Some of the funniest ladies on television have helped shape comedy.  In Pioneers of Television they showcased Carol Burnett.  When I was younger, my sister and I would stay with my grandparents and I have fond memories of laying on their living room floor watching television on their old floor model television.  I watched what would be considered a lot of older television shows from the Golden Age era because that is what my grandmother introduced me to and the TV was always on these channels.  I fondly remember watching The Carol Burnett Show and I thought she was just so funny!  I enjoyed her silliness and some of the other characters on the show.  I liked how she would engage us as the audience by asking questions.  I also felt like she wasn’t afraid to just be silly and have fun, which seemed more real to me than some of the other shows at that time.  I got the impression that she, along with the other actors were genuinely having a good time and enjoying what they were doing.  I loved when they would break character.  Looking back and hearing how she helped pioneer comedy for women makes me appreciate her more.  Thanks for the laughs, Carol. 

In the Buffy episode, Hush, the residents of Sunnydale wake up to discover they have lost their voices.  The news media is calling it a laryngitis epidemic, and all must quarantine.  Early in the episode, Buffy has a dream in which she sees a girl carrying a box singing about ‘The Gentlemen.’  The girl chants:

Can’t even shout

Can’t even cry
The Gentlemen are coming by

Looking in windows
Knocking on doors
They need to take seven and they might take yours

Can’t call to mom
Can’t say a word
You’re gonna die screaming but you won’t be heard

It is determined that the Gentlemen are the ones that had stolen their voices and they are cutting the hearts out of their victims.  They must collect 7 of them.  They don’t speak at all, but they are effectively creepy through their movements and scary features. 

When the characters lose their ability to speak, they must compensate with other forms of communication.  Some of the other forms of communication used were telephone, writing tablet and pen, “mouthing words,” pointing, waiving, and other hand gestures, message boards, computer/electronic speech, pictures, body movements and displays of affection. 

Language is not confined to just speech.  Joss Whedon, Buffy creator is trying to tell us that communication comes in a variety of forms.  Humans are capable of more that just speech to get their message across.  There were many different messages in this episode, but communication is not just voice – it involves your entire body sometimes.  There are many ways to “speak” to others without saying anything at all. 

Language can sometimes get in the way of what we are really trying to convey.  For example, when Riley and Buffy have a hard time telling each other how they really feel about each other, they seem to interact better and develop a closer connection when they didn’t have their voices.  They show this closeness by hugging, kissing, and showing affection for each other. 

Eventually, when the show is ending and they regain their voices, (after they each discover they have secret identities) they find it hard to talk about it.  I think that it is just too complicated for them to sort through and they both have genuine feelings for each other and don’t want to mess up what they have.  Riley says, “I guess we have to talk” and Buffy replies, “I guess we do.” In the beginning of the show when Riley was speaking with Willow about Riley she says, “every time we talk, I have to lie.”  I think that this was taking a toll on her even before they lost their voices.  When they were silent, they didn’t have all of the other concerns and could just be in each other’s company.  In this case and other difficult situations in life, sometimes language doesn’t accurately convey what we feel.  I think this is the point that Joss Whedon was trying to make.  I can’t think of anything that cannot be conveyed via non-verbal communication which supports his message.

Hush compensates with its lack of dialogue by using music and volume for suspense and to set the moods for the scene.  He also uses a lot of facial expressions, motions, and gestures.  For example, when the Giles tries to explain what the Gentleman are and their purpose.  Unfortunately, gestures can be misinterpreted as Buffy finds out.   Giles uses a Projector to explain what he has found out about the Gentleman.  He displays drawings and written word in a story sequence and Buffy and Willow write questions on their marker boards.  Their discussion is well presented in this scene.  You barely notice they have lost their voices because they use many different modes of expression. 

Ultimately, I think Whedon was trying to get us to think outside of the box.  That is one of the reasons I like him.  Communications come in many forms, not just language. 

QUESTION:  If you lost your voice, what would be your preferred method of communicating?

Works Cited:

Pioneers of Television: Funny Ladies, PBS, Season 3 Episode 1

https://www.pbs.org/video/pioneers-television-funny-ladies/

Buffy Primer (Canvas) https://alfredu.instructure.com/courses/12195/files/folder/Readings?preview=649650

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, HULU Season 4, episode 10