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2002 Announcing 
Sime~Gen Novels 
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Jean Lorrah
New Hardcover Editions
FIRST TRADE PAPERBACK EDITIONS 
From
Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc. 

Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

Recommended Books

March 2003

"How the Powerless Gain Power Part II"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

 

 

 To send books for review in this column email Jacqueline Lichtenberg, jl@simegen.com for snailing instructions or send an attached RTF file.  
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From Last Month:

Nessie and the Viking Gold by Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah
e-book - find where available at www.simegen.com/writers/nessie/

Liaden Universe novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc. ( http://www.meishamerlin.com   ) omnibus reprints and new novels:

Pilot's Choice,

Contains Local Custom and Scout's Progress.

Partners in Necessity,

Contains Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, Carpe Diem

Plan B, and I Dare, each contain one novel.

Balance of Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Meisha Merlin, 2003.

Lyskarion, The Song of the Wind, by J. A. Cullum, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.

For this Month:

Joss Whedon, The Genius Behind Buffy, by Candace Havens, BenBella Books, www.benbellabooks.com, March 2003

Astrology of Intimacy Sexuality and Relationship: Insights to Wholeness by Noel Tyl, Lllewellyn January 2002

Firefly the television show, created by Joss Whedon

Candace Havens is a television journalist who has, over the course of time, interviewed Joss Whedon and the principle actors on Buffy The Vampire Slayer for her own widely read column. She has a solid acquaintance with the actors and producers of other Hollywood shows as well and watched Whedon and his crew tour the Enterprise set. Joss Whedon, The Genius Behind Buffy is a book well worth studying.

It is not an authorized biography - in fact, I didn't feel it was a biography of Whedon at all. The book focuses on Buffy as a television show, and the characters, actors, producers and directors who create Buffy, and its spinoff Angel. There are loads of photos interspersed with the text. The title is precisely descriptive of the book -- it's about the genius behind Buffy.

As a professional sf/f writer and teacher of writing, I see that this is a book every writing student, every student of television who wonders how one deliberately creates a 'cultural icon' like Buffy, must own. Yes, you will have a fun evening just reading it - but you can't give it back to the public library. In a couple of years, you'll want to refer to it as you try to figure out how Joss Whedon has accomplished all he will have accomplished by then.

Though Havens never uses the comparison, the way she marshals evidence to support her thesis that Whedon is a genius makes me expect he could well be the next Stephen J. Cannell -- http://www.cannell.com/  -- who created 21 Jump Street, The A-Team, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Baretta, The Commish, The Duke, Greatest American Hero, Hardcastle & McCormick, Hunter, The Quest, Silk Stalkings, Renegade, Riptide, The Rockford Files, Tenspeed & Brownshoe, Sonny Spoon, Stone, Wiseguy - and a host of others.

But even beyond Whedon's future accomplishments, Candace Havens has given us a discussion of Power on three levels simultaneously.

On one level, she shows us how Joss Whedon used his own High School experiences, his own struggle through puberty to adulthood, to infuse Buffy The Vampire Slayer with the issues, problems, and conflicts involved with the acquisition of Power and its use. She even interviewed one of his college professors of film with whom he still speaks regularly.

On another level, she has shown us his rise from the totally powerless position of "writer" in Hollywood, to a position of "Emmy nominee" and ratings giant. Even so, he's not anywhere near the top of the power structure yet.

On a third level, she has blended her broad personality and career sketch of Joss Whedon into a clear and concise demonstration of how all his inward experiences are codified into the final dramatic product, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel -- with an animated series set in Buffy's past, plus a comic book called Fray set in the far future.

About 3/4ths of Havens' book is devoted to examining Buffy, the actors and their characters. Haven cites 7 key ingredients that Whedon amalgamated into Buffy's concept, divided in 4 categories. (You'll find my discussions of 7 and 4 in many previous columns here). The 4 categories are 1) Mixing Up The Genres, (what I do in most of my novels, though my mix is different) 2) Continuity,(letting the characters change because of their experiences) 3) Carpe Diem (looking at production emergencies as opportunities) 4)Loving the Fans (paying attention to chatrooms and fan opinion - feeling he's working for the fans much the way I always have).

These 4 ingredients are the reason I revere this show. They put this show very much in tune with what I have always done with my fiction, so that if I didn't like Buffy - I wouldn't like what I write either.

