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The "Women of Whedon" is missing a WSometimes a list is so close to the hearts of AfterEllen.com readers that all a blogger has to do is tell you about it and sit back to watch the fun. So, I was tickled to find this list in the Los Angeles Times of the "Women of Whedon." The Times asked Joss Whedon to name his five favorite female creations. I was less tickled once I perused the list, however, thanks to at least one dreadful omission. (Get ready to be indignant.) Where's Willow?
While your ruffled feathers relax a bit, let's look at the women he did name. I certainly can't quarrel with the first.
Buffy Summers was one of the most awesome television characters ever and definitely number one in the Whedonverse. Sarah Michelle Gellar brought Buffy to life in the series, but the Slayer herself is multidimensional enough to sustain interest in the 2-D comic book medium. Buffy rules. Next on Whedon's list is River Tam from Firefly and Serenity.
Hmm. I have mixed feelings about this one. (River, not Summer Glau, who rocks.) I have to admit, though, that I'm not as much of a Firefly fan as some of you are. I agree that River's genius combined with her delusional, often violent, behavior makes for a compelling character. But is she one of Whedon's best five? You tell me. Whedon lost me with Dandelion, from his online comic, Sugarshock.
Granted, seeing Dandelion save the planet by playing the saddest song on earth was pretty great. And her character is classic Whedon — witty, random and able to kick butt. But after just four issues, I don't know Dandelion well enough to call her a favorite. I need at least a few more story arcs. Or a television series. Hint hint. I also take issue with Joss'
choice of Echo, from his upcoming show Dollhouse. (Again, my gripe
is with Echo, not Eliza Dushku, who plays her. I'm opinionated,
not blind.) I suspect Echo made the list because she's Whedon's project
of the moment — or will be once the writers' strike is over. But if
I understand the premise of Dollhouse, Echo has no "character"
at all apart from the one imprinted in her mind for each assignment.
I would love to be proven wrong, but for now, I can't imagine that Echo
will rank above Dushku's other Whedon creation, Faith, on my
Last but never least is Fred Burkle from Angel.
I'm in love with a girl named Fred. (Blame the obscure reference on scribegrrrl's recent homage to Carol Burnett.) Fred was fab — a super-geek with a brain that got the team out of more than one pickle. Until that nasty demon, Illyria, took over her soul, that is. But does Fred rank above her predecessor and brilliantly nerdish role model, Willow? What were you thinking, Joss? My top five would have to include Tara because, well, she's Tara.
And I'd have to replace new comic character Dandelion with Whedon's futuristic Slayer, Melaka Fray.
I'll leave the rest to you. Of course, maybe the problem is that Joss Whedon has created so many strong women characters that naming the top five is impossible. That's a nice dilemma to have. But if you had to choose, whom would you list? Submitted by on December 3, 2007 - 11:00am. |
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It looks to me like Joss
It looks to me like Joss just picked one woman from each of his shows. Still, we could argue he should've picked Willow over Buffy...
I would have. Hell, I would have picked both Willow and Faith before Buffy...
Haha! Joss obviously
Haha! Joss obviously picked one girl per show! I gotta agree that personally I would have picked both Will and Faith over Buffy, but obviously Buffy is the obvious choice (ooh, too many obviouses!) I love Fred, she would definately be my Angel choice, but she does not top any Buffy girls. I also understand the choice of River, she is very kick as, but in terms of Firefly/Serenity, my heart belongs to Kaylee! And from his comic creations, Fray is the way to go! I completely agree that we cannot have Echo on this list when the show isn't even in production yet. My list would probably go something like:
1. Faith
2. Willow
3. Buffy
4. Anya
5. Fred/Kaylee
but then I love Fray too, and Tara, and River and Zoe, and Inara, and Cordy, and Dru and Darla, and Glory... In fact I think the only Woman of Whedon I don't like is Dawn.
Buffy, Buffy, Buffy...
Buffy, alone, is a superb character. Strong, opinionated, and can deal with a lot of shit. But (there's always a but), to look at her other female characters... I honestly like Faith more, than Buffy. Mainly because Buffy thinks that her life is just *so* bad (well, at times it is, but...). And I'm pretty sure that Faith's life has been much harder, yet she does it. (Okay, she went evil, but the girl just needed some support from someone).
And I have to agree with you. I LOVE Tara.
But I think that, for me, it would be pretty hard to choose just one woman that's created by Joss. Because he's a master at creating such wonderful female characters. I think my top five would have to be: Tara, Willow, Faith, Dawn, Cordelia, Inara, Kaylee, River, Dru, Darla, Fray...
