Buffy’s Christmas episode actually has Christian themes

Ever heard the expression The author is dead? If it doesn't make sense I’ll break it down. Basically, it’s the idea that when it comes to creative work the proof is in the pudding. The author may have intended one message, but ultimately the reader has the power of perspective. And those perspectives can be wildly different from what was intended. For example Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein has been believed to mean a thousand different things. In the case of the 90s classic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the creator Joss Whedon rather openly dislikes Christians. However, in the first 3 seasons of the show some Christian themes are prevalent whether he intended it or not. Particularly in the character of Angel and in the Christmas episode from season 3. 

You might think I’m reaching, or finding mountains in molehills, but take a look at the evidence in the work and let’s see. 

The Characters:

• Buffy Summers was divinely called to be the Slayer. “Into every generation a girl is born, she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness…” etc.. The slayer is divinely called. She has no skills or qualifications for the duty of fighting evil except that she’s chosen. We’ve seen the chosen one a thousand times going back to Neo from the Matrix. But where does the concept come from? 

Christianity may be the only religion which begins on the premise of a relationship between a great God, and drastically flawed unequipped humans. None of the men or women in the Bible had qualities or gifts to recommend them to the great destinies they had. Only because God called them His people were they unlike others and allowed to achieve great things. The most classic example is David who has several brothers all bigger, stronger and more prepared to be king than him. But God chose David.   

Whether intended or not, Buffy, and other chosen ones bear a Christian concept. The slayer could have been a lady martial artist, a strong athletic girl or a fighter some kind. But Buffy Summers, a fourteen year old insecure slightly bubble headed girl dealing with her parents divorce and trying to survive high school, is chosen. 

• Angel was a degenerate mortal man who later became one of the worst vampires to ever plague the earth. His soul was restored to him and all at once he hates his past life and no longer wants to live like he did. Angel (the redeemed vampire with a soul) and Angelus (Angel pre-redemption) are considered two different people. When Angel was Angelus he recalls he offered an ugly death to everyone he met and he did it with a song in his heart. When his soul was restored he was incapable of living guilt free ever again. 

"When you become a vampire, the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done, and to care.” -Angel

 This is another concept primarily found in Christianity. When you're born again, who you were is dead. You were dead in trespasses and sins until redemption and now your old self, your past desires, even what you live for has all changed. And in addition, you now cannot commit the same sins without the burden of guilt once you're redeemed. People dead in trespasses and sin feel no guilt over wickedness but once you're changed, everything that once was so pleasurable is detestable. We see this frequently in Angel. He despises what he was and still considers himself a monster. He might have sinful desires now but due to his soul he fights them and can no longer be a slave to them.

The Christmas Episode:

Season 3 episode 10 is befittingly titled “Amends” and takes place during Christmas time while Sunnydale California is in the middle of a heatwave. Buffy and Angel were in a relationship back in season 2 until Angel’s soul was stolen from him and he reverted back to Angelus which led to Buffy ultimately having to end his life in order to save the world. It’s a long story but to get more details on it read the Buffy Summers: the study of a heroine article. Angel has returned from a dark dimension with his soul restored but he and Buffy are staying apart because they both fear what affects the relationship could have. Angel is being tormented by a spirit called the first evil who is forcing him to recall all of the atrocities he committed in his former life as Angelus. The first evil wants Angel to give into his temptation to kill Buffy (being a vampire he naturally thirsts for blood but more so for the woman he desires) but Angel refuses. Afraid he won’t be able to overcome his desires, Angel resides to let the sunrise kill him so he can’t hurt anyone else. 

Where do we see the Christianity in this?

• Like all fiction, we accept the aspects that aren't real and take the real life themes and messages we can. There’s no slayer and no such thing as vampires–however, there are people who can one day be persecuting Christians cough* Paul on the road to Damascus cough*, and the next day be converting people to Christ. Angel was a horrible monster but in the show was given a new chance at life and made into a better man living for a better purpose.

•  Also, in most secular shows the characters physical desire for each other in a relationship is unrestrained and considered good and healthy. Because Angel is a vampire, his desire to be intimate with Buffy is considered a sin which he has to fight. And Angel is keeping himself from Buffy for the very reason he might cause her to cross a line which would lead to him losing his soul. There’s actually consequences for characters making mistakes, granted their supernatural ones but the theme still holds.

• Angel wants to kill himself because this demon is forcing him to look on all his guilt and what he’s done. Buffy stops Angel from killing himself because she wants him to look at who he is now–not the sins he’s committed. Buffy also tells Angel in the finale of the episode when she stops him that if he chooses to let himself die over guilt he’s a coward because he was redeemed for a reason. He was made a better man so he could fight evil and not wallow in the misery of his past. 

It’s easy for anyone to get lost in their mistakes and believe they’ve done too much to be forgiven, but the key note this episode looks at is that it’s not about what you think you can live with–it’s about what God thinks you can live with and what you’ve been called to do.

Christmas Miracle:

In the finale Angel asks Buffy, “Am I anything worth saving? Am I a righteous man?” To which, the final answer is: no. He isn't. Buffy tells him he's weak like all humans but that isn't a reason to quit. Angel can’t be convinced, he’s still going to let the sunrise kill him. In the middle of Sunnydale’s heatwave as Buffy is arguing against Angel’s suicide, snow begins falling and blots out the sun. This ending makes it look as if the characters' decisions ultimately aren't what govern their lives but something greater beyond them. Characters will spout things in fictions all the time like this:

• You're here for a reason.

• You were made for something better.

• It’s not just about us, it's about something greater.

Buffy says some of these things to Angel and characters on TV say them all the time. But we never actually hear them explain what this means. The reason for that is because they would have to admit to or concede to divine orchestration and governance in their lives. To say reason implies a divine mind planning the characters lives. That there is grand design. No one in BTVS can really elaborate on these things because the writer is not a Christian. But regardless, Joss Whedon will employ Christian themes when it suits the show or makes the writing compelling. Angel wants to quit his life, and a miracle won’t let him. Because as Buffy says, he was redeemed for a reason and can make amends. 

Another key element of Christianity we find in this is that human beings are weak sinners. The episode goes overboard trying to show Angel had no redeeming qualities in and of himself till his soul was restored (an action he had no part in). And even with his soul the sins of his past tempt him but now he struggles to fight them. Unlike other male vampires in fiction, Angel's temptations and weaknesses are actually addressed as an issue he’s fighting and not simply something to be indulged. 

-Jubilee