Three things...before bed

[shadowkat]

From the flist:

1. Apparently Whedon answered fan questions on - Reddit's Ask me Anything.

The funniest comment? " Joss Whedon Answers Questions that he has answered in a 10000 interviews already." Hee, so true. Apparently people think if they keep asking if there will be another Firefly movie or second Firefly series, it will actually happen. No, it won't. People, repeat after me, FIREFLY IS DEAD. IT IS BURIED. Heck, you got more than most tv fans ever get. You got a comic book and a major motion picture. Star Trek this ain't. [Profit, any one?]


Poster 1: WHY DO YOU KILL EVERYONE THAT I LOVE?!
Poster 2:This is such a great question. Why, Joss, why do you have a propensity for killing characters that people want happy endings for?
EDIT: I've had like 30 responses from people that aren't Joss Whedon about reasons I already know why this makes sense for good story telling. I wanted to know if Joss had a personal motivation beyond that.
[Uhm, you know Whedon is a HORROR writer, right? This isn't Seven Heaven or Parenthood. Why would he have personal motivations beyond good storytelling? Ratings? To hurt you??? Seriously, how do you expect him to answer this??? What books, movies and tv series are you watching???]
Poster 3: This question need to be cross posted in a George RR Martin AMA
Poster 4: Mr. Martin, why does Joss Whedon kill everyone that I love? [LOL!]
I AM JOSS WHEDON: You love stupid people.
Poster: How dare you speak ill of Wash. Who do you think you are?
:looks: Oh.
[Me (bursts out laughing): Another stupid person? Seriously this is a dumb question folks. I can't blame him for answering the way he did. He kills people for ratings, for story, to propel plot? And Whedon says he's an atheist. I honestly do not understand how writers can be atheists or believe there's no pattern or rhyme or reason to the universe. You are a writer! Hello!]
Joss Whedon to God: Why do you kill everyone I love?
God: You love stupid people. [ie. I don't kill them you nitwit, the story does...the actions they take do, the other characters do, their environment, their world, the other creations in that world does...the plot does. It's a story dictated decision. I thought you were writer? Your creations are like children, they aren't pets, they grow up, move out, and talk back to you and if you are a smart creator and want a good story...you give your creations free will and let them do what they do, even if it means killing each other. If I interfered, I'd be like Cordy or Jasmine in S4 Angel.]

My favorite bit was the George RR Martin exchange.
Poster: I thought the hero was safe, and then Martin said...you like him? He's dead!
Poster 2: If you think that was bad? Just wait. You haven't seen nothing yet.

Poster: Do you use techniques to boost your creativity for writing? Do you for instance write better when you meditate, exercise, take alcohol etc.?
[ME: Who are these people? Haven't you ever read a writer's interview before?]
[–]IAMAJossWhedon: I like movie scores. They really help put me in the moment, no matter where I am. Avengers owes a lot to Rachel Portman's Never Let Me Go and Hart's War. Also Zimmer: the Thin Red Line, King Arthur, Black Hawk Down...
special mention: Breach, Seven Pounds, Passengers...
lifetime achievement award: Memoirs of a Geisha, by the man himself, Mr. Williams.
And I do like a reward for writing -- cup of tea, glass of wine, meth-fueled crime spree... but when a story has me, I don't need anything but a pen.
[ME: the soundtrack to Memoirs of a Geisha???? Seriously?? Was there one to Breach?? King Arthur??? This explains sooo much. (Although I admittedly have listened to the soundtrack to Chosen for inspiration and Becoming, not to mention the Once More With Feeling Soundtrack and Purple Rain..plus Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and Cabret.. so I really shouldn't judge. Personally, Raider's of the Lost Arc is my favorite.)]

Oh...and this is precious.

