As most of you probably know, I have something of a love-hate relationship with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show. In that I feel that for most of its run, it was an entertaining, well-made series, but I hated the self-important, glum-to-the-point-of zombification last seasons on UPN.
And I think the unmitigated admiration of fans of Joss Whedon and his flagship show long-ago crossed the borderline into quite nauseating fawning and delusion. These are the people who will tell you it was a popular series. No, it wasn't. CSI is a popular series. Buffy was a cult success.
That's why I wasn't surprised when Whedon's Wonder Woman movie deal fell through, or when he started writing the Buffy comic book: He is not a mainstream writer. And I don't have a problem with that, except for the people who want to tell me he's the freakin' reincarnation of Charles Dickens.
Unfortunately for me, many of the series' biggest fans are media-types, and I frequently have to grit my teeth at the not-at-all-14-year-old-kid-like ways they find to give their fave a plug. I have grown accustomed, for instance, to finding references to BTVS or Whedon in almost every single issue of Entertainment Weekly, whether there's any story to warrant it or not.
I don't know why, but maybe I expected better from NPR's Fresh Air. They're running an interview with the director of the new Hairspray movie, of whom their little blurb says:
Adam Shankman, whose earlier credits include the legendary musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
"Legendary."
(sigh through gritted teeth)
Look, I know a lot of Buffy fans really love the musical episode. I myself thought it was good, if overrated. (I have a probably-impossible-to-prove hypothesis that how much you liked it depends on how much exposure to real Broadway musicals you've had.)
But love it or just like it...can we at least agree it's not freakin' legendary, in any sense of the word?
(It wasn't even new, they were following in the footsteps of everything on TV from The Drew Carey Show to The Simpsons to South Park to even Xena.)
Sorry, sometimes I have to let off a little steam...
2 comments:
I have to say I think you are being a bit of a snob about whedon, Firefly was Good and Serenity was great,its just not your cup of tea, but you have to admire his talent, kind of like you have to admire james cameron.
Its not high art but it is great fun
I disgaree about Firefly, I don't think it was all that. But the fact is I do admire Whedon's talent, I just don't think he's an infallible genius-god, as too many (IMO) of his fans seem to feel.
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