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shadowkatI'm offline for the next two-three days for the Thanksgiving Holiday. When I get back will hopefully do a meta on poll results and respond to comments. Sorry about delay.
Thank you for answering my poll. If you friended me and are a fan of Buffy? And haven't seen or answered the poll? Please take the time to answer at least the first three questions of the poll. I really would like to see how many Buffy fans actually have read the comics, and how many gave up on them. I know it can't possibly be an accurate or scientific sampling (as I myself stated recently to someone else doing polls - such a thing may well be impossible)...but I'd like to get a snapshot, see the degree to which the mileage differs. Thanks!!
Regarding the canon question?
"I think how you answer that question has a great deal to do with whether you consider Joss Whedon the sole creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, or a co-creator/part of a larger collaborative effort. Think of it this way - you've written part of book, say one chapter, and there's a guy, JW, who hired you to write that chapter, he may have even edited portions, and given you notes , and he does the same with other people, including writing a few chapters himself, and he puts his name on the book - edited/created by J.W. Your name is listed in the table of contents, you are credited as a writer for hire. J.W does a sequel, he hires different writers, you either decline to contribute or aren't invited. He chooses to take the characters or information in the chapter that you wrote and write a sequel based on it, and states that his sequel is canon. It is a continuation of what you wrote - even though you haven't been consulted in any way. Since he or the publisher own the copyright, and you are a mere "work-for-hire" writer, you can't claim copyright infringement. He can do whatever he wants. Would you consider what he does with your characters, story, and/or ideas/information that you have concieved and written a true continuation of the work (ie. canon), if you are no longer part of the collaboration purely because he combined the original combination of stories, edited and put them together and is the one credited with coming up with the title and main concept?
Happy Thanksgiving for those in US who celebrate, elsewhere, have a great weekend!
Thank you for answering my poll. If you friended me and are a fan of Buffy? And haven't seen or answered the poll? Please take the time to answer at least the first three questions of the poll. I really would like to see how many Buffy fans actually have read the comics, and how many gave up on them. I know it can't possibly be an accurate or scientific sampling (as I myself stated recently to someone else doing polls - such a thing may well be impossible)...but I'd like to get a snapshot, see the degree to which the mileage differs. Thanks!!
Regarding the canon question?
"I think how you answer that question has a great deal to do with whether you consider Joss Whedon the sole creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, or a co-creator/part of a larger collaborative effort. Think of it this way - you've written part of book, say one chapter, and there's a guy, JW, who hired you to write that chapter, he may have even edited portions, and given you notes , and he does the same with other people, including writing a few chapters himself, and he puts his name on the book - edited/created by J.W. Your name is listed in the table of contents, you are credited as a writer for hire. J.W does a sequel, he hires different writers, you either decline to contribute or aren't invited. He chooses to take the characters or information in the chapter that you wrote and write a sequel based on it, and states that his sequel is canon. It is a continuation of what you wrote - even though you haven't been consulted in any way. Since he or the publisher own the copyright, and you are a mere "work-for-hire" writer, you can't claim copyright infringement. He can do whatever he wants. Would you consider what he does with your characters, story, and/or ideas/information that you have concieved and written a true continuation of the work (ie. canon), if you are no longer part of the collaboration purely because he combined the original combination of stories, edited and put them together and is the one credited with coming up with the title and main concept?
Happy Thanksgiving for those in US who celebrate, elsewhere, have a great weekend!
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Re: Part II - Why we define things differently - we think differently
Date: 2009-11-29 04:19 am (UTC)I think Joss Whedon believes Buffy is his avatar and sole creation. But David Fury a while back made a great comment - he said, Whedon fails to see how much Sarah Michelle Gellar made Buffy who she was - that the show would not have existed and Buffy would not have existed without her in it. I agree with him. The comics have proven that to me. She did play a HUGE role, but like many tv writers - Whedon doesn't like to think actors are as important and vital as they are.
(That's partly why Dollhouse is so creepy at times, that metaphor rings heavily in that show - because he is clearly struggling with that attitude). Other things - Gail Berman - the producer reigned in Whedon, as did the other network execs, and Marti definitely had a say, as did Rebecca Rand Kirshner, Greenwalt, Minear and the other writers. I honestly think their absence shows. And as they say proof is in the pudding - look at the poll results. And the comments thread. The number of people who stated that they lost Buffy in the series. That it does not feel like the character. That the story is not ringing true. As well as the number who stopped reading after The Long Way Home (and then Retreat - two volumns that focused heavily on Buffy). Then look at the number who stated it was not canon.
So, what we are disagreeing on may be that Whedon is NOT the creator. Your argument is that we don't get to tell the creator what to do. And since that creator is Whedon, then we don't get to tell Whedon what to do with Buffy or that Buffy comics aren't canon. But what if we don't agree that Whedon is the sole creator?
What if I believe that Whedon is part of a group?
And without certain key members such as SMG, Gareth (the head producer), Noxon, and Fury (the ones who were with him the longest, and Greenwalt as the consultant...plus the fact that we have changed publishers, editors, and formats and now have Scott Allie (of all people) editing and contributing to the plot arc, plus some hack named Meltzer, and an artist named Jeanty...taking over? How's that the original creator? I'm sorry, we'll just have to agree to disagree. ;-)