I wish to meet the cast from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
I know it's probably too late. They started filming the last season in July. However, in case by wild chance the right person reads this . . .
I wish I could be on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while they're filming. Being an extra somewhere way in the background would be incredibly cool, but my real wish is to meet the actors and see them out of character.
I realize this is well into the realm of "be careful what you wish for". People have the annoying habit of being themselves rather than who J. Random Fan wishes them to be. Still, it would be a blast to meet the people who bring alive the characters on a show I love.
I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's about:
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women taking care of themselves.
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people learning that no one else knows what is going on better than they themselves do - no matter how popular the other people may be.
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people learning that everyone lives life alone. Yeah, you have friends, but they can't live your life for you. Also, everyone feels lonely until they make an effort to turn their own attention away from themselves and start paying attention to others.
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people learning to make choices.
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people dealing with the outcome of choices - outcomes including things that happen, the way people treat them and the way they treat themselves.
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people dealing with the outcome of choosing not to make choices.
In short, it's about life, and growing up.
Season 2 (which I'm just re-watching on DVD) has some spectacular scenes based around people's plans to be popular misfiring, and of people standing up for their friends and for what they really believe. It's beautiful.
Season 6, this past year, dealt with the other side of the coin. It depicts what happens when you choose not to choose. What happens is the same thing that happens if you're driving a car and you decide not to steer: you crash. Everyone in the show crashed in their individual lives. Each person stopped choosing for different reasons - either because it was too painful to deal with life, they were paralyzed with fear and indecision, or they lost direction in life and took whatever made them feel alive - and each person was made miserable because of it.
I've watched this happen in real life. As in real life, friends reached out hands to help, but the person who needed help was so busy staring at the ground that they never looked up to see the helping hand. It didn't make the most entertaining of TV plots, but if anyone can learn something from watching the characters wreck their lives without having to go through it themselves, it is a valuable lesson.
*Mary gets on a soapbox*
You are responsible for your own life. No one can come in and make your life better. The state of your life is a direct reflection of choices YOU have made. Yes, people can do terrible things to you which can influence your life in negative ways. This is NOT your fault. Wallowing in self-pity, taking it out on others, deciding that you can't be loved because of what the horrible person did to you - these are YOUR choices, under YOUR control. YOU can decide to work to change them. It does take time, but you have to decide to change in order for a change to happen.
*Mary steps down off of her soapbox*
Buffy stands as a reminder of what one person can do by choosing to be themselves, choosing to help others, choosing to extend the hand of friendship to people, popular or not, and being willing to help them. It demonstrates how, in return, her friends are willing to help her.
It also shows the benefits of working out. No, really! I finally started working out in January - moderate aerobics, toning exercises, kickboxing, more biking than previously, in part because I found myself wishing I could do some of the cool moves on TV. As a result, I got rid of my back problems, improved my Aikido, increased my stamina, made my body more pleasing to look at and lost about 15 pounds all in one fell swoop.
This show is such a positive influence - by both its positive and its negative examples - and has great writing besides that I would love to be a part of it in some small capacity. I'm not an actor, and it's not realistic for me to want to be on the screen without first doing a whole lot of work that I'm not willing to put the time into - but getting to meet the actors, to see them for who they are in real life as well as who they are in character, would be a great thing. Yeah, I know Joss Whedon is really the one responsible for everything I've described, but I see the actors on screen a lot more than I see him, and so it's the characters with whom I identify.
So - if you know anyone who could get me in on the set of Buffy tVS for a day, please give them my contact info - braider!@dreamweaverbraiding.com (remove the ! when mailing).