(PS! If this didn't make sense, sorry, I'm highly medicated and have a fever)
Ooh...
This is a hard one.
1. Tara is my favorite hands down.
2. Faith because... do I need to explain?
3. Fred I just love nerdy women.
4. & 5. Kaylee and River I can't choose between them.
"Bad jokes are us, ur me."
Tara<3
i'm glad i'm not the only Tara fan<3, she would definitely be on my list too, she was shy and unassuming but she could be strong when you needed her to be
i'm horribly ashamed to admit i haven't had the time to give firefly or serenity a chance so all my girls would be from angel and/or buffy
i love fred, anya of course, no one cracks me up like her,buffy duh, and willow
What the Jesus?
Faith and Inara!
You can't even call it a list if it doesn't include Faith! And Inara was the best thing about that show. Ah, I love her. Don't get me started on what they did to her character in Serenity. I've never been made so angry by a movie in my life. She's a hooker, did you know that? Yeah.
Also, Fred: hate hate hate!
I think Joss picked his
I think Joss picked his favorite characters more in terms of writing and his experience with creating them. The women he chose are very different from one another and I think they each had a lot of significance to him personally, and I have to say that I really don't think Willow deserves to get that spot on the list as much as Buffy does (considering the fact that he only chose one character from each project).
Anyways - top five Whedon women?
1. Buffy
2. Cordy
3. River
4. Faith
5. Illyria
I don't even like Willow
I don't even like Willow (blasphemy!) and I'd have put Willow on the list. Then again, I'm not Joss Whedon so I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
My top five: Faith, Kaylee, Fred, Cordelia, and Zoe. Runner up to Call from Alien: Resurrection, even though I don't know how much the final product differed from Joss' original creation. Oh, and Lilah. I love Lilah.
my list
Illyria! Vamp Willow
THE list
1. Buffy
2. River
3. Fray
4. Kitty Pride (can I count his version of her in Astonishing as his creation?)
5. Fred
I still have one from every show/cast. Faith doesn't belong on this top 5, sorry fellow lesbians. I've watched the whole series maybe 25 times through and Faith gets less and less fascinating through each re-watching. When I was 12 and watching it for the first time she was hot shit and I was so into her, but I grew out of that. Eliza is pretty but Leighton Meester is like her younger more attractive sister. Also SMG is a much better actress. Willow would probably be number 6 if the list went beyond 5. Then Zoe/Kaylee. I'm not the biggest fan of Dandelion, I like the robot who wears jeans better, he is awesome.
Joss's list is probably a bit more about promoting his current projects than expressing his truest opinion, so no need to get one's knickers in a twist.
My top five Whedon Women
My top five Whedon Women are:
(1) Willow Rosenberg
(2) Fred Burkle
(3) River Tan
(4) Buffy Summers
(5) Melaka Fray
But I can understand where Joss is coming from. He selected one woman per show, and though he's always admitted that Willow was his favorite Buffy character, in terms of kick ass, you got to go with Buffy. She's the center of the universe that created some fantastic female roles, including Willow, Faith, Tara, Cordelia, and more.
River Tan, you've got to love River. Kaylie and Inara are both great as well, but River rocks.
Fred Burkle—can I just say how much I love Fred. So wonderful. God, even though Amy Acker remained on the show and I grew to really enjoy Illyria, I still missed and mourned the loss of Fred.
I would have to say...
1. Willow (sweet, powerful, goofy, nerdy)
2. River (eccentric, psychic, talented, physical)
3. Zoe (confident, strong, loyal, compassionate)
4. Lilah (ambitious, assertive, clever, acerbic)
5. Gwen Raiden (unique, driven, stealthy, sexy-as-hell)
-edited to add: How could I forget Drusilla? She would be my number 2!
Zoe!
Yes yes yes!
really can't fault joss here
as it is his list of favorites. And we haven't really been given a list of criteria that he used to choose them. I'm sure, as one poster said, that he chose according to writing experience, maybe actor experience, creative process, mixed in with kick-ass-ness. I don't know much of Sugarshock, but Buffy, River, and Fred are obvious choices. I love all of them for different reasons.
The list is five favorite female creations, not characters. So even if Echo is a blank-slate, she still counts. In fact, you could say she's a thousand and one characters.
I love almost all of the women on his shows, and I'd be hard pressed to find a list of just five to love over all the others. However, I will say Buffy, Darla, Dawn, Drusilla, Faith, Fred, Inara, Lilah, Kaylee, River, and Willow are all.. awesome. I can also understand why Joss didn't pick Tara (supporting supporting role and all).
