SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

September 2, 2012 by Karen Jensen, MLS

X Marks the Spot: Family in the Whedonverse (The Sunnydale Project)

September 2, 2012 by Karen Jensen, MLS   3 comments

One dark night I drove down an unknown road to watch the X-files with a friend. A big X in the window let me know that I had come to the right house. That night, a friendship was forged that opened my heart and changed my life. Two amazing souls walked into my heart and taught me more than I could ever hope to know about thinking and feeling and being . . . and about family.  It was here, while watching the X-files, Buffy and Angel, that I learned that we were doing the very thing that Joss Whedon wrote about in his shows: making a family.

And because life is fluid, and celebrities are vain, David Duchovny walked out of my life and Buffy the Vampire Slayer walked in. And in this ‘verse I learned a wonderful truth: family is not just those you were born into, but those you chose to love and share yourself with.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

I was born into a family (and I love them), but over the years divorce and jobs had taken me all over the place. By the time I graduated with my Master’s in Library Science I had been to 5 elementary schools, 2 junior highs, 2 high schools and 4 colleges. My soul was weary and I just needed some roots. I wanted to have one friend in my life that I could sit around in old age and share those stories that start out, “remember that time . . .” I was tired of being a tumble weed, I wanted to be a tree.

I met “M” of the X fame at my very first library job; she was my mentor.  My friend M is an amazing librarian. I have spent much time talking with her about LIBRARIANSHIP and all that it entails. Sometimes we even disagree (there is an eyeball involved in this story). When I have a question, I call and ask her. When I have a complaint, I call her. When I write a blog post that I am wicked in love with, I e-mail it to her. Somewhere along the line I started calling her “mom”, mostly as a joke because she really never wanted to have kids. Then I had kids and they started calling her “grandma”. They love her like a grandma; to them she is without a doubt or hesitation their grandma. They are just blessed to have this wicked smart lady as an additional – a bonus – grandma if you will.  Joss Whedon would approve (and then he would probably kill her off in an amazing episode like The Body but we’ll just skip that part).

What does all of this have to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer? It was while watching Buffy that I learned that my family building was not unique to me. You see, one of the main themes of the Joss Whedon universe is that you build a family with the people in your life that you choose to love. I’m not making it up, someone even wrote a book about it (I recommend the book, it is interesting).



Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-2172-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8306-8

Buffy came from a broken home; but she built for herself an amazing family with her Watcher Giles, friends Xander and Willow, and some of the others that came in and out of their lives. Then when Angel went to L.A., he too build a family with Gunn, Cordelia, and eventually Fred, Wesley and Lorne. The gang on Firefly? Yep, they become a family. And like all families, there are issues, but what matters is how our merry band of world savers handle the issues. Somehow, they keep coming back together. They eventually talk, they forgive, and above all – they choose to love (or at least tolerate).  Whether you were a slayer or a vampire with a soul, a witch, a vengeance demon, gay or straight – you could find love in this “family”.

As someone who has worked with teens for so long, I think this is an important message. You see, many of our teens are hurting and looking for a family. The ones they have are sometimes so very broken. And that is the message of Joss Whedon: Hope. You may have some brokenness around the edges, but you can build for yourself a life – and a family – and find a way to thrive.  You too can save the world, or at least your world – a lot – if you allow yourself to continue to be open and receive help from those around you.

This is a really important message not only of the Whedonverse, but of the Potterverse.  Time and time again Buffy needs the various skills of her “family” to help discover what is happening and help rid Sunnydale of the season’s big bad.  And Harry Potter succeeded not on his own, but with the help of Ron and Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore and others.  In fact, Harry, the orphan boy in the cupboard under the stairs, also built for himself a family.  And maybe that is the real message of it all, when you allow yourself to be open to others – real magic can happen.

For 13 years now, M has been my Watcher, although we have only slayed metaphorical demons.  And I know that many of us that work with teens in the library, we have been one (often more) of those teen’s watchers.  It’s all good, Giles is a good librarian to emulate, except for the part where he is taking his teenage students out at night for life risking missions.  You’ll probably want to avoid that part.

I write more about Blood Relations and the chosen family in my review of How To Save a Life by Sara Zarr.

Here’s another paper on the topic called Friends are Family We Choose for Ourselves

Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon, The Sunnydale Project

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

September 2014

Coming Soon: The Third Sunndaydale Project, celebrating all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and you can join!)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2012

The Sunnydale Project, a celebration of all things Buffy

by Karen Jensen, MLS

September 2012

Top 10 Things I Learned From Buffy The Vampire Slayer by Christie G

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Killing Your Darlings (A reflection on weeding)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: My First Fandom (a guest post by Cindy) (The Sunnydale Project Year 3)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#181)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

That Flag: An Interview with Tameka Fryer Brown

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Readers’ Poll Results

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Value of Innocence for BIPOC Students, a guest post by David Mura

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Looking Ahead: Our 2023 Preview

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Writing for Change: Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner Kekla Magoon in Conversation with Ibi Zoboi

What Courtney Summers Demands of Her Readers, and Herself

A Peek at the SLJTeen Live! Books

Shaun David Hutchinson Is Taking a Break | Writing and Reading in the Trump Era

January’s Debut YA Authors on Their New Year’s Resolutions

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rachelia G says

    September 4, 2012 at 3:34 am

    This is a beautiful post! I love how the relationships on the show take a natural progression, and they also have their faults and bumps in the road. “Family” is an excellent episode that bundles all these ideas into one storyline, and it's so so powerful, it always has me choked up at the end when Tara realizes it's not always blood that determines who your family is! It was nice to see how these concepts executed by Joss Whedon are translated to real life 🙂 I also absolutely loved your last paragraph, it had me laughing out loud, for real!

  2. Teen Librarian's Toolbox, Karen says

    September 5, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Thanks, I am glad it made you laugh. It really was quite irresponsible of him.

  3. mclicious.org says

    September 5, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    Yes, exactly! And I think that's an especially important concept if this survey (http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/survey-75-of-homeless-youth-use-at-least-one-social-network/261817/) has any clout.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023