A running list of media pieces on Buffy/ME/The Cliche

[bytrsuite]

a running list of media pieces on W/T and the cliche.

[sam7777]

Buffy fandom is the pits first they food poisoned fans at the Friar Tuck. Now they are stealing their money:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15622295-421,00.html
Fans out of pocket after vanishing act

HUNDREDS of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans fear they have been conned after the promoter of a national convention on the cult television series vanished with up to $500,000 of their money.
South Australia's Office of Consumer and Business Affairs (OCBA) is investigating the whereabouts of Edward Schumacher, who vanished in late April with the takings of the Slayercon 2005 convention, which was to be held in Adelaide on July 2 and 3.

Close to 1000 fans from around Australia, of Buffy and a spin-off television series, Angel, had paid up to $800 each to meet stars of the shows, which have cult followings and dozens of fan clubs and websites.
Advertisement:

Fans were told that six stars of the shows - including Amy Acker (Fred), Julia Benz (Darla), Clare Kramer (Glory) and Iyari Limon (JFK) - had been booked to appear at the convention when tickets went on sale in December.

The OCBA is investigating amid fears Mr Schumacher has left Australia with the fans' money, but it has been unable to located him.

Mr Schumacher runs Scooby Gang Promotions, which purports on its website to be a non-profit organisation formed last July with the aim of promoting Buffy and its spin-offs.

The company claims all proceeds from the events are donated to a charity nominated by guests of the event.

The OCBA has received 10 complaints from consumers who have spent between $175 and $455 to attend the convention.

Tickets were $175 a day, but packages were available which included a dinner with four stars ($235), $25 for an autograph, and $45 for a photograph with a star.

In many cases, the fans have also lost deposits for airline tickets and accommodation.

They were asked to pay Scooby Gang Promotions by money order or direct debit.

No one has been able to contact Mr Schumacher since an announcement was posted on the Scooby Gang Promotions website in late April saying the show, to have been held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, had been postponed.

The message simply said the event had been postponed and a new date was being organised, possibly in October.

No refunds would be available until a new date was announced, it said.

The convention centre has also been unable to contact Mr Schumacher to reschedule the event, and it is now referring all inquiries to the OCBA.

Centre chief executive Pieter van der Hoeven said Mr Schumacher had paid a deposit but had cancelled the event at short notice.

Thirty ticket holders who are owed a total of $13,000 have retained a debt collection company to recover their money.

South Australia's commissioner for consumer affairs, Mark Bodycoat, said the office was still attempting to locate Mr Schumacher, but conceded it was quite possible consumers would not get their money back.

"The primary reason for trying to contact the promoter is to seek redress for those consumers who have purchased a ticket," he said.

Leonard Rogan, convenor of an internet forum for fans of the Buffy program, said it was believed Mr Schumacher had left Australia for the US.

"As far as the money is concerned, we can kiss that goodbye," Mr Rogan said. "I personally would have lost $780."

Attempts by AAP to contact Mr Schumacher by phone or email have been unsuccessful.

Uggh. Also, I can't believe anyone wants to see the dead president actress.

[fontaine13]

Ah South Australian's - proof that Tasmanian's can swim. Oh damn I could've got my pack of Always signed!

[Sheridan]

Had to share this quote from Russell T Davis talking about the just finished series of Doctor Who:

The first series has been very earthbound, but will the second take in some new planets?
"I'm the one who has stopped us going off earth because I think you see an awful lot of shows, expensive good ones like Enterprise and Angel, where they go to another planet or dimension and it looks rubbish, it looks like California in the sunshine with a funny rock.

[WebWarlock]

Here is some media that you would have thought would have included Buffy, but doesn't.

From the Trib, what real witches think of Hollywood.

Casting their spells

By Adam Kealoha Causey
RedEye
Published June 23, 2005


RedEye talked with real witches who weighed in on their make-believe movie and TV counterparts.

On "Harry Potter"
Michelle Starett, a Joliet Wiccan, said she loves the "Potter" books and movie series even though Potter's magic isn't real. Magic comes from within, she said. "We don't have a school that you go to and learn this."

On "The Craft"
Sunny Simmons Steincamp, a Virginia Wiccan who helps plan the Pagan Leadership Skills Conference, said she is amazed that so many pagans watch Hollywood witch movies. "The worst ones, like 'The Craft,' take every stereotype and blow it out of proportion." Neve Campbell's 996 movie showed girls using magic to hurt enemies and make people fall in love.

On "Charmed"
Stanley Modrzyk, high priest of Berwyn's First Temple of the Craft of Wicca, said many of his fellow Wiccans like the TV show starring Alyssa Milano. But, he said, the series has problems. "All the men are warlocks and evil, so it's sexist. And they are always ending up in these women's homes. ... Any witch I know would use a spell for the protection of home."

On "Practical Magic"
Nicky Karunakaran, a Wiccan from Lake in the Hills, said the 1998 movie with Sandra Bullock as a witch whose family curse kills the men in her life shows the Wiccan principle of "what you put out comes back to you." But she joked that she and Wiccan friends look less like Bullock and co-star Nicole Kidman (her first witchy role) and more like the women in "Hocus Pocus," the 1993 Disney flick with witches Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker.

