Oral Presentations - Session 2C: UC 330
THE WAYS OF JOSSISM: CHARACTERIZATION AND CATHARSIS IN THE WHEDONVERSE
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Casey Charles
Faculty Mentor’s Department
English
Abstract / Artist's Statement
For my Senior Honors Research Project, I studied the four original television shows that Joss Whedon wrote and produced in-depth. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first running from 1996-2003. Angel ran from 1999-2004. Firefly ran from 2002-2003. Dollhouse was most recent, running from 2009-2010. Not only did I research the effects archetypes have on characterization, I also looked at the way Whedon uses his characterizations to provide catharsis in emotionally dense plot lines. This research shows the similarities across his television shows. While there has been friction between two groups of Whedon devotees in the past, I believe by showing the similarities in the characters this friction may be assuaged. Along with Whedon’s original television episodes, Aristotle’s Poetics, Caroline Myss’s Sacred Contracts and Tami Cowden et al’s The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Masterpiece Archetypes were primarily used as research in this project.
Category
Humanities
THE WAYS OF JOSSISM: CHARACTERIZATION AND CATHARSIS IN THE WHEDONVERSE
UC 330
For my Senior Honors Research Project, I studied the four original television shows that Joss Whedon wrote and produced in-depth. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first running from 1996-2003. Angel ran from 1999-2004. Firefly ran from 2002-2003. Dollhouse was most recent, running from 2009-2010. Not only did I research the effects archetypes have on characterization, I also looked at the way Whedon uses his characterizations to provide catharsis in emotionally dense plot lines. This research shows the similarities across his television shows. While there has been friction between two groups of Whedon devotees in the past, I believe by showing the similarities in the characters this friction may be assuaged. Along with Whedon’s original television episodes, Aristotle’s Poetics, Caroline Myss’s Sacred Contracts and Tami Cowden et al’s The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Masterpiece Archetypes were primarily used as research in this project.