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Gaiman and Whedon Discuss the Rise of the Geek
CABridges writes "In a lengthy Time Magazine interview, Neil Gaiman ("Sandman," "American Gods") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly") talk about their audience.
Gaiman: "Mostly they're people. They're us. That's what they look like."
Whedon: "They're a lot more attractive than I am, actually, which kind of disturbs and upsets me."
Both men, known for their cult-favorite creations, have movies debuting this Friday. For Gaiman it's MirrorMask, for Whedon it's Serenity."
Here's what I had to say on my little bio site about myself: geek - while it used to be a four letter word, it is now a (somewhat?) coveted title. Either that or people just have short memories. Regardless, knowing about technology and having a desire to constantly improve it is now almost as accepted as jaywalking.
fak3r.com
The folks on this site are more attractive than Whedon?! Holy shit, he must be really disfigured!
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I got to see Serenity three weeks ago and it was GREAT!! Seriously, go tell everyone you know to see it because the movie business requires a great opening weekend or else they quickly disappear. And if it disappears, no sequels.
One of my acquaintances also saw the special preview and he went out and bought the DVD's of the series.
Quick question, I heard that there are eight different versions of the movie that they were previewing, and that they were going to gauge audience reaction before the final release. Is that true?
So what are the rest?
Technoli
... but PETA complained about the chickens so I had to stop. Now I'm just a nerd.
Geeks are attractive when they have big wallet bulges. Now that a few internet stocks have revived, especially the Google monster, geeks are in fashion again.
That's right! This is "news for nerds," not geeks. Geeks, get out of here. Same goes for you too, dorks!
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
What's awesome about these two movies is that the talents behind them (and I include Dave McKean here) had complete control of the movies. The scripts, the direction, the marketing - everything. And guess what, it works. They follow through on their vision, no compromise for execs who don't get it, and produce something faithful to what they want.
/. isn't going to make anyone pay 5 bucks for a movie ticket, but if Mirrormask is on near you, go see it.
:)
And they produce excellent movies. Thought-provoking, entertaining, well directed, beautifully shot movies (without any 6 figure salaries).
I was luck to see both Mirrormask and Serenity at the Edinburgh Film Festival this year and both were amazing films for completely different reasons. I realise some random comment on
If you haven't seen Firefly, and Serenity is playing near you, go see it.
This is the new age of the auteur
That's the beauty of Whedon's work, he's the quintessential geek and he manages to showcase the self-deprecating humour so inherent in people with interests outside the mainstream.
Reading an outline for Buffy 10 years ago, you would have instantly assumed it was destined for a short-lived run and eventual shunting to a 2am timeslot before dissapearing into obscurity. Instead it became a cult hit, ran for seven seasons and spawned a massive franchise, including one of the few successful spin-off television shows.
Firefly, with it's mesh of sci-fi and old west, would have seemed likely to suffer the same fate. However after it's network axing, fan support (to which Whedon has paid tribute) has seen a movie release.
Both of these shows have succeeded, in part, due to Whedon's offbeat writing and his affinity for geek references. They've been elevated to cult status and after all, you can't beat a geek for obsessing about a television show.