On "Bewitched"
Carolyn Reyes of Albany Park said that as a Heathen, spells are not part of her faith, so the Samantha character in "Bewitched" doesn't accurately depict witches. Heathenism is practical, Reyes said. "Here's a love spell: 'Take a shower, brush your teeth.' Here's a job spell: 'Get a newspaper and check the want ads.' "

But no Buffy. Hmmm.

Course if you Google "Sexy Witch" and go to images, the first pic you see is Aly. The 7th is Amber.

Warlock

[Sheridan]

But no Buffy. Hmmm.

Perhaps the replies were just unprintable, I mean after all the only witch on the show who didn't go evil or lose control wound up being murdered, hardly a positive image.

[Warduke]

Tim, it's almost like buffy doesn't matter anymore

[sam7777]

ME apologists like death and taxes will always be with us. Here's TeeVee's take on "The Inside". Bascially its I can see why people aren't watching but Minnear is a genius tripe:
http://www.teevee.org/archive/2005/06/24/index.html

To no one's surprise, the ratings for Fox's The Inside have been anything but great. You might expect me to start whining about how thoroughly gifted creator/showrunner Tim Minear can't catch a break following the cancellations of Firefly and Wonderfalls. Think again. I can entirely understand why people wouldn't want to see this show: it's uncomfortable, depressing, and perhaps the darkest thing I've seen on network TV. None of which means it's not worth watching.
....
I know, I know, you liked this better when it was called "Seven" and/or "The Silence of the Lambs." But Minear, one of the most talented veterans of Joss Whedon's sprawling Buffyverse, has more in mind than forensics and procedure.
....

Given the overwhelming darkness of the show, Minear is smart to add comic relief, courtesy of his old pals Adam Baldwin (from Firefly) and Katie Finneran (from Wonderfalls). As the other two agents on the squad, Baldwin is a marginally more civilized version of Firefly's thuggish Jayne Cobb, while Finneran comes across as Dana Scully with a freshly implanted sense of humor. But they're both terrific, playing every witty bit of dialogue or amusing character moment for maximum entertainment. As the team's tech guy, Nelsan Ellis is also thoroughly charming; it's a shame he only gets about one scene per episode.

There's a lot to like about the show -- and a lot that explains its microscopic ratings. Some of the dialogue, particularly in the pilot, makes so many references to "darkness" and "pain" that it sounds cribbed from some 14-year-old Goth's LiveJournal. You can very nearly see the seams between the moments of slick, obvious procedural the network demands and the smarter, subtler show Minear's trying to create. And the subject matter, though respectably unflinching, isn't fun: skinned corpses, rape and pedophilia in the first three episodes alone. Why isn't this on FX? The edgy elements would be a much better fit alongside The Shield and Nip/Tuck, and Minear would likely suffer less pressure to give the show a mainstream appeal it just won't achieve.

The Inside is light-years better than the we're-not-even-trying conformity of The Closer, but it's hardly fun summer viewing. In his superb scripts for Angel, Minear could confront real evils under a protective layer of horror-movie tropes. Here, the abyss does a little too much staring back.

Poor little Timmy Whinear just can't catch a break. I don't suppose it could be because all he is writing are vapid blond lead remakes of Buffy season sux and severed. YAAAAWWWWWNNNN

[urnofosiris]

Dude, did he actually compare that show to Silence of the Lambs? I loved that movie, just like I loved the Bone Collector, but I would hardly want to watch the genre on a weekly basis, even when it is WELL done, as opposed to regurgitated cliched crap.

[Warduke]

An interview with from In Focus.

[urnofosiris]

I did not have the time or the heart to read it all, but this quote just lept out at me from the Buffy talk:

When you visit the Internet, are you shocked how little fans know about this process?
Sometimes it’s a little dispiriting when you see, “Well, Joss had nothing to do with that.” Well, there’s nothing that goes on screen that I had nothing to do with.

Well I´d hate to make him happy in any way, but he can rest assured that we have known that all along. All the crap is due to him first and formost.

It was funny to read the first part where he explains how he would have raped Return of the Jedi. It nicely illustrates that he really does not get what makes a movie not crap but good. Revenge of the Jedi was a badly chosen title, it goes against everything the Jedi stand for . In the end revenge did not conquer evil, love did, the feelings Vader had for his son, his wife´s son. Of course that would have been boring and yes more incest please. The kiss Leia gave Luke early on just did not do it for me. He would have made the other one be a kick ass jedi woman because what? Leia was not kicking any ass I guess. He would have made someone else a kick ass female jedi that we subsequently would not see because Luke would save the day, he was the man after all. Leia was instrumental in helping the destruction of the death star but that just is not interesting enough. She needed some incest and probably rape to make it more enjoyable for us the audience.

