Joss Whedon as Film Auteur

I really hope that one day I get a chance to write a paper arguing that Joss Whedon is a film auteur. I've been reading about the French New Wave critics, and auteur theory, and their views on Hitchcock and all that- and from what I understand of the definition, I think Whedon's work really defines him as such.

The most simple, encompassing definition I have seen so far is in Marilyn Fabe's An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique, which says that auteurs have a "unique style and vision [that] mark their films" and that "according to the French critics who defined the term, even when an auteur makes a work based on some else's novel, drama, or screenplay, he somehow manages to inscribe upon it his own thematic concerns."

Joss, of course, is best known for his series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, and Firefly/Serenity. What themes and concerns come across most strongly in all of these? Things like real families vs. chosen families; the inability for two people in love to have a perfect relationship; free will vs. a pre-programmed destiny; women who say the awkward-but-true things about situations; the prevalence of father-figures over real fathers; a setting that has just as much characterization as one of the actual characters; use of extraordinary situations to explore ordinary issues.

He also wrote the screenplay for Toy Story. Where Woody and Buzz struggle to understand the meaning of their chosen family of the other toys, and their place in it- and their value to their adopted "father," Andy. Where Woody struggles with the issue of will he be a favored toy, or is he destined to be pushed under the bed and forgotten? Bo Peep, I think, fills the role of Cordelia in Angel, or Anya in Buffy- to be both the truth-teller and comforter. The oversized world of the bedroom and Andy's house is just as characterized as the ship Serenity, or the Hyperion Hotel. Though not the director of the film -the typical film auteur- I think it can most definitely be argued that he has imprinted many of the same concerns and themes on Toy Story as he does on his other works.

Even in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, for which Whedon only wrote a treatment, the same themes return again. Milo Thatch and the crew of explorers struggle with their bond to each other vs. their treasure-seeking expedition. Atlantean princess Kida, unfamiliar with the surface world and its social norms, asks the same questions that River or Anya might ask to get an explanation for a situation. The Shepherd's Book that guides the explorers to Atlantis and the writings on the city itself are a lore and prophecy that challenge ideas of free will and determinism, much like the situation that Buffy found herself in, as the chosen Slayer. The absent father theme comes up again, as Milo's grandfather proves to be far more of a presence and influence on Milo's life.

While most of the auteur information I'm coming across is in regards to Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock, I think that Joss Whedon does fit into this category of filmmaking. I just wish he'd be a little more prolific! (But I hear Dollhouse and Goners are a go, sometime, though!)

T-minus 16 and counting... Doctor Who series four is a go...

The Beeb, at long, long last, released the starting date for series four of Doctor Who this year. It probably killed them a little bit! While I'm pretty sure Fox has already scheduled episodes of 24 for next frakkin' year, the BBC can just barely be coaxed to tell starting dates for one of its most popular shows.

Actually, we don't even have show time yet. (Although seven p.m. is a safe bet.) This, of course, is for those lucky folks who actually live in the UK and can watch it at the time it comes on, instead of waiting to download it sneakily or find out when or if PBS or SciFi will air the episode.

I'm looking forward to this series with a lot more optimism than I was feeling at this time last year. After the first two series, where I met the Doctor, lost him as he changed into someone with a new face and grew to know him even better, and where I met and fell in love with Rose Tyler, his companion, the London shopgirl who had such a curiosity and sense of adventure as she traveled through time and space, and such a big heart. They traveled the universe in the TARDIS, saving the world and each other over and over again.

And then Rose was lost to another universe.

Of course she wasn't the first human the Doctor picked up to travel with him. Of course she's strong enough to make a life for herself. But still- it's better with two.

Christmas Special- "The Runaway Bride". Donna Noble, in her wedding gown, mysteriously appears on the TARDIS moments after the Doctor has had his heart ripped out and stomped on by emus. She patches up his wounded soul by screeching at him and calling him a Martian, and demanding he take her back to her wedding, since he obviously kidnapped her. Though bemused, he tries to take her back, things get complicated, they save the world, Donna realizes the world is bigger than chips and telly, but refuses to travel with the Doctor: he has a darkness in him, she says, and he needs someone to stop him sometimes.

