Whedonesque : Comments on 16529 : Ark. academic conference examines Joss' works.

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June 06 2008

Ark. academic conference examines Joss' works. Another academic look at Buffy, Firefly and other Joss works.

CNN has a piece based on the same wire story. Thanks, thiscloud.

A couple of good quotes from the article:

"It has staying power," Durand said. "It's like I tell my students in philosophy a lot of times: We're not so much about necessarily finding all the answers as wanting to ask better questions. `Buffy,' I think, does that. `Buffy' never really leaves you with nice, pat answers. You have even more questions than when you started."

and

Durand said more than 90 academic papers will be discussed at the conference. He expects about 150 people to attend and discuss the vampire slayer and Whedon's other works, including the television series "Firefly" and "Angel." Another point of discussion will be a lesser-known part of Whedon's work — his screenplay for the hit animated film "Toy Story."

[ edited by zeitgeist on 2008-06-06 17:26 ]

dcubed | BtVS | 18:44 CET | 18 comments total | tags: buffy, firefly

"Campy"? Okay, you lost me right at the start there, Mr. Article.

TBalena | June 06, 19:05 CET

Hmm, 150 people and 90 presentations means a fairly small audience beyong those who have had papers accepted. I hope these are gathered up or otherwise made available, though. Special slayage issue, perhaps?

Dana5140 | June 06, 19:09 CET

While it wasn't this exact link, there was news of this posted fairly recently.

zeitgeist | June 06, 19:14 CET

I was going to post about this article as it appeared on cnn.com before I saw it was the same AP article as the one this post links to.

Even now, I'm still really tempted to post about the CNN "version" of the article, if only for the great pic/caption on it (I decided to err on the side of non-redundancy). Go check it out!

thiscloud | June 06, 19:59 CET

Added your link to this post.

zeitgeist | June 06, 20:11 CET

The articles are identical, not embellished by the hosting news organization like sometimes happens, so it doesn't really add anything except the different photograph, but thanks for including it anyway, zeitgeist.

(I was and am still unsure if CNN wrote the caption to be intentionally humourous.)

thiscloud | June 06, 20:54 CET

I think they actually lifted the caption as I've seen that pic with that caption before. Here's another variation on this story.

zeitgeist | June 06, 21:15 CET

The article is being linked all over. I just opened my moviefone page and there it was! That's kind of newsworthy isn't it?

ruthless1 | June 06, 21:53 CET

You're right. It's getting a lot of coverage. There's an EW item about it which has some lovely comments.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/06/buffy-angel-fir.html

[ edited by zeitgeist -fixed your link :)- on 2008-06-11 21:54 ]

Simon | June 07, 01:59 CET

It has the professor named Kevin Durand in the imbd story. There's a link on Durands name. The dude who played Joshua on Dark Angel! Could it be the same guy?

AngelDiva | June 07, 08:48 CET

Wow, this story has reached the point where I can call it ubiquitous. It's on many local area news sites, as well as the biggies like CNN. Yay, AP, I suppose.

I'm hoping that my parents will finally catch it on one of the news sites they browse, so that they can realize that my thesis--which is on BtVS--is actually legitimate and academic.

BandofBuggered | June 07, 09:21 CET

Not the same Kevin Durand. The SC3 Kevin is a philosophy professor at Henderson State University.

Lucciola | June 07, 18:54 CET

BofB Could happen. My mother just brought me newspaper clipping about this today. And mailed a copy of it to my brother. ("It's a conference about that show you guys are always talking about.")

jcs | June 08, 07:47 CET

Having a wonderful time here in Arkansas! Wish you all were here, if only for Rhonda Wilcox's Buffy episode workshop on "Restless"--even if you've seen it many times, you realize that "you think you know...you've only just begun"!

Kudos to Kevin Durand & HSU folk for efficient organizing.

Looking forward to Jeanine Basinger's keynote address this morning!

Maeve | June 08, 16:11 CET

Wait, so there's another 'esquer here somewhere? I've had a wonderful time talking with Suzie and Dale Koontz (whose screen name totally escapes me at this moment, sorry), but I'd just decided that we were the only ones here. Come out and say hello Maeve.

And since i'm not really sure where or how to post my comments on the whole thing here on the black I'll just start a thread over on Dot Org when I get home Monday night. (After I watch the new BSG and get into heated debates with all the Baltar-bashers that is. One must have priorities, yes? ;)

[ edited by Haunt on 2008-06-08 13:51 ]

Haunt | June 08, 16:49 CET

Hey, Haunt, it was great meeting you and the Mrs. I just got home and need to watch BSG before I try out Dot Org. Salutations to Lucciola, too! The conference was great, especially the surprise visit by Joss in which he got drunk with us and talked until morning. (OK, maybe not, but I just wanted to see if anyone was still reading.)

Suzie | June 11, 05:03 CET

Hey, Suzie! Salutations back -- it was lovely meeting you at the conference. Joss was here?! :)

Lucciola | June 12, 00:42 CET

Lucciola, I missed meeting you. Tried to track down all the Whedonesquers, but y'all are unobtrusive as hell. Oh well, it was fantastic meeting you suzie. Check out my review of the conference over on Dot Org and tell me if I've forgotten anything.

Haunt | June 12, 01:21 CET

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