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Most of Buffy was shot on location in Los Angeles, California. The main exterior set of the town of Sunnydale, including the infamous "sun sign", was located in Santa Monica, California in a lot on Olympic Boulevard.[61] The show is set in the fictional California town of Sunnydale, whose suburban Sunnydale High School sits on top of a "Hellmouth", a gateway to demon realms. The Hellmouth serves as a nexus for a wide variety of evil creatures and supernatural phenomena, and lies beneath the school library. In addition to being an open-ended plot device, Joss Whedon has cited the Hellmouth and "High school as Hell" as one of the primary metaphors in creating the series.[62]
The high school used in the first three seasons is actually Torrance High School, in Torrance, California. This school was used until the residents of Torrance complained about loud sounds at night.[63] The school exterior has been used in other television shows and movies, most notably Beverly Hills 90210, Bring It On, She's All That and the spoof Not Another Teen Movie.[63] In addition to the high school and its library, scenes take place in the town's cemeteries, a local nightclub (The Bronze), and Buffy's home (located in Torrance), where many of the characters live at various points in the series.
Some of the exterior shots of the college Buffy attends, UC Sunnydale, were filmed at UCLA.
Buffy is told in a serialized format, with each episode involving a self-contained story while contributing to a larger storyline,[17] which is broken down into season-long narratives marked by the rise and defeat of a powerful antagonist, commonly referred to as the "Big Bad". The show blends different genres, including horror, martial arts, romance, melodrama, farce, comedy, and even, in one episode, musical comedy.
The series' narrative revolves around Buffy and her friends, collectively dubbed the "Scooby Gang", who struggle to balance the fight against supernatural evils with their complex social lives.[17] The show mixes complex, season-long storylines with a villain-of-the-week format; a typical episode contains one or more villains, or supernatural phenomena, that are thwarted or defeated by the end of the episode. Though elements and relationships are explored and ongoing subplots are included, the show focuses primarily on Buffy and her role as an archetypal heroine.
In the first seasons, the most prominent monsters in the Buffy bestiary are vampires, which are based on traditional myths, lore, and literary conventions. As the series continues, Buffy and her companions fight an increasing variety of demons, as well as ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and unscrupulous humans. They frequently save the world from annihilation by a combination of physical combat, magic, and detective-style investigation, and are guided by an extensive collection of ancient and mystical reference books. Hand-to-hand combat is chiefly undertaken by Buffy and Angel, later by Spike, and to a far lesser degree by Giles and Xander. Willow eventually becomes an adept witch, while Giles contributes his extensive knowledge of demonology and supernatural lore.
During the first year of the series, Whedon described the show as "My So-Called Life meets The X-Files."[64] My So-Called Life gave a sympathetic portrayal of teen anxieties; in contrast, The X-Files delivered a supernatural "monster of the week" storyline. Alongside these series, Whedon has cited cult film Night of the Comet as a "big influence",[65] and credited the X-Men character Kitty Pryde as a significant influence on the character of Buffy.[66] The authors of the unofficial guidebook Dusted point out that the series was often a pastiche, borrowing elements from previous horror novels, movies, and short stories and from such common literary stock as folklore and mythology.[67] Nevitt and Smith describe Buffy's use of pastiche as "post modern Gothic".[68] For example, the Adam character parallels the Frankenstein monster, the episode "Bad Eggs" parallels Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and so on.
Buffy episodes often include a deeper meaning or metaphor as well. Whedon explained, "We think very carefully about what we're trying to say emotionally, politically, and even philosophically while we're writing it... it really is, apart from being a pop-culture phenomenon, something that is deeply layered textually episode by episode."[69] Academics Wilcox and Lavery provide examples of how a few episodes deal with real life issues turned into supernatural metaphors:
| “ | In the world of Buffy the problems that teenagers face become literal monsters. A mother can take over her daughter's life ("Witch"); a strict stepfather-to-be really is a heartless machine ("Ted"); a young lesbian fears that her nature is demonic ("Goodbye Iowa" and "Family"); a girl who has sex with even the nicest-seeming guy may discover that he afterwards becomes a monster ("Innocence").[17] | ” |
The love affair between the vampire Angel and Buffy was fraught with metaphors. For example, their night of passion cost the vampire his soul. Sarah Michelle Gellar said: "That's the ultimate metaphor. You sleep with a guy and he turns bad on you."[70]
The feminist issue comes out especially when facing misogynist characters; the most misogynistic characters, Warren and Caleb, both die in gruesome ways (the first tortured and skinned alive by Willow, the second eviscerated and cut in two by Buffy).
