Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition: The Production of Genre in Buffy and Beyond

345 Pages·2019·2.165 MB·English

by  Kristopher Karl Woofter (editor), Lorna Jowett (editor)

KristopherKarlWoofterteachesontheAmericanGothic,horrorandthe
“Weird tradition” in literature, cinema and television at Dawson College,
Canada,andisAssociateEditorofSlayage:TheJournalofWhedonStudies.
HeisalsoEditorofMONSTRUM,theJournaloftheMontréalMonstrum
Society,andhispublicationsincludeworkonJossWhedoninSlayage:The
Journal of Whedon Studies and Reading Joss Whedon (2014), on 1940s
horrorinRecovering1940sHorrorCinema:TracesofaLostDecade(2014),
and on the intersection of the Gothic and documentary in the journal,
Textus: English Studies in Italy.
Lorna Jowett is Reader in Television Studies at the University of
Northampton, UK, where she teaches horror, science fiction, and
television, sometimes all at once. Her most recent book is Dancing With
theDoctor:DimensionsofGenderintheNewDoctorWhoUniverse(2017,
I.B.Tauris): she is also author of Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies
Primer for the Buffy Fan (2005), and co-author with Stacey Abbott of
TV Horror (2012, I.B.Tauris).
“Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition takes nothing for granted,
appealingtofansofboththecreatorandthegenre.Scholarlyyetaccessible,
it should be pop-culture required reading.”
– ElizabethL. Rambo, Associate Professor of
English at Campbell University, USA
“Thisbookwillfascinatehorrorscholarsandtelevisionscholarsalike.The
analyzes are text-specific yet thoughtfully grounded in the context of the
horror tradition. Thewriters are original and insightful.”
– Rhonda V. Wilcox, Professor of English
at Gordon State College, USA
“ThisbookisamajorcontributiontoWhedon’soutput,providingamuch
needed reassessment of his work and one that explores one of its central
mysteries. Often read as a self-conscious, revisionist figure who explores
andchallengesthegenre,thebooksubjectstheseclaimstocloserscrutiny.
Intheprocess,itprovidesarefreshingaccountofWhedonthatoffersafar
more complex understanding of his relationship to the horror genre.”
– Mark Jancovich,Professor of Film Studies at the
University of East Anglia, UK
JOSS
WHEDON VS.
THE HORROR
TRADITION
The Production of Genre in
Buffyand Beyond
Edited by
Kristopher Karl Woofter and
Lorna Jowett
Publishedin2019by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
London(cid:129)NewYork
www.ibtauris.com
CopyrightEditorialSelectionq2019KristopherKarlWoofterandLornaJowett
CopyrightIndividualChaptersq2019StaceyAbbott,CynthiaBurkhead,
BronwenCalvert,MarioDeGiglio-Bellemare,ClaytonDillard,ErinGiannini,
AnneGolden,KarenHerland,AlysaHornick,StephanieGraves,LornaJowett,
JerryD.MetzJr.,SelmaA.Purac,AlannaThain,K.BrennaWardell,
KristopherKarlWoofter
TherightofKristopherKarlWoofterandLornaJowetttobeidentifiedastheeditors
ofthisworkhasbeenassertedbytheeditorsinaccordancewiththeCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,
maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,
inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor
otherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
Everyattempthasbeenmadetogainpermissionfortheuseoftheimagesinthisbook.
Anyomissionswillberectifiedinfutureeditions.
Referencestowebsiteswerecorrectatthetimeofwriting.
InternationalLibraryoftheMovingImage49
ISBN: 9781788311021
eISBN:9781786725417
ePDF: 9781786735416
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
TypesetinMinionProbyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India
For GeorgeA. Romero (1940–2017) and
TobeHooper(1943–2017), horror superheroes

Contents
List of Illustrations x
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction WhedonStudies andtheGhostof
Horror 1
Kristopher Karl Woofter andLorna Jowett
Part I (Under)Groundwork:Horror Concepts and
Conventions in the Whedonverse
1 The Slasher Template: Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs.
John Carpenter’s Halloween 17
Clayton Dillard
2 The Sonic Horror of “Hush” 34
SelmaA. Purac
3 “The Body” That Will Not Sit Up: Shock, Stasis,
and the NegativeSpace of the Horror Genre 53
Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare
4 The Melancholy Musical: Horror and Avant-
Garde Strategiesin “Once More,with Feeling” 73
AnneGolden
5 Angel’s Dreams,Our Nightmares:Oneiric Horror
in Angel andBuffythe Vampire Slayer 92
Cynthia Burkhead
6 Dollhouse’s Terrible Places: Hauntings, Abjection,
and the Repressed 105
Bronwen Calvert
vii
Joss Whedon vs.the Horror Tradition
7 Inscription andSubversion: TheCabin in the
Woods and the Postmodern Horror Tradition 123
Stephanie Graves
Part II Mutant Enemies: TV Horror, Industry,
and Influence
8 “For All I Know, ItCould Be Hilarious or
It Could Suck”: Situating the Film Buffy the
Vampire Slayer (1992)in Period VampireComedy 143
JerryD. Metz Jr.
9 Monstrous PuppetMasters: Negotiating Violence
and Horror in the Whedon Tele-verse 163
StaceyAbbott
10 Forever Knight, Angel, and Supernatural:
A Genealogyof Television Horror/Crime Hybrids 181
ErinGiannini
Part III “It’sAboutPower”: Revisiting Whedon’s
“Revisionist” Horror
11 Whedon,Feminism,and the Possibility of
FeministHorror on Television 201
LornaJowett
12 Weird Whedon:Cosmic Dread and Sublime
Alterity in the Whedonverse 219
Kristopher Karl Woofter
13 “All the Betterto Know You”: Investigating the
HybridMonster and Allegories of Self/Other in
Buffy theVampire Slayer 243
K. BrennaWardell
14 Horror and the Last Frontier: Monstrous Borders
and Bodies in Firefly and Westworld 261
KarenHerland
viii
Contents
15 The Half-Lives of Horror: The Differential
Embodiments ofDollhouse 281
AlannaThain
Appendix I The Work of Joss Whedon andthe Horror
Tradition: ASelected Bibliography 298
Compiled by Alysa Hornick
Appendix II Foundational Works in Horror and
RelatedScholarship 308
About the Contributors 313
Index 317
ix