Poster: 1)Which of your characters was your absolute favorite to write? Why?
2) Conversely, which of your characters was the most difficult for you to write?
3) When are we going to see Wil Wheaton in a Joss Whedon project? Joss and Wil. It just feels right… kind of natural. Maybe even a little bit sexy in a way that I’m not comfortable discussing here.
[Do you really think he's going to answer question 3? And how much you want to bet he says Andrew and Illyria???]
IAMAJossWhedon: Favorite characters? Jeez. Spike, Andrew, Illyria, River, Captain Hammer, Loki, the Cheese Man... hell, I love them all, or I wouldn't write them. But I tend to the left of center. [And this is surprising because? Only one that surprised me was Captain Hammer. Although...I'm guessing it shouldn't considering. Does explain a lot though. ]
The hardest was always Angel. How to make a decent, handsome, stalwart hero interesting -- tough.[Uhm okay...first, disturbing. Second? Rent Smallville and read Superman. Third? Watch Justified. Fourth...still disturbing, can someone please send Whedon the DVD's of Being Human and the first Season of Game of Thrones? Thank you. And while you're at it? Pull that thread-worn copy of Atlas Shrugged out of his hands it's melting the man's brain.] Angelus, on the other hand...

[In short he likes to write characters who are edgy or have a dark side. Sigh. What writer doesn't? Straight characters are harder to write, you have to dig deeper. Also..the bit on Angel...I'm sorry that is really disturbing, assuming he's being serious here and not joking. (And having read various interviews, I don't think he is joking). I don't know about you? But I really, really, hope he's joking. Because otherwise, Whedon has a really skewed view of morality. Although...come to think of it? It does explain a lot. Maybe I'm just reading Angel wrong? Maybe erasing people's memories, manipulating them, destroying your friends, and corrupting everyone around you is decent? Nah, that can't be true.]

After reading this.. I'm not quite sure why people are Whedon fans? Masochism???



2. Game of Thrones has been renewed for a third season already. Which is great news.
But each season is only 10 episodes. Storm of Swords is 1500 pages. Okay. George RR Martin says roughly half of it will be in Season 3. I really want to lurk on a fanboard during S3...that's gotta be fun.

3. Hunger Games is in the top 3 position on the ALA Banned book list = books that people want banned from school libraries and reading lists due to their content. I wonder about parents. I get banning video games or violent tv shows or movies. But books?

Comments

[elisi]

I very much like your asides. And am with you re. Angel - surely he must be speaking tongue-in-cheek? Otherwise... Well. (It would make sense of the comics, I suupse.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

True, it would make sense of the comics...on the other hand, even more disturbing...considering.

[elisi]

Uh-huh.

(But then he never *did* know that to do with Angel...)

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

I don't agree with banning books, but I understand exactly why. People have been banning books since the form existing. Books are incredibly dangerous. You can distract or corrupt somebody far easier with video games, TV, and music... but when someone is corrupted by a book, they are wholly taken.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Good point. I think I could have worded that better. I was trying to say that I understood wanting to avoid exposing the kids to graphic violence on tv or the graphic violence video games...but books?

But you are correct, the banning is less about violence and more about ideas and ideology. I've noticed that with a lot of people online who said their parents restricted what they watched or read, oddly - they were permitted to see graphically violent material such as say the X-Files or Silence of the Lambs, but the Hunger Games or Buffy not so much. As long as the content echoed their worldview, all was right with the world.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

I had heard last year when they were discussing future seasons of Game of Thrones that they were thinking one seasons for Game and Clash, but possibly 2 seasons each for the later three books, just because they are so very long and complex. Wouldn't surprise me if they made the first half of Storms into S3 and the second half into S4. I haven't seen any confirmation on this, though.

As for Hunger Games and banned books, I saw in another post that most of the books challenged were for "age appropriateness." As far as Hunger Games goes... I can sorta see their point? It is a really dark series. I wouldn't give it to very young kids, anyway. I'd recommend it for probably 13+ although it would depend on the kid in question.

Some of the others on the list just seem odd. There was a children's book called something like "Mommy's Having a Baby." Why that's offensive I'm sure I don't know.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

GRR Martin recently confirmed in his blog on lj that GoT was not only renewed for a third season, but that the third season would cover only half of Book Three. That Book Three was being split into two parts. He was writing the seventh episode Autumn Storms. I think he said the 7th, it could be the 3rd. What I can't remember is...when the Red Wedding occurred. Was it before the half-way mark or after?

(I got spoiled on the Red Wedding by the family tree at the end of the book).
I basically read the first three books wrong. Completely spoiled for everything. Being completely spoiled for Martin's novels sort of kills the emotional resonance of them. They are no longer page turners.

