Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Existential Joss Whedon Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel Firefly and Ser The Existential Joss Whedon: Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel Firefly and Serenity by J. Michael Richardson. Faith and Choice in the Works of Joss Whedon K. Dale Koontz. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008. Softcover: vii +231. ISBN 978-0-7864-3476-3. $35.00. Reviewed by Amy H. Sturgis. [This review originally appeared in Mythlore 27.3/4 (#105/106) (2009): 171–72.] What do Earth-bound vampire slayers and cowboys in space have in common? In her new book about the worlds of Joss Whedon, K. Dale Koontz suggests that the answer is far deeper and more meaningful than witty writing and impressive special effects alone. Koontz is not the first author to analyze Joss Whedon’s Buffy universe (consisting of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series and their related texts) together with his Firefly universe (consisting of the Firefly television series, the film Serenity , and their related texts); some of those who anticipated her include J. Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb with their book Existential Joss Whedon: Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity (McFarland: 2006) and Joy Davidson with her edited collection The Psychology of Joss Whedon: An Unauthorized Exploration of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly (BenBella: 2007). In Faith and Choice in the Works of Joss Whedon , however, Koontz also considers Whedon’s eight-issue comic series Fray , a futuristic tale related to but independent from the Buffy universe, thus expanding the landscape of Whedon studies. Unfortunately, one cannot help but think that Koontz’s volume debuted one year too early, because Whedon’s groundbreaking 2008 production Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog not only has proven to be one of his most popular and critically acclaimed creations, but also embodies the themes of choice and faith that are of most interest to Koontz. Koontz’s purpose lies in examining why — and, more to the point, how — self-proclaimed atheist Joss Whedon underscores the themes of choice and faith in his works, themes that are undeniably spiritual in nature, if not tied to a specific religious tradition. While Koontz’s subject is compelling, she also implies that it is unique, and in so doing she misses a valuable opportunity to draw parallels between Whedon’s work and that of one of his contemporaries. Like Whedon, Chris Carter emphasizes questions of free will, redemption, and belief — often, like Whedon, invoking the symbolism of Roman Catholicism in particular while doing so — in creations such as The X-Files and Millennium , among others. The apparent paradox that Carter, an avowedly non-religious man, would devote so much attention to spiritual questions, and explore religious issues so perceptively, has been the focus of multiple analyses by critics. By ignoring the parallels between Whedon and Carter and failing to engage the scholarship on Carter’s work, Koontz loses the chance to make a larger comment on the contemporary creators behind and consumers of fantasy and science fiction media. Despite these drawbacks, however, Koontz offers a valuable addition to Whedon studies. She divides her discussion into four sections. The first considers the theme of purpose through a close reading of the characters of Dawn, Spike, and Angel from the Buffy universe. The second focuses on the idea of family; Koontz begins by examining the way Whedon uses twin and sibling relationships in Fray and concludes by considering the atypical family represented by the crew and passengers in the Firefly universe. Third, Koontz presents her longest and most successful section, an extended exploration of how Whedon handles the concept of redemption via the characters of Doyle and Faith from the Buffy universe and Mal and Book Shepherd from the world of Firefly . Last, Koontz highlights zealotry as portrayed in the lives of River from Firefly and Caleb from Buffy . Throughout the chapters, Koontz spotlights what she considers to be the “ABCs” of Whedon’s storytelling: acceptance, belief, and choice. Koontz’s familiarity with Whedon’s work allows her to move effortlessly among episodes and films and texts to draw three-dimensional and perceptive portraits of both the characters in question and the ideas they represent. At a few points she fails to match her encyclopedic knowledge of all things Whedon with an equally wide conception of spirituality; for the most part, Koontz limits herself to considering Whedon through the lens of Western Christianity, despite the overt and intentional presence of Buddhism, for example, in the Firefly universe. On the whole, however, Koontz makes a convincing case for the spiritual richness and artistic sophistication of Whedon’s creations, and thus a valuable contribution to scholarship on Whedon and in media studies. The reader is left with a deeper appreciation of Whedon’s faith — in the promise of goodness and in the potential of people, if not in a god — and the many ways in which he challenges and empowers his characters and, in turn, his fans to make moral choices with courage and compassion. The Existential