Arkadelphia, Ark.—Campbell University Professor Dr. Elizabeth Rambo was one of three keynote speakers to address the third international academic conference on the hit television series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” “Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses,” held July 5-8, focused on the works of the show’s creator Joss Whedon and “Buffy’s” appeal to both fans and scholars.Since airing in 1997, the show has developed a cult following that continues to expand beyond the boundaries of entertainment even after the final episode appeared in 2003.”It can be interpretive,” said Rambo, whose first paper on the series dealt with the comparison of the sixth season of “Buffy” with W.B. Yeat’s poem, “The Second Coming.” “Although the characters may be intriguing themselves and the events and the story, the show also seems to have meaning beyond just what is going to happen.”In her presentation “Right Back to the Beginning: Recurring Themes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Rambo argues that the final two seasons of the show revisit themes from earlier episodes demonstrating how the characters and their situations in life change as the series wraps up.She alludes to the poem “Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot to clarify this explanation, “….What we call the beginning is often the end… and to make an end is to make a beginning.” Rambo also cites episodes of the series in which literary themes such as truth and falsehood, the nature of good and evil and many others are examined.”In particular, the final two seasons, which differ in a number of ways from seasons 1-5, continue to be utterly committed to a notion of art and artistry that pushes television to places it has not been before,” she said.Approximately 150 international scholars attended the conference at Henderson State University which also featured keynote speaker and guest of honor Jeanine Basinger, Whedon’s film studies teacher at Wesleyan University.”Among other things, the keynote speakers talked about the continuing struggle for people to take this area of study seriously,” said Rambo. “You tell them you’re going to talk about ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and people say ‘Aw, come on.'”But Rambo was encouraged that television shows like “Buffy” are making their way into the classroom and not just in media studies but in other disciplines like philosophy, political science and literature.”It was definitely worthwhile and a great opportunity to meet with other people in the field of popular culture studies,” she said.Dr. Elizabeth Rambo is co-editor of the book “Buffy Goes Dark: Essays on the Final Two Seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Television,” co-edited by Lynne Edwards and James B. South.-30-Photo Copy: Campbell University Professor Dr. Elizabeth Rambo recently returned from a conference on the television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its creator Joss Whedon.
Rambo speaks at “Slayage” Conference