[Sheridan]

I think what he's getting at is the implication that Willow and Tara worked largely because of the efforts of Amber and Alyson rather than his scripts or casting. He would have a point if he could point to consistent good casting in Buffy, Angel, and Firefly but you only have to look at the latter or JFK, or Riley Finn, to see that it was more of a random process and Joss lucked out first with SMG and DB, then with Aly and Amber. The area where he can claim responsibility is what he did with the characters, and he needn't worry we hold him fully responsible.

[aceivan]

You have been working on it?

The way I work, I’m like a vulture. I circle and circle and then I dive. I usually don’t actually write anything until I know exactly how it’s going to turn out. I don’t “let the computer take me away.” I’m an absolute Nazi about structure. I make outlines. I make charts and graphs with colors.

You’ve done that for “Wonder Woman”?

Not for “Wonder Woman,” because I’m still working out the plot.

Then the answer is "No," Joss.

The X-Men are all born of pain, and pain is where I hang my hat.

That came as a big surprise!

I really like the character because he’s full of self-loathing – and that, my friend, I can write.

Another surprise.

Is there zero chance you’ll be pitching pilots for the 2006-2007 TV season?

Yeah, I’m not going to be pitching a pilot this season. I have other things. I’m very tired.

Let's hope he stays tired for a very long time.

What an informative interview. I must remember that every movie Whedon has ever worked on would be so much better if only the producers had listened to him and he didn't get the recognition he deserved.

Len

[urnofosiris]

Oh I missed those quotes, what jewels they are. Isn´t it fascinating how the crappy movies he had a big fat finger in where not crappy because of him but totally and completely because of someone else and the movies that other people actually thought up and worked out turned out great because he dotted an i here and there. Of course according to him he had a huge part in them, sad though that he hardly got any credit for all his hard work and he only seems to get major credits in movies that turn out like shit. He is just so unlucky that way.

[sam7777]

It's sad that schoools waste time teaching a class about a flash in the pan like Buffy. I can see doing a survey on pop culture but not a whole class on something so worthless. Educator's concern's are being brushed off as "stuffy" but I don't agree: The article was written by an ME sycophant)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16207423%255E12274,00.html

Buffy slays the stuffy in schoolroom stand-off

BUFFY the vampire slayer is usually pretty good at looking after herself. Thanks to a handy arsenal of martial arts skills and pithy one-liners, she has vanquished demonic mayors, lipsticked hell-gods and - just to keep things interesting - the original evil.

But as the debate rages about whether postmodernism is replacing nits and dunny smoking as schools' biggest scandal, Buffy's name is repeatedly being taken in vain. The time has come to assemble the Scooby gang and help her fight back.

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson is the latest Buffy basher. He reckons too many kiddies are studying the slayer instead of Milton "and stuff like that". Apparently this means Byron, Thomas Hardy, T.S. Eliot, Patrick White, Socrates and Aristotle (a rather diverse bunch to lump into one category, but presumably the nation's top education official knows what he's on about).

The vigorous scrutiny of our schools is to be applauded. Yet much of the argument involves an unhelpful either-or approach. Apparently we can have Charlotte Bronte or Big Brother. Plato or graffiti. The grating Emma from Jane Austen or the aggravating Cher Horowitz from Clueless.

Well, as a slavering fan of both Socrates and Buffy, here's a novel suggestion: Can't the modern student benefit from studying both the classic and the contemporaneous?

To get into the spirit of things, let's apply some Socratic logic to the issue. As Nelson would no doubt be aware, step one of the Socratic method is to choose a statement widely regarded as common sense: "Studying Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a useless exercise worthy only of cappuccino courses, whereas reading Oedipus the King by Sophocles is not," for example.

Next on the philosophical agenda is to decide whether there are any situations where one's statement does not hold true. What, for instance, if all those fans and academics are right and the Buffy series is indeed a groundbreaking work of spectacular depth and nuance? And what if its youth-friendly nature means students are more likely to stretch their craniums pondering its complex themes of destiny, duty and family?

By the same token, isn't there a danger the more alien elements of Oedipus will cause young scholars to glaze over before realising it also contains the odd, interesting insight into these subjects? And isn't there also a chance some students will be so repulsed by the whole killing your dad, rooting your mum, then stabbing your eyes out with a brooch business that they vow to steer clear of Sophocles "and stuff like that" altogether?

Socrates would have called for further investigation, if only to avoid a one-on-one physical confrontation with his new nemesis (Buffy'd whip his scruffy arse for sure).

Despite Nelson's unholy obsession with caffeine, he does have at least part of a point when he points the finger at postmodernism. Gratuitous complexity, wanky jargon and a tendency for devotees to insist that its nothing-can-explain-everything theory is all-explanatory are just three of the heinous crimes on the rap sheet.

The reality is that liberal arts curriculums add this stuff in for attention such as this and not for actual academic value. It's like saying that Biologists much teach "intelligent design" (the modern euphemism for creationism) because it's currently chic and trendy. Sad.

