the Volaitility of the Working Class Female Body

In addition to our readings, students will watch "Bad Girls" (3.14) and "Who Am I" (4.16). We will discuss at length the characterization of Faith and how her working-class volatitlity challenges the Marxist values allegedly championed by the series.

Week Four: The Dance of Capitalist Superiority: Analyzing Anya the Capitalist, Glory the Consumer, and Giles the Small Business Owner

In addition to our readings, students will watch, the episodes "No Place Like Home" (5.5) and "Life Serial" (6.5). We will discuss the ways in which the Season Five Big Bad, Glory, represents the violence of unbridled consumption and materialism juxtaposed with Giles's foray into becoming a small business owner. We will also analyze the series's running joke of Anya's devotion to capitalism and Buffy's brief attempts at joining the labor force.

Weeks Five and Six: Are You Ready to Be Strong? Buffy's Journey of Class Awakening, Shared Power, and the Master-Slave Dialectic

The character arc for Buffy Summers begins with her reluctance to accept her role as Slayer and ends with her changing the destinies of all women. This week, we will discuss Buffy's gradual acceptance of her power and the choices that she makes with it as a parallel for the growing of class-consciousness and worker solidarity. In addition to our readings, students will watch "Becoming Part 1" (2.21), "Becoming Part 2" (2.22), "Checkpoint" (5.12), "End of Days" (7.21) and "Chosen" (7.22).

* although the course will roughly adhere to the above topics, the instructor reserves the right to alter the course syllabus as needed ...

THE REGISTRATION FEE INCLUDES ALL SIX WEEKS OF THE COURSE.