In 2007, the Warner Brothers production president, Jeff Robinov, announced that Warner Brothers would no longer make films with female leads.
A year before that announcement, Joss Whedon, the creator of such women-centric television shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse, accepted an award from Equality Now at the event, “On the Road to Equality: Honoring Men on the Front Lines.”
Watch as he answers the question, “Why do you always write such strong women characters?”
“Because you’re still asking that question.”
Love it.
M.M.
Joss Weadon? Did you read his flippant comments about Wonder Woman in Entertainment Weekly? Have you ever wondered why a show like Buffy keeps getting all the credit for revolutionizing television while Xena gets ignored, ridiculed and dismissed? Why do all his female leads seem like willowy little girls instead of real adult women?
I haven’t seen his comments on Wonder Woman–would you mind sharing them?
While I personally love Buffy, it is certainly not without its problems. I wouldn’t necessarily say XENA is “ignored, ridiculed, and dismissed,” but the show certainly doesn’t garner mainstream praise the way BUFFY does, though it does get a lot of discussion and praise in certain feminist (perhaps more so in academic) circles.
I can’t speak to “all his female leads,” but one thing I love about Buffy is the ways in which the character grows and matures throughout the seasons. I’d never characterize her–even in the beginning–as a willowy little girl.
Whedon may not be perfect, but he’s certainly a feminist ally.
Amber,
Here’s Joss Whedon’s comments from Entertainment Weekly’s Nov 26, 2010 page 44: “She has no city, She has no great rogue’s gallery (has he ever heard of the Cheetah or Dr. Poison?)and she’s distant from people in a way that makes it hard to create identification. Spider-Man is a nerd, Batman is in pain. But Wonder Woman is from an era where superheroes were supposed to be like Greek gods. She’s above us and different from us. That makes it hard to make her emotionally relevant…People still think of Wonder Woman as kind of silly (I don’t). I don’t necessarily think we need a Wonder Woman movie per se. We need more female heroes. We need “wonder women” movies But Wonder Woman may not be the wonder woman we need.”
Also read the article “What We Owe Xena” by Cathy Young at cathyyoung.net