Joss Whedon

[KingTonetta]

Shocker that a Male feminist is a creep. They're always creeps. They hide behind the whole "I respect women you know, I'm a feminist!" to be creeps. Fuck Joss.

 

[Ginnyjo]

With AH, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, he was older, a little removed from the younger cast and travelled back and forth to film for a good chunk of it.
im also separating Joss from Buffy/Angel/firefly in my head, they all got me through my teenage years and 20s, to me it was an ensemble and I can’t write it off just because of Joss. I’m so disheartened in him though, he wrote such powerful female characters when others didn’t, I had hopEd he was a good one.
please don’t fuck up Nathan Fillion for me..

 

[TriviaNewtonJohn]

Has anyone else seen Charisma Carpenter's statement today? Things had been said before but it sounds like there might be more to come out.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

Marti Noxon has given her support to Charisma and the others. This is a big deal, it says a lot that she’s speaking out, she was involved in a lot of the writing, directing, and production side of both Buffy and Angel.

“I would like to validate what the women of Buffy are saying and support them in telling their story. They deserve to be heard,” Noxon wrote on Twitter. I understand where Charisma, Amber, Michelle and all the women who have spoken out are coming from.”

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Showrunner Marti Noxon Stands By Stars’ Accounts Of Abuse By Joss Whedon

Marti Noxon has spoken out in support of cast members who have accused Joss Whedon of abuse and creating a toxic work environment.

deadline.com

 

[Very traditional]

I haven't watched Buffy in a long time but everything about Riley grated on me!

There was no need for Riley full stop. I always skip the majority of that season if I'm rewatching.

 

[Lavendergreendillydilly]

I think looking back it’s easy to see now that some episodes were totally inappropriate and not needed for the story line. There was no need to create a buffy bot just to have sex with spike and there was no need for a whole episode basically of buffy and Riley having sex!

There was no need for Riley full stop. I always skip the majority of that season if I'm rewatching.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

Michelle Trachtenberg was 15 when she first appeared in Buffy, and Marsters (who was well into his 30s) would have known her since then.
So yeah, those lyrics are pretty creepy when you have that in mind. On top of that, it was her workplace! She’s got an adult twice her age writing an inappropriate song about her, and on top of that, whatever happened with Joss Whedon that meant he wasn’t allowed alone in a room with her. I feel so bad for her, that was her workplace and the adults around her should have been respectful, professional and made sure she felt safe.

 

[Lavendergreendillydilly]

He was awful! Fragile masculinity

 

[Very traditional]

I loved Angel and Buffy back in the day, I also thought Cordelia was a great character and was sad when she left, I didn't realise she'd been fired or why til I read her statement.

 

[Lavendergreendillydilly]

I think Seth Green and he had some beef and he was abruptly written out of the show. Seth always struck me as "one of the good ones" so I'm really surprised he hasn't released any kind of statement. Although he's very private..

 

[Mcomics]

This has all come about due to ray fisher putting his head above the parapet. He played cyborg in justice League & said Joss was a weeble! (I'm paraphrasing) Warner said no worries we will investigate. Result = ray fisher sacked from the upcoming flash movie so poor show by wb

 

[Knight of Galador]

I was rooting for Riley to work as a character. During that period earnest boy scout characters were out or fodder to make edgier characters look cool its why people have had difficulty making new versions of Superman. Riley started out as a decent attempt to do that kind of character until he got insecure and started getting sucked off by vampires.

Come to think of it that was another questionable decision. Xander lecturing Buffy that the reason Riley for all intents and purposes cheated on her was because she wasn't paying him enough attention and her actually agreeing with it.

 

[Sideboard Bob]

I couldn’t stand Riley, but I know a lot of people find him easy on the eye so I respect that!
I like the idea of Joss’ self insert character changing from Xander to Andrew, I’d never thought of it that way but it makes sense. By season 7 Xander had become a bit more grounded, and it’s like, subconsciously, Whedon found another character to project his nasty immature self on to.

I feel so dumb for ever believing Joss Whedon could be a feminist. It was based on him being involved in a tv show with lots of “strong women characters”* and him just saying he’s a feminist!
*I love so many of these characters and that hasn’t changed.

edited to add. @Knight of Galador I just saw your comment! it’s very different when you look back at the character of Riley with that perspective, and omg yes, about Superman!

