Saturday, November 29, 2008

Joss Whedon

I've seen it asked many times what feminists see in Joss Whedon. He's human, flawed, and imperfect like the rest of us, and his work is far from beyond critique. But what do we see in him?

Well, he says things like this:

There is so much misogyny that is just unspoken or even unknown, among the most civilised.

Even on the drive up here, the driver was telling us about the history of the place, and he says, "In this square, this is where people were hanged, and the women were burned at the stake - they would burn a woman at the stake in the Sixteenth Century just for saying no to a man - wouldn’t it be great if we could do that today?" And instead of just thinking it, I said, "Actually, no, it wouldn’t, and it’s a little bit creepy that you just said that."


In a world filled with MRA's and almost-MRA's, people who could give a shit less about their representations of womanhood and deny misogyny even exists... He is a breath of fresh air. Not an uncomplicated breath. Not fresh air lacking all pollutants. But air in a suffocating industry.

I'm sure I'll be sharing more thoughts in the coming two weeks, I'm writing a paper on Dr. Horrible for Women and Media. But I had to share that quote.

5 comments:

  1. Because the misogyny doesn't even make sense to him.

    That is what I love about him.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. And more than that, HE SPOKE UP to the guy about it.

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  3. Ya know, that part doesn't surprise me anymore. It seems to me that I am finding more and more that he speaks out, unashamed when he sees this shit happening.

    And that rocks.

    This is why we need allies.

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  4. I agree completely. He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for me if that makes any sense. More guys like him and though still not perfect, the world would be a better place.

    Honestly I didn't even really know about Joss until "Firefly" and then I was done for. His female characters are just... well wow! His writing, his thinking, his view that makes him speak out to drivers like this jerk, well wow, just awesome!

    I love your blog!

    ReplyDelete

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