HSU’s stake in ‘Buffy the Vampire

Canon of the late television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” holds that when a human dies and becomes a vampire, he retains the memories and characteristics of the human he was, but loses his soul, as Rhonda Owen writes in Tuesday’s Style section. His body is taken over and animated by a demon. The vampire’s not alive, not dead — he’s undead.

Continuing in that vein of thought, could the show itself, departed from the airwaves since its 2003 finale, now be considered “undead”? After all, the horror-fantasy-comedy-drama series retains all its “characteristics” in syndication and DVD sales, and is animated by the continued interest of fans, scholars and the recipients of residuals.

Don’t be mistaken. We’re not likening those who now “animate” the show to demons, but merely putting forth a question, inviting a bite of intellectual mind play — mind play such as that to occur June 5-8 at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia during “Slayage Conference of the Whedonverses 3,” a gathering of scholars devoted to the burgeoning field of “Buffy studies.”

Buffy studies, a term likely to elicit a guffaw (or derisive snort) from the uninitiated, refers to scholarly examination in an array of disciplines — literature, music, pop culture and television, mathematics, philosophy, sociology and beyond — of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” as well as the other works of creator Joss Whedon.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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