Abstract
For his exemplar storyworlds, not only as transmediated texts but also as sociocultural commentary, Joss Whedon is one of the most studied auteurs of our time. To better understand why Whedon and the Whedonverse(s) matter, this collection looks to the many ways in which his texts are built, disseminated, and consumed. The chapters within it explore how the narratives within the various storyworlds are not isolated, but rather expansive.
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Notes
- 1.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of Whedon’s work so much as an illustration of the diversity of Whedonverses.
- 2.
Wendy Sterba, J.J. Abrams vs. Joss Whedon: Dual for Media Master of the Universe (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), 187–188.
- 3.
Whedon Studies Association, accessed August 23, 2018, http://www.whedonstudies.tv/.
- 4.
Whedon sing-alongs have been featured staples at venues and conventions internationally. Specific venues include WhedonCon, WonderCon, Dragon Con, Montreal ComicCon, San Diego Comic Con, and Whedonopolis’ annual Halloween screenings of Dr. Horrible. For more on this phenomena, see: “Exclusive Interview: Clinton McClung talks The Dr. Horrible and Buffy Sing-Alongs” (Buffyfest blog); “The Buffy Sing-Along Phenomenon” (Letizia); and “Buffy’s OMWF VS Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: Whedonverse’s Reaction to Show-Stopping Vote” (NerdlyNews blog).
- 5.
Henry Jenkins, Converge Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006).
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Paul Booth, Digital Fandom 2.0: New Media Studies, 2nd ed. (New York: Peter Lang, 2017), 61.
- 9.
Ibid., 62.
- 10.
Ibid., 61.
- 11.
Jonathan Gray, Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts (New York: New York University Press, 2010), 31.
- 12.
The Avengers, Box Office Mojo, accessed August 8, 2018, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=avengersfranchise.htm.
- 13.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (THQ; 2000; Gameboy); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fox Interactive; 2002; Xbox); Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel role-playing games (2002/2003; Eden Entertainment); Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (Vivendi Universal Games; 2003; multiplatform); Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Quest for Oz (Indiagames; 2004; notably the first mobile BtVS game); and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Collectable Card Game (Score Entertainment; 2004).
- 14.
This includes comics published under the titles Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel & Faith, Angel, Angel: After the Fall, and associated one-shots and miniseries.
- 15.
Brenna Wardell, “Actors Assemble! The Intertextual Pleasures of the Joss Whedon Ensemble,” Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies 14, no. 2 (Summer 2016): par. 9.
- 16.
Jeffrey Bussolini, “Television Intertextuality After Buffy: Intertextuality of Casting and Constitutive Intertextuality,” Slayage 10, no. 1 (2013): 38p; Alyson Buckman, “We are not we are: Hyperdiegesis in the Whedonverse,” Sixth Biennial Conference on the Whedonverses, Sacramento, CA, June 19–22, 2014.
- 17.
Alyson Buckman coined the term “hyperdiegetic casting,” positing that this approach ultimately rewards fan loyalty by offering recognition of core players, which reinforces the “endlessly deferred narratives” within the Whedonverse (Cochran, “From Angel to Much Ado…” 160). Reinforcing Matt Hills defining impetus for hyperdiegesis, Tanya Cochran notes that when we see these actors, whether in one of Whedon’s ‘verses or in non-Whedon roles, we are frequently brought back to the Whedonverse and our shared fan experience.
- 18.
Wardell, par. 12.
- 19.
Jenkins, 4.
- 20.
For more examples of fan participation and the scholarship examining it, see Glenn Yeffeth’s “The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Firefly ,” which is composed as a series of missives from network exec “Early Jubal” to Whedon regarding the network treatment and expectations for Firefly; Lily Rothman’s study of fan engagement, “‘I’d Very Still’: Anthropology of a Lapsed Fan”; Esther Saxey’s exploration of Whedonverse fan-fiction, “Staking a Claim: The Series and its Slash Fan-Fiction”; Rhonda Wilcox’s “Whedon, Browncoats, and the Big Damn Narrative: The Unified Meta-Myth of Firefly and Serenity ,” which explores the Browncoat community’s efforts to advance the Firefly storyworld; and Tanya Cochran’s extensive body of work on fan studies in the Whedonverse(s), including “Whedon Studies: A Living History, 1999–2003,” “The Browncoats Are Coming!: Firefly and Serenity and Fan Activism,” and “‘Let’s Watch a Girl’: Whedon, Buffy, and Fans in Action.”
Bibliography
Booth, Paul. Digital Fandom 2.0: New Media Studies, 2nd ed. New York: Peter Lang, 2017.
Buckman, Alyson. “We Are Not We Are: Hyperdiegesis in the Whedonverse.” Paper presented at Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses 6. Sacramento, CA, June, 2014.
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Bussolini, Jeffrey. “Television Intertextuality After Buffy: Intertextuality of Casting and Constitutive Intertextuality.” Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies 10, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 38p. http://www.whedonstudies.tv/uploads/2/6/2/8/26288593/bussolini.slayage.10.1.pdf.
Cochran, Tanya R. “From Angel to Much Ado: Cross-textual Catharsis, Kinesthetic Empathy and Whedonverse Fandom.” In Popular Media Cultures: Fans, Audiences, and Paratexts, edited by Lincoln Geraghty, 149–163. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
———. “‘Let’s Watch a Girl’: Whedon, Buffy, and Fans in Action” In Fan Phenomena: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, edited by Jennifer K. Stuller, 28–37. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
———. “The Browncoats Are Coming! Firefly and Serenity and Fan Activism.” In Investigating Firefly and Serenity: Science Fiction on the Frontier, edited by Rhonda V. Wilcox and Tanya R. Cochran, 239–249. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.
———. “Whedon Studies: A Living History, 1999–2003” In Reading Joss Whedon, edited by Rhonda V. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthea Masson, and David Lavery, 371-394. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2014.
“Exclusive Interview: Clinton McClung talks The Dr. Horrible and Buffy Sing-Alongs.” Buffyfest (blog), December 18, 2008. Accessed June 10, 2017. buffyfest.blogspot.com/2008/12/clinton-mcclung-talks-dr-horrible-and.html.
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Wardell, Brenna. “Actors Assemble! The Intertextual Pleasures of the Joss Whedon Ensemble.” Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies 14, no. 2 (Summer 2016): 27p. http://www.whedonstudies.tv/uploads/2/6/2/8/26288593/wardell_slayage_14.2.pdf.
Wilcox, Rhonda V. “Whedon, Browncoats, and the Big Damn Narrative: The Unified Meta-Myth of Firefly and Serenity.” In Science Fiction Double Feature: The Science Fiction Film as Cult Text, edited by J. P. Telotte and Gerald Duchovnay, 98–114. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2015.
Yeffeth, Glenn. “The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Firefly.” In Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds, and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon’s Firefly, edited by Jane Espenson, 37–46. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2005.
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Kitchens, J.C., Hawk, J.L. (2019). Exploring a Whedonverse, the Whedonverses, and the Whedonverse(s): The Shape of Transmedia Storytelling in Joss Whedon’s World(s). In: Kitchens, J., Hawk, J. (eds) Transmediating the Whedonverse(s). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24616-7_1
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