ABSTRACT
The world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is replete with noisy representations of death and dying–excessive music and language underscore the demise of vampires, demons, and hope. In Buffy, the recurring motif of silence can be seen in four main modes. The first mode of silence is its most common occurrence in that, throughout the series, we can identify interrupted speech flow. The second mode in which the motif of silence is used is what might be called "wordless silence"-that is, when all dialogue is removed, replaced by diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The third mode of silence is "empty silence" when the sequence is completely devoid of sound, so that there is neither dialogue nor musical score. The fourth type of silence in Buffy is in a reflexive mode, when that which has been silenced or that which cannot be spoken, such as a taboo, is made overt and forced into articulation through a more foregrounded and reflexive thematic device.