As for Hunger Games and banned books, I saw in another post that most of the books challenged were for "age appropriateness."

Okay that does make sense. I'm not sure I want my 8 year old niece reading it yet. It's categorized as YA or for 13 and up. Granted I read Watership Down in the 5th Grade, and Lord of the Rings in the 6th Grade. So...

It's really hard to tell. Just gave my 7 turning 8 year old neice the Inkheart Triology for her birthday - that's set at ages 9 and up.

Some of the others on the list just seem odd. There was a children's book called something like "Mommy's Having a Baby." Why that's offensive I'm sure I don't know.

Sexual content. Apparently some parents want to keep to the stork myth alive as long as possible. Seriously, if they told their kids about sex early - we probably wouldn't have teen pregnancy, stupid parents need to get over their discomfort. If you can do it, you can talk about it.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I don't check his blog that often. I'll have to look into it. The Red Wedding... hm. Just checked, and the Wedding happens around page 700, so just around the halfway point. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end it there, it is after all a hell of a cliffhanger.

I can understand being spoiled kind of ruining the books; Ned's death is meant to be a pretty big surprise, because who thinks a fantasy author will actually kill his "main" character? I try to avoid spoiling people for these books when I can, although generally I do warn about the Red Wedding, mostly along the lines of "brace yourself, this is going to be extra awful." Much like I warn people that after Mockingjay, they're probably going to want to have a really happy book ready.

It's hard to tell with books. I read Watership Down in 6th grade, and certainly it seemed a lot of the books they assign in school are rather upsetting, if not violent-- I remember being not a little traumatized by books like Where the Red Fern Grows and I know a lot of people cried over Bridge to Terebithia (though I didn't read that one myself, I know I would have.) A friend of mine is a middle school teacher who teaches remedial reading; she says a lot of her kids (6th and 7th graders) enjoy The Hunger Games, but I think she's said they often treat it like an adventure story, and probably don't get the real horror of it. And while some of them have read the other two books, most of them haven't.

As far as the children's book goes... that was my suspicion, but I still find it a bit ridiculous. Maybe I shouldn't, given the extensive efforts to keep from teaching kids anything about sex beyond "don't have it" but even so. You can explain the situation to young kids without getting into detail (and I don't think a children's book would anyway). I think most parents usually just say "you're going to have a sibling" and leave it at that if the kids are very young.

[jaymi-leaf.livejournal.com]

The Angel comments from Joss made me think of this interview answer he gave last year:

KL: Who did you like together with Buffy the most: Angel, Riley, or Spike?
"JW: You know what, I liked Spike. With Angel it’s too “Romeo and Juliet”. Which means, as soon as it happens you’re bored. Riley, you know he was a well-adjusted person who loved her in a much, much healthier way than the other two guys. Nobody wants to see that. With Buffy and Spike, they had a real Beatrice and Benedick kind of relationship, in "Much Ado About Nothing". I think with the wedding, she would have tried to do something fast, but he would have made it elaborate and done everything wrong. It would have been extraordinarily counter-intuitive, and awesome!"

On the one hand in made me happy that he preferred Buffy/Spike, but his description of Riley really threw me. A 'well-adjusted person'? 'loved her in a much much healthier way'? Is this the same Riley who was incredibly insecure, immature, untrusting and jealous...?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hee. I thought the same thing today about Riley. The writers view of Riley is a bit disturbing. Granted he's more adjusted than just about any other man in the series outside of possibly Giles.But if you compare him to actual men, the guy is a nightmare. Run, Sam, Run.

So, perhaps he's just comparing Riley to Spike and Angel, and he's not wrong - in comparison to Spike and Angel, Riley is the most well-adjusted of the three. He's human. He's not a vampire.

And he doesn't have parent issues (unless you count crazy Professor Walsh).
Which basically makes Riley the most well-adjusted guy in the entire series, also, unfortunately, the most boring and underdeveloped. They really had no idea what to do with him.

Now...if he had only cast James Marsters as Benedict, SMG as Beatrice, and
ASH as Dogberry...I might go see that movie. With Alan Tydke and Acker in the lover's roles. Denisof or Boreanze as the bad guy. Now That I would pay to see.

[sophist.livejournal.com]

How about Denisof and Hannigan in the lovers' roles?