'Buffy' is focus of academic conference

The heroine of the campy television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is the focus of an academic conference this weekend at Henderson State University in Arkansas.

The show, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, won cult fame and critical praise during its seven seasons on TV. Since it ended, the series has spawned enough academic books on the philosophy surrounding the roles of friendship and feminism to fill a 15-foot-wide bookshelf at the college in Arkadelphia, said Kevin Durand, associate professor of philosophy.

Among the papers to be discussed this weekend: "Buffy and Feminism," "Buffy and Identity" and a Durand favorite by a British scholar, "Hero's Journey, Heroine's Return: Buffy, Eurydice and the Orpheus Myth."