Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (2 page)

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Authors: Candace Havens

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If he wasn’t making up imaginary games with his toys he was reading books, in particular comic books and science fiction. Hours were spent in his room as Joss read and reread the new issues of
Dracula, Spider
-
Man, and Fantastic Four
. It wasn’t long before he was reading every science-fiction book he could get his hands on. Frederick Pohl and Frank Herbert were among his favorite authors.
“In a lot of ways those worlds made a lot more sense to me than the one I lived in,” Joss says. “Every opportunity I had to lose myself in those stories I took and I’m sure they influenced me in some ways even I don’t know.”
Joss was pretty much a loner and he spent much his time in front of the television. Watching television became another form of escape and one he admits he used “way too often.” But all those hours in front of the TV ultimately paid off.
“As a very young child I watched a lot of cartoons, but not really things in prime time. As I grew older I didn’t watch a lot of American television ... I was beyond that. I watched
Masterpiece Theatre and Monty Python
. It’s sad, I know, but I wanted to be British. I had this fascination with England that’s almost absurd when I look back on it now.”
His fascination with film also began at an early age. Some of his earliest memories were of watching films, and he has studied them his whole life. Early on he had a penchant for scary movies—“the cheesier the better,” he says. “Even a bad horror film can scare you, and my mind was so gullible when I was a kid. I could make everything seem so real to myself.” To this day he still enjoys horror films, good or bad.
His mind never stopped going into overdrive. From an early age he would tell his mother the strange stories he made up and, while she encouraged his creativity, “I’m sure more than once there were times when she questioned my sanity. I would have,” laughs Whedon.
As he grew older, his imaginary worlds became filled with crazy characters who lived in ultracool universes and had all kinds of special powers. There were times when he would create such frightening stories that he would actually scare himself.
At some point the shy young Joss discovered something magical. When he was about eleven years old, he realized he could make people laugh. During an interview, he was asked where his sense of humor came from. “There were times when I didn’t feel as though I was getting attention I deserved, and I learned that if you said something funny, people would stop and listen,” says Whedon. “At least for a little while.”
 
Joss the Femíníst
 
“I was an androgynous little thing. I had masses of curly red hair and old ladies would always come up and say, ‘Oh, I love her hair.’”
—Joss Whedon
 
 
Whedon is a writer with a self-declared “feminist agenda,” and
Buffy
was designed from the onset as an unabashedly feminist show. While one can quibble with the feminist credentials of a show featuring so many attractive women in sexy outfits, Joss takes
Buffy’
s feminist credentials very seriously. He considers Buffy one of a handful of genuinely tough female characters that ever made it to the screen.
“There was that thing in the ’80s where every woman in a film had to have a pointless karate scene—for no reason,” Joss complains. “Like
Wayne’s World
! They had to do karate to show they were tough and then go back to being meaningless in the narrative. Or helpless. People were attempting something good, but the only person who was putting actual tough women out there was [James] Cameron. He was just kicking ass. He gave us the two great prototypes—Ripley and Sarah Connor.
“I’ve always felt comfortable with women as people,” Joss adds, “and I was surprised when I realized how few people—writers and filmmakers—actually think of them as people.”
Joss’s feminism seems to have started early. A lonely child, intimidated by his father and older brothers, Joss formed a close attachment to his mother. “It starts with my mother. It always starts with my mother. She was an extraordinarily strong, independent, tough, uncompromising, cool, funny person. She taught me most of what I know about everything.”
James Cameron gave us the two great prototypes—Ripley and Sarah Connor.—Joss
 
 
Director James Cameron and Linda Hamilton, who plays the eerily tough Sarah Connor in the Terminator series.
 
Joss credits two other strong women with influencing his life. One is Jeanine Basinger, his film professor from Wesleyan, who remains a close friend to the present day. “My professor Jeanine Basinger is an extraordinary person. She is extremely simple in her ethics and her presentation and in her loyalties, but her lectures are so dense I can’t follow them. She is truly brilliant. A lot of people who have met both her and my mother remarked on the similarities.”
 
