No, I’m not talking about the
Buffybot (BuffyBot? Buffy-bot?).
I’m talking about the mega-campy
1992 movie “Buffy the Vampire
Slayer” that predated the hit TV
show.
This
month
marks
the
twentieth anniversary of Joss
Whedon’s groundbreaking teen
drama — 20 years of stakes and
butterfly clips and refreshingly
enlightened portrayals of teen
and young adult life. But before
Sarah Michelle Gellar breathed
life into the chosen one, Buffy was
a cheerleader from L.A. played by
Kristy Swanson.
The film — for which Joss
Whedon is also responsible — is
pure camp, a visually stylized
horror
comedy.
It’s
hard
to
compare the movie to the TV show,
but looking at this movie as source
material helps make sense of what
made “Buffy” the TV series stand
out from other teen dramas.
Little details stick out — Pike
became Spike, Seth Green has a
don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it
role
as a vampire — that tie the two
together. The film serves, in its
own way, as the backstory the
show never gives us, of Buffy’s
discovering her slayerdom as a
shallow, popular girl in L.A.
The movie also points out why
the story excels on television. It
lacks the depth of character or
story that “Buffy” the TV show
so benefitted from. Over 144
episodes, we saw Buffy struggle
and falter in ways that only
solidified her status as a hero. The
format of the TV show gives Buffy
room to move around inside her
character, something that makes
her all the more real and all the
more compelling. It’s important to
see a heroine — especially one on
a show targeting young people —
make mistakes and feel real pain.
On the small screen, “Buffy”
upended the expectations for TV
storytelling. Recently, IndieWire
compiled a list of the best “concept”
episodes of all time, and, to no
surprise, “Buffy” was among the
most referenced shows. The three
standout episodes “Hush,” “The
Body” and, my personal favorite,
“Once Again With Feeling” share
something beyond their status
as “concept” episodes. They can
stand alone. As episodes, they can
be plucked from the show’s seven
season long arc and hold their
own.
The
show’s
first
season
does this same sort of thing
to noticeably weaker effect —
focusing on individual episodes as
contained stories (find a monster,
kill a monster, end episode). But
in the later seasons these concept
episodes not only play with what
we expect from TV, but also blur
— way before Netflix — the line
between television and the movies.
That’s how the assertion that
Buffy has to be a TV show gets
more complicated. It does and it
doesn’t. “The Body” could stand
alone as a sharp, poignant portrait
of the specific grief young people
grieve. Perhaps one of the show’s
most cinematic episodes, it shows
Whedon’s directorial chops in a
way unique from most episodes.
Really, it could be a movie. Any of
these so-called concept episodes
could.
So, yet again “Buffy” straddled
the line between film and TV.
Good TV is made every day. But
“Buffy” was good TV — beautiful,
complicated, smart TV — for teens.
It was teen TV in a way completely
unlike “Gossip Girl” or “Riverdale”
because it didn’t exploit or mock
— it listened and saw. I’m having
a hard time thinking of a show
specifically
targeted
at
that
demographic that held its audience
in such high esteem.
That’s why the show’s ending
works as well as it does. Buffy
spreading her power to every
potential slayer — which, if you’re
me, can be taken to mean every
girl in the world (heck yeah!) —
is a powerful celebration of not
only female capability, but also of
girlhood itself. It’s recognition that
to be a woman — but especially to
be a girl — is its own kind of fight.
Sometimes, in fact, the hardest
thing in this world is to live in it.
And “Buffy” knew that.
While that sort of thing is hard
(nearly impossible) to find on TV,
it’s all over teen movies. Especially
recent genre additions like “The
Edge of Seventeen” understand the
everyday tragedies of adolescence
as well as they do the milestones.
“Buffy” operated with a type of
empathy usually reserved for the
big screen.
So even if narratively they
couldn’t really be movies (and
as Netflix makes this piece less
and less relevant by the minute,
blurring the lines between the
two mediums), they felt like them.
The way an episode of “Mad Men”
does.
The supernatural helps make
sense of the inexplicable. Boys, bras
and biology homework are easily
compartmentalized in a world of
vampires and demons. That’s why
so many teen TV shows, like “The
Vampire Diaries” or “Teen Wolf,”
lean on it. What Buffy did, though,
was marry the successes of both,
the supernatural teen show and
the rich, emotional teen movie.
One isn’t better than the
other — that’s not the point. But,
together they demonstrate the two
ways teen media can excel. One as
a richly realistic TV show and the
other as an unabashedly kitschy
horror comedy.