Joss Whedon: Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel Firefly and Serenity by J. Michael Richardson. But first, let's get to the hard facts: The main body of the book consists of eleven chapters; the first one is an introduction to the existentialist ideas of Lev Shestov and Jean-Paul Sartre and their specific relevance to Buffy studies. It is followed by eight chapters that focus on different storylines of the Buffyverse and offer interpretations along the lines drawn out in the first chapter, and one that does the same for Firefly and Serenity ; the Firefly content is in fact so slim that it could have just as well been omitted. The closing chapter once again tries to point out how Joss Whedon can be seen as a moral philosopher. Most chapters can stand on their own as essays, which has the negative side effect of making the book a little repetitive. However, Richardson and Rabb do a good job at explaining and applying their basic concepts in a writing style that is not overly academic and, occasionally, even funny. Furthermore, they obviously know their Whedon by heart. Nevertheless, the book is marred by a flaw that seems typical of such works: even though the authors have nothing but admiration for Whedon's work and claim that they intend to let it speak for itself, they end up using it as nothing more than illustration for their philosophy, which, to make things worse, is presented in a quite dogmatic way. This is most glaringly demonstrated by their constant repetition of the notion that existential freedom is the power "not to admit evil into the world." While this concept certainly rings true with some moments in Buffy and Angel , Richardson and Rabb invoke it so often, and most of the time to so little effect, that the phrase becomes meaningless. Furthermore, there are several instances of pretty cheap symbolism, e.g. the authors claiming that the stakes used to dust vampires are representations of the tree of knowledge -- an arbitrary claim that isn't really corroborated by anything but the fact that it fits with the general argument of the book. Another example of such arbitrary strategies of argumentation is given when the authors claim that Buffy especially speaks to teenagers who have been raised in secular homes (because it provides them with a much needed mythology that incorporates the cultural heritage of Christianity) as well as to teenagers who have been raised in religious homes (because it allows them to embrace the positive aspects of this tradition as well as to rebel against authority). On its own, each of these two notions could be argued, but slapped together like this they appear as nothing more than a cheap attempt of immunisation against any kind of refutation. For the sake of constructing Whedon's work into a coherent argument in favor of their case, Richardson and Rabb end up levelling a lot of its ambivalence. This is most obvious when, in the final chapter, they try to turn "Pangs," one of the most complex and conflicted episodes of Buffy , into an explication of a straightforward moral system. A similar kind of flattening happens to the philosophical concepts targeted by their critique -- the notions of reason, pragmatism and logic are conflated into each other and, in consequence much too easily dismissed. To give another example of this strategy of oversimplification: "Love is an emotion," the authors claim on page 75, a definition that could be discussed without and within the boundaries of the either the Buffyverse or existentialist philosophy. Instead, Richardson and Rabb simply present their preconception as self- evident. I may be a little hard on this book because I passionately disagree with its rather simplistic anti-rationalism. Throughout the more theoretical sections of the book, I felt desperate for some of the dialectics of the Frankfurt School, or at least for some Foucault-style wittiness. What I enjoyed about this book was that it took me back into the fictional Universes of Joss Whedon, but in the end, it could have had that by simply re- watching some favourite episodes. Dr. JM Richardson and Dr. J. Douglas Rabb publish book examining the major works of Joss Whedon. This study examines the major works of contemporary American television and film screenwriter Joss Whedon. The authors argue that these works are part of an existentialist tradition that stretches back from the French atheistic existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, through the Danish Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard, to the Russian novelist and existentialist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Whedon and Dostoevsky, for example, seem preoccupied with the problem of evil and human freedom. Both argue that in each and every one of us "a demon lies hidden." Whedon personifies these demons and has them wandering about and causing havoc. Dostoevsky treats the subject only slightly more seriously. Chapters cover such topics as Russian existentialism and vampire slayage; moral choices; ethics; Faith and bad faith; constructing reality through existential choice; some limitations of science and technology; love and self-sacrifice; love, witchcraft, and vengeance; soul mates and moral responsibility; love and moral choice; forms of freedom; and Whedon as