Since it's July, we can't be all serious and informed at every moment, can we? So here's a link to a speech by Joss Whedon, creator of cult feminist icon Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
You may or may not remember how slyly witty that show was, or how funny and revolutionary it was that Joss gave us a blond cheerleader whose daily job it was to save the world from evil. Buffy was a rare female version of the confused-boy-coming-of-age-is-secretly-a-superhero genre (see also: Harry Potter, Spiderman). The series took certain adolescent emotions and made them literal: for instance, high school really was hell, the principal actually was working for the devil, and each adolescent drama really was about preventing the end of the world. Maybe you had to be there, but I was, I confess, a complete addict.
In this speech, Whedon impersonates himself on a press tour, repeatedly being asked the question, "Why do you write such strong women characters?" The answers get better and better. The speech may have been given awhile ago, but if I'd never seen it before, maybe it's new to you too. Enjoy.
E.J. Graff
Since it’s July, we can’t be all serious and informed at every moment, can we? So here’s a link to a speech by Joss Whedon, creator of cult feminist icon Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
You may or may not remember how slyly witty that show was, or how funny and revolutionary it was that Joss gave us a blond cheerleader whose daily job it was to save the world from evil. Buffy was a rare female version of the confused-boy-coming-of-age-is-secretly-a-superhero genre (see also: Harry Potter, Spiderman). The series took certain adolescent emotions and made them literal: for instance, high school really was hell, the principal actually was working for the devil, and each adolescent drama really was about preventing the end of the world. Maybe you had to be there, but I was, I confess, a complete addict.
In this speech, Whedon impersonates himself on a press tour, repeatedly being asked the question, "Why do you write such strong women characters?" The answers get better and better. The speech may have been given awhile ago, but if I’d never seen it before, maybe it’s new to you too. Enjoy.
E.J. GraffE.J. Graff, a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, is a journalist and the author of What Is Marriage For? The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution (Beacon Press).