An open letter to Joss Whedon regarding Angel - Do you agree with what's said?

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An open letter to Joss Whedon regarding Angel - Do you agree with what's said?

Columnist Hank Green couldn't imagine there was more than one Joss in the public eye. Disappointed at not finding an open letter to Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he drafted one.


Dear Joss Whedon,

You are very good.

Not only did you bind my soul with a story of nerdy yet surprisingly attractive high school students overcoming insurmountable odds to become a band of vampire-slaying and world-saving misfits, you wrote it to an audience of us. Us being nerdy high school students with a strong internal desire for a tangible reason to live.

You ended Buffy with flair and simplicity. The lives were going in all the right places, the final scene was touching, brief and thought-provoking, and the lives that were ended were beautiful and perfect. We were done with high school, for a couple years by then, had enjoyed going to college with Willow and Xander, but it was time for the epic battle to be won.

The reason I am writing, however, is that you created Angel. A spinoff, and by all rights, one aimed at angsty twenty-somethings who had a strong internal desire for a tangible reason to live. In our twenties, Joss, is when we should be finding our own reason to live.

But what happened is that you provided us another band of our peers (and a 200-something-year-old vampire) who lived for undeniable truths. Helping the helpless, saving individual lives, destroying evil no matter what form it took. That's what Angel Investigations did, and that is where tens of thousands of fans found meaning in their lives. Now, 5 years later, we're out of college and in the workforce, just like Cordelia and Fred, or we're doing our best with only a high school education like Gun, and the Fight of Angel Investigations has become our fight. Our lives are largely without meaning but, in that City of Angels you created, there is something to fight for.

Did you know this? And what did you think when the WB came to you and said this would be your last season. Did you think "Finally all those twenty-somethings will be able to find their own meaning in life?" That's what I thought, pleased that I would be free from my last binding TV interest. Or did you think, "I bet tens of thousands of twenty-somethings across America will band together and fight for this show. They will fight because they finally have something to fight for. They will fight because without Angel their lives lose the vicarious and fleeting meaning the show gives to them. They will fight to the tune of raising over $17,000 that should, by all rights, be going to John Kerry's campaign"?

Well they are fighting, and SavingAngel.org did raise over $17,000 dollars for print and billboard advertisements shouting "We will follow Angel to Hell...or another network!"

I don't know why the WB would renew Angel for my sake. I certainly still watch the show, and
though you've just killed off the only female character (aside from the obedient pit bull in a valley girl's body; Harmony)
, and all of the male characters are annoyingly broody and relatively unattractive, I am still enjoying the plot twists, and moral messages, not to mention the "good fight" against "evil doers." But I haven't watched the WB in over a year. I don't have a television, so I download Angel every week from supernova.org, and, to save bandwidth and time, they cut the commercials out. The WB doesn't make any money off me, so why should I be disappointed they're pulling the show?

What I'm disappointed about is you forcing a fantasy world onto lonely intelligent high school and college graduates who had full lives ahead of them. Buffy was gone and maybe, just maybe, we could have found lives of our own. But you took our good years, the years where we lose our self consciousness and do our best to break free of the useless American Dream. Many of us are stuck now, and with slogans like "Angel has been saving the world for years, now he needs your help" the lost are reaching out for the crutch you've provided for them and that has now been yanked away.

They don't need it, and the only way I will be pleased with you as an individual (I will always respect the plotlines and fantastic writing of both series) is if, at the shows end, you give the lonely confused Angel fans of the world something real to care about. You need to show them one or a thousand things in the real world that are worth fighting for, and then I will respect you and we can be friends again.

Love,

Hank


Source:Knot Magazine
 
Whoa...I'm speechless...I don't even...whoa. Are we really lonely,confused Angel fans looking for a crutch in life?...Hmmm...*goes off to ponder the meaning of life*
 
So...this letter is basically this guy saying the Joss has given up on the show? That's what I got out of it. If this is true, he is kinda , sorta, but not really right. Joss didn't give up on us per say, but he should be doing more to get this show saved. I love Joss...Joss is god to me don't get me wrong.
 
