Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy

by Havens, Candace

  It’s easy to underestimate the size and devotion of the Buffy fan community. Buffy has often been among the top ten searches on leading search engines and is frequently the most populated Internet discussion group of any television show. Literally hundreds of Buffy fan sites have been created by enthusiastic fans, covering everything from slash fiction to homages to minor characters. So, how did he do it?

  Joss succeeded because he very deliberately introduced to Buffy seven key ingredients that had never been brought together in a television show before. Combined, these seven ingredients created a show that is truly unique and genuinely precious.

  Mixing up the Genres

  First, Joss set out to create a truly cross-genre show. Essential to the concept of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was that it would integrate four distinct genres–horror, action, comedy, and drama. Some combination of these genres was part of the best television shows–serious dramas lightened with moments of comedy, or comedies spiced with an element of action. A few shows, notably NYPD Blue, integrated drama, action, and comedy. But Buffy was unique in integrating all four genres and giving each of them equal weight. Is Buffy a comedy or a drama? Action or horror? There is no real answer to this question, because Buffy is, at heart, all four of these.

  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. How do you sell a show that doesn’t fall into a clear genre? For this reason, the movie version of Buffy was turned into a comedy, much to Joss’s dismay As a television show, Buffy was rejected by the major networks. Ultimately, the fledgling WB accepted Buffy as a cross-genre show. This acceptance was either a result of WB’s vision or of its executives’ inexperience. But the reality is that it’s unlikely Buffy would have been allowed to proceed with its cross-genre approach on one of the more established networks.

  Integrating these genres made great demands on the writers, but it also required highly skilled directors and a strong technical crew. 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.

  Continuity

  The second ingredient that led to Buffy’s cult status was the incredible degree of continuity Whedon built into the series. The most obvious aspect of this continuity was the season-long story arcs, which allowed complex plots that fans could sink their teeth into. Unlike soaps, Joss did not write the show as a seemingly never-ending series of plot developments. Instead, Whedon followed the lead of his favorite author, Charles Dickens, who planned out his novels in their entirety but wrote and published each chapter separately. Joss knew exactly where he was going. He created a story arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end, that stretched over the twenty-two episodes of the series.

  Whedon assumes that his viewers know everything that has happened on the series to date and he makes sure his characters remember what’s happened as well. Television shows that miss this drive him crazy. On The X-Files, for instance, Scully’s skepticism persisted despite weekly evidence of the paranormal. “You’re an idiot,” Joss laughs, referring to Scully, “it’s a monster.”

  But Whedon went beyond complex season-long plots to bring unprecedented continuity to the entire run of the series. As a fan himself, Joss knew how fans obsess over shows and take note of every detail. So he obsessed over the details himself, providing a degree of continuity which was unnoticed by most viewers, but which rewarded his fans and increased their loyalty. Examples of these continuities are legion. In “Restless,” the finale of season four, Joss put Willow back into the “softer side of Sears” outfit she wore in the first episode. After Joyce’s death, we see Giles mourning while listening to Cream’s “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” the same song he played the night he and Joyce had sex. Sometimes the continuity takes a turn towards the ludicrous, as when Giles and Buffy recount the number of times she’s saved the world in “The Gift.” But overall, the continuity is a pleasure for fans of the show.

  Even more enticing to the attentive fan is Buffy’s foreshadowing. Because Joss plans his major plot points years in advance, he is able to tantalize viewers with hints of what’s to come. A wonderful example of this is found in the dream sequence in “Graduation Day, Part II.” Faith tells Buffy, “Oh yeah. Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from seven three oh.” The numbers were referenced again in the season four finale, “Restless,” when Buffy noted that the time was 7:30. “Some fans figured it out,” Whedon said. “Seven three oh is exactly two years in days. Two years until the next climax. Whatever she’s talking about will be resolved.” This climax turns out to be Buffy’s death at the end of season five.

  One critical aspect of continuity is the recognition that time passes and a willingness to allow the characters to grow and evolve in unforeseen ways. This is risky, because the evolution might not please fans. Most television shows do everything they can to adhere to the formula that made them successful in the first place. Buffy, on the other hand, is continually taking risks. Joss understands that this is part of the show’s appeal.

  The key, Joss believes, is for the writers, the viewers, and the characters all to be worried about the same things. When Angel left the show, for example, the writers and the fans worried about Buffy. Will she ever find another love? Could any future lover be as worthy as Angel? These worries are fine, Joss feels, because these are the exact concerns Buffy has. Similarly, when the Scoobies left high school, viewers and writers worried about the continued appeal of the show. But, again, these concerns echo those of the characters–will life be as good after high school?

  Oh yeah. Miles to go. Little Miss Muffet counting down from seven three oh.

