Is Joss whedon racist towards the English?

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Faith/willowfan

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Did anyone else notice that three out of two of the main characters who where potentials died, and they only didnt kill kennedy cos she was willows b*****. also on the program comments are often made to giles about his nationality, mainly from xander!!!
 
I don't think it's an issue of being racist, especially in terms of Giles. When Xander makes fun of Giles it's often an joke against American stereotypes. Furthermore the English have a fantastic ability to be able to laugh at themselves and understand jokes about them, which some cultures do not have (FYI my background is English and Welsh). It's the same way that Canadians are often made fun of, but most of us don't mind and just laugh it off. In some cases it is a form of racism, through stereotyping. But I don't think that it's so in this case, rather I think Joss likes the English given the number of characters of that descent in the story lines.
 
I agree with Beer Nut - I think Joss is an anglophile. I believe he spent a quite bit of time in these here sceptred isles and came to love us as a result...what's not to love🙂
 
I'd say Joss loves the English. Three of the biggest heroes from the series, Giles, Wes and Spike are English, and if you include all of Great Britain, you can toss in Angel as well.
 
Oh please! If you think Joss is racist towards English do you really think he'd let English people work on his show!? Giles...Wesley...the potentials...the Watchers Council!
 
WatcherWes,
There may be a few people who live in the Irish Republic who may be upset at the thought of living in Great Britain 🙂 (even with DB's terrible accent he is definitely Irish 🙂) Did you mean the British Isles?
Sorry to be Mr Pedantic Pointy on you but I know that some Irish folks and some British folks from Northern Ireland can get quite heated on the subject - and we wouldn't want that 🙂
 
If the show was racist towards English people it woudn't be shown in England cos a lot of people would be offended by it.
 
He does use a lot of stereotypes for his English stereotypes, and frankly I was embarassed to be English when I heard Molly's accent. But I don't think he's racist, just could use some less steroeptypical English characters.
 
Kay said:
He does use a lot of stereotypes for his English stereotypes, and frankly I was embarassed to be English when I heard Molly's accent. But I don't think he's racist, just could use some less steroeptypical English characters.
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Actually, I thought he was quite subtle in his use of English characters rather than using stereotypes - although admittedly some of them seem to be stereotypical when we first meet them (I'm thinking the bookish Watchers Giles and Wyndham-Price here) but see how different their characters are when the dust settles...especially Wes. I don't think Joss can be blamed for Molly's English accent any more than for Liam/Angelus' appalling Irish accent😉 I think we need to look at the casting department there - but then David would never have been cast if it were a question of accents...
 
I think the French have a bigger cause for complaint than the British, especially considering some of the things that come flying out of Anya's mouth.

Remember when she called French people cheap, then someone asked her to turn a guy into a frog, and she made him French.

Oh and BTW Faith/Willowfan can you explain this to me,

Faith/willowfan said:
Did anyone else notice that three out of two of the main characters who where potentials died,
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It must be some kind of new math or something. I'm lost in it's diabolical complexity. Must be French. ::evil::
 
Faith/willowfan said:
Did anyone else notice that three out of two of the main characters who where potentials died, and they only didnt kill kennedy cos she was willows b*****. also on the program comments are often made to giles about his nationality, mainly from xander!!!
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::rolf::

Worst Post EVER!
 
nerd4hire said:
I think the French have a bigger cause for complaint than the British, especially considering some of the things that come flying out of Anya's mouth.
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Lol, this is where I come in 😉
(Not to argue, just to back you up with Anya quotes!)

From 'Tough Love' :
''ANYA: Capitalism. A free market dependant on the profitable exchange of goods for currency. A system of symbiotic beauty apparently lost on these old people. Look at 'em. Perusing the shelves, undressing the merchandise with their eye-balls. All ogle, no cash. It's not just annoying, it's un-American.

GILES: Appalling. Almost as if they no longer think money can buy happiness.

ANYA: Totally un-American. Oh, and you know what else is un-American? French people.

WILLOW: You don't say.

ANYA: From what I hear they don't tip. And French old people, really the bottom of the barrel, you know.

XANDER: An, how's about we try being a bit less prejudiced and a bit more inclusive. Not *us*, just you.''

