The Existential Joss Whedon review
May. 21st, 2007 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI've got a fair few books that are collections of essays by different people about my favourite TV shows/book series. For the most part, they're pretty good.
The Existential Joss Whedon by J Michael Richardson (I automatically wanted to type Straczynski there...) and J Douglas Rabb is a different animal altogether. The focus is a lot less on the TV shows and a lot more on the philosophy. I can't say I understood it all, but it was an interesting read and presented Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity in ways I'd never considered before. (And I didn't cease to exist when I'd finished it, which I'm sure![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siroswold will be glad to hear.)
I'm sure a lot of people would read this book and think it's a load of rubbish, but I'm firmly of the opinion that a reader/viewer is fully entitled to interpret books and TV shows however they want. Yeah, yeah, I hear you all say - the slash fanfic writer would say that, wouldn't she? But I'm an English graduate, too, and I got into my chosen university partly because a tutor defended my right to interpret a poem in a way he wasn't expecting. If you can back up your theory with evidence, and explain yourself competently, then I believe you can think what you like about Joss Whedon's work, and these two guys certainly explain themselves very well indeed.
On a separate note, I started Titus Groan today. I'd been told the style would be the thing that would put me off if anything would, but I really like the style. Actually, it's the only thing keeping me reading it at the moment - because all the characters are really unpleasant and nothing interesting has happened yet. I shall persevere... at least for a little while.
The Existential Joss Whedon by J Michael Richardson (I automatically wanted to type Straczynski there...) and J Douglas Rabb is a different animal altogether. The focus is a lot less on the TV shows and a lot more on the philosophy. I can't say I understood it all, but it was an interesting read and presented Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity in ways I'd never considered before. (And I didn't cease to exist when I'd finished it, which I'm sure
siroswold will be glad to hear.)I'm sure a lot of people would read this book and think it's a load of rubbish, but I'm firmly of the opinion that a reader/viewer is fully entitled to interpret books and TV shows however they want. Yeah, yeah, I hear you all say - the slash fanfic writer would say that, wouldn't she? But I'm an English graduate, too, and I got into my chosen university partly because a tutor defended my right to interpret a poem in a way he wasn't expecting. If you can back up your theory with evidence, and explain yourself competently, then I believe you can think what you like about Joss Whedon's work, and these two guys certainly explain themselves very well indeed.
On a separate note, I started Titus Groan today. I'd been told the style would be the thing that would put me off if anything would, but I really like the style. Actually, it's the only thing keeping me reading it at the moment - because all the characters are really unpleasant and nothing interesting has happened yet. I shall persevere... at least for a little while.
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Date: 2007-05-23 05:57 pm (UTC)As for the user name, he's just a fab character, although I'll agree he's decidedly offputting to begin with. Give it time :)