Interviewer: Buffy has Giles, Angel has Wesley.
Why is the clever one always English?
Alexis: It’s Joss Whedon’s doing. He went
to boarding school in England for a couple of years
and it scarred him deeply both in a good way and a bad.
So I think some of the characters that he invents are
revenge on various teachers and masters he had, and
some are celebrating a great passion that he has for
all things English, because he is a little bit of an
Anglophile. I’m sure you can observe that in the
show and in the genre and in the style of everything.
His experiences over there informed both shows. He goes
over regularly and watches theatre and follows the careers
of actors there, so I think that Giles and Wesley are
the result of his personal experience and his projected
imagination as a result of his time in England.
'Angel' is a pretty controversial show in some circles.
Have you had much flak from conservative Christians?
They set me on fire last week, does that count? [Laughs].
I have not. I know that some people take this show literally
and for those people maybe it’s hard to watch the
show. But we’re dealing with the real of fantasy
and imagination and science fiction, into which we’re
injecting genuine human emotions and human experiences.
So what’s really important about the story is what
the people are going through. I think that for some
of the people you’re talking about, they get a
little more carried away with the implications of what
the monsters mean or what they’re doing, or vampirism
or Satanism, and that isn’t really what the show
is about. The fantasy and science fiction element is
just a backdrop for all the characters’ journeys.
What would you say is the metaphor of a vampire?
Joss has stated before that the character of Angel
is inspired by the concept of an alcoholic seeking redemption
So Angel’s struggle is how to atone for the sins
of his past, in the present, in much the same way that
an alcoholic must find some redemption for his or her
past actions in acts and deeds that they do today. I’m
not saying that Angel’s an alcoholic. I’m
saying that’s what inspired the concept. Since
then, it’s become more complicated and they have
many more layers.