moral philosopher. The Existential Joss Whedon is available in the Lakehead University Alumni Bookstore. The book can also be purchased directly from the publisher, McFarland & Company, and is available on Amazon. Margaret McLean Receives 20 Year Pin. Orillia's Rhetoric 1031 Produce Text for Future Students. Lakehead Professor Presents Dickens Paper in Genoa, Italy. (June 14, 2007 --Thunder Bay, ON) Today, Philip Allingham, PhD, Associate Professor with the Faculty of Education, adjunct to the Department of English at Lakehead University, will be presenting his paper entitled "Charles 'Carlo' Dickens In and Out of Italy in 1844--The Chimes" at the Dickens, Victorian Culture, and Italy Conference in Genoa, Italy. Professor Allingham's paper presents the ways by which The Chimes, the second of the Christmas Books, achieves a social integration and emphasis on the working class that Dickens had not previously dealt with in his narrative fiction. Dickens wrote The Chimes in the fall of 1844 while he resided in Genoa with his family. "Although I have explored various avenues of his work in previous papers, this particular submission takes a New Historicist approach by providing a biographical, social, and historical context for the novella." Allingham's work will also be published in conference proceedings sponsored by the Universities of Milan and Genoa, and the Italian Cultural Ministry. "This conference promises to provide the utmost cultural context regarding the study of Dickens, his work, and their combined relation to Italy" says Allingham. "I am thrilled, not only to present my own work, but also to learn what my colleagues and fellow 'Dickensians' from around the world have produced." Allingham will go on sabbatical in January of 2008: he will work on "Thomas Hardy's Illustrated Fiction, 1870-1900," a work that, although currently in manuscript, has been proposed to and accepted by Mellen Press. It will be completed by September of 2008. In addition to his research, Allingham has also played an academic role in organizing events related to his educational domain. In May, he, along with several of his colleagues, attended the 10th Annual OISE/UT-Faculties of Education-Ministry of Education Conference, an annual forum held in Toronto. Allingham sat on the Board of Conference Organizers and served as Facilitator for English Language Arts Elementary and Secondary. Dr. JM Richardson and Dr. J. Douglas Rabb publish book examining the major works of Joss Whedon. This study examines the major works of contemporary American television and film screenwriter Joss Whedon. The authors argue that these works are part of an existentialist tradition that stretches back from the French atheistic existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, through the Danish Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard, to the Russian novelist and existentialist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Whedon and Dostoevsky, for example, seem preoccupied with the problem of evil and human freedom. Both argue that in each and every one of us "a demon lies hidden." Whedon personifies these demons and has them wandering about and causing havoc. Dostoevsky treats the subject only slightly more seriously. Chapters cover such topics as Russian existentialism and vampire slayage; moral choices; ethics; Faith and bad faith; constructing reality through existential choice; some limitations of science and technology; love and self-sacrifice; love, witchcraft, and vengeance; soul mates and moral responsibility; love and moral choice; forms of freedom; and Whedon as moral philosopher. The Existential Joss Whedon is available in the Lakehead University Alumni Bookstore. The book can also be purchased directly from the publisher, McFarland & Company, and is available on Amazon. Academic Calendar myCourselink Library myEmail myInfo Directory A-Z Index Contact Us Careers Accessibility. Lakehead University respectfully acknowledges its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Fort William First Nation, Signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850 and the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi nations, collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy. Joss Whedon: Master of cult TV. For the second class in our EW University course on TV Auteurs, Prof. Adam B. Vary offers this overview of the TV career of Joss Whedon, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Dollhouse. Also, check out this photo gallery of our favorite shows by four legendary showrunners . What Stephen Bochco ( Hill Street Blues , L.A. Law , NYPD Blue ), Norman Lear ( All in the Family , The Jeffersons ), and Rod Serling ( The Twilight Zone ) were in the 20th century television, Joss Whedon has become today: Nothing less than a television brand. His name alongside the “Created by” credit during the opening titles guarantees you are about to watch a show that swings for the fences; a show as keenly attuned to its female characters as its male ones; a show that tackles Big Ideas and Big Themes without skimping on Great Entertainment; a show that is unafraid to Go There, from allowing the lead heroine or hero to make some profoundly unlikable choices to killing off a beloved character; a show that is steeped in genre tropes yet