[Sheridan]

To study Buffy as part of a continuum of popular culture is fine but the reality is that teachers will be tempted to skate over the 'old-fashioned' stuff to hold the students attention, rather like school meals where they tend to offer students what they want rather than what is good for them(Oh god I sound like JW there), of course Buffy is well on its way to being old fashioned itself now...

[sam7777]

http://whedonesque.com/index.php?comments=7502

"Buffy" creator: "Veronica Mars" is so brilliant it's intimidating
"Best. Show. Ever." is how Joss Whedon describes "Veronica" in a posting on Whedonesque.com. "Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those," says Whedon, praising the "crazy crisp dialogue" and "incredibly tight plotting." "These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me," he adds. "It's the Harry Potter of shows."

I find it amusing that Josswad goes out of his way to praise this show the way he did not praise ME alum shit like Jake 2.0, Miracles, Wonderwhyfalls, Point Unpleasant and The Inside. He must realize that stuff like "crazy crisp dialogue" and "incredibly tight plotting" are way beyond him and his minions.

For my part, I consider Serenity to have no BUZZ. I only hear about it here. Sure EW or the genre rags can run articles but as I haven't follow either the entertainment only or genre press in years, it is invisible to me. I contrast this with "Sky Captain" (also released In Sept) which I heard about a year before and got excited about or King Kong which has 1000x more buzz and won't be out till December. I've seen the Kong trailer twice and the Sereneshit trailer 0 times despite going to the movie theatre more this year than the past 3. I don't even have to expend any effort to avoid hearing about it. Sereneshit is just not mainstream thanks to a lack of names both in front of and behind the camera. Peter Jackson is the name driving Kong while stars Law, Lolie and Paltrow drove Sky Captain. Buzz doesn't guarantee boffo box office but no buzz certainly enhances the chance of failure especially for genre shit with niche audiences.

Consider the likes of Star Wars, LOTR or Harry Potter. Even if you live in a cave you probably know when those are coming out and this enhances their opening weekend. Sure stuff can come out and build an audience like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" but that still presupposes that folks are going in the first place and much genre stuff simply doesn't get out a unique audience. SciFi especially gets out the same geek teen fanboys that Hollywood is already gunning for with alot of other stuff like action flix, horror fix and gross out teen comedies. When a movie clearly targetting such an audience is released in Fall, it shows a lack of confidence from the studio. Being the only genre shite in a weekend means nothing if everyone is going to see more mature films as they tend to do in September. Genre films simply don't have legs in September. Look at the last weekened in Sept 2004:
http://movies.about.com/b/a/114891.htm

Top 10 Films for the Weekend Ending 09/26/04:
1) "The Forgotten"" - $21,022,111
2) "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" - $6,658,035
3) "Mr. 3000" - $5,094,867
4) "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" - $4,035,512
5) "First Daughter" - $4,002,067
6) "Cellular" - $3,660,608
7) "Shaun of the Dead" - $3,330,781
8) "Wimbledon" - $3,323,570
9) "Without a Paddle" - $2,353,609
10) "Hero" - $2,244,628

Sky Captain (rel 9/19/04) and Resident Evil (9/12/04) are already fading while adult thriller The Forgotten rules the roost. Check out the
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/boxoffice/september.asp

The top ten opening weekend movies are not laden with genre stuff and has no SciFi:
Rush Hour
Sweet Home Alabama
Double Jeopardy
First Wives Club
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Remember the Titans
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Blue Streak
Stigmata
Underworld

Top 10 gross looks no better for genre:
Rush Hour
First Wives Club
Se7en
Double Jeopardy
Sweet Home Alabama
Remember the Titans
Last of the Mohicans
Sea of Love
L.A. Confidential
In and Out

AICN needs to get a clue. Sweet Home Alabama doing well in September has not bearing on what Sereneshit or any other genre film will do. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" was the highest grossest genre fick released in Sptermber since 1989 (which is the ealiest that boxofficeprophets.com tracks) and it only has a $20million opening weekend and $50million total gross.

[sam7777]

http://whedonesque.com/index.php?comments=7502

"Buffy" creator: "Veronica Mars" is so brilliant it's intimidating
"Best. Show. Ever." is how Joss Whedon describes "Veronica" in a posting on Whedonesque.com. "Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those," says Whedon, praising the "crazy crisp dialogue" and "incredibly tight plotting." "These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me," he adds. "It's the Harry Potter of shows."

I find it amusing that Josswad goes out of his way to praise this show the way he did not praise ME alum shit like Jake 2.0, Miracles, Wonderwhyfalls, Point Unpleasant and The Inside. He must realize that stuff like "crazy crisp dialogue" and "incredibly tight plotting" are way beyond him and his minions.

For my part, I consider Serenity to have no BUZZ. I only hear about it here. Sure EW or the genre rags can run articles but as I haven't follow either the entertainment only or genre press in years, it is invisible to me. I contrast this with "Sky Captain" (also released In Sept) which I heard about a year before and got excited about or King Kong which has 1000x more buzz and won't be out till December. I've seen the Kong trailer twice and the Sereneshit trailer 0 times despite going to the movie theatre more this year than the past 3. I don't even have to expend any effort to avoid hearing about it. Sereneshit is just not mainstream thanks to a lack of names both in front of and behind the camera. Peter Jackson is the name driving Kong while stars Law, Lolie and Paltrow drove Sky Captain. Buzz doesn't guarantee boffo box office but no buzz certainly enhances the chance of failure especially for genre shit with niche audiences.