That's...well, it's kind of offensive and kind of insightful. Probably more towards insightful, actually. I'm the last person to claim to have any kind of purpose in life, and a lot of what I love about "Angel" is that it presents people whose lives have actual meaning. So that instead of trying to find meaning in real things, I can sit around and watch reruns on my DVD player. Obviously that isn't true of everyone who watches "Angel," but it probably hits close to home for many of us. I don't want to see the show cancelled, but as much as I love it, I was a little perturbed with the fact that $17,000 was raised in what, like a few weeks? There are so many real things that could be helped with that money. The blood drive thing is a wonderful idea because hey, helping people and helping show. But the fundraising bit did throw me, I guess. Not to be the big naysayer, I haven't got any right to be. But I don't think this guy is too far off the mark. If Joss & Co. can find a way to end this series well and tie up a lot of the loose ends 🙂:cough:: CONNOR) by the end of this season...I dunno. I would be terribly sad, but maybe...well. I don't know. I think I might just be sad. Which is I guess the point.
 
I'm sorry, but I sort of happen to completly agree with the guy. Well, maybe not completly but nearly...

If and only if, they can tie up the loose ends they can end it, but I don't think they can.. so this means, that they have to return with a spin-off.
 
Magui said:
What I'm disappointed about is you forcing a fantasy world onto lonely intelligent high school and college graduates who had full lives ahead of them. Buffy was gone and maybe, just maybe, we could have found lives of our own. But you took our good years, the years where we lose our self consciousness and do our best to break free of the useless American Dream. Many of us are stuck now, and with slogans like "Angel has been saving the world for years, now he needs your help" the lost are reaching out for the crutch you've provided for them and that has now been yanked away.
Click to expand...

I feel what is most wrong with this open letter is the apparent lack of accountability. The whole "it isn't your fault that you have made this show into your crutch, it's the fault of the person(s) who made the crutch" attitude is quite ridiculous. It's almost as if he is likening Buffy/Angel to a hard drug, and Joss as it's pusher.

We make our own choices in life. We decide for ourselves whether or not to take drugs, drink alchohol, or take wonderfully crafted TV programs and mold them into something that they were never meant to be. Drugs primary purpose is to adict the user. The side-effect of the drug is the pleasure that comes from them. Buffy, and Angel weren't designed with the purpose of addicting the viewers into watching. They were designed to give people well-crafted intelligent entertainment.

It's just natural however that in the land of drab predictably boring TV, people would be gravitated to something so well-made. Still...these shows were never pushed onto me, or anyone else. We all make our own decisions in life, and one of them was to get wrapped up in the wonderfully crafted world of Buffy/Angel.

That being said I want Angel to continue on. Not because it is my crutch, or my drug, but because there is no other TV program that is on the level of Angel. When Angel goes off the air(hopefully not at the end of this season), I will accept it's end the way I accepted Buffy's end. I will cherish the great story that was handed to me, and everyone else, and continue enjoying it through reruns, books, movies(hopefully), and discussing it all with Buffy-boards members.
 
Fancier talkin' but I think that was William Shatner's "get a life" speech from Saturday Night Live. Only not so funny.
 
Mr_Gordo said:
I feel what is most wrong with this open letter is the apparent lack of accountability. The whole "it isn't your fault that you have made this show into your crutch, it's the fault of the person(s) who made the crutch" attitude is quite ridiculous. It's almost as if he is likening Buffy/Angel to a hard drug, and Joss as it's pusher.

We make our own choices in life. We decide for ourselves whether or not to take drugs, drink alchohol, or take wonderfully crafted TV programs and mold them into something that they were never meant to be. Drugs primary purpose is to adict the user. The side-effect of the drug is the pleasure that comes from them. Buffy, and Angel weren't designed with the purpose of addicting the viewers into watching. They were designed to give people well-crafted intelligent entertainment.

It's just natural however that in the land of drab predictably boring TV, people would be gravitated to something so well-made. Still...these shows were never pushed onto me, or anyone else. We all make our own decisions in life, and one of them was to get wrapped up in the wonderfully crafted world of Buffy/Angel.

That being said I want Angel to continue on. Not because it is my crutch, or my drug, but because there is no other TV program that is on the level of Angel. When Angel goes off the air(hopefully not at the end of this season), I will accept it's end the way I accepted Buffy's end. I will cherish the great story that was handed to me, and everyone else, and continue enjoying it through reruns, books, movies(hopefully), and discussing it all with Buffy-boards members.
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I agree with Mr_Gordo. It was our choice to become so involved with the show. Not Joss's fault.
 
Well... I didn't like that letter. It wasn't Joss's fault that millions/billions of teenagers and above is hooked on Angel. He and his team of writings are just grand. That letter is wrong.
 
Yea, I'm obessed and I love the show, I'm sad it's ending, but my crutch in life? What was that guy thinking when he wrote that? It's not only rudely piling all Angel fans into one stereotypical group of people we definitly ARE NOT, it's being rude to Joss when his show is ending. We watch Angel because it is a great hour of televison. Wow, that letter just made me very....angry....
 
Well, I have to disagree that it wasn't meant to be addicting...that was Joss's job...as any writer/creators job...to make a show that captivates people...addicts them...but I do agree that it's not his fault that any of this is happening or that the more insanely obsessed fans are going all suicidal about the end of it...like me...lol. Nah, It'd be nice if he gave us something else...but it's doubtfull.
 
Rayne said:
Well, I have to disagree that it wasn't meant to be addicting...that was Joss's job...as any writer/creators job...to make a show that captivates people...addicts them...but I do agree that it's not his fault that any of this is happening or that the more insanely obsessed fans are going all suicidal about the end of it...like me...lol. Nah, It'd be nice if he gave us something else...but it's doubtfull.
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Oh the show is very addictive. I agree with you on that point. It's just the idea that Joss "addicted" the viewers that I find is stoopid. Joss put out a great product, and people of their own free will decided to get hooked. It's all about accountability. I start drinking a bottle of wild turkey every day and that would be considered an addiction. It's not the wild turkey's fault that I crave that nasty-ass stuff. It's mine for taking it on a daily basis. On that note, I'm gonna go get snockered....
 
This is the biggest bunch of malarchy I've ever read in quite a while. According to this doofus, all Angel fans are such pathetic, simple-minded individuals that they don't know the difference between fantasy and reality. I suppose Mr. Hank Green also believes that violence in the media is responsible for all violent crime, or that video games contribute to the lack of literacy in our school children.

Oh well. Two can play it this game...


Dear Mr. Hank Green,

First of all, I ,as a fan of Angel, find it a wonderful, entertaining show. At the end of the day, after I get home from a tiring day of work, I like to watch it and relax, forgetting my everyday problems for a short hour in the evening. I am disappointed and angered that the WB would cancel it, when there is no LOGICAL reason for doing so. But I will live. And if I wish to sign an online petition, or spend my money and time trying to save the show that I love, then that is my RIGHT. It's my time, and my money, so I should be able to do whatever I wish with it. You, Mr. Green, can spend your time doing "more important, real-world" stuff, or invest your own money into the Kerry campaign; that is your right.

What sickens me is when elitist snobs like you hop on your soap box and tell other people how to spend theirs. You say we Angel fans have meaningless lives? Well, what about you, scumwad? What type of parasite gets a kick out of insulting an entire group of people for liking a tv show? Excuse us for not caring about the important issues that you care about.

I bet you feel just grand telling a great artist like Joss Whedon how to do his job, don't you? Ah, the wonders of the printed word. I'm glad that such a self-important, know-it-all twit such as yourself, who has never done anything creative in his sad, pathetic, miserable life, (of any note, anyway) can find the outlet to let other people know the sheer emptyness of his argument as well as the worthlessness of his opinion. Go download some more tv shows, you simpering idiot.

As for me, I'm going to donate some of my hard-earned money to the Bush campaign. Like you said, we bored and lonely types who had full lives have to find interest in real world affairs, right? :: tu ::

(Ok, I was just kidding on that last part. Although I am annoyed at Hank "I betta dan yu" Green, I'm still not going to screw my country over because of it. So... anyone know what the address is to Nader's donation site?)
 
This guy is an idiot. All Joss did was have an idea for a TV show. It was a very good idea he had lots of stories to tell and he told them. Its no different then a author of a book or a series like Lord of the Rings. Joss didnt come to your house and say "WATCH THIS OR ELSE...........". He told his story, you liked his story, you got involved with his story and became addicted. The fact that you got addicted is your fault not his. If you think your addiction is wrong then grow a backbone get help and walk away from it.

One statement he makes sums his attitude up perfectly for me...

