Joss Whedon is problematic: All the most serious issues in his works

Only two generations to date have experienced Joss really, definitely not a few

But good article

You make some valid points, thanks for the article (Late in getting here because I’m late in looking up current Whedon info after hearing there is controversy in the first place.) I have to say that I do think someone can be a feminist and still have sexist ideas be they male or female, because we are all, unfortunately, raised in societies that hold very sexist ideas that we ourselves aren’t always aware of and must fight within our own minds. If you are raised to think a certain way, your brain develops that way and it’s even harder to fight as you get older. Even I as a female have found biases against my own gender in my own feelings! I can logic them out and say hey this isn’t right, but the feelings remain even as I fight them and confront them. I do think Whedon did empower women on some fronts (he at least can write a fully fleshed out female character, whereas people like say, Steven Moffat clearly see women as plot devices and not full humans so their writing of women tends to flat, one dimensional. Moffat’s writing tends to throw females into ‘hot dominatrix’, ‘feisty unmarried girl’ and ‘walking womb/mother/wife’ territory and men who marry into ‘he’s useless now other than as a whipped husband’ territory. So having seen plenty of sexist writing /movies/shows that have no clue how to write women, I do think Whedon is not as horrible at portraying women as people want to think. It’s not all or nothing. He had some progressive ideas (Even having a lesbian couple on TV in a time when it was rare and very highly controversial and not making it about pleasing men’s eyes, but about the couple being fully fleshed out and loving towards one another, is pretty damn progressive for it’s time) and yes, he’s also a product of the society that raised him so sexism, biased ideas will cling to it. It doesn’t mean he and others can’t learn from it and grow and change. I don’t know if he WILL learn from it and grow and change but I’m just throwing it out there that while he has some problematic things going on, he’s also done some positive things for girls as far as giving them role models. I think of him the same way I think of Star Trek. It allowed a black woman to have a career position that wasn’t simply maid/servant to white people. It has offered up ideas challenging religious beliefs, sexist beliefs, racist beliefs and other human biases over the years, and yet…It also has some sexist, racist, biased things going on based on the time and society it was created and brought out in (Depending on which version you get). People can be empowering and help one another while also having biases that hurt others. It’s probably more objective to understand that we all hold biases and some of us recognize that and fight it within ourselves, and some don’t recognize it and need to be educated, then it demonize any one person unless they’re blatantly trying to damage other people without remorse. Just my two cents.

Well, you miss the point completely. In a time where women had no representation in action and fantasy in television and film he created one of the greatest and most iconic female heroes in history. Buffy is wonderful, self realized, and classically heroic.

You are like most 3rd wave feminist. You have sold your soul to critical theory because you want the easiest route to political relevancy. The sad part is that you destroy all the great humanizing work of feminism that liberates women and men from misogyn. In its place you offer racial and sexist segregationist postmodern claptrap.

‘You miss the point completely’ Thanks, David Henson for educating all of us (more like casually handwaving away) on how ‘Third Wave’ feminism is only bad because you’re currently living through it. Did you read the article or just come here to preach? Men like you are the reason there are women who make actual rationalizations of their ‘third wave’ ideas – you know – with actual examples – from just one dude’s entertainment career – to back it up.

Your comment is absolute ‘mansplaining’ b.s to the nth degree, no matter how many meaningless, nonsense buzzwords you pepper in there.

You’re the type of guy that says it ‘makes sense’ that only one mainstay character out of both ‘Angel’ and ‘Buffy’ is POC because it ‘reflects their demographic representation in real life.’

Hello. I found your article challenging, as I’ve been a fan of Joss for a long time. I’m grateful that you have helped me think about him in this way. I still respect elements of his work, and I don’t necessarily agree with all your points, but I would be wrong to ignore the trend that you have identified. Malc’s slut-shaming always threatened to spoil my enjoyment of a show I otherwise love, but otherwise many of your points hadn’t occurred to me before.

What a lot of incredible nonsense.

What was wrong with Inara’s character? She flips the high-end escort trope on its head by empowering women who enjoy sex work. All the power is placed in her hands. She wasn’t forced into the work, she chose to go to school for it. SHE chooses her clients and she has the ability to blacklist someone so that other companions know not to deal with them in the future. Because of her job, she is part of the social elite and a member of high society that allows her to open doors no one else on the crew can.

What’s with all this anti-women who enjoy sex rhetoric that’s been going around lately? People are trying to be so progressive it’s actually causing things to regress.

I’m not sure what issues you saw with her treatment from other characters, but if you’re referring to Mal, the reason Mal is mean towards her is because of what she represents. See, the thing about Firefly is that each of the 8 characters onboard Serenity represent different aspects of Mal’s identity that he lost in the war. The ship itself represents his freedom and sense of adventure. Inara represents his heart and compassion. Whenever she isn’t on the ship, Mal’s mood becomes darker and he acts more callously. They butt heads so much because Mal is constantly at war with himself, wanting to regain his compassion, but finding it stuck in a mud-drenched valley, riddled with bullet holes. He’s also unknowingly in love with her but too bull-headed to realize it. She’s in love with him, too, and when she finally realizes this, she actively works to protect Mal from developing feelings for her because she knows it would cause too many problems. Hence, why she is just as mean back.

Sara, it’s almost as if you didn’t thoroughly research this topic.

As to the low amount of Asians on Firefly, I find that odd, too, but it could be any number of things. It could have been done purposefully, it could have been the network execs wanting to cater to a western audience, maybe there weren’t very many Asian actors who auditioned, maybe this was going to be explored better after season 1, maybe most of the Asians are well-off and live on the rich core planets instead of the poor outer rim planets, maybe Joss didn’t want a lot of Asians on the poor planets because they would look like oppressed railroad workers instead of white folk who would look like desperate ranchers and coal miners. Maybe there’s a conspiracy here, maybe there’s not. Either way, we’ll never know until an official statement is made which won’t ever happen.

At least the main cast of Firefly included a loving interracial couple, two black actors, one Brazilian actor, and one actor that is part Iroquois. I believe that Kaylee’s role was written to be Asian but they loved Jewel Staite’s audition so much that she got the part. She fit the role the best out of all who auditioned. I don’t see anything wrong with that. As with all things, we are more than just the color of our skin or the heritage in our genes. We are not the sins of our fathers. We are humankind.