Contextual Research | A glance into the world of Joss Whedon

Joss at the Japanese premiere of 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'.

An Analysis of Joss Whedon

Joseph 'Joss' Whedon has had an extensive career writing for both TV and film. Developing titles such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)", "Angel (1999-2004)", "Firefly (2002)" and even blockbuster films such as "Avengers Assemble", "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Cabin in the Woods". 

Clearly Whedon has a breadth of experience when it comes to writing for television, and that success has caused him to break into the film industry in a big way. What is it about his style of writing that appeals to people? Let's have a look...

Joss and his wife Kai Cole.

Joss grew up with writing in his blood, his father Tom Whedon had previously wrote for 'Alice' in the 1970's and 'The Golden Girls' in the 1980's and was keen to pass on the knowledge to his sons, of which he had 5. Two younger than Joss, and two older. Both his parents were writers in some form or another, with his mother being an aspiring novelist outside of her teaching day-job.

Both of his younger brothers Jed & Zack Whedon are also writers who have various credits and award nominations including the 'Writer's Guild of America Award' for 'Outstanding Drama Series'.

Joss himself studied for 3 years at Winchester College here in England before moving on to study at Wesleyan University in Connecticut - After leaving Wesleyan he managed to forge the first concept of the 'Buffy Summers' character, but at this time she was known as "Rhonda, the immortal waitress". 

The Success of Buffy and Kickstarting a Career

Buffy The Vampire Slayer promotional poster

Buffy was to many, Whedon's breakout hit. During the conception of the series he co-wrote and script doctored on many different smaller projects, however did contribute to projects such as "X-Men" and even "Toy Story", the latter of which earned him an Academy Award nomination for 'Best Original Screenplay'. Interestingly Whedon also wrote a 'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer' feature film, which preceded the series, however looking back on it Whedon expresses "Strong dissatisfaction" with the way it turned out in comparison to the series.

The series however received massive success and was nominated for countless awards including an Emmy Award for the 1999 episode "Hush". When asked, Whedon described Buffy as the complete subversion to the Hollywood trope of "Innocent young blonde goes into the alleyway and gets murdered", and in doing so it became a show synonymous with 'girl power' and female empowerment within mainstream entertainment in general.

Distain for Movies and Outspoken Opinions

One of the most unique things I personally find about Joss Whedon is that he's repeatedly expressed his disdain for his work within the film industry, he much prefers working in TV. When asked what he prefers Whedon said the following:

"I think, ultimately, gun to my head, TV is the place. Being able to spend years with a character, to really develop them, to understand them, to challenge the actor, to learn from the actor, to work with a team of writers – that experience is so fulfilling. The idea of putting something out there and letting it grow is really exciting." 

He has in the past been on record saying how he is not happy with his Avengers adaptations in retrospective, stating that they have "Imperfections" and that 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' was an "odd film" in that it was focusing on "creating grace amidst ultimate chaos". He also signed a deal to write and produce a Marvel TV show known as "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" which focused on Phil Coulson and his team, who also starred within the mainstream MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). 

He had consistently spoken negatively of his work with Marvel cinematically and in January 2016, despite starting a large portion of his career writing X-Men comics for Marvel, he announced he would not work for them in the future. He now intends to use the money earned from those projects to fund his own projects.