Canon-related questions for Buffyologists

[red_satin_doll]

There's a couple of items about Buffy Summers that I've seen in several fanfics and wondered if they were "canon" or "fanon" information. I don't trust my memory, especially when I've probably spent more hours at this point reading fanfiction than actually watching the show. (What that says about me I shudder to imagine.)



By "canon", I am of course referring to BtVS, seasons 1-7 only, not the comics (aka Get behind me, Satan!)

1) Is Buffy's given name "Buffy" or "Elizabeth"?  I've read "Elizabeth Anne Summers" used in several fanfics and it feels like it might have been mentioned somewhere in S1-3 on the show, if at all?

Actually, I just wanted an excuse to post this screencap. But while you're here:

2) Does Buffy refer to herself in third person at any other point on the show except for Life Serial: "stupid Buffy" "freak Buffy"?  A lot of stories have her refer to herself in this way, usually when she's berating herself, although generally not while drunk. (For someone who can't hold her liquor she seems to drink quite a lot of it in LS. Slayer metabolism, apparently.) 

Also, she generally does so whilst kicking herself mentally over something regarding Spike, so do early season/Bangel 'ship writers have her referring to herself in this manner as well?

No, no further questions; I just love SMG in this episode so damn much I can hardly stand it. I mean - come on, Giles, how can you resist that face? Buttons and puppies are weeping in envy.  Now do your duty to your Slayer and hand her the check without making her feel like it's an act of charity on your part. 


I love Giles, I do. But damn it, he can be an ass sometimes.

Comments

[kikimay]

LJ is making me nervous! I hope you can read this answer.
So, Buffy's name is Buffy Anne Summers. I think that Elizabeth is something fanon. She's just Buffy, Anne.
And she's the cutest when she's drunk. OMG, I love her so much! But, if you want to know, sometimes she says: "Note to self: do this and that ..." I don't remember her talking in third person about Angel and the Bangel, but it can be my memory.
And "Life Serial" isn't just the best with the cutest Buffy ever? She's beautiful in all the outfits!

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

1) I've always thought it was just Buffy, though I guess my only real support for that is the dialogue in Something Blue, where they're deciding between William and Spike, and he makes a snide comment about "Buffy," and she says "my mother gave me that name!" which always made it sound like a given name to me.

Now do your duty to your Slayer and hand her the check without making her feel like it's an act of charity on your part.

Seriously. He stood up to the Council for his own paycheck and can't give the Slayer herself her rightful cut? GOD.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's just "Buffy". I think fan fic authors just think it's too ridiculous as a given name so it must be a nickname. And then someone sees it in a fic, and thinks "Oh, that makes sense"; obviously it must really be Elizabeth...

FWIW the only Buffy I know in real life is really, truly "Buffy" on her birth certificate. Though people always ask!

And Our Girl really is adorable in Life Serial. That Blech face!

[rahirah]

Elizabeth is fanon. (Fanon which irritates me out of all proportion to its relatively innocuous nature, for reasons I wot not of.) Every time we see Buffy's full name on the show in any sort of official printed capacity, it's Buffy Anne.

Buffy may have referred to herself in the third person in other episodes - I honestly don't remember. I'm pretty sure I would remember if it had happened consistently. Fandom has a habit of taking stuff which happened once and making a Thing out of it. Be glad you missed the vanilla craze. *g*

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

The Elizabeth is fanon. I am sure the confusion arose because "Buffy" is a common nickname for girls named Elizabeth (at least if they're preppy - I went to school with an Elizabeth whose nickname was Buffy and I know of several others as well).


Gabrielle

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

The only person ever referred to as "Elizabeth" in canon is... Spike. (In "Chosen", re: his necklace.) Buffy's name on school records, gravestones, work uniforms and in police interviews is Buffy.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I concur with everybody on Buffy vs. Elizabeth. Elizabeth is not canon.

I'm less certain about the third person thing. Buffy does tend to use cute phrasing for lots of things, including herself. I mean that in the fondest way. But, I can't think of another specific example of what you're talking about. Maybe in "Beer Bad"? I'm pretty sure Xander uses "Buffy" instead of "you" when he talks to her in that ep. I also recall Spike saying "Good job, Spike" sarcastically to himself, so it's not strictly a Buffy thing, regardless. I can "hear" most characters using the third person on occasion.

[teragramm.livejournal.com]

I agree with everyone else that her given name is Buffy. If it wasn't her tombstone would read Elizabeth "Buffy" Anne Summers

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie!