  —Faith

  Carpe Diem

  The flip side of Joss’s commitment to continuity is his opportunism. Joss’s ability to seize opportunities is the third critical ingredient to Buffy’s success. Joss’s talents are well suited for television, because he has the ability to grasp opportunities that present themselves and work them into the overall plot of each season. While Joss is famous for killing beloved characters, he equally often saves characters slated for death who display unexpected appeal. Darla was slated to be killed by Willow at the end of the second episode of the first season. Spike was similarly killed off in the original scripts. But in both cases Joss liked what he saw enough to make last-minute changes that saved some of the show’s most popular characters.

  Joss is a careful observer of how his actors are being perceived. He found that Hannigan’s Willow had a special vulnerability and that when she was put in jeopardy it “opens your heart.” So he arranged to have her put in jeopardy at key points in the story arc of each season. Similarly, Joss knew he had a winner when he observed Gellar’s performance when she finds she is destined to die at the end of season one. Buffy would have many heart-wrenching events in future episodes, to say the least.

  Joss also found that opportunistic moves were forced upon him. “You have to stay fluid because television is a fluid medium,” Joss explains. “There are times when you might lose an actor. That gives you an opportunity to make changes that might not have otherwise happened. When we lost Oz because Seth Green wanted to go off and make movies, it gave a chance to bring in Amber who turned out to be a wonderful addition to our show. That’s the upside of keeping things fluid. But you have to have those basic story arcs down and move people in and out of them.”

  Joss cleverly leaves room for opportunities to develop. He tries to avoid sayi
ng too much about a character’s background, so that he can work something new in if an idea emerges. This allowed the writers, for example, to decide that Jenny Calendar was actually a gypsy (and a double agent) in the middle of season two.

  Loving the Fans

  The fourth ingredient to Buffy’s success is its ability to stay in touch with fan sensibilities. Whedon trusts his instincts regarding what works, but at the same time he is very interested in fan reaction and takes fans seriously. Many television writers create the impression that they consider themselves a lot smarter than the folks they are writing for. This is never true with Joss, who credits fans with being smart and paying attention. He relates to fans and considers himself one of them. When asked about William Shatner’s joking statement that fans should “get a life,” Whedon responded, “I have never had any particular life of my own, so I don’t see any particular reason why anyone should run out to get one. Of course, if they’re dressing up like Willow and staying in their basement for nine months at a time, that’s not good. But the show’s designed to foster slavish devotion; it has it from me, and I entirely respect it in others.”

  When fans seemed to reject Oz, for example, Whedon responded by giving them a scene designed to bring him into their hearts. This is the van scene in “Innocence,” where Oz declines to kiss Willow, stating that “Well, to the casual observer, it would appear that you’re trying to make your friend Xander jealous or even the score or something. And that’s on the empty side ... See, in my fantasy, when I’m kissing you, you’re kissing me. It’s okay. I can wait.” The viewer can see Willow falling in love with Oz as he says this and, as Joss planned, the audience falls in love with Oz as well.

  But this doesn’t mean he gives fans what they want. Whedon takes an almost perverse pride in horrifying fans. Over and over he kills the characters they love, including Ms. Calendar in season two, Joyce in season five, Tara in season six, and Doyle in season one of Angel. Joss considers the outcry a sign that he’s doing well. “I need to give them what they need, not what they want. They need to have their hearts broken. They need to see change. They hated Oz, and then they hated that he left. These things are inevitable.... If people don’t care when you killed off a great character, then you haven’t done it right,” says Whedon. “When you are writing a horror show, it’s a given that your same group of people, no matter what situation they find themselves, are going to be back for the next episode. It’s good now and then to shake things up.”

  Seth Green, a mainstay in seasons two and three, has moved on to a movie career, including the Austin Powers films.

  Joss uses the Internet as a vehicle to keep his fingers on the pulse of fan sentiment. He claims to be the furthest thing from a techie, saying “I sort of came to it late. I don’t need it much in my life; I haven’t mastered it. My wife is very proficient. I’m still at ‘What’s download?’” But his lack of knowledge hasn’t stopped him from spending considerable time on message boards interacting with fans or just lurking and learning. He recognizes how helpful the Internet has been to the show’s development.

  Joss with Nicholas Brendon and Alyson Hannigan, entertaining fans at the Los Angeles comic convention.

  His cast recognizes it as well. “I don’t think we’d be here if it wasn’t for the Net,” states Sarah Michelle Gellar. “It was the Internet that really kicked us off, because that’s where this loyal fan base could get together and spread the word.”

  I’m still at ‘What’s download?’—

  But while Joss mostly appreciates and enjoys his interactions with fans on the Internet, it’s not without its frustrations. The Internet makes keeping secrets very difficult, and more than once Joss has found future plot points revealed in cyberspace. “I like being surprised and I want the audience to feel the same way,” says Whedon. “It’s getting tougher with the Internet to keep things secret, but we are doing our best.”

  I don’t think we’d be here if it wasn’t for the Net.

