HANSEL AND GRETEL. BtVS Intertext/Allusion.
The classic fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” which has chiefly been attributed to the Brothers Grimm, first appearing in their 1812 collection of stories entitled Kinder und Hausmarchen, figures prominently in “Gingerbread” (Season 3). In the Grimm Brother’s fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the woods and left for dead by their parents, who could no longer provide for them. After unsuccessfully trying to find their way out of the forest, a consequence of birds eating the trail of breadcrumbs the children left behind as a guide, a famished Hansel and Gretel stumble upon a gingerbread cottage constructed entirely of sugary treats. As the starving children appease their appetites, they are deceived into believing that the sweet old woman who lives in the cottage is their savior; actually, she is a bitter wicked witch in disguise. However, soon the children learn the truth; the witch plans to plump them up with sweets in order enjoy a more satisfying meal when she eats them. In the end, the children outsmart the witch, proceeding to cook her in her own oven. Hansel and Gretel escape with the witch’s treasures and return home to their father, (their stepmother had died during their captivity), and all live happily ever after.
In “Gingerbread,” the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” is infused with several new plot twists. Following the ritualistic slaying of two small, apparently orphaned children in Sunnydale, the adults of the community decide to take action, posting signs with the nameless children’s picture which proclaim, “Never again!” Because the children are found bearing a “mysterious mark,” the murders are presumed to be occult related, causing a frenzied backlash, mainly among adults, against the occult in Sunnydale. According to Sarah E. Skwire in her article, “Whose Side Are You on, Anyway?: Children, Adults, and the Use of Fairy Tales in Buffy,” the inversion of adults becoming childlike and children acting as adults is a classic case of “[t]he instructors become the instructed” (Wilcox and Lavery 195). Even Joyce, Buffy’s mother and one of the usually more open-minded adults on the series, becomes an instrumental part of the frenzy; she establishes a protest group with the acronym of M. O. O. (Mothers Opposed to the Occult). Eventually the backlash intensifies and becomes so severe that many adults, believing the youth to be the primary source of occult in the community, and therefore presumably responsible for the murders of the children, turn against the town’s teenagers, even their own. Consequently, Buffy, Willow, and Amy are all accused of dabbling in the occult or practicing witchcraft, and are almost burned at the stake.
As is their custom, through research, the Scooby Gang uncover evidence that the same nameless children found murdered in Sunnydale have been a recurring phenomenon in various areas of the globe, appearing every fifty years for a number of centuries. From one article, which actually names the two children as Hans and Greta Strauss, the Scobbies come to the realization that these children are the Hansel and Gretel of fairy tale lore, leading to an intriguing discussion on the reality of fairy tales. However, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hansel and Gretel are not what they seem. Buffy’s Hansel and Gretel are actually a demon in disguise whose express purpose is to tear peaceful communities like Sunnydale asunder. The demon almost succeeds in its task, but Giles performs a German incantation which forces the demon to reveal its true hideous face. Unable to hide beneath the facade of two innocent children any longer, the demon’s true appearance causes enough of a commotion among the crowd assembled to witness the witch executions that Buffy is granted an opportunity to impale the demon with the stake upon which she would have been burned. Thus, the demon’s spell is broken and Buffy and the Scooby Gang save Sunnydale’s citizens from evil yet again. While the Buffy the Vampire Slayer version of “Hansel & Gretel” may be unconventional compared to that of the Brothers Grimm, both tales, nevertheless, end the way any traditional fairy tale should, happily ever after.
The following excerpt from “Gingerbread” is taken from the Buffyverse Dialogue Database:
GILES: Uh, wait, wait a minute. Uh . . . uh, there is a fringe theory held by a few folklorists that some regional stories have actual, um, very literal antecedents.
BUFFY: And in some language that’s English?
OZ: Fairy tales are real?
BUFFY: Hans and Gre . . . Hansel and Gretel?
XANDER: Wait. Hansel and Gretel? Breadcrumbs, ovens, gingerbread house?
GILES: Of course! Well, it makes sense now.
BUFFY: Yeah, it’s all falling into place. Of course that place is nowhere near this place.
GILES: Some demons thrive by fostering hatred and, and, uh, persecution amongst the mortal animals. Not by, not by destroying men, but by watching men destroy each other. Now, they feed us our darkest fear and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes.
BUFFY: Hansel and Gretel run home to tell everyone about the mean old witch.
GILES: And then she and probably dozens of others are persecuted by a righteous mob. It’s happened all throughout history. It happened in Salem, not surprisingly.
XANDER: Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m still spinning on this whole fairy tales are real thing.
OZ: So what do we do?
XANDER: I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna go trade my cow in for some beans.