By Ashley Lister
“You're not friends.
You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll
fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver,
but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood -- blood
screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm
man enough to admit it.”
Spike, BTVS, Season 3
For those of you unfamiliar with Joss Whedon as a writer,
take the time to check out some of his work. He wrote the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS). He
wrote the TV series Angel. He wrote the
TV series Firefly (and the related
movie Serenity). He wrote the online
mini-series Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-long
Blog. He has screenplay credits for films as diverse as Toy Story, Alien Resurrection, Avengers
Assemble, The Cabin in the Woods
and the forthcoming screen adaptation of Much
Ado About Nothing starring Nathan Fillion, Ashley Johnson and Amy Acker.
Whedon is a master of dialogue. He’s a master of strong
characterisation. He’s a master of the complex plot. And he refuses to be bound
by genre. I could wax lyrical for hours on what I like and love about Whedon and
his writing. However, my favourite thing about his work is that he refuses to remain
confined by a single form. He writes TV series, comics, films and musicals. And,
with masterful skill, he blends genres and tests the limits of every form with
which he works.
There was an episode of Buffy
done with almost no dialogue. There was an episode of Buffy performed as a musical. Firefly
(and later the film Serenity) blended
western and science fiction, almost steampunk in construction and conception,
but with a level of realism that made the fantasy enormously powerful. Dr Horrible combined a comic book style
superhero and an unforgettable antihero with strongly written musical songs and
erudite comedy. Dr Horrible was presented
exclusively through the internet as a very successful mini-series.
Whedon was the man who wrote with profound simplicity: “The hardest thing to do in this world is
live in it.”
Perhaps Whedon’s work is not commonly perceived as highbrow
or intellectual writing. But it’s writing that’s moved me to the most delicious
extremes of laughter and it’s writing that has oftentimes left me sobbing in
empathy for the fate of his affable and relatable characters. And if a writer
can manage that much then, in my opinion, they’ve succeeded at their craft.
These final words comes from the episode I quoted at the
start of this blog post. This is Spike’s realisation of his own way to achieve
true love. And it’s typical of Whedon’s quirky, honest and whimsical writing style.
“I've been all
wrongheaded about this - weeping, crawling, blaming everybody else. I want Dru
back, I've just got to be the man I was. The man she loved. I'm going to do
what I should have done in the first place. I'll find her, wherever she is, tie
her up, torture her until she likes me again. Love's a funny thing.”
Spike, BTVS, Season 3