The bottom line is I love Joss. Hollah.
Full Disclosure
I have to put myself in the Faith corner. I loved pretty much everything about BtVS, but Faith actually raised my blood pressure. When she turned bad I was sooo afraid they'd kill her, but nothing's that easy in the Whedonverse.
Another fave I have who supercedes Buffy: Anya. She was so literal that it was refreshing. Not vain like Cordelia, but still saying exactly what she was thinking. I actually employed this method, consciously, when Caty and I started dating. I figured, I've got this string of failed relationships trailing behind me like Marley's chains and I need to just be as upfront and painful as possible. So, I disclosed every horrid fact in my life right away.
Creation vs. Character
The word creation vs. character makes the list very open for interpretation. My favorite character list would be very different than my favorite creations. Its not like I had the thrill of creating them in the first place anyways. I just have to enjoy his work. My creation list of 6 would look something like this...
Buffy
Faith
Anya
River
Kaylee
(Evil/Vamp) Willow
Willow was just not a fascinating creation to me without the alternate personalities. She is not an obvious one for me.
ETA:
As I think of them as creations I am hard pressed not to include Dru. She was intriguing, bat shit crazy, but fascinating none the less.
Dru
But where are Anya and Cordelia?
Gotta be Kaylee!
She's just awesome! I mean, everybody in 'Firefly' is, but she's so cute... And I'm rambling! But my list would've been:
1. Kaylee
2. Willow
3. Inara
4. Buffy
5. River
Anya
Whedon Women
Yeah, I think this list is sort of "set-up". It includes his "now" projects and one character from each of this major works. By my sig-line, I think it's obvious I have a lesbian-crush on Joss Whedon (yeah, my friends think it's weird too) and I think it's great that he even got a list in the LA Times.
I think my Top 5 would go something like:
1. Willow
2. Zoe
3. Faith
4. Buffy
5. Fred
Although it's really really really hard for me to give up Anya, Kaylee, Cordelia, Tara, and some of the baddies like Drusilla. And I really think River could have become an incredible Whedon Woman had the series been allowed to continue. And Inara... I love that Joss tackeled the legal prositution debate. And I'm sure Echo will be added to the list because she sounds amazing... but it's hard for me to wrap my head around her being on the actual Whedon list when, because of the writer's strike, he's not supposed to be writing anything for shows. So I can't imagine she's all that developed yet...
But since it's Joss I believe she will be amazing.
Interviewer: "Why do you write these strong female characters?"
Joss Whedon: "Because you're still asking me that question." - Equality Now speech
If I'm borrowing your icon, I'd be happy to give you credit, just let me know :)
I LOVE FREDDD<33333 but
I LOVE FREDDD<33333
but poor dawn...no one seems to like her =( and i have to agree with most of these people...i'd pick willow or faith over buffy any day.
No one compares to the Buffy ladies
1) Willow cause she's the bomb. She's pretty, smart, funny, need I go on?
2) Tara, just cause she's Tara, lol.
3) Faith is a hot badass whom I am totally in love with.
4) Anya was so goofy and straightforward, it's hard not to love her.
5) Drusilla, because she's so seductive and crazy. Mostly because of the seductive part.
Sorry but I
have to disagree with Joss on his own list. In order these are my favorite girls that Joss gave to us:
1. Buffy Summers (SMG is all I need to say)
2. Faith (another no brainer)
3. Cordelia
4. Anya (bunnies, it must be bunnies)
5. Fred
Zoe!! and Anya
My top five:
Zoe
Anya
Kaylee
River
Drusilla
The list
There are a few faces I would have liked to see on that list that werent there although it was good to see Eliza Dusku there even if it wasn't for her roll as faith.
If it were up to me (unfortunatley it isnt) the list would have looked more like this
1. Tara - Ok, I'm biased on this one
2. Faith - She has the internal fight between good and evil which makes for a good character, Plus she is really Hot!
3. Lilah - What can I say I like evil hot chicks
4. Fred/Kaylee - They are just so cute and innocent
5. Glory - Again evil, hot!
ok...i understand all of
ok...i understand all of your choices (except for cordy, i just...really dont like her ^^) but why does nobody mention satsu???
Satsu, the slayer who is only introduced in the comic books of buffy, the ongoing season 8?! So, here is my list:
1. Faith (of course...)
2. Tara/Willow (who could ever deny this cuteness?)
3. Satsu (though only seen in the comics...love her already)
4. River/Kaylee (can't decide)
5. Anya (just so very funny...)