Author: Sherry Ginn Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 1442233133 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 254
Book Description
This collection of essays contextualizes Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse as a postmodern investigation into what makes us human and as an examination of how technology invariably transforms our identity and perhaps even our humanity. Together, these essays provide a provocative meditation on how one example of science fiction comments on the state of personal identity in a 21st-century society dependent on forms of technology that threaten the individual. This collection of essays examines the various characters and themes presented in the series throughout its two-year run on television. In addition, the essays look at how the series fits into Joss Whedon’s oeuvre as auteur, director, and producer.
Author: Matthew Pateman Publisher: Manchester University Press ISBN: 1526122197 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
This book assesses Joss Whedon’s contribution to US television and popular culture. Examining everything from his earliest work to his most recent tweets and activist videos, it explores his complex and contradictory roles as both cult outsider and blockbuster filmmaker. Crucially, the book insists on the wider industrial, technological, political and economic contexts that have both influenced and been influenced by Whedon, rejecting the notion of Whedon as isolated television auteur. Using key source material, with exclusive access to drafts of many of the episodes across Whedon’s career, as well as unique correspondence with Whedon collaborator Jane Espenson, this book offers unparalleled access to the creative process that helped produce the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse and Firefly. Energetic, engaging and informed by detailed scholarship and theoretical rigour, the book is not just an essential addition to the study of Whedon, but a timely and important re-invigoration of television studies in general.
Author: Amy Pascale Publisher: Aurum ISBN: 1781311331 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
'Packed with trivia, filled with wit and endlessly readable, this is the biography Joss’s career deserves. We can’t recommend it enough' ***** SFX Joss Whedon is a male writer whose most famous creation is a girl-power icon; a geek who deals in classic themes of love, betrayal and redemption; and one of the first people in the entertainment industry to have harnessed the power of the internet to engage directly with his fans. Amy Pascale became one of those fans when Buffy Summers enrolled at Sunnydale High in 1997. She has followed Whedon’s career ever since, marvelling at his ability to reimagine seemingly hackneyed genres as heartfelt human drama. In this revealing biography she seeks out the source of that imagination, exploring his artistic liberal upbringing in New York and teenage years at an elite English public school, before tracing his journey from a bruising start in television to his status today as a blockbuster writer and director whose every new project is pored over online by millions of loyal geeks. Using extensive original interviews with many of Whedon’s key collaborators – as well as Joss himself – Amy presents candid behind-the-scenes accounts of the making of ground-breaking shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, and considers Whedon’s distinctive contribution to cinema through movies such as Toy Story, Serenity and superhero epic The Avengers Assemble. The result is an intimate portrait of the man who re-wrote popular culture and gave it a heart.
Author: Wendy Sterba Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 144226991X Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon are two of the most imaginative and accomplished men in Hollywood. As writers, directors, producers, and series creators, their credits have straddled the mediums of television and film and range across several genres, from science fiction and horror to action and drama. In addition to spearheading original projects like Lost and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, each has also made his mark on some of the most successful franchises in popular culture—from Mission Impossible, Star Trek, and Star Wars (Abrams) to Alien and the Avengers (Whedon). Their output—both oddly similar and yet also wildly different—stand at the heart of twenty-first century film and television. In J.J. Abrams vs. Joss Whedon, Wendy Sterba compares the parallel careers in film and television of these creative masterminds—pitting one against the other in a light-hearted competition. With in-depth discussions of their works, the author seeks to determine who is the Spielberg (or perhaps the Lucas) of the twenty-first century. The author looks back upon the beginnings of both men’s careers—to Whedon’s stint as a writer on Roseanne to Abrams’ early scripts for films like Regarding Henry—and forward to their most recent blockbusters, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This books also looks at non-fantasy successes (Abrams series Felicity; Whedon’s adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing), as well as commercial failures. At the heart of this study, however, is a tour of their genre-defining hits: Alias and Buffy, Lost and Angel, Super 8 and Serenity along with Whedon’s Avengers films, and Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek adventures. Filled with sharp-eyed analysis, illuminating anecdotes, and unexpected connections, J.J. Abrams vs.Joss Whedon will appeal to fans of either (or both!) of its subjects, and to any fan of well-told tales of the fantastic, on screens large or small.
