Wednesday 27 December 2017

12 Buffy hooks from Paramore's After Laughter

(Real) happy birthday to Hayley Williams. I’ve been listening to Paramore’s new album After Laughter quiiiite a lot this year, with its mixture of bouncy 80s sounds and lyrics about loss and anxiety, so...

(And I still don’t know how I even survive)
Everything seems to be going wrong lately. One of the gang loses their job, another suffers a bad break-up or a relapse in a disease, and the Slayer’s duties just won’t let up. Much as she might want to find some supernatural cause for all this, sometimes life just gets this way and you have to fight through it.

Rose-Colored Boy
(Just let me cry a little bit longer, I ain’t gonna smile if I don’t want to)
Life seems to smile on this guy, everything goes his way. Was he just born lucky, never suffering or needing to fight for what he wanted, or does reality actually work differently for him? And could he stop with the motivational poster pep talks for five minutes while you save him from a wizard who wants to steal his good fortune?

Told You So
(At least I try to keep my cool when I am thrown into a fire)
A disastrous setback, a betrayal, or another problem that one of the gang cynically predicted. And someone else blames the Slayer for failing to prevent it, which was beyond her. Is it enough to keep on hoping when the rest have given up?
(Alternatively: sudden outbreak of prophecy.)

Forgiveness
(Every word is a bullet hole, shot a hole in the sun)
Hey, remember that travelling monster-hunting crew who nearly got you all killed by an army of vampires last April? Yeah, they’re back in town and hoping to work together again because of some apocalypse or other. Including the one who broke one of the gang’s heart when they left.

Fake Happy
(Oh please, don’t ask me how I’ve been, don’t make me play pretend)
Everybody has secrets, hurts that they can’t show. Secret identities run with the analogy, so now the Slayer has to act like she’s fine and go about her day after seeing an ally die in a battle nobody can know about.

26
(Hold on to hope if you got it)
And after a defeat like that, how do you go on? How do you keep hope alive? And oh good, the Told You So guy is back to rub it in.

Pool
(Cause no-one breaks my heart like you)
An attempt to have a night off results in one of the gang bumping into an ex who she still has buried feelings for. And since this is Buffy and sometimes metaphors attack, there’s some unseen threat lurking beneath the surface at the pool party as well.

Grudges
(Could it be that I’ve changed? Or did you?)
The summer vacation ends, back at it, possibly with some unspoken resentments about how the last apocalypse-stopping fight went down. And they really need airing, because the angry spirits reminding the gang of each other’s faults and failings would very much like them to stop working together and consequently get killed.

Caught In The Middle
(No, I don’t need no help, I can sabotage me by myself)
That other monster-fighting crew rolls into town to destroy our current Big Bad using a method that the gang have already ruled out due to the risks of collateral damage. So how do you stop somebody saving the world without a lot of hurt feelings?

Idle Worship
(Oh no I ain’t your hero, you’re wasting all your faith on me)
Some occult dabblers find out there’s a Slayer in town and decide to worship her. This would be embarrassing and creepy enough even if it didn’t call down the rage of their previous god. Can she get them to stop? Asking nicely isn’t gonna cut it.

No Friend
(If nothing comes of it, then just know we are grateful)
The Slayer finds one of her friends missing on the eve of the final battle, and... who’s that guy? Who invited him?

Tell Me How
(I can still believe)
If the Slayer fights the demon tonight, she is told, she will win... but one of those she loves will die. What can she do?

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