Buffy Goes Dark

[roguerouge]

I got a chapter published in this book. (It's just my second time in print, so I'm still a little squee.) Check it out:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Buffy-Goes-Dark-Lynne-Edwards/dp/078643676X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230474604&sr=8-1]]Amazon.com: Buffy Goes Dark: Lynne Y. Edwards, Elizabeth L. Rambo, James B. South: Books[/ame]

If you want to know what else is in it, I've got my copy and I can give you an idea. (I've not read all of the other chapters yet.)

 

[shilsen]

Congratulations! What was your chapter on?

 

[Mark]

Congrats!

 

[roguerouge]

It was about Jane Espenson approach as a writer. It looked at continuities in her writing for Whedon and for other shows (Gilmore Girls, BSG, Tru Calling, and others). In short, it tries to define what an "Espensode" is based on a close reading of her scripts in various shows.

More broadly, the implication was that if we can think of a staff writer (who doesn't direct) as an auteur, then we need to rethink the primacy of the "Created By" credit in assigning authorship to a TV series and start to think of what it means to the medium's art history if television is truly communally authored.

 

[Crothian]

What is the bnook about? The Amazon blurp wasn't that great and the book is a little expensive for me to just buy not knowing much about it. My library doesn't have a copy or else that would be my way to get a good look at it.

Congradulations on getting in the book!!

 

[roguerouge]

Thanks!

Well, it's a collection of serious but readable essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer during the UPN years (seasons six and seven).

Rhonda Wilcox, who wrote the rather lyrical Why Buffy Matters (a book that's a favorite of my students), discusses the role of embodiment in the latter two seasons.

James B South, who edited the Buffy and Philosophy book, investigates the philosophies manifesting in the latter two seasons.

Michael Adams, author of the lexicon of lingo known as Slayer Slang, contributes an article on how style itself becomes a subject in the latter two seasons. (I'm particularly eager to read that one, as I've recently begun teaching the musical as being about the creators fears of going on too long while simultaneously fearing the success of causing people to like their show too much.)

I've used Brandy Ryan's conference paper on the Tara-Willow controversy before, so I'm curious to see what she's done with it in the years since. And I've absolutely loved Elizabeth Rambo, Gregory Erickson and Lynette Edwards' writing in the past, and they've each contributed a chapter as well.

Basically, if you've ever wanted to revisit seasons six and seven, this is the book for you. It took me teaching season six to realize how vital this season really is to the artistry and character of the series. It was such a grey experience in broadcast that it was hard to see the forest for the trees.

 

[Krug]

Oooh congrats. Buffy as a college course huh? Man if only my uni had offered it...

 

[Crothian]

Ya, no kidding. I'd commute for that course, but it's a little far.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Oooh congrats. Buffy as a college course huh? Man if only my uni had offered it...

My uni featured Buffy in Gender Studies at one stage, but I don't know if they do nowadays.

 

[roguerouge]

One summer, I got to teach it as an online course for the Massachusetts College of Art. Sadly, a very small number of people signed up for it. But I have to use a stick to keep students from over-enrolling the course at Emerson.