I just finished the high school years in my annual-ish rewatch of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It was designed as “the ultimate high school horror show”, about a pretty much unavoidable common situation, and while it handled the jump to college better than many shows it certainly felt different after leaving its original setting.
(Among many other moments, the Class Protector award in The Prom gets me every time. I wish I’d thought to include a similar moment of recognition and gratitude for the generally unsung heroes in The Watch House.)
When running Buffy I generally stick with college age characters so they can be a bit freer (and also because I’m most often running it at college) but try to keep the sense of finding their place in the world. It also helps that it isn’t moving to it from high school. Still, I’ve also run with other options, like the crappy first job (which Buffy hits in season six) because college is generally pretty fun by comparison so depicting it as a nightmare is a stretch.
The underlying metaphor of growing up still works even if taken out of high school. As Morgan Davie notes in his essays on seasons one to three, as we reach the end of the third season, high school is more location than metaphor itself. No matter where you are, growing up can be a struggle.
And, spoiler alert: it doesn’t really stop. Learn Buffy’s lessons well.
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