Joss Whedon: What’s The Deal?
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I have never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I played the fun XBox game though).
I have never seen Firefly.
I saw the trailer for Serenity and it looks like a low budget sci-fi flick that should have gone direct to video.
What is the big deal?
18 Responses to “Joss Whedon: What’s The Deal?”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
oof. Let me lay down a brief, honest answer before your unspeakable flames begin. Do not piss off the browncoats.
Joss Whedon is a big deal for several reason, both for his screenwriting skills and in a meta-media sense. As a screenwriter/rewriter, he’s pretty sharp, including most of the stuff you liked in Speed and Toy Story. Buffy was a seminal piece of television in its perversion of genre stereotypes (he pretty much invented the ass-kicking heroine genre on TV),its well-crafted characters and its unique narrative structure. The characters reacted in emotionally honest ways even as they lived through unrealistic genre situations — it was one of the best examples of how sci-fi/horror is really meant to be used as a lens through which you can acccelerate storytelling and highlight emotions, as opposed to the genre trappings being the end-all be-all. Within the genres themselves, also, he is magnificently creative. His take on the future in Firefly is both offbeat and familiar — the very opposite, in every way of the standard shiny-future approach. Orson Scott Card, no less, considers Serenity to be the finest piece of science fiction film-making in a decade.
He is one of the most adroit practitioners of the closed-season style of writing, or serial style. In most television (for a variety of historical and medium reasons) , the writing/character goal is to return everything to the status quo. At the end of every season of Buffy (and his other work), the world of the characters had irrevocably changed, and the characters themselves had evolved into very different people. Even stronger, he was evolving the characters over a very specific story/character arc over a multiple-seasons plan. This created an insanely loyal (if somewhat limited) audience for his shows. He and his staff — and one cannot underestimate the influence of his style in Hollywood today as disseminated by his former staff writers — never hesitate to write big romance, big tragedy, and big funny, all the time walking that fine line between ridiculous and cool. And really genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, not chuckle funny. His work never sacrifices heart for clever (Lost *cough*). To be blunt, and I say this as a professional screenwriter, the fact that the Buffy episode “The Body” didn’t win an Emmy pretty much means we should burn Hollywood to the ground and start again.
On a meta-media sense, Whedon reached out to his audience in a way I can tell you from experience is completely antithetical to the way Hollywood treats the audience. He considers himself the first among equals of fans — encourages fansites, does copious interviews with them, encourages access to shows and actors … as a result of this effort, his box sets of shows sell unspeakably well. And seeing as DVD box sets are now the only thing keeping Hollywood afloat, to have achieved mastery in that area so soon sets him apart. He’s either lucky in his sincerity or insanely cunning. Either one is remarkable. Serenity exists as a movie soley because his fans demanded it, and created a market Universal couldn’t ignore. Even more remarkably, its box-office is meaningless, as the DVD sales will justify making, frankly, as many of the damn things as he wants. Mnay writers changed the TV landscape — Bochco, Cannell, etc — but few combined it with new media marketing savvy (although Cannell essentially invented shooting in Vancouver, but that’s another story).
In the new media landscape, Joss Whedon will be a history lesson.
So that’s the big deal. I prescribe Buffy seasons 1-5, all the Angel Seasons, the boxed set of Firefly, then go see Serenity. Or, just the Firefly boxed set — the show seems to have won over several of my friends immune to Buffy’s considerable charms.
Haven’t there been enough articles to read to explain his fandom?
He’s funny. He creates characters that people care about.
He’s steeped in pop culture, but he’s still able to avoid most cliches, and even often pokes fun at cliches.
I just watched a Buffy episode where Buffy and Cordelia are vying for Prom Queen, and, when the award is announced, the guy reading on the stage says, “We have a first here. A tie.” There’s a beat where you think it’ll be the lamest of lame, and then he announces two other girls. Either you find that really funny or not. A moment like that in “Serenity” has been played over and over on the TV ads:
Mal: You want to run this ship?
Jayne: Yes.
Mal (flummoxed): Well, … you can’t.
Mal’s first line is a standard cue for a macho show-down scene, and then Whedon turns it upside down by having Jayne give the obvious answer, rather than the usual, “No, but…” and continuing the argument.
Even the idea of “Buffy” is an inversion of a cliche – a girl who hunts monsters, rather than the other way around.
