Stalker slain -- "WWBD?"

You evaluate a man who engaged in repetitive stalking of a high school girl. He spied on her, followed her around (rationalizing it as “for her own good”), and even climbed in her bedroom window at night and watched her sleep. He acknowledges a powerful desire to kill her.

Ominous, right? When we encounter men like this, they raise our hackles.

But in pop culture -- movies, music, and videos -- this possessive, condescending, and downright creepy behavior is often glorified as "true love." Such is the case with Edward in the blockbuster Twilight movie series, marketed with great fanfare to young teenage girls.

Appalled by the sexually predatory behavior modeled by Edward in Twilight, freelance Web designer Jonathan McIntosh of Rebellious Pixels asked himself, "What would Buffy do?" Buffy, of course, being the strong woman heroine of the popular TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

If you haven’t seen the resultant video mashup, stop whatever you're doing and take the six minutes to watch it.



The brilliant and hilarious video has been translated into 16 languages and watched by millions of people worldwide. As reported in the L.A. Times, Buffy v. Edward reveals Edward’s supposed charm for the creepy stalker behavior it is:

[T]he Slayer has little patience for the expertly coifed Edward, dazzling or otherwise. "Being stalked isn’t a big turn-on for girls," Buffy tells him. When Edward tries to explain that he's on "a special diet," Buffy replies, "What are you doing? Here, at this table, talking to me like we're some kind of talking buddies?"

McIntosh's essay explaining his project is HERE.