From "The Buffy Files," by Tracie McMillan and Oscar Owens, in the Winter/Spring issue of The Activist, the magazine of the Young Democratic Socialists. McMillan, The Activist's editor, and Owen, co-chair of the YDS, argue that the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"—in which high school students meet during their lunch period to organize the defense of their town against vampires—could just as easily be about "a high school feminist or socialist club."

Episode:

"Welcome to the Hellmouth"

Plot:

Buffy moves to Sunnydale and accepts her duty fighting vampires who threaten the city. A master vampire trapped underground attempts to rise through the kills of other vampires.

Socialist Subtext:

Buffy faces her responsibility to be an activist and fight the secret elite who threaten the city. A capitalist restrained by regulation tries to rise through the use of subcontracting.

Episode:

"Surprise/Innocence"

Plot:

Vampires attempt to reassemble a demon whose body parts have been spread throughout the world. Once assembled, this demon will burn the humanity out of everyone on Earth.

Socialist Subtext:

The breakdown of trade barriers is exploited by economic bloodsuckers to assemble products in a way that dehumanizes people.

Episode:

"Reptile Boy"

Plot:

A rich white fraternity is actually a cult that sacrifices girls to a large snake-demon. After Buffy slays the reptile-demon, the frat's alumni start losing their privileges and the value of their stock portfolios plummets.

Socialist Subtext:

The "old boys' club" is based on the domination of women. Powerful old men owe their success to pathetic social networks.

Episode:

"Anne"

Plot:

Street kids are kidnapped into an underground dimension called Hell, where they are worked until old age and then spit out. Once Buffy stops resisting her duty to save people from evil, she fights off the slave drivers with a hammer and sickle.

Socialist Subtext:

Hell is a sweatshop; a sweatshop is Hell. It steals the young, strips them of their individuality, then spits them back out. It should be rebelled against and fought. Being an activist is a choice you make, but once you realize its importance, you can't ignore your responsibility to fight injustice.

Episode:

"The Wish"

Plot:

A goddess of scorned women grants a wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Suddenly, the world is a very different place, with the vampires triumphant, though a small band of rebels still tries to fight back. The ascendant vampires introduce "mass production," which they will use to put people into machines that will drain their blood.

Socialist Subtext:

Without activists, the world would be even s**ttier than it is. The idea that the world can't be any better serves as a manipulative tool for those who want to maintain the status quo. The triumph of free markets is seen as the only possibility, and in its ascendance, people are drained of life, working machines of mass production.

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