Joss and his wife Kai Cole.
The other is Joss’s wife, Kai Cole, whom he credits with having a significant effect on him. “When you asked about the women who influenced me, she would be the third. My wife is enormously strong . . . [she] is a complete self-starter. She is a constant inspiration to me.”
It’s clear that Joss finds strong women both inspiring and, well, sexy. “Oh, you know—I like strong women. I was raised by one. I don’t see many of them and I see a lot of bullshit pretending . . . also, those women just attract me. It’s embarrassing, almost. A lot of it is inherent and studied and strongly felt feminism, and a lot of it is just that chicks are cool.”
While happy to portray tough, sexy women on
Buffy
, Whedon is careful not to go over the line into exploitation. As a fan of comics, and creator of one of his own, he’s clearly embarrassed by the increasingly sexual trend of
manga
(Japanese comics). “I’m a big fan of puberty and people who’ve been through it,” he insists.
those women just attract me. It’s embarrassing, almost.—Joss
 
Whedon goes on to say: “There’s a comics artist I won’t name who I’ve talked to. His creation is really popular, I guess, but there’s this weird thing, where I guess she was molested, and that’s part of the story. But you know, she’s a young girl who looks like a
Playboy
model in her undies. I wanted to molest her, too, you know? The message that sends is weird, and I don’t go for it.
“Because of stuff like that I went away from comics for a long time. Everything seemed to be soft-core and all of it was disguised as empowerment. ‘I have the power to have my shirt ripped, and now you can see my nipples! Ah-ha!’”
Whatever Joss’s feminist credentials, there is no escaping his insights into the female psyche. “Ask him who the role models are,” says Professor Basinger. “Joss has a wonderful, strong mother. He appreciates women who are strong. His wife is a strong woman and I like her enormously. He knows women better than even he would ever admit.”
“He definitely has that ability to get in their heads,” agrees David Greenwalt (former executive producer of
Angel
), “better than anyone I’ve ever known. I’d say I’m in touch with my feminine side to a certain degree, but nothing like Joss.”
“I know this is going to sound weird, but I always wondered if maybe there was a little bit of Willow in Joss,” laughs Alyson Hannigan (Willow). “I don’t mean he’s girly or anything. He’s definitely a manly man. But there’s this sensitivity to him where women are concerned. He gets girls. He understands how we think. He’s also incredibly easy to talk to and fun at the same time. I’ve always wondered how he knew so much about women, without actually being one. He gets in our head way too easy.
“Oh, great, I know that quote is going to get me in trouble, somehow, someway. But you know what I mean. He just gets us.”
I have the power to have my shirt ripped, and now you can see my nipples! Ah-ha!—Joss
 
I always wondered if maybe there was a little bit of Willow, in Joss.
—Alyson Hannigan
 
 
Joss often made home movies, enrolling his family as the cast. He would make sure that everyone understood what they were supposed to do and he created cute little films that still make his family laugh today.
There were times when I didn’t feel as though I was getting attention I deserved, and I learned that if you said something funny, people would stop and listen. —Joss
 
That sense of humor came in handy when Joss faced the greatest trial of his young life—high school! Joss was sent to an exclusive private high school, the Riverdale High School in Upstate New York. It was the worst time of his life. “ [At Riverdale] I learned more about rejection than I ever cared to,” says Whedon.
When his mother went on sabbatical to England, Joss jumped at the chance to go with her. “[My mother] was a teacher and she didn’t believe there were schools in Los Angeles where my father lived. She didn’t believe such a thing could exist. She was a terrible snob. By some weird happenstance I got into the best [high] school in the country [Winchester College]. I really shouldn’t have and I can’t stress that enough. It was a fluke. And so I went over for half a year and when my family went back, I stayed.”
A longtime Anglophile, Joss was thrilled at the prospect of living in England and studying at a famous British institution. Boasting the longest unbroken history of any school in England, Winchester College was founded by Bishop William of Wykeham in 1382. Winchester has an ancient, medieval feel about it, and at first Joss was truly delighted to be there.
“I was always wanting something that I couldn’t have when it came to relationships in high school. Then I had the chance to go to Winchester, which is a boarding school in England.... The rejection wasn’t so bad there because it was all boys,” Whedon laughs. “I jumped at the chance because of course the idea of being British was extremely appealing.”
[At Riverdale] I learned more about rejection than I ever cared to.—Joss
 
Despite Joss’s initial enthusiasm, he soon found that alienation and loneliness followed him to Winchester. While he loved all things British, he soon discovered that the Brits were not equally fond of Americans, and it was difficult to fit in. It was a rude awakening when Whedon, who had spent many years watching British television series, discovered that people in England weren’t quite like the actors he had seen in the
Monty Python
skits.
Joss spent a good deal of his time sneaking away from school on the weekends to go into town and watch whatever films might be available. It was his chance to once again lose himself in his own magical world.
And he desperately needed the escape. In the boarding houses where Whedon lived, thirteen boys, called Commoners, shared a single room. The house was ruled by a housemaster and discipline was strongly emphasized. He found relationships with his instructors difficult, although there were a few that he appreciated. “Like anywhere, you have good and bad instructors,” Joss says. “The idea for Mr. Giles came from Winchester, so it wasn’t all bad.”

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