Art and the Artist: Am I justified in maintaining my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer despite the ongoing revelations about Joss Whedon?

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    I wrote this long and inspired piece defending your right to hate the artist and not the art, but then my phone died and I lost it all. The moral was thus: talent is never given to the most deserving, it’s just given. (A lesson my daughter learned early from her more talented, but much lazier and apathetic older brother.) Be in awe of the talent. Separate it from its owner. Be in awe of the tenacity and hard work that made you aware of it. It’s there to be admired.

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      Oh dang I wish I’d read the whole piece!
      Thanks, Ally.

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        Joss Whedon is a genius. A friggin’ genius. You can’t deny that when you see any of his works. Geniuses, in my limited reading and experience, are only one step away from insanity in many instances and have many demons. They’re rarely “people pleasing,” socially acceptable, or very pleasant to be around, unless they are those charismatic sociopaths that end up charming people into their own deaths. Pleasant, huh?

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    I only fell in love with Buffy last year – I’ve barely had any time to love it, so I refuse to let hate cloud it now. I may not be able to finish Angel, though. I already knew Joss Whedon was a sadistic bastard, and while that’s made for some great TV, I don’t feel like watching him torture Charisma Carpenter.

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    I love almost every single thing Josh Weddon has done for tv: from Buffy to Angel, from Firefly to Dollhouse (as creepy as it was sometimes).
    It’s hard to learn so many geniuses are partially monsters, but… maybe that’s the reason they are geniuses. I can’t stop loving Polanski’s movies, Michael Jackson’s music or Picasso’s paintings. I try to look aside because art is art, but sometimes I find it difficult, so I take a break, and then I take a break from the break and let my heart love them again, maybe not for long, but enough to enjoy their art.
    I’ve been a Buffy fan for more than 30 years. I think I will be a fan for 30 years more.

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    Great post. It’s not just about art, many great works have been done by idiots. If one of them discovers an amazing and useful thing we could hardly ignore this new finding just because the inventor was a jerk. As long as the work itself doesn’t show the creator’s moral issues I’m fine still liking them.

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    @LT I understand what you feel. However, as the Beanies below have pointed out, you can still love/appreciate Whedon’s work without feeling that in doing so you are condoning his actions.

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    I watched Buffy, Angel and Firefly back in the day and Angel was actually my favorite until they destroyed Cordy in Season 4. There were rumblings back then about what a bastard JW was and after re-watching the shows over the years, I could see all the problematic elements I had missed the first time around. But there was genius there as well. I have a hard time separating my feelings about JW from his works, but I don’t think you or anyone else is wrong for maintaining your love of the art.

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    My plan is to continue to enjoy artistic endeavors that involve a group of people in spite of the presence of one insufferable pr**k. I do though tend to throw the whole thing out when there’s a rapist in the mix.

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    All the more poignant with the Ji Soo / bullying stuff going on… Will anyone be able to rewatch his dramas without wincing?

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