Consider the likes of Star Wars, LOTR or Harry Potter. Even if you live in a cave you probably know when those are coming out and this enhances their opening weekend. Sure stuff can come out and build an audience like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" but that still presupposes that folks are going in the first place and much genre stuff simply doesn't get out a unique audience. SciFi especially gets out the same geek teen fanboys that Hollywood is already gunning for with alot of other stuff like action flix, horror fix and gross out teen comedies. When a movie clearly targetting such an audience is released in Fall, it shows a lack of confidence from the studio. Being the only genre shite in a weekend means nothing if everyone is going to see more mature films as they tend to do in September. Genre films simply don't have legs in September. Look at the last weekened in Sept 2004:
http://movies.about.com/b/a/114891.htm

Top 10 Films for the Weekend Ending 09/26/04:
1) "The Forgotten"" - $21,022,111
2) "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" - $6,658,035
3) "Mr. 3000" - $5,094,867
4) "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" - $4,035,512
5) "First Daughter" - $4,002,067
6) "Cellular" - $3,660,608
7) "Shaun of the Dead" - $3,330,781
8) "Wimbledon" - $3,323,570
9) "Without a Paddle" - $2,353,609
10) "Hero" - $2,244,628

Sky Captain (rel 9/19/04) and Resident Evil (9/12/04) are already fading while adult thriller The Forgotten rules the roost. Check out the
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/tickermaster/boxoffice/september.asp

The top ten opening weekend movies are not laden with genre stuff and has no SciFi:
Rush Hour
Sweet Home Alabama
Double Jeopardy
First Wives Club
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Remember the Titans
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Blue Streak
Stigmata
Underworld

Top 10 gross looks no better for genre:
Rush Hour
First Wives Club
Se7en
Double Jeopardy
Sweet Home Alabama
Remember the Titans
Last of the Mohicans
Sea of Love
L.A. Confidential
In and Out

AICN needs to get a clue. Sweet Home Alabama doing well in September has not bearing on what Sereneshit or any other genre film will do. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" was the highest grossest genre fick released in Sptermber since 1989 (which is the ealiest that boxofficeprophets.com tracks) and it only has a $20million opening weekend and $50million total gross.

[Sheridan]

Resident Evil also had two distinct advantages, a huge base of teenagers who had spent hours playing the game in their bedroom and Mila Jovich, a name with a degree of recognition at least.

[WebWarlock]

A new one about Joss and feminism.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 18,00.html

A hard woman is good to find
Hollywood sells sex in feminist clothing - and leather boots - but Kevin Maher isn't buying it

You’ve probably seen the poster. A lithe young woman with a dour expression stretches out with panther-like poise, ready for a martial-arts attack. She has a large silver scimitar in her left hand and a dazzling futuristic tomahawk in her right. She wears knee-high black leather boots and a thin black mini-dress-cum-negligée that rides up over her toned, white, outstretched thighs.
The poster is for Joss Whedon’s sci-fi adventure Serenity, but with its leering depiction of a leather-clad fembot it could be advertising an entire genre of Hollywood movies that speak of post-feminist kick-ass action heroines while offering an overtly sexualised view of women that’s utterly rooted in the darkest chambers of male desire.

Where once the kick-ass heroine was a curiously compelling screen anomaly, offering the genuinely liberating spectacle of Sigourney Weaver’s Lieutenant Ripley nuking man-eating aliens, it has now become defined by a rigid formula. Repeatedly, in everything from Tomb Raider and Elektra to Catwoman and Underworld, and from characters such as Trinity in The Matrix, or Mystique in X-Men, or Kristianna Loken’s über-fembot in Terminator 3, or the Oscar winner Charlize Theron in the forthcoming feminist kick-about Aeon Flux, the depiction of the action woman is immersed in the stylistics of bondage and has the emotional texture of sado-masochism.

Here, the so-called heroine is sprayed into a form-fitting black leather or PVC outfit, complete with high boots and even higher heels. She is photographed by a camera that mostly swoops around her newly buffed buttocks and pneumatic breasts. Then, after taking a minor but not inconsequential beating, she gets to “kick ass”. But whose ass is getting kicked here?

The established Hollywood buzzword, from those with millions of dollars invested in the propagation of this formula, is that it’s all about “empowerment”. Halle Berry — like Theron an Academy Award winner for Best Actress — has consistently spoken about her semi-naked bondage-clad turn as Catwoman being an empowering role: “It taught me that we can use our sexuality in ways to service our higher good.” Similarly, Angelina Jolie found that the character of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft was “completely free, sensual and primitive. She’s an empowered woman, and I love everything she stands for.” And Whedon, the director of Serenity and the man responsible for both the small screen ghoul-kicking phenomenon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and an imminent big screen update of Wonder Woman, agrees that it’s all about “strong women”. Even supposedly objective cultural commentators seem beguiled by the glamour of the new back-flipping avatars, the novelist Amanda Craig describing them as “more in tune with the new feminism which has no problem with lipstick and spandex being a part of female empowerment, as long as we, like Catwoman, accept who we are and lose our fear of playing outside the rules of what is and isn’t proper for a woman to do”.

