Buffy The Vampire Slayer Response

In this Buffy episode, the writer was trying to convey the differences that have evolved between older and newer technology by comparing the characters. At the very beginning, a monster is let free out of a book because the computers scanned the spell. The monster is known to have a spell on people through his smooth lines and captivating words. Earlier in the episode, the monster is seen years ago killing off people with his personal words of love. Later in the episode, the monster stills captivates people with the same lines but with impersonal communication. In fact, he does this through a computer. Throughout the episode, we see the monster have a spell over one of the main characters through use of email. The main character becomes infactuated with lines written back and forth between her and the monster without even getting a glimspe of what he looks like, or even any perosnal communication. Another main character refers to reality as being virtual,he says "the only reality is virtual and the last two years more email has been sent than regular mail." In this episode, the writer is warning all of us who are consumed and infactuated by technology, that it can in fact take over us. We get this idea through the main character who becomes infactuated with the monster through email and by the guy who works at the library and believes that technolgy is ridiculous. He says everyone is manipulated by technology and that human interaction is now said to be absurb. In the beginning we immediately see that he is not in technology when he calls the t.v. the "idiot box". At the end, we see get a glimpse of why he doesn't like technology when he talks about the smell of books. He says, "books smell, computers have no context, doesn't last, if it shall, it should be smelly." The character longs for the touch, the smell, the personal feeling that computer can't offer. The main message is to not let computers take over us. At the beginning, we see the computers scan the book itself. Don't let them outsmart us.