Because I Couldn't Help Myself

[alixtii]

executrix liz_marcs linked to this debate over the canonicity of the Season 8 Comics and as much as I knew I should, I couldn't look away.

So far, I have wisely refrained from joining in, because why bother when you know the other person is incapable of listening? (Although I always have to wonder at people who treat the term "canon" as if it were transparent. We as fen invented the relevant sense of the word. Nobody uses it that way outside of our circles.)

I do want to point one thing out, though, here because my flist is capable of listening. Now, it doesn't matter what Joss Whedon says. We as fen define what is canon. But if we look at what he did say? He never said the comics were canon.

He said that he understood the comics to be canon, and he understood them that way because he was writing them.

You might argue that the difference in meaning is small, but I never assume that Joss Whedon doesn't know what he's doing when he is using language. He made a statement about how he saw the comics. He never, ever told us as fen whether we should consider them to be canon. And I don't think he would, other than a) ironically, or b) unthinkingly. Joss understands that "[w]hat may or may not have happened is entirely up to the viewer, that's what makes it art."

(And seriously, if I'm going to read Joss Whedon-penned comics, I want him to treat them as canon. That doesn't make them canon, but I want him to treat them that way.)

ETA: And liz_marcs is my hero all over again, as I read through the comments more fully. She and janedavitt bitchslap this guy into the next century.

ETA2: And I finally gave in and threw my hat into the ring:

Okay, if being able to quote Joss is the end-all of this debate...can you provide a cite for when he said the comics for canon. The case I'm aware of is a Whedonesque post where he stated that he understood them as canon and didn't say a word how we should react to them.

Other things Joss has said include "What may or may not have happened is entirely up to the viewer, that's what makes it art."

So if you're so high and mighty about being able to quote Joss, find me the quote where he's ever tried to force the way he sees the texts onto the fan audience. Not where he's just talking quickly or sloppily, but where he's saying "You have to believe this about Buffy, because I am Joss." I don't think you'll be able to do it.

And you know why? Because Joss Whedon understands theory better than you do.

ETA3: Actually, the whole exchange has me thinking about the fanboy/fangirl distinction I sometimes talk about with cathexys. This guy is so very much a fanboy. I can't help but think that his constant appeals to the Word of Joss and his inability to allow for any shades of grey in legitimate reader response somehow reveals an insecurity about his ability to exist outside of a hierarchical system--that he (unconsciously) sees fluidity of meaning as a challenge to his own position and power and privilege.

Sometimes I'm glad I'm a fangirl.

Comments

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

That was always a big deal of the issue for me. Buffy the TV series was provided free over the airwaves. Granted that I went on to buy all the DVDs, but I wasn't expected to buy sight unseen. By switching to the comics format Joss is suddenly asking for a financial sacrifice from his fans that he wasn't previously.