I remember a commenter at the AV Club saying that Sarah was bad at playing drunk "because she didn't drink in real life" or somesuch. Hello? The two episodes Buffy gets drunk in are Beer Bad and Life Serial and are comedy episodes. Realism is not the point, folks.

"Note to self: do this and that ..." I remember "Note to self: religion, freaky" in "What's My Line" (S2); that's the only "note to self" utterance I remember, which doesn't mean she didn't repeat it.

And as I said - buttons and puppies have nothing her.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right, I'd forgotten that. I'd forgotten that. And then Spike snarks back with; "Your mother. Yeah, she's a real genius."

He stood up to the Council for his own paycheck and can't give the Slayer herself her rightful cut? GOD.

No, SHE stood up to the Council in Checkpoint and negotiated (demanded) his salary be restored; he coughed "back pay" into his fist and she added that to the demand for him. That's what makes it so galling. (This reminds me of Graduation and how Buffy quit the Council and he backed her up - after she informed Wesley - but the gesture was symbolic because he'd been fired in Helpless. Giles hiding behind his Slayer's back in dealing with the WC isn't OOC for him.)

What Kendra says about her Watcher - having been given to him as a child by her parents - suggests that historically, Watchers were in fact the Slayers' guardians; which would not have been a great burden anyway since the all the previous girls died young, or so we are told, or it's implied.

What I can never quite figure out if Buffy's failure to ask for her own income and Giles' failure to care for her is a deliberate "feminist" statement from the writers: a reflection of the patriarchial imbalance as represented by the WC and the fact that in the real world, "women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, but earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than one percent of the world's property. On average, women earn half of what men earn." (The Global Poverty Project http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/infobank/women ).

Or if it was just a plot point to drive home the "If Buffy thought her life sucked before...." theme? But her failure to ask for her own salary still puzzles me unless he was supporting her, which not ever stated on the show other than the one check he gives her. Even in S7, when he brings all those potentials to her house, it's never even suggested that he's contributing.

The whole issue of finances on BtVS is worth a meta in and of itself because trying to parse it out gives me a headache.

[kikimay]

Mh, you know I remember that she said it one more time. I can't be more specific, I don't really know if I'm right!
I also don't drink, but - like you say - it wasn't the point. She supposed to by funny and weird.
I'll let you know if I rewatch an episode and she talks in third person or uses this particular expression.
(Btw, she uses the third person in the first issue of the comics. But, since you don't want to know about it, I just said nothing to you. ò__ò)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I think fan fic authors just think it's too ridiculous as a given name so it must be a nickname.

Given that it's a running joke starting with WTTH, I'd say "ridiculous" is exactly the point.

the only Buffy I know in real life is really, truly "Buffy" on her birth certificate. Though people always ask!

Hopefully not in the same tone the Guardian uses in End of Days. Was she born before or after BtVS? (I couldn't resist asking.)

That Blech face!

So much yes to this. Pretty much everything she does in that episode makes me smile thinking about it; and I wasn't sure if I liked the blech face at first but now it's something that never gets old for me. It's not often that someone on the show can out-funny Emma Caulfied, but Sarah nails it in this episode.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

As in irritates you more than other fanon errors? I know you are loathe to snark - but I happen to love your snark.

I forgot to ad in the post that this was slightly inspired by spuffy_luvr's post in November about Spike canon/fanon. (She actually made a chart; I'm not that ambitious.

Be glad you missed the vanilla craze. *g*

You mean the stories where Spike notices that Buffy always smells like vanilla? I've seen some of those and wondered why that scent got repeated more than any other. And I really don't think that "vanilla" would turn Spike on (probably too sweet for his super vampire sense of smell); but her natural muskiness and sweat probably would. (And how bad is it that I've actually thought about this?)

Saturday, December 29 - Monday, December 31

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User rahirah referenced to your post from Saturday, December 29 - Monday, December 31 (http://su-herald.livejournal.com/630864.html) saying: [...] [Fandom Discussion] Canon-related questions for Buffyologists [...]

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

"Buffy" is a common nickname for girls named Elizabeth (at least if they're preppy)

I didn't know that, thanks for the info. I couldn't figure out the connection between the two names, so I must have figured that if Elizabeth was used by fans it must be in the show somewhere because why else would anyone do so?

