Why Joss Whedon is My Hero
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Not only does he give an interview to an online crochet magazine (who does that?), he says stuff like this in it:
I mean, let's face it, in the media there are now eight companies. In any mall you walk into, there are now eight stores: there's gonna be a Gap, there's gonna be a Banana Republic. Everything is becoming consolidated, so where there used to be lots of variety, there are now, like, ten giants and tons of tiny little villagers. And yeah, the villagers are going to start making their own stuff because the materials will be available to all of them, and we can't all just do things the way the giants want, because it does seep something out of your soul. I think it's absolutely true on every level of art that this is the worst of times and, like some guy might have said once, the best of times.I know nothing about crochet. But that doesn't even matter.
[...]
Well, you know, at the end of the day right now, you can create something; what you can't usually do is make a fortune off of it. But if we're talking about the sort of people who are actually checking a crocheting website, we're talking about the sort of people who understand that part of what we're doing is in the process. That it's not about, "I'm going to crochet the most hats! I'm going to be the fastest! I'm going to be the most [mumbled] millionaire without enjoying the process and the product." Ultimately, the artistic expression can't be squelched; it's just they'll try to cut off any avenues for that expression to be, shall we say, monetized in a realistic fashion. Like I'm saying, the sort of people who understand the DIY mentality are more about the doing than the having. So I think that ultimately, my advice is what my advice always is: Make stuff. You know. Right now, because of digital technology, you can make crafty little movies, you can make crafty little things that go up for millions of people to see. You can sort of combine the two ethos-ethoses-ethosees... And grab a video camera, tell a story. Be stupid, be something, just ... It is no longer the time of sitting around and thinking about doing something. If you're going to do that, you can, you know, crochet, and you're already doing it.
Speaking of heroes, MFP's illness prompted a multi-day DVD-a-thon of Heroes. It was great to see the X-men premise explored in live-action. And the action scenes and mini character dramas were extremely compelling. Nonetheless, I couldn't help thinking that the dialog would have been so much better had Joss Whedon written it. Also, the beginning of season 2 possessed all the warmed-over appeal of season 2 of Felicity (poor Greg Gunberg!), complete with the main character getting an unfortunate hair cut. As often happens when the writing isn't there, instead of going deeper into the complexities of the central drama, the show scatters--filling the empty spaces with lifeless characters and banal storylines. Buffy suffered a similar problem after season 3, but Angel crossovers and musical interludes interjected some sporadic zest, which kept the show marginally watchable. Sadly, however, MFP and I have neither the time nor the inclination to suffer tedious television, so Heroes is now over for us. Time of death: season 2, disk one.
UPDATE:
Nothing New byslag
at
9:37 AM
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6 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here):
Talking to JW about that stuff has left my poor brain spinning for nearly a month. I now consider it a professional goal to find an excuse to talk to him about craft and art again.
And Heroes. Gah. I watched the first episode of this season (from a hotel room, which should have left me primed to enjoy it since I was bored and lonely), and haven't paid attention to it since. Hmph.
If I may say, Kim Werker, you give good interview. And I won't even ask how you were able to reach him to do it. But the fact that your Q&A could appeal to someone like me, whose only claim to crafting fame is one tightly-knit scarf, speaks highly of its cross-over appeal. Bravo!
Sadly, I know nothing of this season of Heroes (and have no plans to know more), but season 1 is definitely worth watching. I found the artwork impressive (the scenes were comicbook-ish in the best sense). And it was a good story.
Heroes has been a HUGE disappointment to me. I was a crazed fan of season one and have since had to let it go. I just couldn't take in all the pointless new characters when I thought there was so much more that could be done with the great ones they had created.
Oh and if I could have dinner with Joss Whedon and Aaron Sorkin (and you, of course!) and just listen to them talk about writing I think I'd go straight to Heaven or Nirvana or... well, you get the point.
Sigh...
G: I'm starting to think that you and I were separated at birth...
I wonder how many more of us are out there.
I don't know, but we'll find them Slag.
we need something to happen (not involving one of our deaths) that would wake all the slayers at once. I'll work on it and let you know...
Slag and WNG, re: "how many more out there like us": Hm. Maybe somebody has a list. In a notebook...
I have a soft spot for anything super-hero-ish (Greatest American Hero; The Matrix). But Heroes annoyed me with the slow pacing. As Wil Wheaton pointed out about another series, some shows are best watched on DVD, rather than week-by-week.
Give Season 2 of The Office (the U.S. version) a try. If you like it, move fwds. and bkwds. to pick up the other seasons.
--GG
Word = "unmingui" -- when you're not feeling very mingui.
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