An unspecified amount of time later, he picks up Martha Jones, medical student, who immediately develops passionate unrequited love for him, and completely fails to stop his darkness. The Doctor is offered many things in series three- a normal life, a wife, one of his own kind- but none of them satisfy, and it only emphasizes his lack of Rose's temperance all the more. When Martha learns to love adventure and realizes she cannot stand in the shadow of either Rose OR the Doctor anymore, she leaves, promising that she will keep in touch.

Series four- it's commonly known that Donna (played by the incomparable Catherine Tate) will be returning as the companion, and I completely embrace this. She won't moon over the Doctor. She won't stand for his shit. She'll stop him when he tries to play god. She'll balance the extraordinariness of traveling to distant times and places with the ordinariness of just wanting a damn cup of tea. At least, that's what I'm hoping. If Russell T. Davies and the Writing Team of Occasional Awesome can keep their shit together, and not jump the shark like a lot of shows do in season four (Angel, folks. Alias. Things start to make no sense whatsoever.) And there are a few other things that are happening that I just can't WAIT to see.

April fifth! That's not too long!

Juno vs. Realism

I went to see Juno this weekend. Mum wanted to hang out, my friends said it was good, Ellen Page has rocked my socks a bit for a while, and it was a pretty enjoyable movie, all in all. I liked it quite a bit, and fangirled most everything Juno said. ("I still have your underwear." "I still have your virginity.")

But then in the car, the discussion started. Grandma, who often has a let's-just-call-it-unique perspective on life, decried the lack of realism. "Juno's parents were too calm about her being pregnant. And that boy who liked her- like he would still want her after she got pregnant?" I patiently explained that I thought part of the whole point was that Juno was not the norm; that was her appeal, how quirky and unique she was. And that, while Paulie Bleeker may have liked Juno even when she was pregnant, he did basically nothing to help her, so how was he violating the norm, again? And, most of all, I think there was a definite reason for not seeing Mac and Bren Macguff's reaction to Juno being pregnant, as well as for not showing any emotional aftereffects for Juno, giving up her baby: that wasn't actually the story.

As far as I can tell (having seen the movie only once,) anything could have happened to Juno, other than getting pregnant. She could have gotten in a car accident and been paralyzed. She could have had some sort of disease. She could have been orphaned, sent to live with a crazy aunt in West Virginia. Whatever. The story here is that

1. Juno is a quirky, independent young woman.
2. Juno has a problem that could drive her into shame, isolation, and a dead-ended life.
3. Juno, keeping in line with her quirky, independent nature, seeks for solutions to her problems.
4. Juno, in the process, learns much about who she is and isn't, what she wants from life, and the nature of relationships.

And that's it. It's Juno, that's what the movie is called. Not What Mac and Bren Thought About Juno Getting Knocked Up. Not The Importance of Being Pro-Life. Not Girl, Keep Your Legs Crossed.

It's just a movie about a girl. And there is realism, actually; there's realism where a female protagonist doesn't have to be perfect to be normal; she doesn't have to be incredibly sexy AND smart AND have all the guys after her AND a few interesting childhood traumas to be the status quo woman. She can be okay in school, have a few friends, not always make the best decisions, and still be someone that we can love, because she's herself and no one else.

So some details are oversimplified. Fine. You want that stuff to be explored? Go make your own movie. But don't forget that Juno is no one but herself.

* * *
Juno MacGuff: You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events.
* * *
Vanessa Loring: You think you're really going to do this?
Juno MacGuff: Yeah, if I could just have the thing and give it to you now, I totally would. But I'm guessing it looks probably like a sea monkey right now and we should let it get a little cuter.

* * *
Su-Chin: I'm having a little trouble concentrating.
Juno MacGuff: Oh, well, I could sell you some of my Adderall if you want.
Su-Chin: No thanks, I'm off pills.
Juno MacGuff: That's a wise choice because I knew this girl who like had this crazy freak out because she took too many behavioral meds at once and she like ripped off her clothes, and dove into the fountain at Ridgedale Mall and was like, "Blah! I am a Kracken from the sea!"
Su-Chin: I heard that was you.