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Richard Wilkins III (commonly referred to as The Mayor) is a fictional character in the fantasy television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). Portrayed by Harry Groener, he is the mayor of Sunnydale, a fictional town rife with vampires and demons in which the main character, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) lives. The premise of the series is that Buffy is a Slayer, a young girl endowed with superhuman powers to fight evil, which she accomplishes with the help of a small group of friends and family, called the Scooby Gang. During the second season it becomes apparent that local authorities are aware of the endemic evil in the town, and either ignore it or are complicit in making it worse. The series regularly employs monsters and elements of horror to symbolize real problems,〔Wilcox, p. 18.〕 and the abuse of power in relation to the forces of darkness is a repeated theme throughout the series, as well as in its spinoff ''Angel''.〔South, p. 66.〕 The third season reveals that the Mayor is involved in many of the evil occurrences and he becomes the primary villain, or Big Bad. His genial demeanor, promotion of family values, casual phobia of germs, and dislike of swearing belie his evil nature. This season also marks Buffy's and her friends' last year in high school, and introduces a long-running character named Faith (Eliza Dushku), who is also a Slayer. Faith's disrupted and painful family life has left her without a stable moral center, and unlike Buffy, she is particularly vulnerable to the dark impulses associated with being a Slayer. After many months of fighting alongside Buffy and being under the authority of Buffy's Watcher, Giles, Faith becomes estranged from Buffy and aligns herself with the Mayor, who both employs her as an assassin and becomes a father figure to her while preparing to become a powerful demon that will destroy the town. ==Creation and casting== In planning for the third season, series creator Joss Whedon and the team of writers for the show sought to explore the issues of the abuse of power, and the choices people in or with power make.〔Whedon, Joss (2008). ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season''; "Interview with Joss Whedon 'Bad Girls' and 'Consequences'" Featurette. (). 20th Century Fox.〕 Veteran stage actor Harry Groener was cast in the role of the Mayor of Sunnydale, the embodiment of a quintessential American politician. In the second season, it becomes clear that the authorities at Sunnydale High School — under which a portal to hell called a Hellmouth is situated — are aware of the perpetual influence of evil at the school and have been reporting events to the Mayor's office.〔Kaveny, p. 22–23.〕 While there are scenes in season two which indicate that the Mayor is a fear-inspiring figure, he is not seen until the third season. Series writer Jane Espenson credited Groener's performance and his chemistry with co-star Eliza Dushku with propelling his character to greater importance and making their relationship a central focus of the season.〔''Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season''; "Third Season Overview" Featurette (2008). (). 20th Century Fox.〕 The writers created the blue collar Slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku) as an anti-Buffy: a young woman given extraordinary physical powers with no moral foundation. Whereas Buffy has had a stable family life up until her parents' divorce two years earlier, Faith does not know her father, and it is revealed that her mother was an alcoholic who beat Faith, before her death. She has been surviving on her own since her original Watcher, someone who teaches her about the demons and monsters she will face, was tortured and killed shortly before Faith's arrival in Sunnydale.〔Holder, ''et al'', pp. 86–88.〕 Groener loved the part and was impressed with the writing. As a stage actor used to having rehearsal time to prepare for a role, he found himself often with little time for rehearsal in the environment of television production; actors sometimes get their lines the night before and must memorize them, then spend time on set learning how to block shots for cameras. Consequently, Groener said he did not have much time to rehearse and prepare for the role of the Mayor. He was surprised to see how involved Joss Whedon was in preparing scripts: sometimes Whedon would rewrite lines on set. Groener said, "Poor Joss. Here is a man who I think never sleeps. He never, ever sleeps and of course he was writing and directing the last two episodes, and there were times when we would simply get a synopsis the night before...and while they're setting everything up and getting everything ready to shoot the next scene, Joss is over in a corner writing the scene that's going to happen after that. It can be kind of nuts! But it all gets done. That's the magic of it."〔Holder, ''et al'', pp. 299–305.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mayor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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