Buffy saved the world a lot. And
“Buffy,” both “Buffy”s, saved TV a
whole hell of a lot.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, March 24, 2017 — 5
20 years after cult classic,
sequel ‘T2’ finally arrives
SONY PICTURES
Twenty
years
ago,
long
before the zombies or the
Oscar, director Danny Boyle’s
sophomore film — a dark
comedy about heroin junkies
called “Trainspotting” — was
blowing up. An instant success
and undeniable cult classic,
the film launched the careers
of numerous actors and shifted
the course of popular culture.
Two decades later, Boyle
is
diving
back
in
to
the
world of his 1996 hit for “T2
Trainspotting,” which picks
up with Renton, the original’s
protagonist of sorts, 20 years
after his betrayal and follows
his attempt at reentry into the
world he left behind.
This
isn’t,
however,
the
first time the idea for a sequel
has been pursued, but Boyle
wanted to make sure he didn’t
revisit the film until the time
was right. Because, of course,
there’s nothing worse than a
bad sequel to a great film.
“If you’re going to update it
you’ve got to have a reason,”
Boyle said in a conference call
with the Michigan Daily. “And
it didn’t feel like there was a
reason.”
The first attempt at a sequel
was abandoned approximately
10 years ago, before the script
even made it to the actors. Two
years ago, on the cusp of the
twentieth anniversary, Boyle,
screenwriter
John
Hodge,
source book author Irvine
Welsh and their production
team reunited in the hopes of
pursuing a sequel once again.
“And what emerged was
much more personal and gave
us a reason to make the film
really,” Boyle said. “I think,
is that it becomes not just a
sequel, it is obviously a sequel,
you can’t deny that, but it has
its own right to exist … raison
d’être”
Much of that reason is owed
to time. The entire core cast is
set to return in the sequel, and
they’ve aged both physically
and emotionally since the last
time they were all together
— something that was not as
apparent the last time Boyle
tried for a sequel.
“Age is cruel, and you don’t
realize that until you get to
this point in your life,” said
Ewen Bremner, who plays Spud
in both films. “In the first film
we were full of exuberance and
potency, and we thought we
were invincible. And it took us
20 years to realize that we’re
just running on the spot and
time is flying by.”
The opportunity to return
to a character after this much
time is one not many actors
get to experience. The cast
recognized the rare chance
“T2” presented.
“To come back together
and find each other again
under the same conditions, if
you like, and with the same
responsibility for this film
was just fantastic,” said Ewan
McGregor, who plays Renton.
“It just felt like coming home.”
The
actors
aren’t
being
thrown into exactly the same
world, however. Now all aged
46, the group faces a set of
emotional challenges that both
stem and diverge from those of
the first film.
“The other film is obviously
a great celebration of a certain
period of your life through
the most extreme prism you
can imagine, these junkies in
Edinburgh,” Boyle said. “Then
obviously the update is when
they’re 46 and they’re fucked,
as Renton says.”
“Trainspotting” became a
cult success in ways that no
one involved with the film
could have imagined. Shot
in only seven weeks with a
small budget and a cast of
relatively unknown actors, the
film transcended its humble
origins amassing awards and
influencing popular culture in
ways none could have imagined
20 years ago.
“We worked really hard on
it, and we were also all aware
that we were doing something
really special and important,
and so we were giving it our
all,” McGregor said, reflecting
on the first film.
Much of that cult status is
owed to “Trainspotting” ’s
iconic soundtrack, something
Boyle and his team wanted
to recreate in the sequel.
From Primal Scream to New
Order, the original soundtrack
is a celebration of British
alternative music at a time
when Britpop groups like the
Spice Girls were taking over the
scene. Boyle describes finding
the first film’s “heartbeat”
in
the
Underworld
album
dubnobasswithmyheadman.
“Coming to do the new one
you want to try and find that
equivalent
heartbeat,
and
we found this band, Young
Fathers,” Boyle said.
The band is from the same
part of Edinburgh as Irvine
Welsh, which also serves as
the inspiration for his novels
“Trainspotting” and “Porno,”
upon which the films are
based. Relatively young, Young
Fathers, were just kids when
the first film was released.
“And yet their stuff just fits
in the film,” Boyle said.
In
addition
to
the
soundtrack,
“Trainspotting”
was helped on its way to cult
stardom by the now-famous
voiceovers,
delivered
by
McGregor’s character Renton,
that bookend the film.
“There’s
that
confidence
and that fearlessness which
permeates the first movie and
it’s really summed up in the
voiceover,” said Jonny Lee
Miller, who plays Sick Boy.
“Especially in the end speech
there, this is what I’m going to
do, this is who I am, this is who
I’m going to be.”
There’s a certain assuredness
in that final speech, but it’s
never
preachy.
There’s
no
clear lesson or morale to
“Trainspotting,”
something
that the film has been both
lauded and condemned for. But
ultimately it was something
Boyle did intentionally.
