As I mentioned in my last post, I’m in the process of researching Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and her dead fictional boyfriends. Before I can write a proper introduction post for that franchise, however, I have to deal with one uncomfortable fact: its creator is a bad, bad man.
Who is this?
None other than Joss Whedon, third generation screenwriter and showrunner extraordinaire. He created Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse,and Firefly, among other shows. He also wrote and directed a fair number of movies, including the $1.5-billion-earning Avengers that pretty much rewrote the game for inter-connected movie universes. Whedon is noted for his snappy dialog, his detailed worldbuilding, and his insight into the human condition. At one point in history, he was also renowned for how well he could write strong, complex female characters.
His public feminism, as it transpires, was all an act that covered up for his personal mistreatment of women.
Whedon’s fall from grace began in 2017 when his ex-wife Kai Wrap wrote an open letter that called him a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.” She accused him of gaslighting her to the point that she has PTSD from it. Since Ms. Wrap came forward, Whedon’s been hit with a variety of other allegations about being sexist, racist, cruel, unprofessional, etc. He’s had affairs with actresses working on his shows; belittled the work of female writers during staff meetings; bullied and/or fired pregnant women; and overall, created hostile work environments throughout his entire career. (Lila Shapiro of Vulture has a thorough account of the whole situation here, if you want more details.) Suffice to say, Whedon’s fans have turned on him, and his attempts to defend himself haven’t landed. His career is more or less over; he hasn’t had a new credit since 2021, and even then, HBO apparently removed his name from marketing materials because of the scandals. (See this article, quoted in Shapiro.)
Yes, which is what makes the Whedon case so interesting. He’s never been accused of outright criminal behavior, unlike (for example) Danny Masterson, Harvey Weinstein, or Bill Cosby, all of whom worked for decades while their crimes against women were open secrets. But Whedon’s career completely collapsed within 4 years of the first hint of trouble.
He’d built his career on his feminist identity. Therefore, his biggest fans were feminists. And if there’s one thing feminists are good at doing, it’s punishing men for their bad behavior.
I mean, what, were you running low on dramatic irony?
- Xander Harris (a Joss self-insert character), "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" (aired 1998-02-10)
If Whedon had been a typical overt sexist, he wouldn’t have cared what women say, and he would’ve likely attracted fans with similar priorities. See, for comparison, the careers of Chris Brown or Johnny Depp or Woody Allen, abusive men who still have rabid defenders. But because Whedon was out there winning awards from Equality Now and giving speeches about why we need to tell stories about strong women, he built himself a following that wouldn’t put up with his nonsense.
Oh, if only it were that simple. See, I’m fine with it if Whedon never works again. But what am I supposed to do with the art he already made? Specifically, what to do with the great feminist action/horror/comedy masterpiece that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
That’s surprisingly hard to do, watching the Whedon oeuvre. His shows have many, many plots that demonstrate understanding of issues affecting women, such as sexual violence, stalking, forced impregnation/birth, or female genital mutilation. As I’ve mentioned before, Buffy’s main love interest was sweet and lovable and heroic until they slept together, whereupon he lost his soul and turned into a jerk. One of the most action-packed episodes of Firefly is about women banding together to fight off a baby-daddy who wants sole custody and doesn’t care about the mother at all. The pilot of Angel is all about how Los Angeles chews aspiring actresses up and spits them out, with extra emphasis on predatory men who think “I can do whatever I want.” (To which Angel heroically says “Can you fly?” before kicking the predator out a 20-story window.)
All these plots were written by Whedon, who was secretly the jerk, the predator, and the awful partner who didn’t care about his wife. The implications are pretty terrifying. Screenwriting talent requires having insight into the human condition - in other words, empathy. Abusive behavior comes from failure to empathize with other humans. If you view Whedon’s art next to his actions, therefore, you realize he absolutely understood the damage he was doing to the women in his life. He simply didn’t care.
The more I see of Whedon’s work, the more frightening questions I have. Were all the plots he wrote in which women got hurt by men (and then got badass revenge), actually his fantasies about what he wanted to do to women? Was Angel, the reformed woman-torturing vampire who loves younger women, a self-insert character? Whedon says no, but then again, he would.
But I can't look away! The shows are just too entertaining! Plus I don’t want to hurt the many people involved in making them who aren’t jerks. Nor do I want to scrap any of the positive influence that shows like Buffy had on representation of girl-power heroines on American TV. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I watch a lot of media in which women are underrepresented, objectified, infantilized, and/or brutalized. Buffy is a refreshing change of pace. I’d feel fairly hypocritical if I stopped watching good representation just because I know it was made by a bad person. In other words, as I say in my FAQs, I can’t stop watching because I actually like this stuff.
If I’m going to stick with both my fandom and my feminism, therefore, I have to hold two truths in my brain at the same time. Fortunately, I have experience. After all, I’ve sat through over 48 hours of the Bond movies, thinking both, “this is awesome” and “the violence being perpetrated on these Bond girls is actively harmful to the audience.” (I promise, I’m more fun to watch movies with than that quote would suggest.) Drawing on my 11 years of feminist blogging, I plan to watch Buffy and Angel while thinking both, “this is awesome” and “fine by me if Joss Whedon gets Thanos-snapped out of existence.” Then I’ll report back to you, dear readers, on how that worked out.
Until then, keep your sexy lamps burning.