Author: Rhonda V. Wilcox Publisher: Syracuse University Press ISBN: 0815610386 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 482
Book Description
In an age when geek chic has come to define mainstream pop culture, few writers and producers inspire more admiration and response than Joss Whedon. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Much Ado About Nothing, from Dr. Horrible’s Sing–Along Blog to The Avengers, the works of Whedon have been the focus of increasing academic attention. This collection of articles represents some of the best work covering a wide array of topics that clarify Whedon’s importance, including considerations of narrative and visual techniques, myth construction, symbolism, gender, heroism, and the business side of television. The editors argue that Whedon’s work is of both social and aesthetic significance; that he creates “canonical television.” He is a master of his artistic medium and has managed this success on broadcast networks rather than on cable. From the focus on a single episode to the exploration of an entire season, from the discussion of a particular narrative technique to a recounting of the history of Whedon studies, this collection will both entertain and educate those exploring Whedon scholarship for the first time and those planning to teach a course on his works.
Author: Erin Giannini Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476667764 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
Screenwriter, director, producer and comic book author Joss Whedon is best known for his television series and films featuring villainous vampires, angry gods and even bloggers who wish to rule the world. Within these works is a prevalent yet commonly overlooked theme--the corporate antagonist. This book examines the effects of this corporate culture on the protagonists of Whedon's most famous works (including Buffy, Roseanne, the Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Dollhouse) to reveal explicit sociopolitical commentaries on corporate control in the real world.
Author: David Lavery Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 0857723073 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 296
Book Description
Spring 2012 saw the return to creative and critical success of Joss Whedon, with the release of both his horror flick The Cabin in the Woods and the box-office sensation, Marvel's The Avengers. After establishing himself as a premier cult creator, the man who gave us great television with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and web series Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog, as well as comic books including Fray and Astonishing X-Men, finally became the filmmaker he'd long dreamed of being. Drawing on a wide variety of sources and making use of psychologist Howard Gruber's insights into the nature of the creative process, Joss, A Creative Portrait offers the first intellectual biography of Whedon, tracking his career arc from activated fan boy to film studies major, third generation television writer, successful script doctor, innovative television auteur, beloved cult icon, sought-after collaborator, and major filmmaker with Marvel's The Avengers. Film and television scholar and Whedon expert David Lavery traces Whedon's multi-faceted magic from its source - the early influences of parents and teachers, comics, books, movies, collaborators - to its artistic incarnation.
Author: Frederick Blichert Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476671990 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 243
Book Description
When Joss Whedon's television show Firefly (2002-2003) was cancelled, devoted fans cried foul and demanded more--which led to the 2005 feature film Serenity. Both the series and the film were celebrated for their melding of science fiction and western iconography, dystopian settings, underdog storylines, and clever fast-paced dialogue. Firefly has garnered a great deal of scholarly attention--less so, Serenity. This collection of new essays, the first focusing exclusively on the film, examines its depictions of race, ableism, social engineering and systems of power, and its status as a crime film, among other topics.
Author: J. Douglas Rabb Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476617864 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 224
Book Description
Drawing on the works of Shakespeare and American screenwriter Joss Whedon, this study in narrative ethics contends that Whedon is the Shakespeare of our time. The Bard wrote before the influence of the modern moral philosophers, while Whedon is writing in the postmodern period. It is argued that Whedon’s work is more in harmony with the early modern values of Shakespeare than with modern ethics, which trace their origin to 17th and 18th century moral philosophy. This study includes a detailed discussion of representative works of Shakespeare and Whedon, showing how they can and should be read as forms of narrative ethics.
Author: Anthony R. Mills, Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476612536 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
This is a collection of new essays on the religious themes in, and the implications of, the works of Joss Whedon, creator of such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and more recently writer and director of the box-office hit Marvel’s The Avengers. The book addresses such topics as ethics, racism, feminism, politics, witchcraft, spiritual transformation, identity, community, heroism, apocalypse, and other theologically significant themes of Whedon’s creative enterprises. The disciplinary approaches vary as well; history, theology, philosophy of religion, phenomenology, cultural studies, and religious studies are all employed. The various essay authors differ in that some are clearly believers in God, some are clearly not, and others leave that matter aside.
Author: Sherry Ginn
Author: Matthew Pateman
Author: Amy Pascale
Author: Wendy Sterba
Author: Rhonda V. Wilcox
Author: Erin Giannini
Author: David Lavery
Author: Frederick Blichert
Author: J. Douglas Rabb
Author: Anthony R. Mills,