I’m honestly not a big “death of the author” girlie. I like trying to examine a writer’s mindset even when it can seem foolhardy or unnecessary. The coolest part of art, to me, is that a human being actually took the time to make it, and they made it for a reason.
However, I do not feel this way when it comes to Joss Whedon and the Buffyverse. I imagine that trying to examine the mind of such a small, cruel man would be a claustrophobic and nauseating endeavor. And so, it simply won’t be happening here.
Never in my life have a I cared less about what a writer/creator thinks about their own work than I do with Joss Whedon and Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.
If you’re out of the loop, or need to be reminded of the awful behavior that Joss has been accused of, here are a few examples of accusations from his ex-wife, as well as prominent actors that have worked with Whedon:
Following their divorce in 2016, Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole (who collaborated with him on a number of his projects) wrote an essay accusing him of being a “hypocrite preaching feminist ideals.” Published by The Wrap in August 2017, the article alleges Whedon admitted to Cole “he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends” while the pair were married, going back to his time as showrunner on Buffy. Cole went on to accuse Whedon of using his relationship to her as a way to protect himself “so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist.”
Ray Fisher (who played Cyborg in Justice League) tweeted out a retraction of a previous occasion in which he praised Whedon for his work on Justice League. Shortly after, he posted another tweet alleging Whedon had engaged in “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior during the Justice League reshoots. Fisher has since explained the lack of specific details regarding his accusation, saying “I am still very much under contract and I am still very much under Non-Disclosure Agreement. So I’ve got to be very careful about what I say and how I say it, otherwise I can get sued into oblivion.” Despite this, others have lent credibility to Fisher’s claim, with Kevin Smith saying a special effects employee who worked on Justice League told him Whedon did “a fair amount of trashing [Snyder’s] version of the movie” on-set, and to many of the crew members who’d previously worked with Snyder on the film no less.
In February 2021, Charisma Carpenter provided details on Whedon’s abuse. In an image tweet accompanied by “My truth. #IStandWithRayFisher”, she outlined her experience working on Buffy, how Whedon created a “hostile and toxic working environment“ and more information on the strain put on her during her pregnancy. She went on to state she had participated in the WarnerMedia investigation coming out of Ray Fisher’s allegations.
(you can read more about the allegations on the wrap, screen rant, and vulture)
Given what we’ve learned about Whedon as a show-runner, it’s frankly infuriating to think about a man who caused such pain writing Buffy and Angel. Buffy ends with hundreds, if not thousands, of women around the world being granted the power of the slayer and using it to stand up to toxic forces in their life. Angel begins with a typical Los Angeles asshole who boasts about his stellar reputation and claims he can get away with anything getting launched out of a window by our titular hero. Angel saves Cordelia from this man, but no one saved Charisma Carpenter from Joss. He doesn’t get credit for the positive impact of his fictional worlds because he made the real world a living hell for people.
What has been difficult about attempts to separate the art from the artist when it comes to this franchise is that Joss has been associated with the world since the very beginning, and people who we’d rather associate with Buffy, like Sarah Michelle Gellar (who has a well documented history of standing up for cast and crew on the show) came along years after the character was first introduced to us in the 1992 film.
And so, the Chloé Zhao produced reboot set to premiere next year has another layer of importance for the team working on it, and the fans. It is our well-deserved opportunity to enjoy the thing we love without Whedon involved.
As we’ve seen in recent history, reboots with good intentions miss the mark all the time. So, while we can’t say for sure if the Buffy reboot will be any good until we actually watch it, we do know that this experience is giving Sarah Michelle Gellar and the rest of the actors who brought Buffy The Vampire Slayer to life an opportunity to exist in the Buffy-verse without the burden of living under Whedon’s thumb. That makes the whole endeavor worth it to me.
That’s the whole point of the show, is it not? To quip in the face of evil, and break free from the thing that’s trying to destroy you?
So even though I will be let down if the reboot doesn’t live up to the original, I will be happy that the cast and crew will have the opportunity to create Buffy, a show that has had such a positive impact on generations of people, in a positive work environment for the first time ever.
As a vengeance demon and a librarian famously once said:
“How do you know the other world is any better than this?”
“Because it has to be.”
blair barely 
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