“You hope people recognize
it as honest really,” Boyle said.
He doesn’t make films with the
intention of sending a message
or proving a point. Instead,
Boyle strives for honesty.
“T2 Trainspotting” opens in
wide release on March 31.
MADELEINE GAUDIN
Senior Arts Editor
FILM INTERVIEW
MADELEINE
GAUDIN
FILM COLUMN
A Tale of Two Buffys
MUSKET’s ‘Sister Act’ is
comedy and community
COURTESY OF MUSKET
For
their
long-awaited
Winter
semester
musical
production, the University of
Michigan’s premier student-
run theatre troupe, MUSKET,
will be presenting the lively and
hilarious “Sister Act: A Divine
Musical Comedy.”
The musical, which is based
on the 1992 movie starring
Whoopi Goldberg, follows the
story of Deloris Van Cartier,
a wayward woman who, after
seeing her ex-boyfriend commit
murder, hides in a convent.
Coming
from
Philadelphia
with dreams of being a singer
to ending up in a house full
of nuns, Van Cartier finds
herself in an entirely different
world. She uses her talents,
however, to teach the other
nuns choreography and music,
resulting
in
wonderfully
entertaining, powerful musical
numbers with convivial spirit.
Playing Deloris Van Cartier
is Music, Theatre & Dance
senior
AnnEliza
Canning
Skinner, who has been involved
in
SMTD
productions
like
“Caroline, or Change,” “Music
Man” and “American Idiot.”
Through
MUSKET,
this
is
her first ever leading role in a
musical.
“‘Sister Act’ is actually the
show that made me want to
pursue Musical Theatre when
I was younger,” Skinner said in
an interview. “It’s so cool to see
it come full circle like that.”
Completely
student-run,
the production includes cast
and crew from many areas of
the University. MUSKET is
made up of about 50 percent
performance majors and 50
percent
non-performance
majors. Part of MUSKET’s
mission is to ensure that non-
performance
majors
have
the
opportunity
to
pursue
their passion for theatre and
performance.
“Honestly,
I
love
this
experience so much because
of the aspect that it’s student-
run,” Skinner said. “My favorite
part about this show is the
standard that we hold each
other to. Even though we’re
all students, I’ve never seen
such a hard working cast. The
dedication, the universality and
the passion for the theatre is so
cool to experience.”
With rehearsals starting in
January, the MUSKET cast and
crew has been working long and
hard for the April production.
Music, Theatre & Dance junior
Chris Campbell, the show’s
Director and Choreographer,
began his work before winter
break.
“It’s hilarious. It’s nonstop
laughing
for
two
hours,”
Campbell said. With this being
his first time directing and
choreographing
a
MUSKET
production,
Campbell’s
excitement and gratification is
tangible.
“I think what makes this
production
different
and
special is the energy that all the
cast members bring,” he said.
“There’s such a fresh, youthful
energy to it.”
“Sister Act” features music
by 11-time Grammy winner,
eight-time Oscar winner and
Tony
award
winner
Alan
Menken, who also wrote the
music for other Broadway hits
such as “A Christmas Carol”
and
“Newsies,”
along
with
classic Disney movies such
as “Hercules,” “Beauty and
the
Beast”
and
“Aladdin.”
“Sister Act” earned five Tony
nominations.
“I have to say it’s so exciting
and just so fun. Everyone is so
supportive and unconditionally
dedicated
to
this
project,”
Skinner added. “I struggle a
lot with acceptance of myself,
and I feel like this is such a
great opportunity for students
to work with other students,
and especially to have some
psychological
freedom
from
the pressures that we put on
ourselves.”
After months of working on
intricacies, perfecting details
and rehearsing little bits and
pieces of the show at a time,
when the time to put everything
together came, it was nothing
short of magical.
“The highlight of this whole
process definitely would have
to be the first time we ran the
whole show,” Campbell said.
“It was so exciting for me.
Everything started to take
form.
The
ending
product
exceeded
my
expectations
by 1000 percent: I did not
think we would have the cast
that we have, the set that we
have, the lights that we have,
the costumes we have, the
orchestra we have.”
Like MUSKET itself, “Sister
Act” channels the importance
of community.
“With
everything
that’s
going on in the world, it’s such a
great story of sisterhood, unity
and love,” Skinner said. “I think
everyone can gain something
from it.”
ALLIE TAYLOR
Daily Arts Writer
MUSKET presents
“Sister Act: A
Divine Musical
Comedy”
Power Center
March 24th & 25th
@ 8 p.m.
March 26th @ 2
p.m.
Students $10,
Adults $15
Like MUSKET
itself, “Sister Act”
channels the
importance of
community
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW