Slayage5 Day Two

Yeah, so not writing it up right away due to extreme tiredness might make this post short due to shoddy memoriness. But I'll give it a go.

Started out the morning with Keynote #2, Jonathan Gray on Joss Whedon as Undead Author. Was interesting talk about studying an author who is still producing work and participating in the discussion of his work to the public, helping shape how it's seen in paratextual forums. And much more. But very complex discussion of a field about which I'm only slightly knowledgeable. Along with discussions of the changing textual identity, the author in the text and the audience appropriation of imagery across texts, I mainly got from it some of the challenges faced by academics and critics trying to pin down a moving target like this.

The morning panel I chose was the Characters. Ana Carolina Gutierrez did a paper on signs of clinical depression in Buffy season 6, bravely relating it to her own struggles in that area, pointing out how the show gave the audience some hope that there can be an end to the depths of depression and that anyone, no matter how strong, can be susceptible to mental health issues. She said some of the things I've tried to articulate about why season 6 is so important to me.

Next up was Jessica Ratcliffe on Placing Giles in BtVS, talking about how Giles' character is defined by where he spends the most of his time and by his costuming, emphasizing the visual aspect of character definition. She argued that he became less Other/foreign and more normalized/Americanized over the series even when he moved back to England.


And we ended with Xander as Seer of the Self, Provider of Clarity, and Purveyor of Acceptance: Human Agency in BtVS. This paper focused on the importance of Xander as Everyman with the power of his humanity even while in the midst of so much supernatural, world-saving power. 


Afternoon panels. Again, I had to miss Dollhouse stuff because it was up against Dr. Horrible and one Cabin paper that I really wanted to hear. Hopefully much more will be published on Dollhouse in the near future. Also, even though I never sought to go to the many fandom panels, from what I heard, they were all pretty great, so maybe I should have given more thought to them. In this case I missed Jen Stuller on Nerd Burlesque.

Kris Woofter spoke of Cabin in the Woods. He didn't think the film was a good commentary on the horror genre, that it spoke more to reality tv, and that it didn't have a lot of respect for its audience. He argued that horror audiences are generally pretty sophisticated with regard to the genre, and that that wasn't represented in the film. I think he was arguing that CiTW (and Dollhouse also) show a contempt for the idea of the watcher of a story, speaking to the parables these works contain of story/creator/fan dynamics. More that I didn't fully get, but should be interesting to read sometime.

Leigh A. Clemons did a paper on the Faustian Bargain in Dr. Horrible, just going through and highlighting some of the parallels with both Marlowe and Goethe's Faust and Dr. Horrible. It was an interesting paper and she has a theater background, which might speak to why her presentation was very witty and fun. Also brought up the question of whether Billy really wanted to rule the world or just wanted the girl, thinking ruling the world was the avenue to get the girl. We'll have to see where the character goes from here.

Jim Wilson spoke on parallels between Dr. Horrible and his namesake, Melville's Billy Budd. I never read that book, so I missed a lot of it, but I found it interesting how he highlighted Billy's naivete in regard to evil. He committed the sin of isolation and had the naivete that came from that. Also relevant in regard to internet persona of evil genius versus reality of the ELE.

Thank goodness the last presentations of the day were all together, no decisions to be made. First we heard from Alyson R. Buckman on viewer responses to Whedon works. An example of what I mentioned earlier, that the analysis of fandom at this conference was really well done. Followed well from Gray in the morning as well. Then Helene Frohard-Dourlent analyzed "Nobody's Asian in the Movies" from Commentary the Musical. It was a mixed bag, but ultimately seemed to absolve whites from feeling guilty about the racism it outlined by making it sound like that's just the way it is. But she went over it line by line and really had some good thoughts about its relation to real-world issues while not being harsh and accusatory. Hard line to walk.

Final speaker was Ananya Mukherjea on Mothering, Trust, and Hope in the Whedonverses. She talked on different displays of "mothering" and "fathering" in relation to Fray, Simon, Adelle and Boyd. It was really interesting. Talked about the privileging of the mothering aspect of family, interdependence driven by trust, as a way to a better future. Another one I want to read for the full impact.

I was going to try and drive somewhere for dinner, since we had a bit of time, but once I got halfway to the car without managing to even remember my keys, I decided I shouldn't be driving around someplace I've never been in that state. So I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and ate them in my room while watching an episode of Archer. Much safer and a nice breather.

At 7 was the screening of Dr. Horrible. It became a sing-a-long. Then we talked a bit about it, then watched it again with Commentary the Musical. Had fun sitting with Natstev and singing, but totally wiped out by the end. Can't remember much of the discussion. And phone was losing the battle with wifi so didn't tweet it. I think Samira did though. Long day. Good day.