This Joss Whedon thing is... not as tough for me as I would have expected several years ago. I would have expected it to be more difficult to come to terms with had the information about him not been trickling out for years. It started with Charisma Carpenter. I can't deny the impact that his work had on my life. I cannot understate the impact of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy Summers. I learned from that what I can and should expect from a female protagonist. Joss is another story. I (1/2)
I have high expectations for him in large part because of what he wrote. Kai reminded us that he's human. He is and why should I not hold a human being to the standard of having respect for other human beings? Especially his wife. Had this information come out all of a sudden, it would be one thing. As it is, it's been there and it's been bleeding into his writing. So, while ultimately disappointed and somewhat disgusted with his behavior, I'm sorry to say it's not a surprise.
It's an interesting time for not only someone who referred to herself as once a Joss Whedon fan, but as someone who feels she learned a lot from his writing. Hell, I'm on a Buffy DVD proclaiming my trust in him as a storyteller, for crying out loud. That trust is gone.
So, I get this. I relate to it. Finding out what he did to Charisma was the start for me, too. But the thing is, no one can take away from us what Buffy or Firefly did to impact our fandom lives. Because of Buffy, I met my first real best friend. We used to go ‘patroling’ together. We carved wooden stakes for each other; like we had a total fandom experience. Buffy (and The X-Files) was the first time I ever really role played online and it turned into a love for writing. What I’m saying is, I won’t let a shitty human being take away what I found and still find intense value in. He can’t take away what I got out of his creation. I’m not feeling gut-punched by any of this because I feel like I knew (after Buffy but within the last five years) how he was and have for a while. It’s not just internet rumor which I think a lot of people want to believe.
He is only human. No one is infallible. If someone told me tomorrow that the creators of Once Upon a Time did anything on this level and it went public, I’d be incredibly disappointed. But what they do can never change that I started a podcast. I got to do things that are amazing. A person cannot take away what you got out of something. But as a person who can’t support shitty people, I can make a choice to no longer support the things he’s doing. That’s where I’m at. I’ll always love Buffy, but future Whedon is out of the picture for me.