  —Sarah Michelle Gellar

  Joss works hard to keep his plot twists secret, which sometimes means not sharing them with the cast too early. “And in this scene you’re gay, and action,” laughs Whedon about how the actors sometimes receive their lines at the last minute. “Sometimes I don’t know until late in the game, and it sort of blossoms and I go, ‘Oh my God, this is going on . . . so we are going to shift to here or were going to send it in this direction.’ But I do generally keep them posted on the big things. I told Kristine she was going to die like two years before, so she was prepared. That was probably one of the toughest ones we had to do, because we knew what was coming. She was one of the favorites around here and we still miss her.”

  Joss has also found that casual statements (or jokes) made on the Internet are taken with deadly seriousness by some fans. This concerned him at first, but in the end he decided to have fun with it, at least judging from this post:“The truth is, I was a little wigged by all the commotion my posting caused. I think the worst thing that could happen would be for the Willow /Tara storyline to become some kind of publicity stunt. I guess if I type something here, the papers are gonna pick up on it, and there’s nothing I can do about it. So I’d like to make the following announcements:1. FROM NOW ON, EVERYONE ON BUFFY WILL BE GAY. You heard it here first. And not just a little gay, either. Whole new show.

  2. MATT DAMON: MONSTER FIGHTER. Yes, a multi-episode arc feature the talented Mr. Damon and look for some of his movie star friends to make “monstrous” cameos!

  3. FREE PRESENTS AND MONEY for everyone who tunes in. Swear to God.

  4. NUDITY, NUDITY, NUDITY.

  5. NAKEDNESS.

  6. ZEPPLIN FIGHT OVER NEPTUNE! Just in time for sweeps, the gang is going to have an “out of this world” adventure with wacky Xander at the controls! This episode is budgeted at 18 million dollars, and will change history.

  Okay! Well, I’ll just settle back and let the publicity come rolling in. Yep, ratings are bound to soar once everyone gets wind of the exciting and controversial direction I’m taking the show in. In the meanwhile, I hope you, the fans, enjoy the all-nude, all-gay Buffy. It’s gonna be a hoot!”

  And in this scene you’re gay, and action.—Joss

  Keeping It Real

  The fifth element of Buffy’s success is its relentless reality. More than one critic has noted the irony that the most realistic show on television is a vampire fantasy. Buffy paints complex, interesting characters and makes a point of avoiding stereotypes. They are continually evolving and growing and fans come to feel that they not only know the characters, they know where they’ve come from.

  Joss has famously said that “there will never be a very special Buffy,” by which he means that there will never be an episode which self-consciously takes on an “issue.” Much better, Whedon feels, is to seamlessly weave real issues into the plot, and Joss is a master at this. As has been often noted, the big conflicts on Buffy are issues that everyone can relate to. When Buffy’s mom tells her she can’t go out, it feels like the end of the world (of course, in her case, this is literally true). When Buffy becomes a teenage runaway, she winds up in hell (once again, literally). When Buffy gets a college roommate, she’s a monster who’s sucking the life out of her (you get the idea). Joss says that he knew he was doing something right when he talked with a female fan on a message board right after the first airing of “Innocence,” in which Angel turns evil after sleeping with Buffy. “That’s exactly what happened to me [after I slept with my boyfriend],” the fan told Joss.

  Relentless Perfectionism

  The sixth element of Buffy’s success is Joss’s relentless perfectionism. Perfectionism is admirable in filmmaking; it’s a recipe for heartache in television. With small budgets and only days to write and shoot each episode, television is the art of learning what’s good enough. But there’s no question, Joss is a perfectionist. Despite the pace and rigors of television, he’s rarely given in to the urge to just get it done. He doesn’t
win every battle, but he does battle just the same. Parts of the very first Buffy episode, for example, were reshot eight months later so that Joss could improve certain scenes (as a midseason replacement, they had this luxury).

  Despite the kudos for his writing, Joss is never satisfied. “I will say that I’ve been doing this for a while and I still think that every script I’ve written is the worst thing that I’ve ever done,” says Whedon. “I think that is more of a writer thing than anything else. I don’t know of any good writer who is actually happy with something they’ve written. You are constantly worried about failing.”

  Joss’s Biggest Cyberfan

  “He was so answerful, so sweet . . .”

  —Kimberly Hirsh, www.jossisahottie.com

  Joss has countless Internet fans, but high on the list is Kimberly Hirsh,

  otherwise know as Kiba the Diva, and the force behind

  www.jossisahottie.com. I talked with her about her Joss site and, of course,

  Joss himself.

  HAVENS: What was it about Joss that made you want to develop a website dedicated to him?

  HIRSH: His capacity for kindly silliness. He took such an interest in his fans, and expressed himself in such a unique way ... Watched Buffy, I chatted in the Bronze [the Buffy Internet discussion group], I liked the show. I even posted to Joss once for his thoughts on porn. He answered me! But I didn’t begin to love Joss until I read other posts of his. He was so answerful, so sweet . . .