also lovingly tweaks them; and a show that has a tone, style, and voice so singular that it’s earned its own adjective: Whedonesque . And yet Joss Whedon has never been at the helm of a bone fide mainstream hit. From his seminal first series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer , to his current distaff genre series Dollhouse , Whedon has instead become a master of cult TV, fostering a small(ish) but rabidly loyal fan base for each of his series. A critics’ darling if ever there was one, he has failed, however, to win the respect of Emmy voters, who have — in the unimpeachable opinion of Whedon fans everywhere — unforgivably snubbed his shows, their writers (well, mostly), and their actors. No matter. If all he had done was make Buffy the Vampire Slayer ‘s first three seasons, Whedon’s place in the TV firmament would be secure. As it stands today, his ongoing body of work is a testament to the heartening truth that unique and uncommonly great network television is still possible in an era dominated by reality TV and endless procedural crime show spin-offs. Whedon comes by his TV showrunning skills quite naturally: His grandfather John was a writer on The Donna Reed Show , and his father Tom was a producer on The Golden Girls . Joss Whedon got his start in television at 25 as a writer on the second season of Roseanne , an experience he once described to EW as “baptism by radioactive waste.” Soon after getting the gig, however, Whedon sold his first feature screenplay, a feminist twist on the old high school slasher film called Buffy the Vampire Slayer . But the filmmakers played the script strictly as a jokey camp- fest, and the film was ultimately forgettable. (Well, for most.) It was unfortunately typical of Whedon’s experiences in the movie business for the next half-decade, where he mostly toiled as an uncredited script doctor on films like Speed , Twister , and Waterworld . (One quite pleasant exception: Whedon earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing Toy Story .) Alien Resurrection , his first sole screenplay credit since the Buffy movie , had a third act so wildly different from Whedon’s vision that he’s admitted he regrets having any involvement with the movie. So in 1996, when Whedon was approached to adapt Buffy for the small screen, this time on his terms, he jumped at the chance. He moved the story from Los Angeles to the fictional California town of Sunnydale, cast soap opera actress Sarah Michelle Gellar as the title slayer, and shot 13 episodes (including an unaired pilot) for a mid-season berth in the spring of 1997 on the brand new network The WB. A mash-up of teenage high school soap opera and bad-ass horror monster movie — but, you know, classier — Buffy ‘s literally-fighting-your-demons ethos made it a ripe and emotionally rich metaphor for high school and early adulthood. Practically from the start, the series’ dramatic chops and youthful viewership gave its struggling mini-network some needed credibility and advertiser-pleasing demographics, but Whedon has said that it wasn’t until the show’s fourth season that he knew for certain that it was going to be renewed for another year. And that is the great Whedon paradox: The very things that make his TV series such addictive fun for their fans — unpredictable plotlines that arc over an entire season, pop-culture references steeped in in-jokey geekery, throwaway callbacks to minor moments from previous shows and seasons, an unabashed genre mythology that belies its deep bench of fully-realized characters you desperately care about — also limits them from developing the kind of double-digit ratings usually expected of popular TV hits. Indeed, in its seven season run, Buffy never averaged more than 5.3 million viewers a season. That ratings reality has meant that Whedon has found himself in a seemingly constant struggle with network brass. The WB dropped Buffy in its fifth season, forcing Whedon to develop a storyline that (SPOILER ALERT!) could reasonably conclude the series (i.e. killing Buffy) that season, while also scrambling to find a new home for the show, which ended up being mini-network UPN for two more years. But at least Buffy was allowed to conclude its run on Whedon’s terms. In 1999, Whedon premiered the Buffy spin-off Angel , about the Slayer’s doomed vampire boyfriend (David Boreanaz), who moves to L.A. to get away from Buffy and become a private eye. Darker, harsher, and, at first, more episodic that Buffy , Angel had a solid run, banking ratings that matched its parent show. But The WB cancelled Angel after five seasons, a move that blindsided Whedon, since he felt the show had just started firing on all cylinders. “It was like ‘Healthy Guy Falls Dead From Heart Attack,'” Whedon told EW in 2004. And then there was Firefly . A sci-fi western — literally, the show’s opening credits played to a Whedon-penned folk song and ended with a ramshackle spaceship flying over a galloping herd of horses — Firefly launched the career of star Nathan Fillion, who played a rascally spaceship captain trying with his crew to make a living, honest or otherwise. Fans and critics marveled at how quickly Whedon established Firefly ‘s teeming universe, but the show’s network, Fox, never took a shine to it. Instead of airing Whedon’s two-hour pilot as