Here's a medly of revealing quotes from the book:

"First, Joss set out to create a truly cross-genre show. … integrating four distinct genres -- horror, action, comedy, and drama. …This integration lies at the core of Buffy's appeal, but it made the show almost impossible to describe in a way that movie and network executives understood. … For this reason, the movie version of Buffy was turned into a comedy, much to Joss's dismay. …

… Integrating these genres made great demands on the writers, but it also required highly skilled directors and a strong technical drew. Horror, for example, demands different framing and lighting than comedy or action. Horror is fundamentally about the loss of control; the main characters don't control the action, can't take the initiative. The action, instead, is controlled by the villain. A good director creates a mood consistent with this loss of control, with plenty of tight shots and deep shadows. Action is almost the opposite; it's about taking control. In action, the main characters take the initiative and drive the plot, requiring a very different mood. It's a rare director that can integrate these elements well, and shift rapidly between them.

Remember the underlying thesis of this column is that there exists a "hidden genre" that turns up in all other genres. I call it Intimate Adventure, where the "action" in action/adventure is replaced by intimacy -- and intimacy is defined as Noel Tyl defines it in Astrology of Intimacy Sexuality and Relationship: Insights to Wholeness as having nothing to do with sex.

By my definition, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is Intimate Adventure genre - so you don't need to describe it as a blend of 4 genres. It's power comes from the Intimate Adventure -- but what Hollywood cameraman would know how to "frame" an Intimate Adventure script?

Note how Havens succinctly defines the difference between "Horror" and "Action" as entirely in the Point of View -- whether you are the one taking the initiative, or the one who is acted upon. When you are being acted-upon, subject to the Will of Another, you are in a "horror movie" part of your life.

That is the state of being when we are born and when we die helpless in old age. The "nightmare" quality of horror comes from dredging up the subconscious memories of being helpless in a crib - unable even to bring a thumb to mouth.

The therapeutic value of watching horror movies comes from stirring up the subconscious, bringing that helplessness up into the light of day and dealing with it consciously and thus becoming the one who acts, not the one who is acted upon.

To make that transition, one must acquire Power and use it, master it and become "The Warrior."

A person who makes that transition without having dredged up and dealt with subconscious fears becomes a wielder of Power too weak to control that Power. The result is a person who is controlled by their power.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer depicts both of these situations in a number of variations among the characters. The show depicts Initiation in the real world, by real-life experiences such as love, loss, bereavement, and facing death, facing failure, and facing success. And now in the current season, finally allows Willow to take the necessary ceremonial initiations to gain control of her Power.

Havens refers to these Initiatory elements as "mythic" qualities in the show, and there's no hint in this book whether Whedon is aware of what he's been doing with Occult themes.

I am privileged to have been able to contribute an article on Buffy The Vampire Slayer to a book of articles by established sf/f professionals. Mine contrasts and compares Willow and Buffy in the acquisition and control of Magical Power. The book will be published by BenBella Books.

I did a more thorough treatment of how Willow's being controlled by her Power at the end of the last season was inevitable according to Ancient Wisdom, given that she has lived her whole life as someone who is acted upon, rather than being the one in charge of her life.

After writing the article, I read the advance copy of Candace Havens' study of Joss Whedon's creation, where it is clear that Whedon's conception is a deliberate blend of Horror and Action genres -- and thus needs the characters who are "weak" and therefore are the lead characters in a horror plot, to contrast with those like Buffy who are "strong" and thus the lead characters in an action plot.

Havens' book also discusses Whedon's new series, Firefly. It has been referred to as anti-Trek, and by what I've seen so far, that's true. The philosophy is in stark contrast to the Gene Roddenberry creations. Whedon has no aliens in Firefly because he doesn't believe there are any out there. Being an atheist, he has set out to portray the universe and life as incomprehensible, so that people just scramble to live from hand to mouth, gaining nothing from ethical virtues.

Firefly just may be successful for the same reasons that the minimally sf/f Liaden books are -- that more people can relate to these characters and their concerns than will ever be able to relate to the character and concerns of the Wizards in, say Lyskarion, The Song of the Wind.

 

To send books for review in this column email Jacqueline Lichtenberg, jl@simegen.com for snailing instructions or send an attached RTF file.  

 

 

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