 

[Sideboard Bob]

Like I said depends how you interpret the lyrics they do read as he says they were meant. I do feel for Michelle. Amber Benson has said she suffered too. But he was abusive to the men too.

I just think there was no need to write a song like that about your teenage colleage in the first place, however it was meant.

 

[MrsPiggleWiggle]

There's an outtake video out there somewhere from Season 6 where SMG says something along the lines of there's far too much sex in this show, she definitely wasn't completely comfortable with the direction they were taking her character during that season.

She's spoken of that scene before specifically- where they are on the balcony in the Bronze. She said Buffy never would have done that in front of her friends and I think that was the tipping point that made her demand to speak to Joss.

Season 6 would have been filmed after Cruel Intentions though and she was a pretty fruity character in that.

True, but she filmed that after season two and we don't know when she signed up for it. It may not have been clear at that time that she would become a role model from her Buffy role.

 

[MrFMercury]

I’m a huge Buffy/Angel/Firefly fan too. I was surprised nothing much (that I saw) seemed to happen after JW ex wife commented on his behaviour. It’s interesting to see the names who are/are not coming out in support.

 

[MrsPiggleWiggle]

I'm pretty sure Alyson did have an affair with Joss. It was on popbitch a few years ago.

Apparently Alyson and SMG were very close at first but Sarah started to distance herself from her from Season 3. I think that'll be because SMG didn't approve of the affair. I think SMG has always had a huge amount of integrity.

Here it is, it's from August 2017 so long before the recent revelations.

Long-term affairs with Julie Benz and Clare Kramer (Darla and Glory). And short flings with Alyson Hannigan, Amy Adams and Ashanti who were all on Buffy. And of course Clea Duvall back in season one. I wonder if it's true she kicked him in the balls.

About Eliza Dushku - I really like her. I've always thought people claim she was one of those he had an affair with because people are looking at the character of Faith and not ED herself. But I'm not sure. ED worked with him on Buffy, Angel and Dollhouse years later.

She's also spoke out of being assaulted when she was 12 on the set of True Lies by a stunt coordinator? A stunt 'went wrong' after she told people at the time and she was left with broken ribs. She also won a lawsuit against Michael Wetherley's sexually inappropriate behaviour on he set of Bull, so I don't think she is afraid of speaking the truth.

Someone from a band who played at wrap shows says she saw Joss being inappropriate with Eliza when she was a teenager. But whether or not they had an affair remains to be seen.

Preparing The Royal Growler – Popbitch

popbitch.com

 

[MrsPiggleWiggle]

I feel like the worst of the abuse started later on in the show and peaked in season 6. The degrading sex scenes they made SMG shoot were awful.

SMG had always taken her status as a role model very seriously - making sure to never be pictured drinking or smoking at a time of her life when all her peers were having fun.

Joss would have known this so I feel the Spike and Buffy stuff was done to punish her and put her in her place. He'd have known that she would have hated filming that, and she says herself she made it clear. I feel she gave him an ultimatum and threatened to walk if they made her carry on with it.

 

[Ophelia]

Interesting tidbit I read elsewhere and I don't know if it's true but if it this ...its disgusting. Given Carpenter's recount of Whedon telling her she looked 'fat' at 126 pounds, it makes you wonder:

Josh Whedon used to weigh the young female cast members weekly and rage if they went over 110lb. Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Harmony and Fred in Angel were all borderline anorexic trying to keep below that weight. Meanwhile the guy playing Angel ballooned in Angel from how he was in Buffy and nobody said a thing to him which will be why he isn't speaking out. Other anorexic cast members included Eve in Angel and Nina the werewoman.

Also, Boreanaz has wiped his instagram after fans have been telling him to speak up.

 

[Smca53]

I’m a Buffy fan too, but I don’t want to let Whedon’s horrific behaviour ruin it for me. The way I see it is that all of his shows were collaborations, so it wouldn’t be fair on all of the decent people who worked hard on these projects to write it all off, if that makes sense?

Yeah, I agree with you. Apparently that was his issue with SMG, she considered the show a success created by them all, and he did not think that was the case...