Whedon is constantly playing with pop culture this way. There’s a scene in Serenity where one character suggests the most cliche answer to a puzzle, and the woman at the center of the puzzle gives him a look like, ‘Boy, that would be lame.’ It’s funny in general, but it’s even funnier if you, as an audience member, have already thought of that answer, because then the look is for you, and you are laughing at yourself.
I have never seen Firefly.
There’s your problem right there. Imagine a kind of Star Trek/Red Dwarf/Bonanza/Have Gun Will Travel/Wagon Train crossover.
Check out Firefly, dude.
The deal is, watch Buffy, or Angel, or Firefly. (My personal taste? Skip Buffy s6 or s7.)
I mean, how would you explain the genius of the Simpsons to someone who’s never seen more than 150 seconds of it? We could talk all day about it, but it’s something you should experience.
Never watched Buffy? Are you living in a cave?
And yes, it is better if you start at the beginning.
Everything everyone else said, but also,
The biggest seller for you, O, is that he’s a comic book addict. He actually wrote a series of X-men comics, and also just released a bunch of Firefly ones as well. And it influences his work.
You have to tolerate the low production value of season one and make it into season 2 of buffy before you really start getting addicted. Season 2 really is when he starts to hit his groove. (Season 3 is my personal favorite.) He never takes himself too seriously, and he creates villains with actual depth. I think the biggest strength of Buffy is the allegorical relationship between the monsters and real life.
When Buffy sleeps with her long time boyfriend, things go sour. He literally turns into a monster. When Spike tries to bite Willow, he can’t. It’s the vampire version of erectile dysfunction. When Xander’s teacher tries to seduce him, it turns out she’s a giant praying mantis wanting to eat him. Throughout the series, characters deal with issues that correspond to real life. Just taken to their logical extreme.
But mostly, its just a hilarious series. And frankly, Buffy is the least interesting character in the series. It’s the people around her and the villians who make it really interesting. And they all get equal time.
Oh and theres sex and violence. So that’s cool too.
Oliver,
There are two things that you could do to find out what the big deal is.
1. Run down to the video store and rent the first episode of Firefly.
2. Go see Serenity.
After that, you should be able to better decide if it’s a big deal or not.
I was not a big fan of Buffy or Angel, so when Firefly first came out, I passed on it. A friend gave me the box set, and I’ve loved it ever since.
To wit:
1. It’s funny.
2. It’s smart.
3. It never cheats.
4. It never insults your intelligence.
What more can you ask from any show?
BtVS was the best, most realistic show about high school ever. Also the funniest, and also the most serious, in the issues addressed. And it was very real about college life, too.
My wife and I finally broke down and bought a DVD player so we could see the unaired episodes of “Firefly” included in the complete series DVD set.
Am I the only voice of dissent? I too don’t understand the hype. Watched two episodes of Buffy, never watched Angel (and not just because I was working nights when the show was on) – never cared for either, and the fact that he used one of the most over-used cliches didn’t endear his work to me (the return from the dead bit, something he used in his x-men comic – despite that being one of the most overused cliches in that comic as well). I’ve seen his Alien movie and his writing (if that is what he did there) hasn’t improved. That movie had some of the lamest lines, and that’s what I’ve seen in Firefly.
So far, I’ve seen three shows (Confederate World, West World, and Crime World are my names for them, have no idea what they really are). I’ve found his writing to be extremely erratic – he has some good lines, then he has lines where I’m asking “why the hell did he include that?”. I haven’t cared for any of the characters (although I was glad to see Ron Glass – of Barney Miller – still around). Part of my problem also is that he just seems to reuse the same cliches that I’ve seen time and time again, but the “twists” he uses (as everyone who uses them has to) just don’t work for me. We have the Captain who is a bit of a dweeb, who is attracted to the “Companion” (two cliches for the price of one!), the doctor and his tortured/psychotic/damaged sister on the run from the facist (presumably) authorities, the preacher with the shadowy past (probably a general or something in the facist’s military, considering how he handles a rifle and the respect he got from some soldiers in the Western episode), the married couple (source of some really lame dialogue), and a few other people (some weapon fanatic and some cowardly woman – I think that’s everybody).
