Oh, I'm way more forgiving of pop culture than you are - partly because I live in the US and more importantly NYC and am surrounded by it. I've never taken it all that seriously. It's fun, but that's it. Not meant to be art so much as pure entertainment, although it can be art...
Buffy rose above it for me. And there are a few episodes that still show and demonstrate that level of artistry and no holds barred creativity. Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling, and Restless - are the four episodes that come to mind. I honestly think that is the best writing and direction Whedon's ever done, and may well ever do - he may well be a one-trick pony. The closest Angel ever came to that moment of brilliance was possibly "Smile Time" which was not written by Whedon. Firefly - maybe Objects in Space but that was sort of derivative of other sci-fi I'd seen. Dollhouse? A mess from start to finish. The comics? Nothing good there. Even his foray into the X-men felt...a bit lame, as if he were treading old ground - although I did like the Emma story.
I don't know. I know I saw something in the comics that revealed a rather disturbing underlying pattern to Whedon's writing and work stretching all the way back through his Buffy tv series - that made it impossible for me to like the writer or condone/be fannish about what he wrote any longer. It was something that left a really bad taste in my mouth and left me feeling a little disillusioned. I know you know what it is - since we've discussed it at length elsewhere. And I'll should probably just leave it at that.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-10-21 10:25 pm (UTC)Buffy rose above it for me. And there are a few episodes that still show and demonstrate that level of artistry and no holds barred creativity. Hush, The Body, Once More With Feeling, and Restless - are the four episodes that come to mind. I honestly think that is the best writing and direction Whedon's ever done, and may well ever do - he may well be a one-trick pony. The closest Angel ever came to that moment of brilliance was possibly "Smile Time" which was not written by Whedon. Firefly - maybe Objects in Space but that was sort of derivative of other sci-fi I'd seen. Dollhouse? A mess from start to finish. The comics? Nothing good there. Even his foray into the X-men felt...a bit lame, as if he were treading old ground - although I did like the Emma story.
I don't know. I know I saw something in the comics that revealed a rather disturbing underlying pattern to Whedon's writing and work stretching all the way back through his Buffy tv series - that made it impossible for me to like the writer or condone/be fannish about what he wrote any longer. It was something that left a really bad taste in my mouth and left me feeling a little disillusioned. I know you know what it is - since we've discussed it at length elsewhere. And I'll should probably just leave it at that.