Buffy and CMC

Being the typical college kid and having “one of those days”, I really had no desire to make an effort in any of my upcoming classes and for once this desire was actually met. Today we watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer which I have never previously viewed until today. Even though there was the typical cheesiness that goes along with the thought of a young girl slaying demons or vampires on a weekly basis another thought came up. And that thought was; what power does the internet have over us?

In this episode, the demon talks to people, earns their trust and manipulates them all using the internet. Willow completely trusted this Malcolm kid whom she had never met or even seen a picture of the kid. I believe that the directors are making references to online predators and stalkers here. In this episode, Willow meets, talks, and falls in love with this guy all using CMC, and he turns out to be a Demon trying to take over the world. In real life young men and women talk to strangers everyday either through message boards or public chatrooms. These young people feel like they have a connection to the person while chatting even though the person they are talking to has no other desire but to hurt them. The power the Demon had to manipulate people using CMC may have been a warning to young teens to watch who they talk to and trust while on the internet.

Another point that I believe the directors are trying to make is that people can become obsessive with the internet or the content that is on it. Some people are constantly on the internet either checking social networks, playing games or just surfing. Even though I know that social networks and many other features of the internet and computers really weren’t around during this episode, the Fritz (?) character still had an obsessive nature about computers. “The only reality is virtual and if you’re not jacked in you’re not alive’— this sounds semi-addicted/obsessive to me. Many people truly believe in that quote though. Some people become so obsessed with their characters in role playing games (ie: World of War Craft) that they have been known to neglect their own health. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Fanatic-World-of-Warctaft-Gamers-Have-Died-Becouse-Of-WoW-11821.shtml The directors may have been telling us that we have to learn what power the internet has over us and that every now and then we need to take a break from the computer screen and go be social.