But this noble talk of strong women, empowerment and feminism is ultimately a lot of smoke and mirrors attempting to obscure the mechanics of what’s actually happening.

For a start, there’s the revealing, fetishised, form-fitting costume, says E. Ann Kaplan, the author of the book Feminism and Film. “Why do they have to show supposedly powerful women in these heavily sexualised contexts? These films are mixing sexuality and power. It’s a double standard in terms of gender.”

In other words, although these allegedly strong chicks, according to Whedon, may look “attractive” and “cool”, when is the last time that Vin Diesel had to wear a pair of mercilessly photographed and cruelly revealing tight black PVC Speedos before he could snap the neck of an enemy agent? Ditto for The Rock and Jet Li? And why can’t the action heroine kick ass in a baggy jumper or pair of dungarees?

But the costume’s just the beginning, says Kaplan. Bearing in mind that these films are made mostly by males and aimed mostly at repeat-viewing teenage males, what are the pleasures on offer? “Young males feel threatened by the powerful girls and women around them,” Kaplan says. “These films fulfil some sort of satisfaction, in that they can get off on these women rather than feel threatened by them.”

Even the fact that these heroines are kicking ass in the first place, which is the cornerstone of any pop-feminist defence of their status, is merely part of the illusion of power. Here, casually tapping a dark well of Freudian desires, the movies allow the male viewer to enjoy a host of masochistic fantasies that alternate between the powerlessness of the heroine’s victim (pinned to the ground by Catwoman? Yes please!) and the powerful position of the viewer (enjoying the spectacle of Catwoman in action? You betcha!).

These fantasies, according to Freud’s 1919 paper on masochism and oedipal desire, A Child is Being Beaten, have roots in the subconscious mind and the childhood years of family romance. It’s hardly surprising then that Whedon announces (in a Freudian slip?) that kick-ass heroines remind him of his mother.

Kaplan adds despondently that it’ll take a lot more analysis and education to change this ingrained habit of Western thought. In the meantime, wait for the December arrival of Charlize Theron as Aeon Flux, and for repeated gushing eulogies about the nature of empowering ass-kickers.

Geriatrix: the pre-history of the kick-ass heroine

Pussy Galore
(Goldfinger, 1964)
AKA: Honor Blackman
MO: Wears bust-hugging gold waistcoat

Barbarella
(Barbarella, 1968)
AKA: Jane Fonda
MO: Wears thigh boots and metal corsets. Destroys the orgasmatron

Emma Peel
(The Avengers, 1965-67)
AKA: Diana Rigg
MO: Wears costumes with bits missing. Gets tied up a lot

Wonder Woman
(1976–79)
AKA: Lynda Carter
MO: Wears golden bra and deeply unflattering blue granny pants

Warlock

[sam7777]

Tim, great article. Nice to see someone point out the lie of Josswad as feminist. He's a post-feminist misogynist IMHO.

But this noble talk of strong women, empowerment and feminism is ultimately a lot of smoke and mirrors attempting to obscure the mechanics of what’s actually happening.

Josswad and his ilk are masters at this double speak. Not for nothing did Buffy and Angel get poor grades from NOW.

This is why I personally would like to see Wonder Woman done by women as director and producer. If the women aren't in power they tend to parrot the party line ala Halle her Cat Woman "empowerment". Not that there aren't men out there who could do a good job. I wouldn't mind seeing Ang Lee take a shot at it but they prolly won't let him near another comic flick after the Hulk. Neither Whedon or Silver for that matter should be workin on Wonder Woman. I hope the project falls through and we can get some real talent working on it.

[urnofosiris]

Interesting article and I think makes some good points, not just because it puts Whedon´s farcical views on feminism in perspective. It is hard to identify with or take seriously uber sexy rubber or leather clad women who beat up their opponents with humanly impossible acrobatics (I´ll admit to not objecting when it is Angelina Jolie).
Ripley is a good example of a female hero who remains real(istic) (in the first two movies anyway). When I try to recall other examples of strong female non leather clad lead characters in action movies (inside and outside of the sci-fi genre) who manage to save themselves and/or the rest of the world, I don´t get much farther than Sarah Connor, I hope I am having a bit of a black out here.

[WebWarlock]

My Dear Kittens.

It was only a matter of time. In this whole Serenity blow up, it took a while, but someone finally invoked our name.

At CHUD.
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=4710

Devin is going over some letters he got, here are some segments from a writter named X_F fen. You can read the whole thing, but here are the bits that are of use. Bold is mine.

