For every television series, the original vision grows within a press of forces - both social and artistic expectations, conventions of the business as well as conventions of the art. Bad television - predictable, commercial, exploitative - simply yields to the forces. Good television, like the character of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, fights them. "Fighting the Forces" explores the struggle to create meaning in an impressive example of popular culture, the television series phenomenon "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". In the essays collected here, contributors examine the series using a variety of techniques and viewpoints. They analyze the social and culture issues implicit in the series and place it in its literary context, not only by examining its literary influences (from German liebestod to Huckleberry Finn) but also by exploring the series' purposeful literary allusions. Furthermore, the book explores the extra-textual, such as fan-fiction and online discussion groups. The book is supplemented by an online journal "Slayage", created by the book editors in acknowledgement of the ongoing nature of television art.