Joss Whedon and BtVS
Aug. 30th, 2017 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightI'm going to write a short review of the latest Buffy comic, but before I do, just wanted to say a few words about the Joss Whedon thing.
It all blew up while I was away last week (I was only home for one night in the entire week when the house wasn't full of visitors) so I missed the initial furore (if there was one), but I'm all caught up now, have read what Joss's ex-wife had to say, and the letter that Joss apparently wrote her. He says there are inaccuracies in her account but won't say what they are out of 'respect' for her and their children (how magnanimous of him), but it's notable that no one has stepped up to defend him, which suggests to me her account is more or less truthful, whatever he claims.
I can't say it's particularly a surprise to me to learn that a man who finds himself in quite a powerful position in the entertainment industry, would take advantage of it by being serially unfaithful to his wife, just because he can. I'm sure it happens all the time. So :shrug: really.
On the other hand, it does cast his fetishisation of a particular physical type of young woman in an even ickier light, and the fact that in his letter he puts the blame for his unfaithfulness on 'aggressive, needy' young actresses leaves a bad taste in the mouth - though again, he's hardly the first man to do that when caught out.
But it's the hypocrisy that burns most of all, of course - the fact that he let himself be patted on the back and lauded as a feminist while all this was going on. Easier to lap up the praise than to stick up his hand and admit his actions haven't always matched his words, but still...
Yeah, I do feel a bit let down.
Though not surprised, as I said, and, when it comes to BtVS the show, completely and totally :shrug: about it. Learning that Joss is a cheat and a hypocrite doesn't affect my love of what I'm certain will always be his greatest (and his only great) creation. BtVS isn't perfect - not by any means - but it's a wonderful TV show and a seminal piece of pop culture that has helped change the way women are depicted on TV.
So, thanks for that, Joss, and all the many others involved in making BtVS what it was. I quite enjoyed AtS as well. The rest of Joss's output, not so much.
Which is not to say I might not like something he does in the future (though I'm pretty certain I won't like it as much as BtVS). After all, if we required everyone whose job it is to entertain us to live pure, moral existences we'd probably have nothing to watch at all.
I do quite like the current run of Buffy comics, have to say, but they seem to have very little to do with Joss any more, which is fine by me, and probably why season 10 handled the fall-out from the Seeing Red attempted rape so much better than Joss ever did. Also, this business with Joss has helped me decide to do something that I really should have done before, which is to delete most of my BtVS icons. I'm terribly fond of them, which is why I haven't done it before, but apart from comics reviews I don't talk about the show that much any more and I could do with more icon space both here and on LJ. I've created a special folder for them, so if I change my mind I can always upload them again.
It all blew up while I was away last week (I was only home for one night in the entire week when the house wasn't full of visitors) so I missed the initial furore (if there was one), but I'm all caught up now, have read what Joss's ex-wife had to say, and the letter that Joss apparently wrote her. He says there are inaccuracies in her account but won't say what they are out of 'respect' for her and their children (how magnanimous of him), but it's notable that no one has stepped up to defend him, which suggests to me her account is more or less truthful, whatever he claims.
I can't say it's particularly a surprise to me to learn that a man who finds himself in quite a powerful position in the entertainment industry, would take advantage of it by being serially unfaithful to his wife, just because he can. I'm sure it happens all the time. So :shrug: really.
On the other hand, it does cast his fetishisation of a particular physical type of young woman in an even ickier light, and the fact that in his letter he puts the blame for his unfaithfulness on 'aggressive, needy' young actresses leaves a bad taste in the mouth - though again, he's hardly the first man to do that when caught out.
But it's the hypocrisy that burns most of all, of course - the fact that he let himself be patted on the back and lauded as a feminist while all this was going on. Easier to lap up the praise than to stick up his hand and admit his actions haven't always matched his words, but still...
Yeah, I do feel a bit let down.
Though not surprised, as I said, and, when it comes to BtVS the show, completely and totally :shrug: about it. Learning that Joss is a cheat and a hypocrite doesn't affect my love of what I'm certain will always be his greatest (and his only great) creation. BtVS isn't perfect - not by any means - but it's a wonderful TV show and a seminal piece of pop culture that has helped change the way women are depicted on TV.
So, thanks for that, Joss, and all the many others involved in making BtVS what it was. I quite enjoyed AtS as well. The rest of Joss's output, not so much.
Which is not to say I might not like something he does in the future (though I'm pretty certain I won't like it as much as BtVS). After all, if we required everyone whose job it is to entertain us to live pure, moral existences we'd probably have nothing to watch at all.
I do quite like the current run of Buffy comics, have to say, but they seem to have very little to do with Joss any more, which is fine by me, and probably why season 10 handled the fall-out from the Seeing Red attempted rape so much better than Joss ever did. Also, this business with Joss has helped me decide to do something that I really should have done before, which is to delete most of my BtVS icons. I'm terribly fond of them, which is why I haven't done it before, but apart from comics reviews I don't talk about the show that much any more and I could do with more icon space both here and on LJ. I've created a special folder for them, so if I change my mind I can always upload them again.