Well, the "bad" news is that Whedon does pop up a couple of times in the other eps. In the gay TV episode he comments on the famous Thirtysomething with two men in bed. When Willow comes up, he repeats the line about how she was gay, not bi, not "experiementing,"--although they considered it! Tara is not mentioned.
In the Women In Television episode he again trots out a lot of the "feminist agenda" wank we've heard before.
It is interesting to note once again, however, the growing consensus that all the truly revolutionary aspects of Buffy took place in it's first four years, where all the material in these eps originated.
The good news is that despite all this, I recommend the show. Based on what I have learned about minorities in television, both here and in books like Where the Girls Are and Alternate Channels, it seems fair. I found little to which to object, and much to praise.
(I disagree with the idea floated that Roseanne got critisized solely because she was an angry woman trying to protect the integrity of blue-collar women on television, though. Whose idea was the gloriously shark-jumping lottery season, anyway?)
I suggest Kittens watch the series, though maybe with a mute button at the ready when Whedon comes up on their screens.
Or maybe not; one or two things he says about the conflicted feelings men have about female empowerment actually are interesting. It's just that they would be more so if he didn't disinclude himself.
But as we know, Whedon refuses to admit (as oh, say, Aaron Sorkin has) that he might have those selfsame conflicted feelings and flaws. Because, he is, after all, The Champion Of Feminism.
ETA: The New York Times ran a review a few days ago that makes a couple of good points I missed when I wrote the above.
www.nytimes.com/2004/05/2...ALTAVISTA1Quote:
A bargain-basement history of TV is enlivened, a little, by a tender account of gay men and women in the media. Bedeviled by the usual "and lesbians" problem that tugs at every effort to talk about gay people as a coherent group, "TV Revolution" begins and ends with stories of homosexual men.
Quote:
The documentary also nails a small but bright point. It asserts that lesbian romance on television is a function of sweeps week; the networks want to be able to promote kisses between women that can be billed as minor porn and political provocation. Liz Friedman, the most insightful commentator on this program and a television writer, calls these kisses "sweeps lesbianism"; others note that characters who participate generally snap back to heterosexuality when a show's regular season resumes.
(FYI, Whedon is the unnamed "others.")
ETA, again: Sigh...and then there was tonight's episode on sex in TV, in which Whedon asserted that Buffy was sexual without punishment.
Cut to Ben yelling, "WHAT?"
The poor girl never *had* sex she wasn't punished for.
Buffy has sex with Angel: He turns evil, goes on killing spree till she puts an end to it by taking his life. Buffy has sex with Parker, he turns out to be a jerk. Buffy has sex with Riley. Buffy has sex with Riley. Buffy has sex with Spike--degrading, belittling sex.
I know few if any of you reading this are surprised by Whedon lying at this point, but it had been a long time since he did it to my "face."
It did help me pinpoint why I still care about this, though--it's a lesson in revisionism. And for those of you playing at home, I still think they're trying to make people forget the UPN years-Buffy ran for seven years, they declared, and helped make the WB...UPN was conspicuously absent.
Ben
"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love."
-- Doris 'Granny D' Haddock
Edited by: Ben Varkentine at: 5/24/04 10:13 pm
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is a pompous idiot! Seems he's been spending his extra time not producing TV shows convincing himself that he's this great "theorist." Feh, I trusted this man's talent for how long? (Gives credence to the "hundred monkeys w/ a hundred typewriters" theory 
)
Out
Been There, Done That is one of my favorite eps.
- yep, that's the whole quote. Thanks!
At least on the People of Color ep it was shown as an example of the problem, and not the solution! Out 