I thought you had a particularly good point about the erosion of the barrier between fandom and the writer/producer. I've felt that this has been a problem with Whedon for years now. Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions used The Bronze (when "Buffy" was on WB) and later The Bronze Beta (when "Buffy" was on UPN) to interact with the fans on a purely fannish level. It sounds great in theory... until you witnessed it in action. There truly was little to no separation. I personally mistook one of the "Buffy" writers to be a board troll because he was actively fanning the flames of a fandom war and taking sides. Mutant Enemy writers freely admitted that they liked to stir up trouble on the boards. It was "fun." They also felt free to call fans derrogatory names if they dared criticize something. One writer took to lecturing adult women about their sexual preferences because they dared to like one of the characters on the show (apparently the writers felt they could dictate which characters you were required to like and which you were required to hate. )

The close association between authors and fandom created a fairly toxic atmosphere in my opinion. In addition to the way it fractured the fandom into warring factions (those who had the Mutant Enemy stamp of approval and those who liked characters they shouldn't or had opinions that they shouldn't), it also gave some fans an unrealistic sense of intimacy with the writers ("Writer X is on MY side. We're fighting the same war!") that never struck me as healthy.

Plus, as the years wore on, it increased from being a case where Mutant Enemy writers would participate in online board wars, to the point where story decisions were made to "prove their point" in a fandom flame war. (Seriously, that's a direct quote from Marti Noxon, Buffy's executive producer, who after a protracted board war concerning a character, she specifically came up with a plot point to (in her words) "prove her point." Tim Minear also named a whole set of demons on "Angel" after a poster he'd disagreed with on Usenet.

Should writers and producers be so involved in the fandom that they take fannish wars so seriously that they make story decisions on them? Should Joss Whedon have stated at a fan convention that he planned a storyline specifically "to fuck with the fans minds?" (Again, that's a quote).

Of course, when the fans got sufficiently "fucked" there had been a significant fall off in ratings. I suppose, Joss showed those fans who was boss. Not sure how that benefitted him, the show, or the fans, though.

By Season 7 Buffy, after the endless controversies and board wars And the fact that you can say that Whedon doesn't kill "beloved characters" except in finales clearly means you missed 'Kitten Jihad' -- the fandom reference to the brouhaha by Tara/Willow fans who identified themselves as 'kittens' who were righteously pissed off by Tara's death and made a huge stink about it, Whedon and Company seemed paralyzed storywise because they could no longer afford to alienate fans. By participating in fandom fracturing board wars, the fanbase had become stridently polarized. It was impossible to appease all of their fanbase -- a fanbase Mutant Enemy had delighted in fracturing by deliberately adding fuel to fandom fires. Ultimately, unable to appease one set of fans without offending another, Mutant Enemy ended up not pursuing any clear storyline or making any definitive choices during Season 7. By the time they had the finale, they were throwing crumbs at every fan faction, but leaving most of them dissatisfied.

So, was the fan interaction worth it? Was the participation in fan wars worth it? Did it help the final product? I tend to believe 'no' on all those counts. But, then, I tend to be a rather disillusioned fan where Whedon and company are concerned... which brings up another of your points.

And it continues.

Here is what resonates with me.

Joss continued his game of fan-fucking till he met us. He hasn't really recovered has he?

Kittens once again you have all made me proud. We stood up and said "no. this is not right" and we are remembered for it.

Warlock

[Garner]

I like that someone is finally giving Josswad the negative reviews that he needs. And is truly seeing the crap that happened at the end of BtVS and the role Tara's death had. Very nice.

On the empowered female article, I like that quite a bit. I've always said that the more empowered women are those like Scully or Catherine Willows on CSI (Marge Helgenberger), here we have competent, professional women in normally male centered areas doing their jobs, doing it well, and not being charicatures of women. Even B5 had much better women than most of the Naughty Action Girl types that are supposed to be so empowering. It was one of the things that made BtVS Willow so special. And Tara too for that matter. Josswad just never got that and is still perpetrating the illusion. Sad.

Garner

[sam7777]

Fucked off fans? Ratings drop? Is there a connection? Could be.

'Kitten Jihad' Amazing that that still comes up years after. We must have made a big impression. Still what people like Devin don't get (and never will) is that it was about the principle of decent gay portrayals on TV vs the Dead Lesbian Cliche and not the usual fan rant about a fav character dying.

[gspiggott]

Considering all the shots the Browncoats took at Devin for simply stating that Serenity was not going to be the next My BIg Fat Greek Wedding I'd say he's gotten a real taste of the unreasonable nature of Whedon fans. Really JW's propensity to use his fans as a bully brigade is nothing new around here, what is new is that people other than us are starting to call him on it. Funny that after the first weekend's complaints about Devin's box office predictions Whedon has been incommunicado with his fans.If nothing else he stays true to form and the fault always lies somewhere else.
The uproar over Tara's death wasn't just a question of fandom it was about a rather vulnerable section of fandom, and mocking those fans who expressed outrage and disappoinment over being lied to and used .
I didn't see any kittens going to their boards and telling them to get over it , it's only a movie. We can chuckle about it here amongst ourselves because that's what civilized people do.
Having Balkanized his fan base to a degree that the five million Universal thought they could count on is actually down to one million I'm guessing a sequel is unlikely. Add up the Dark Angel fans who lost their show to Fruitflop, the Farscape and Trek fans who had to hear how superior this show was, the Cordy fans , and the Kittens and they ought to be grateful any one wanted to see this bilge onscreen.