Season One exemplifies the "high school as hell" concept. Buffy Summers has just moved to Sunnydale after burning her old school's gym and hopes to escape her Slayer duties. Her plans are complicated by Rupert Giles, her new Watcher, who reminds her of the inescapable presence of evil. Sunnydale High is built atop a Hellmouth, a portal to demon dimensions that attracts supernatural phenomena to the area. Buffy meets two schoolmates, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, who will help fight evil through the series, but they must first prevent an ancient and especially threatening vampire from opening the Hellmouth and unleashing Hell on Earth.
The emotional stakes are raised in Season Two. New vampires, Spike and a weakened Drusilla, come to town along with the new Slayer, who was activated as a result of Buffy's brief death in the Season One finale. Xander becomes involved with Cordelia, while Willow becomes involved with witchcraft and a young werewolf named Daniel "Oz" Osbourne, both of which make her more confident. Buffy sleeps with her vampire lover Angel. Consequently, she unwittingly removes his cursed soul as a result. He once more becomes Angelus, a sadistic killer. Buffy is forced to kill him, and leaves Sunnydale, emotionally shattered.
After attempting to start a new life in Los Angeles, Buffy returns to town in Season Three. Angel is resurrected, but leaves Sunnydale (at the end of the season) so Buffy will have a normal life. Giles is fired from the Watcher's Council because of his "father's love" for Buffy, and (at the end of the season) Buffy announces that she will no longer be working for the Council either. She is soon confronted with an unstable Slayer, Faith Lehane, as well as Richard Wilkins, an often affable but definitely evil mayor who has sinister plans for Graduation Day. After accidentally killing a human, Faith becomes irrational and sides with Mayor Wilkins against Buffy and friends.
Season Four sees Buffy and Willow enroll at UC Sunnydale while Xander joins the workforce and begins dating Anya, a former vengeance demon. Spike returns as a series regular and is abducted by a covert military force; they implant a microchip in his head which prevents him from harming humans. Oz leaves town after deciding he's too dangerous and Willow falls in love with Tara Maclay, another witch, while Buffy begins dating a grad student who is a member of The Initiative, a top-secret military installation based beneath the UC Sunnydale campus. It appears to be a well-meaning anti-demon operation, but its secret project goes horribly wrong. The season also marked the first year in which Joss Whedon oversaw other TV series.
During Season Five, a younger sister suddenly yet seamlessly appears in Buffy's life and an exiled Hell-God searches for a "key" that will allow her to return to her home dimension. The "Key" has been turned into human form as Buffy's younger sister Dawn. The Watcher's Council aides in Buffy's research of the Hell-God, and she and Giles are both reinstated by the Council. The Hell-God eventually discovers the truth and kidnaps Dawn; Buffy sacrifices herself to save Dawn and prevent Hell from spreading on Earth. During the season, Xander and Anya become engaged, and Spike realizes he is in love with Buffy.
Buffy's friends resurrect her through a powerful spell in Season Six. Buffy returns from Heaven deeply depressed and finds a job at a fast food restaurant while conducting a secret, mutually abusive affair with Spike that later leads to him attempting to rape her. Plagued with remorse, he undergoes a series of trials and is awarded with a soul so he can "give her what she deserves". Her friends are unaware of her inner turmoils as they face their own troubles: Dawn becomes a kleptomaniac, Xander leaves Anya at the altar, and Willow becomes addicted to magic. When Tara is killed by an unhinged Warren Mears, Willow descends into darkness and begins a rampage that nearly causes the end of the world. In the end, it is Xander who reaches through her pain and stops her from destroying the world.
The instability caused by Buffy's revival enables the First Evil and a sinister preacher to amass an army of powerful vampires against humankind during Season Seven, while simultaneously seeking out and killing every currently-unactivated Potential Slayer. Willow invokes a spell that activates all the "Potentials" in the world. After an epic battle, an amulet worn by Spike channels solar energy through the battlefield, killing all of the Turok-Han and apparently incinerating Spike. As the Scoobies flee Sunnydale, the town collapses into a crater, its Hellmouth destroyed.