its first episode, Fox forced Whedon to write a more action-packed hour-long ep for the series premiere, dumped the show on Friday nights, aired episodes out of order, and ultimately cancelled it before all 14 shot episodes had aired. The ordeal so gutted Whedon that he took the project to Universal, rounded up the show’s cast, and directed a feature film version, Serenity , in 2005. That’s another remarkable quality of Whedon’s: He is so unfailingly loyal to everyone who works with him that he’s essentially created a stable of writers and actors that could collectively be called the “Whedonverse.” To wit: After Firefly was cancelled, Whedon cast Fillion and co-star Gina Torres as Big Bads (Whedon-speak for major villains) in Buffy ‘s final season and Angel ‘s fourth season, respectively. After talk of another Buffy spin-off series and Angel and Buffy TV movies proved fruitless, Whedon launched “ Buffy Season Eight,” an ongoing comic book series written by many of Buffy ‘s most beloved writers. (In fact, many of the writers who got their start on Buffy — Jane Espenson, David Fury, Marti Noxon, Drew Goddard — have gone onto robust careers on other iconic TV series, including Battlestar Galactica , Lost , 24 , and Mad Men .) In 2008, in the wake of the Writers Guild strike, Whedon dreamed up Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog , a three-part musical mini-series about a wannabe supervillain made specifically for the internet. For the lead title role, he recruited Whedonverse newbie Neil Patrick Harris (who, it should be noted, currently co-stars with Buffy alum Alyson Hannigan on CBS’s How I Met Your Mother , and was in the running for a series regular role on Firefly ). For Dr. Horrible’s bete noir Capt. Hammer, however, Whedon called on Nathan Fillion again, and for the role of the girl they fight over, Whedon reached deep into the Buffy bench, casting Felicia Day, who’d appeared in a handful of episodes of the final season as a “potential” slayer and had gone on to create a successful web series called The Guild . And Dollhouse , Whedon’s latest TV series, is stacked with Whedonverse alumni: It stars Buffy favorite Eliza Dushku (i.e. bad-girl slayer Faith) as Echo, one of several “Dolls” who work for an underground company that implants them with specific personalities tailored to the desires of high- playing clients. Angel co-star Amy Acker plays a mysterious doctor with the company, Firefly alum Alan Tudyk showed up at the end of the first season as … well … best not spoil that one, and Dr. Horrible ‘s Felicia Day showed up in a special “bonus” episode that appears on the Dollhouse season 1 DVD set. The show’s tricky premise won Whedon yet another cult following, but practically everyone (including Whedon) was surprised when Fox picked the show up for a second season, which premieres Sept. 25. With Whedon now branching into filmmaking again — The Cabin in the Woods , produced by Whedon, written by Whedon and Drew Goddard, and directed by Goddard, premieres February 2010 — it seems like the 45-year-old TV auteur may finally be finding the kind of career stability and respect he earned years and years ago. Hopefully, the only epic struggles in Joss Whedon’s life from now on will be the one he writes on the blank page. Extra Credit Viewing: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series. One of several aborted attempts to broaden the “Buffyverse” was this animated version set during Buffy’s high-school-era seasons. Featuring the voices of original actors Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, and Anthony Stewart Head, this teaser trailer for the show hits all the right notes; it’s a shame (though not a shock) that no one put up the dough to make it a full-fledged series. Roseanne – “Chicken Hearts” Whedon penned several episodes of the second season of Roseanne , including this standout, about the title matriarch’s attempt to butter up her adolescent boss at a local fast-food joint so she wouldn’t have to work weekends. Below, that episode’s final act. Buffy reunion at PaleyFest 2008. Whedon reunited with practically the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer gang for this 10-year anniversary celebration of the show. The whole thing is definitely worth watching, but this clip, in which Sarah Michelle Gellar and Whedon talk about the organizing metaphor for the show, is especially choice. Whedon accepts Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism at Harvard’s Memorial Church. One of Whedon’s most outstanding legacies is how seriously his worldview is taken by academia — and that’s partly due to how seriously (though not too seriously) Whedon takes his worldview. This speech, from this April, in which Whedon full-throatedly defends his secular humanism (i.e. non-believer-ism, i.e. atheism) is as eloquent and apt a distillation of that worldview as you’re likely to find outside of his shows. Whedon’s speech to Equality Now. OK, I lied. This is as eloquent and apt a distillation of Whedon’s worldview as you’re likely to find outside of his shows. (And no, Meryl Streep isn’t mistaken when she said in her introduction that Whedon’s working on Wonder Woman — after Whedon made this speech in 2006, he left the super-heroine project due to creative differences with the producers.)