[Sheridan]

It surely does seem as if Whedon enjoyed screwing with the fans so much he just couldn't stop himself by the end, regardless of how much damage it did to his projects. If he hadn't split the fan base he might actually have had enough viewers to get Firefly a second season and who knows what would have happened with it if it had a chanced to bed down? Of course that's an alternative reality where Tara lived, Spike got staked, Angel the series made it to S7, and we all went to see Serenity the movie, what a strange wprld that must be...

[sam7777]

Serenity Breaks 30 Million; Sequel to Come?

Joss Whedon's Serenity broke $30 million worldwide this past weekend. According to fan boy sites, this achievement may put it on track for a sequel. Maybe if all of you clap your hands while shouting "I do believe in fairies!" it may happen.

Rant: But, I hope not. When will you guys finally realize that the television show was canceled because no one watched it. Yes, you guys somehow tricked Universal into spending $39 million to make a movie, this doesn't include the Press and advertising budget, and again no one showed up.

Sure, they may be able to recoup the budget and expenses after releasing it on DVD. I hope they rape you guys with a standard edition release before the special edition, Universal knows you'll hand over the cash.

Please just give it up and realize that you're only one of a few people who liked this series. The fact that you guys are willing to spend 100 times more money on the series/movie than an average movie-goer would on their favorite product/film does not make up for the lack of an audience. So please just give it up.

Gotta love the snark and the just sick of reavers 'tude. With it's rapidly dropping gross, it won't make much more than that and that is really not enough for a sequel.

[Sheridan]

Even if eventually Serenity does make money its never going to be enough to justify a sequel because as a rule they rarely make more than half of the original. The fans can yell and campaign as much as they like, the suits are just looking at the bottom line.

[WebWarlock]

comparing Buffy to VM.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com ... _mars.html

'Veronica Mars': Better than 'Buffy'?

There’s no doubt that one obsessively dissected Wednesday night drama knows exactly where it’s going.

Though “Lost” has been enjoyable, if occasionally vexing and slow-moving this season, it’s “Veronica Mars” (8 p.m., WPWR-Ch. 50) that has its fans and critics alike declaring -- with good reason -- that the show’s second season is better than its first. The ongoing mystery on “Mars” is even more enthralling, star Kristin Bell continues to effortlessly impress and even the guest stars are a treat. What’s not to love?

Wednesday’s outing of “Veronica Mars” is typically engrossing: Organizing a roomful of old files as a high -school detention assignment, part-time detective Veronica Mars comes across her mother’s own permanent record. The clues there point to some dark drama: Did her mother spread malicious gossip back in the day? And who has a vested interest in keeping those old rumors under wraps -- or in getting them out into the open?

Alyson Hannigan, Willow on the cult drama “Buffy” and a lead on CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” guests as the hilariously self-absorbed Trina Echolls, a D-list celebrity and the sister of Mars’ ex. Also appearing is another “Buffy” alum, Charisma Carpenter, who plays Kendall Casablancas, a formerly wealthy trophy wife looking to sustain her manicures-and-margaritas lifestyle.

Former “Buffy” fans will be looking forward to the scene that Hannigan and Carpenter share: Their throw-down does not disappoint. Think “All About Eve,” but with sharper claws. It’s delish.

Despite the ongoing “Buffy” love fest -- that show’s creator, Joss Whedon, has sung the praises of “Veronica Mars” and had a brief cameo on the show a few weeks back -- “Mars” inspires heretical thoughts from this devoted “Buffy” fan.

Let’s face it, despite the incredible richness of the stories Whedon told on “Buffy” and “Angel,” some folks were just never going to be down with TV shows involving demons, vampires and other assorted mutants. “Veronica Mars,” on the other hand, has all of the trademarks of Whedon’s shows: witty writing, great acting, strong plotting, a love of the unexpected and a ferocious devotion to emotional truth. And there are no monsters or demons to put off those who might find such fiends off-putting.

Still, it’s easy to see why “Mars” inspires such fervent, “Buffy”-esque devotion: It’s one of the best-written shows on TV. The show’s ongoing mystery this year -- about a bus crash that killed several of Mars’ classmates -- has been expertly handled, and the weekly mysteries are more whip-smart than ever. Plus, Jason Dohring has been on fire as Mars’ quippy, bitter ex-boyfriend Logan, and Enrico Colantoni just keeps getting better as Mars’ worried, watchful dad.

But if you can’t miss “Lost” on Wednesdays, WPWR-Ch. 50 re-airs every “Mars” episode at 9 p.m. Sundays.

Make of this what you want.

Warlock