A review by robertcollins
Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them by Jackie Kessler, Laurel Brown, Jeanne C. Stein, Catherynne M. Valente, Heather Shaw, Elizabeth Bear, Kelly Hale, Mariah Huehner, Racheline Maltese, Nancy Holder, Jody Wurl, NancyKay Shapiro, Sharon Shinn, Seanan McGuire, Jaala Robinson, Priscilla Spencer, Jamie Craig, Sigrid Ellis, Lyda Morehouse, Dae S. Low, Deborah Stanish, Sarah Monette, Maria Lima, Caroline Symcox, Lynne M. Thomas, Teresa Jusino, Emma Bull, Meredith McGrath, Jenn Reese
3.0
One of my favorite pieces in the book is an appreciation of Firefly's Kaylee. It points out that though Kaylee is smart and a good engineer, she's also a young woman who likes to feel attractive and is deeply in love. This is an important point: female characters are often forced to be either smart or girly, rarely both. It's something I'm going to keep in mind as I write more about Lisa Herbert and her adventures.
The downside of this book is that it's not so much "warts and all" as CDTL. There wasn't that much criticism of the series or of fandom. I think both of these are due to the fact that Whedon's works only go back to the mid-to-late 1990s. Standards are higher for genre TV, and fandom has become more diverse. I would be curious to revisit this subject in another ten years.
That said, this is a good book to buy if you have any interest in Whedon's work.
The downside of this book is that it's not so much "warts and all" as CDTL. There wasn't that much criticism of the series or of fandom. I think both of these are due to the fact that Whedon's works only go back to the mid-to-late 1990s. Standards are higher for genre TV, and fandom has become more diverse. I would be curious to revisit this subject in another ten years.
That said, this is a good book to buy if you have any interest in Whedon's work.