BTW - I was a little puzzled by your Willow/Angel OTP at first, but your icon here might just be changing my mind: Angel with Willow, Buffy with Spike? Let's see, Willow falls for Riley at first - because hello, chemistry - and then he dies and goes dark Willow, the Scoobies talk her down, she's sent to LA for "rehab" under Angel's care instead of Giles' - yeah, that could work. (My other version would have Willow meet Tara, the gentle witch, whilst recovering. Maybe we could have both. Throw Faith somewhere with pretty much anybody...and god I am a very bad person after all. :) )

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

The only person ever referred to as "Elizabeth" in canon is... Spike. (In "Chosen", re: his necklace.)


:) :) The pathetic thing is, I had to read all the way to the part in parenthesis to realize what you were referring to. My initial mental image was of Spike in a dress and wondering when that happened. (On the tv show, not fanfic where Spike in a dress happens more than I would've thought.)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You mean the S8 comics *sticks fingers in ears lalala I can't hear you*

I actually do like a couple of the "non or semi-canon" comics that were written while the series was still running; ironic that it's the ones produced by Joss himself that I abhor.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Good point, although by that point "Buffy" is so iconic that it would seem wrong to have it otherwise - and since she's not "legally dead" because the Scoobies are hiding her death it wouldn't matter anyway. But then again I guess if they're hiding her death then using "Elizabeth" would have made more sense instead?

I love the icon from The Freshman btw and the little lights in the background. (I can play with photos in fotoflexer some, but I assume it requires photoshop to do the b/w with colored accents?)

[rahirah]

Irritates me more than such a teeny, innocuous piece of fanon ought to, and I have no idea why. But every time I see Buffy referred to as Elizabeth, I'm all NOOOOOO HER NAME IS BUFFY DAMMIT BARB SMASH!!!

I have heard that the vanilla thing came about because in one early-season interview, SMG mentioned something about liking vanilla-scented bath products, and fandom latched on to that like a crazed latching thing. However, that was before my time, and I've never seen the supposed interview, so I have no idea if that's the real story or not. fenchurche and shipperx were around back then, and might remember more.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Maybe in "Beer Bad"? I'm pretty sure Xander uses "Buffy" instead of "you" when he talks to her in that ep.

Which is the other episode in which she is drunk (and bespelled at that. That is some powerful dope.)

I can "hear" most characters using the third person on occasion.

I've seen Spike and Willow refer to themselves in third person in fic; and I can't remember specific instances on the show, but it seems like a very Willow thing to do. But in fanfic the writers are very specifically borrowing from the exact way Buffy talks about herself in Life Serial and adopting that as the way she talks to herself constantly. And almost always as a two-word sentence, or the start of the sentence preceding mopey self-recrimination. Only the adjectives are changed.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

See, this is why I love it when you rant - you make me laugh and you're all kinds of awesome.

I think I may have seen something that somebody said via somebody else that referred to that interview. The fic "LIving Conditions", on the other hand, makes mention of Spike noticing her coconut-scented shampoo, so I guess we've passed the vanilla phase but, again: sweet, edible, kind of icky if it's not the real thing.

[kikimay]

But I think you probably would like Tales of Slayers (it's canon and produced by Whedon and I think it's a lovely selection of tales)
Oh, here it comes! Buffy says "Note to self" also in Tabula Rasa, when she was Joan.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help.

As for the icon, it was actually made to go with a story I wrote called Come Pouring Down Unified, which features both pairings. Come to think of it, it has Faith in it, too. But I used the icon here because it's my only one with a smiling Buffy on it.


Gabrielle

[teragramm.livejournal.com]

I do use photoshop. I don't know anything about fotoflexer but the technique to make this icon is super easy and I can't imagine that you couldn't use it in a different program. You make your icon and then duplicate it making one B/W one color. Place the B/W one on top of the color one and erase the parts you want in color. Would this work in fotoflex?

[kikimay]

NOOOOOO HER NAME IS BUFFY DAMMIT BARB SMASH!!!

Let me love you!!
I didn't know about this vanilla thing and SMG's choices for bath products. But, to be honest, even in my little headcanon Buffy smells sweet and sometimes I mention it in my fics. I've always imagined that Buffy likes girly and sweet smelling bath products, so I go from vanilla to peaches. Something sweet and yummy. And also sweat, of course, since she fights a lot. I don't think I'm stuck with this idea, but I definetly imagine her scent like that.
(Also, I kinda picture Buffy covered in vanilla cream and peaches. ME LIKES)