They will fight to the tune of raising over $17,000 that should, by all rights, be going to John Kerry's campaign"?
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This guy is obviously as far on the democratic side as you can get. Its a fairly established "fact" that extremist democrats *though in there defence extremist repulicans are just as bad* are famous for there "Its not our fault, they did it not us." mentality. He cant take resposibility for his own lack of willpower so he blames it on Joss.

Im a fan of Angel, hell I'll go so far to admit that im addicted to the series. But that isnt Joss's fault. If anything its ever other show producers fault. Angel is the only show on TV I watch. It IS the best written, directed, and even best job done by actors show on TV. Its the fact that it is the ONLY *I stress only* well done show on TV at this time that makes it addicting. So your mad at someone for doing their job right?

Only thing I have to say to you Hank is GET A LIFE. Which I guess your blaming your lack of one on Joss though arent you? OMG a show takes 45 minutes *since you download it with no comercial's* of each week out of your life. Curse you Joss for providing such entertainment that it ruins the other 10035 *(24x60x7)-45* minutes of your week.
 
Hi, It's Hank

A surprising number of you (compared to other bulliten boards) thought I was not a pyscho looney loser or a snob. But there are still those of you that do, and so I'm just going to try and defend myself on a couple counts.

I'm not worried that Angel fans dont have lives, I'm worried that those lives could be better. There is something dreary and unfortunate about the dreams we have. The American Dream of settling down, paying off a mortgage and dying no longer sounds heavenly to us, and many of us dont know what to live for. But as long as we have diversions, drugs, alcohol, work, sex, religion, parties, and yes...mostly television, we can ignore our problems.

A lot of people, and I'm not saying you, do not know what they are living for. They see characters that know what they are living for and they find that captivating. It's one of many tricks writers use to capture their audience, and Joss and David and everyone else on the writing staff are very good at it. It's their job to addict you, so in that sense it is their 'fault' though they would not see it that way, as it is their intent.

It is a wonderful television show, but I know there is a segment of the population who would do well to go home and think about their problems every night instead of avoiding them. Maybe then, if they are in the right situation, and do not have responsibilities to bind them, they could find more fufilling paths. I'm sorry I lumped all angel fans into that one group, that was wrong.

Just so all of you know, knotmag, where this letter was originally published, is a wonderful magazine with writers far more excellent than I, and I hope you do not deride them because of my mistakes.
 
Everyone has problems, and we all deal(or choose not to deal)with them in our own ways. The solving of problems is up to the individual solely. People can choose not to deal in a variety of ways as you had listed, but you had left out the largest way that people choose not to deal. Blame someone else. You kill someone, it's the fault of society. You're very overweight, blame snack food manufacturers. Can't stop smoking, damn cigarette companies. The real fact of the matter is it is the fault of the individual. You are the murderer. You chose to eat crap food and not exercise. You chose to start smoking even though you know that they are chemically addictive, and terrible for you.

In my opinion it appears that you are confusing people's being able to identify with characters on a television program, with their addiction to that program. It is the goal of every writer to get their audience to identify with characters. It's not because they want to addict their viewers. It's because without identifiable characters it's impossible to get people to care about your characters and the story that you are telling. Every true artist just wants to share their art with the world. We can argue the motivation behind the artist for wanting to share their artwork till the cows come home, but it doesn't change the fact that addiction always boils down to the choice of the individual.

I don't think you're crazy or anything like that. My own personal opinion is that your view is misguided. But that doesn't make the point that you are trying to make any less valid. Again it's about choice. We choose to believe what we want, and discard what we don't. Both views are correct in that respect. Except in this case where I am right and you are clearly wrong. Sorry...had to lay in a Buffy quote....
 
I would like to apologize to Hank Green for my above post. When I first read what he wrote, I thought that its tone was insulting and derogatory towards all Angel fans. After rereading the article, I realize now that he was just stating his opinion and that no ill will was meant. As many of you can probably tell, I disagree with many of his opinions; but this didn't give me the right to outwardly insult him. Instead of flaming, I should have started a discussion as to why I disagreed with his views. I see now that it is me who is the simpering idiot.

Once again, I apologize to Mr. Green and all the other forum members who may have been offended by my words. I shall strive to be less emotional and much more tolerant of other people's views in the future.
 
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