Buffy Summers is not your average high school student. The ditzy cheerleader is the savior of the world. Wait, what?!

Don’t Mess with Buffy

It turns out the social butterfly comes from a long line of vampire slayers. When she is approached by Merrick (a Van Helsing type) with the news, she can’t believe it. That’s the case at least until she runs into one of the undead and instinctively stabs it in the heart.

Faced with the reality that vampires exist, she has to embrace her new role as slayer or head vampire Lothos will turn LA into a vampire hub, starting with her high school. Because, of course, teenagers are the center of the universe.

All Buffy has to do is give up her cushy lifestyle, risk her life for a bunch of people she doesn’t really care about, and look good doing it. What could go wrong?

Don’t Underestimate a Cheerleader

Cheerleaders are often cast as airheads in the movies. They tend to be good looking girls that are needlessly shallow with a bit of a mean streak. If she’s not dating the captain of the football team, she is at least super popular. That usually means she is picking on less popular girls to boost her own ego.

That’s how we first see Buffy, but it’s an illusion. Cheerleaders are far more than meets the eye, and this movie makes the point. Don’t fall for stupid stereotypes.

It takes some serious stamina to be a cheerleader. The athleticism it takes to do all those acrobatics. The musicality to get the timing right. The hours of practice. The teamwork. Cheerleading is a true sport. I dare you to jump around like that and not get your heart pumping. Honestly, it may have been the best training for what Buffy was about to do.

Don’t Underestimate Teenagers

Merrick tasked a teenager with saving all of mankind. Didn’t he remember how angsty and self-centered they could be? Only days before, Buffy was in a tizzy over a yellow bomber jacket.

It’s not like he really had a choice. It was Buffy’s lineage that led him to her. Still, he knew that people are driven by purpose. He hoped this would be enough to inspire her to do bigger and better things.

Our young people may not always have years of hands-on experience, but they make up for that with passion. All you have to do is look to the Parkland students who survived a mass shooting and started March for Our Lives. Look to Malala Yousafzai, the youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize, who champions education for girls worldwide. Young people can change the world, and they do every day.

Don’t Underestimate Women

You might wonder why Merrick didn’t take on the job himself. As the one who trained Buffy in the art of one-on-one combat, he obviously had the skill set. It must be one of those “if you can’t do, teach” situations.

What makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer so great is that it puts a female hero up against a male villain. The movie does not assume that a woman is not strong enough to take down a man, even if he has supernatural powers. The BS that women are the weaker sex is just that. Men may have a higher percentage of muscle mass by virtue of their testosterone, but it’s not always brawn that wins the day. It takes smarts, savvy, and strategy. A killer jump kick helps too. Take that, Lothos!

Let this be a lesson not to send a man to do a woman’s job. Buffy Summers was a girl, a teenager, and a cheerleader. She was the headstrong heroine we all needed.