Joss Whedon, A Creative Portrait: From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Marvel's The Avengers

by David Lavery

Overview

Spring 2012 saw the returban to creative and critical success of Joss Whedon, with the release of both his horror flick The Cabin in the Woods and the box-office sensation, Marvel's The Avengers. After establishing himself as a premier cult creator, the man who gave us great television with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and web series Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog, as well as comic books including Fray and Astonishing X-Men, finally became the filmmaker he'd long dreamed of being. Drawing on a wide variety of sources and making use of psychologist Howard Gruber's insights into the nature of the creative process, Joss, A Creative Portrait offers the first intellectual biography of Whedon, tracking his career arc from activated fan boy to film studies major, third generation television writer, successful script doctor, innovative television auteur, beloved cult icon, sought-after collaborator, and major filmmaker with Marvel's The Avengers. Film and television scholar and Whedon expert David Lavery traces Whedon's multi-faceted magic from its source - the early influences of parents and teachers, comics, books, movies, collaborators - to its artistic incarnation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848850309
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/24/2013
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David Lavery is Chair in Film and TV at Brunel University. He is co-editor of the online jourbanal 'Slayage' (on the "Whedonverse"), and a founding editor of 'Critical Studies in Television' jourbanal. His many books on US TV drama today include 'Reading "The Sopranos'" and 'Reading "Deadwood'", both from I.B. Tauris, as well as volumes on 'X-Files', 'Heroes', 'Lost', 'Seinfeld' and 'Twin Peaks'.

Table of Contents

Introduction - From the Mind of Joss Whedon 
1. Television Son 
2. Fan Boy 
3. Film Studies Major 
4. Television Writer 
5. Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I) 
6. Script Doctor 
7. Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (II)
8. Creator of Angel and Firefly 
9. Joss Whedon, Television Auteur 
10. Comic Book Author
11. Creator of Serenity 
12. "You think you know, what you are, what's to come" 
Afterword - Michael Bay vs Joss Whedon, Weapons to be Determined 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index