Thursday, March 24 2011
In the Buff: Sexual Conservatism in the Works of Whedon
Although Joss Whedon is widely regarded as espousing a variety of liberal positions, here the author argues that this does not extend to his views concerning casual sex.
Wednesday, March 23 2011
Heroic Humanism and Humanistic Heroism in Shows of Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon is famous for the many heroes in his shows, especially female heroes, but the humanistic nature of this heroism hasn't been appreciated.
Tuesday, March 22 2011
The Death of Utopia: ‘Firefly’ and the Return to Human Realism in TV Sci-Fi
Joss Whedon's science fiction western Firefly was revolutionary in several ways, not least its embrace of a degree of realism regarding human motivation, in contrast to the utopianism of earlier TV sci-fi such as Star Trek.
Monday, March 21 2011
A Postcolonial Provocation: ‘Serenity’
Joss Whedon's Firefly and its film sequel Serenity achieved acclaim for their generic hybridity, a sci-fi western offering a dystopian vision of the future. Here Serenity is positioned as a postcolonial text.
Friday, March 18 2011
Still Flying: An Interview with Tim Minear, Part I
Both an integral part of the Whedonverse and a major television creator in his own right, Tim Minear was the co-creator of Firefly in addition to working as a writer on both Angel and Dollhouse. He is currently the showrunner of the FOX series The Chicago Code.
Thursday, March 17 2011
“Touch Me and Die, Vermin!”: The Psychoanalysis of Illyria
The last great new character to be added to Angel was Illyria, the former hell goddess who takes over the body of the beloved Fred. Through examining the crucial Illyria episode "Time Bomb" through the lens of psychoanalysis, can we learn what makes her tick?
Joss Whedon 101: Firefly
There are few if any prematurely cancelled shows whose demise is more lamented than Firefly.
Wednesday, March 16 2011
Joss Whedon 101: Angel
After three seasons as Buffy's love interest and sometime enemy, Angel, the vampire with a soul, departed in 1999 for Los Angeles and his own series. Acclaimed Angel scholar Stacey Abbott sums up what makes the series so special.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: Joss Whedon’s True Tragic Hero
From his debut on Buffy as a stiff, silly-ass buffoon to his eventual emergence as one of the most ruthless and competent demon hunters on Angel, few if any characters in the Whedonverse have had such a fascinating or varied history
Tuesday, March 15 2011
The Three Faces of Anne: Identity Formation in ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel’
One of the more interesting minor characters on Buffy and Angel is Anne, also known as Chanterelle and Lily, who matures over the course of five episodes and several seasons from clueless vampire wannabe to someone helping teen runaways.
Monday, March 14 2011
Returning to the Basement: Excavating the Unconscious in ‘Buffy’s’ “Restless”
Although dreams permeate Buffy the Season Four finalé "Restless" consists of a series of dreams in which the characters confront their unconscious dreams.
Pedagogy of the Possessed: Teaching and Learning in ‘Buffy’
The implied pedagogical theories undergirding both Buffy and Giles's guidance of her evince a particularly American pragmatic understanding of the learning process.
Friday, March 11 2011
Raise Your Hand If You’re Invulnerable!: An Interview with Harry Groener
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer featured many superb "Big Bads", Season 3's Mayor Richard Wilkins is not merely among the most remarkable on Buffy but among the most memorable in TV history. We talk at length with the man who brought the Mayor to life, Harry Groener.
The Darkness of “Passion”: Visuals and Voiceovers, Sound and Shadow
In this essay, Rhonda V. Wilcox provides a penetrating commentary on one of the greatest Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes that Joss Whedon neither wrote nor directed.
Thursday, March 10 2011
Women Who Hate Women: Female Competition in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
Although Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer is rightly celebrated as a landmark in the depiction of strong female characters, relations between women are often complicated by their viewing one another as sexual competitors.
Coming Out of the Broom Closet: Willow’s Sexuality and Empowerment in ‘Buffy’
Over the course of seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow Rosenberg goes from a nerdy computer geek filled with heterosexual longing to powerful witch and lesbian.
Wednesday, March 9 2011
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ in the Fantasy Canon
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer Joss Whedon intentionally set out to blur the boundaries between genres, creating a show that was part drama, part comedy, part horror, part SF, and very definitely part fantasy. Here "Buffy" is analyzed in terms of nature as fantasy.
You’re Strong. I’m Stronger: Vampires, Masculinity & Language in ‘Buffy’
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been praised for its use of language. Most investigations have focused on the use of language by Buffy and the Scoobies. Here the vampires get their due.
Tuesday, March 8 2011
Joss Whedon 101: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Whatever else that Joss Whedon achieves in his career, he may forever best be known as the creator of one of the landmark series in TV history, as well as one of TV's most iconic characters, a blonde cheerleader turned vampire slayer named Buffy.
Failure of the Everyman: The Lost Character That Was Xander Harris
Xander Harris was the member of the Scooby Gang on Buffy the Vampire Slayer positioned as the one most like us, the most average, everyday individual among a group of exceptional members. Kyle Garret argues that later arcs in the series undermined this role for Xander.