Part of the fanaticism seems to be a rejection of more traditional sci-fi (although to my mind movies like Blade Runner and Outland did a better “gritty” sci-fi than this show). Part of it seems to be a lack of sci-fi on tv period (compared to other shows). Part of it seems to be the gaming crowd, who seem to see the show as something they would write – or play in (the Serenty RPG illustrates this). Unfortunately for me, I’d like to watch something that is better written than something I could do (especially something that I could do 25 years ago). And this is from a man who likes a lot of really lame B-movie garbage. I think part of it is that the characters are like people you might know, but I’d rather watch somebody like Captain Kirk than “Fred the Mailman in space”. Fred’s a nice guy, but why the hell would I want to watch his life? If I want that, I have my own.
In a way, it seems to me like the Kevin Smith thing-you either don’t understand it or you are some blood-crazed fanatic. I don’t get it either.
Personally, the only thing I would recommend is to borrow Firefly from someone (don’t spend money for it), then see if it is worth your cash.
My question, Oliver, is why you bother to ask “What’s the big deal?”, given that your sum total of experience with Whedon seems to be watching the Serenity trailer? Try doing a little research. It’s not like Buffy and Firefly aren’t available on DVD.
I’m just wondering what the big deal is, why I should watch those things. To date, all I see are raves and no concrete explanation until I made this blog post. For instance, Aaron Sorkin writes great dialogue and complex stories, or Joh Grisham writes interesting scenes or …
The following is not to say that Buffy, at it’s best, was not a series of surprisingly brilliant depth; it was. Like the best-written Batman comic you’ve ever read (though those who tell you to stop before S6 are right).
At least some of the “big deal” is about his image, false I believe, as the creator of a feminist icon (and a champion of feminism himself). But the biggest deal is, Joss Whedon’s fanbase is devoted to the point of fawning.
They are completely lacking in healthy cynicism about anything that has his name on it. He postures and plays to such people, a form of exploitation that they call “reaching out to his audience.”
So I guess what I want to say is: Yeah. Believe the hype. But only as far as it goes, which is only so far.
I would say that one thing you overlooked is that it is not low budget. It has all the budget it needs. Huge space stations flying around in space (with or without Mozart) not needed.
Watched TWO EPSISODES of Buffy and passing judgement? Out of 140? Good lord.
And I agree, his fan base can be overly devoted. This doesn’t take away from the objective accomplishments in both his writing work and re-ailgnment of fundamental aspects of the business model. And to call reaching out to his audience “exploitation” … well, that’s a fair bit of cynicism right there, perhaps more than a “healthy” amount/
It may be good business, but it is business. He “reaches out” to fans…so that they will keep paying to see his movies, buying his comics, and watching his television shows.
“Serenity” itself was only made as an experiment in seeing how much work the (unpaid) fans will do to put money in the pockets of Universal and Joss Whedon’s team.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/757fhfxg.asp
badger3k: I was underwhelmed by Buffy after a couple of episodes and didn’t watch its first seasons because of this. I revisited it a couple years later, and realized I had missed something – there’s a cumulative effect to Whedon’s story-telling.
I felt similarly underwhelmed by Firefly, incidentally. I’m glad Sci-Fi reran them so I could get a second look – much better than I remembered.
Ben: You are very cynical. Yes, Whedon is still in business, but some people in Hollywood are still driven by the desire to tell stories.
Yes, the preview screenings for fans were marketing, in an effort to generate buzz that reached non-fans, but Whedon has been ‘reaching out to fans’ for a long time. If it was all phony self-promotion, even the biggest fan-geek I think would have realized it by now.
It seems the height of cynicism to say that ‘Serenity’ was made to test out whether the Firefly fan-base was exploitable. It is true that this might be Universal’s motive to make the movie, but is it Whedon’s? Or is he using that as a “pitch” to allow him to tell the story he wanted to tell, but was stopped from telling by early cancellation?
MP:
“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”
–George Bernard Shaw
In short, Whedon entertains his audience without insulting their intelligence. His mild yet obvious subversion of pop culture, TV, and silver screen conventions is his most potent weapon to that end.
It’s just entertainment, but it’s pretty damn good as such. Considering all the brain-dead pap disguised as “action thrillers” that gets run through the multiplex mill these days, I hope Whedon makes a few more Serenity movies just to keep things interesting.
Of course, it is nearly miraculous that Whedon’s brand of quirkiness finds any audience at all in a nation so enamored of the medieval idiot theater known as professional and collegiate football.