ABSTRACT
One of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's greatest skills was its ability to mimic or adopt the generic conventions of many genres, shifting between them at will, often combining them. Buffy's screenwriters artfully mixed elements of fantasy, science fiction, comedy, teen drama, and epic adventure. One way Buffy is able to construct such sophisticated musical meanings is by taking advantage of television's extended serial format. Over a particular series, audiences come to know characters, feel close to them, remember their past, and, equally importantly, learn how they are meant to be interpreted. The technique brought to the forefront in Buffy's season was a specific kind of percussive action music. This generic designation applies to the final or penultimate act of any Buffy episode, at moments when the featured threat is being dispatched usually through Buffy's abilities as the Slayer. Buffy's action music synchretically attempts to mirror the visualized violence.
