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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Buffy. Just knowing Whedon's take on women -- ugh.[/quote]

I've thought a fair amount about this one. When all this came out I remember SMG publicly responding that she didn't want to be associated with Joss, but was still proud to have her name associated with Buffy Summers. It made me think of all the work all the talented actresses and others put in, under challenges work environments, and how most of the messages of the show are still very valuable. Buffy was the hero and still is. I don't want to take away the accomplishments of everyone else who worked on my favorite show as a teen.

Does Whedon still profit a lot from residuals, etc.? I assume there is still a lot of Comicon activity for cast that didn't have a lot of success post-show. The people who were actually abused in this situation aren't suggesting that the show itself is bad in any way. Are you just uncomfortable watching now thinking about the BTS or is there actually a financial or other reason not to rewatch at this point? Just curious. I don't want to support Whedon but somehow can separate him from "his" creation.[/quote]

I'm the PP above.

I don't have any problem with other viewers who can watch the show without connecting it directly with Whedon. These things are complicated. If you enjoy it, continue to enjoy it.

I had such respect and affection for that show. It came at a time in my life when I needed to kick a-s, and boy, did it help. It is beautiful to watch powerful, funny, active women! I loved that, and I loved the metaphors of working through common problems of the teenage years and into adulthood through the lens of fantasy.

However, my understanding of Whedon's world has even infected the storyline for me. It's not about finances, but that I can't myself forget that he likes to hurt women. I think he set up SMG/Buffy as this golden girl, and then he tortured her -- in the storyline, there was the rape, the shame, the degradation. I'm pretty sure he got off on that and being in control of making it happen.

I just can't separate that out anymore.

[quote]Whedon has long been fascinated with the purported contradiction of watching a small, cute and magical teenage girl beating up hulking bad guys. .... He hinged the political potency of “Buffy” on his protagonist’s extraordinary physicality — all the while presenting her and practically every other teen girl on the show as a sexy, slender, midriff-bearing pixie. As such, it turns my stomach to read Carpenter’s allegations. Was the show ever really invested in revolutionizing the narratives of victimhood? Or was it primarily about putting desirable young women on display?
...
Perhaps more importantly, in undercutting the damsel in distress trope, Whedon and his writing team created a flawed new one: the girl who can deal out punishment partly because she takes so much abuse, one who can absorb everything you throw at her, only to spout a retort while spitting blood and kicking you in the crotch. Come on, she seems to say, [i]I can take it[/i].[b] In the later seasons of “Buffy,” Whedon literally kills and resurrects his heroine, ripping her out of heaven so she can return to Earth and reluctantly avert the apocalypse once again. Buffy’s revivification traumatizes her, leading to self-harm, depression and emotional calluses that play out until the series finale. It’s a narrative ethos that suggests that maturing into womanhood means growing emotionally numb. [/b]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/13/carpenter-whedon-buffy-feminist-legacy/
[/quote]

[quote][b]But what we mostly missed in [i]Dollhouse[/i] at the time that’s become far more clear as more and more allegations of Joss Whedon’s toxic behavior come to light is this: the series gave us an extremely good and deeply troubling idea of what Joss Whedon thought of women, their bodies, and their agency.[/b]
...
As you might guess from the description, [i]Dollhouse[/i] is an incredibly rapey concept. The actives, male and female, are pimped out to be perfect, willing partners for clients, most often for sex and used for sex by their handlers and the leadership of the Dollhouse. ...
And that’s just the beginning. Not only are Sierra and Echo raped continuously as dolls, but Sierra is also raped by her handler in her childlike “tabula rasa” state. Another character, Mellie (Miracle Laurie) is revealed to be a doll known as November and after she’s released from the Dollhouse, she’s then recaptured forcefully, and yep, raped by clients as a doll.

https://www.themarysue.com/joss-whedon-showed-us-exactly-what-he-thought-of-women-with-dollhouse/[/quote]

I think Whedon really, really liked "exploring" what happens to strong, beautiful, vibrant women when they are brought down and humiliated, even raped. He liked breaking them. I feel used, as a viewer, when I remember that this is what he wanted to show me, a woman. He had a message for us, I think.

[quote]This idea of a woman who can take abuse and remain “powerful” (meaning able to be physically violent) is explored via River Tam in Firefly, where Whedon also made sure one of his lead women was a courtesan who the hero continually called a whore. 
...
Now, of course, this is a drama and of course, heroes in all sorts of shows suffer and are hurt, but [b]Whedon’s oeuvre reveals a particularly yucky obsession with young, beautiful, sexy women who can kick ass who are constantly victimized. As Whedon wrote on Buffy, it’s all about power, because making a woman powerful makes it even more satisfying when you get to have power over her.[/b]

https://www.themarysue.com/joss-whedon-showed-us-exactly-what-he-thought-of-women-with-dollhouse/
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