Movies - TV
Buffy’s Creator Had A Sadistic Rule For Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Storylines
By JOE ROBERTS
From 1997 to 2003, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” under the guidance of Joss Whedon, subjected Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy to a series of unsettling plot challenges.
An example of one challenge is “The Body” from season 5. The episode begins with Buffy entering her house, only to find her mother's lifeless body lying on the couch.
According to an interview with IGN, Whedon hinted at a rule he applied to Buffy's character: “Buffy in pain, story more interesting. Buffy not in pain, story not interesting.”
Whedon clarified his decisions, “The dark place we took her to was about, ‘I'm accepting my power, my responsibility, and my leadership, and those are hard things to deal with.’”
Given the revelations about the show's on-set culture and numerous allegations of workplace misconduct and abuse under Whedon's direction, his rule becomes particularly sadistic.