What next for Joss Whedon?
- Thread starter Jayson1
- Start date
Exactly.
I mean, seriously...it's like people only watch television, and only sci-fi television at that, and have no greater context in which to evaluate fiction.
There was nothing novel about B7 even in its time. "Dirty Dozen in space" was Nation's own description of it...which was one of his characteristic delusions of grandeur.
I'd like to see Whedon take a page from Sorkin and do a historical screenplay/movie, especially a political/societal one, a la Charlie Wilson's War or The Social Network. He's obviously a very political guy, but his work, so far as I know, has largely stayed within the comforting, crowd-pleasing genres of vampires/space opera/sci-fi/superheroes. I'd be interested to see what his dialogue and story sensibilities would be like within a real-world context.
Whedon's "brand" of being a card-carrying male-feminist has been seriously tarnished. It's not a stretch to lump him in with all the other #MeToo casualties. I mean, a lot of the social network lynch mob wanted to hang Matt Damon by his balls just for weighing in (right before he lost his dad).
We have standards of discussion on this board, and likening some shade thrown on Twitter at a straight white dude to lynchings and sexual violence doesn't live up to them.
And I'm pretty sure it probably existed before B7, an experiment meant to make people docile instead turning them violent is really kind of an obvious idea.
We already went over this in another thread so I'll just that say that I have my doubts about what was said and even if it is true, it doesn't sound like it was serious enough to land him in the #MeToo crowd.
That theory would hold a lot more water if not for the fact that women typically find power and wealth to be attractive in a man. Since the dawn of time, women seem to, by and large, seek out powerful men to mate with. There are famous female novelists who base a decent chunk of their work on the notion of being seduced by a rich and/or powerful man. (E.L. James & Ayn Rand immediately come to mind.) Now, do some men abuse positions of authority to harass & rape their subordinates? Yes, clearly. But to suggest that such a thing happened in this case is a serious accusation and something that I won't even entertain unless there is an actual accuser.
Speaking of Chris Boucher, today I just finished his Doctor Who novel "Corpse Marker." Excellent stuff. Punchy, easily readable prose and some pretty well done world building. Far higher quality than I'm used to in a Doctor Who tie-in novel, and I've read quite a few.
What appeals to me about his writing is that no one actually talks like a real human being. They're all so much more clever & literate than that.
I wonder if that would come across as jarring in a more real-world context? Although, I'm told that Sorkin's stuff can be pretty quippy & elevated too, though I'm not too familiar with most of it. (I didn't quite catch the point of The Social Network and it apparently took so many liberties with the real story that it sounds more defamatory than informative. A Few Good Men was a decent courtroom drama but nowhere near Joss Whedon's greatest works.)Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter says that Joss Whedon has left Batgirl. However, barring any further announcements, I'm sticking with my current theory that the movie will ultimately never happen at all.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/joss-whedon-exits-batgirl-movie-1087384
Yeah, no.
The Avengers thing is particularly nonsensical.
This does sound like his bailing on Wonder Woman some years back.
Maybe Zack Snyder can step in to finish Batgirl.
Since the only two unqualified financially successful DC movies and actors/characters have been Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad lead by Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn I'm fairly certain Batgirl will get made. It just may not be part of the DCEU, like the upcoming Joker movie.
I think people like the new Flash and Aquaman as well though they haven't gotten their own movie's as of yet so I think they might survive the Flashpoint reboot.
Jason
The Flash was the best part of Justice League.
To me, anyway. My wife's favourite part were all the abs.
I'd say that Whedon and Sorkin dialogue is equally quippy, but Sorkin's is much more literate - of course, it helps that he works outside the fantasy/sci-fi genre.What appeals to me about his writing is that no one actually talks like a real human being. They're all so much more clever & literate than that.
I consider The Social Network brilliant, but it's definitely a case of a grouchy (middle-aged) old man whining about the Kids These Days in screenplay form. Of his several history-based films (Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball, Jobs, and now Molly's Game, which I haven't yet seen), I find Charlie Wilson's War by far the best, as well as the most political and "important." Moneyball is almost as excellent, and just as breezily entertaining, but lacks the profound political subject matter. (And, both feature great supporting turns from Philip Seymour Hoffman.) So, definitely check out Charlie Wilson's War.
I'd say that Whedon and Sorkin dialogue is equally quippy, but Sorkin's is much more literate - of course, it helps that he works outside the fantasy/sci-fi genre.
I consider The Social Network brilliant, but it's definitely a case of a grouchy (middle-aged) old man whining about the Kids These Days in screenplay form. Of his several history-based films (Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, Moneyball, Jobs, and now Molly's Game, which I haven't yet seen), I find Charlie Wilson's War by far the best, as well as the most political and "important." Moneyball is almost as excellent, and just as breezily entertaining, but lacks the profound political subject matter. (And, both feature great supporting turns from Philip Seymour Hoffman.) So, definitely check out Charlie Wilson's War.
You forgot about "W" which might have been the first real movie about George W Bush. I liked it for the most part even though I think he played it safe since W was still the president at the time the movie was made.
Jason
I loved the scene with him running up and Superman's head-turn. But I didn't feel like every comedy scene with him worked. There were just so many of them. Like the thing with the bat-signal, that was just awkward as opposed to funny. And at one point he even gets slimed, it's like you're watching Nickelodeon or some shit.
You got to judge more on potential than some of the jokes in the movie. A flash movie will be using new jokes. Only real issue is many people are simply going to prefer Tv's Flash and this guy might always fill like the second rate version.
Jason
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