From 'Lessons' :
''ANYA: It was a glitch. A summer thing. I am so back in the vengeance fold.

HALFREK: No deaths. No eviscerations. You're not goading women into anything inventive, and you're not delivering when it is.

ANYA: I don't even know--

HALIFREK: Waitress downtown wished her husband was a frog? You made him French.

ANYA: Hmph, he's smelly and with a little mustache. She--''

And I didnt just find Anyaness French quotes...here are some others: (Not all are insulting, just anything I could find on the French)

From 'Get it Done' :
''DAWN: So, I took a look inside that emergency bag of Principal Wood's.

BUFFY: And?

DAWN: Smelled weird. Kinda like Grandma's closet, but worse.

BUFFY: I didn't know what was possible. Anything we could use?

DAWN: Trinkets, weapons, one very large textbook. Translation's gonna be a *****, but... Do you know that ancient Sumerians do not speak English?

BUFFY: They're worse than the French. Anything else?''

From 'Expecting' :
''ANGEL: All right, so...Why is Mrs. Bensen filed under 'F'?

CORDELIA: Because she's from France. - Remember what a pain she was?

ANGEL: Yeah. It made me want to drink a lot.

CORDELIA: Well, that's the French for you.''

From 'She' :
''ANGEL: On the left one spies the painter himself. In the middle distance is the French poet and critic Baudelaire, a friend of the artist. Now, Baudelaire...interesting fellow. In his poem 'Le Vampyre' he wrote: 'Thou who abruptly as a knife didst come into my heart.' He, ah, strongly believed that evil forces surrounded mankind. And some even speculated that the poem was about a real vampire. (He laughs) Oh and, ah, Baudelaire's actually a little taller and a *lot* drunker than he's depicted here.''

From 'The Trial'
''DARLA: I think they do. Which would explain the lynch mob. Look, we should all rest. It'll be dawn in a few hours and she won't last another mile, not carrying us both.

ANGELUS: Right. I hate the French. We should go some place like Romania.

DARLA: In Italy you said we should go some place like France.

ANGELUS: At least in Romania they really know how to treat a creature of the night.''
 
It depends how you take it, I mean for one Buffy's "They're worse than the French" was sarcasm as everyone *****es about the french. Angel talking about Baudelaire, so what if he allegedly drinks, its not racist. And Angelus hated the French as they were chasing him, kinda makes sense.

Its just people being nitpicky. You could also say theres as many bashings of the Americans.
 
With the first Anya quote. If Joss was racist to the French, Xander wouldn't have told Anya to stop saying that.

On thing you have remember with a Whedon show you can turn any comment into a comment to support your claim. You might as well said that Whedon was racist to chicken.
 
Joss is not racist towards the english, just because he kills off 2 charecters who he made english doesnt mean anything. He has even gone to an English school. And like others have said if he were then he probably wouldnt have 3 english charecters on the show who all were very important.

Next someone will say Joss is racist towards women just because he let some of them be killed on his show even though females have a strong part to play in the show. Or that Joss is racist towards black people because he has killed black vampires on the show..even though he has had important african american charecters.

Really just because he kills someone off doesnt mean that he's suddenly racist. He has a show to run and he focuses on certain charecters. He killed off Molly only because none of us expected it and people liked her, same with Amanda. It was done to surprise us instead of just letting every single person live.
 
Racist? You've got to be kidding. Ok he supposedly killed 2 british potentials...that isn't evidence the he's "racist",and btw who cared about any of the potentials anyway! Some of the most loved characters on the show are British, and they get some of the most memorable and funniest lines from the shows. That shows OBVIOUSLY that Joss is NOT a racist. And about the Giles comment, Giles gives it right back to the scoobies if they make fun of him. There are also plenty of jokes about Americans in the show. Is anyone calling Joss a racist for that? No, I didn't think so. And if Joss was such a racist, why are soooo many of the fans and half the people from the BB British? Jeez people will use anything to accuse someone of something, and it's not right. Ok there's my vent on this ridiculous thread.
 
Ayumi said:
On thing you have remember with a Whedon show you can turn any comment into a comment to support your claim. You might as well said that Whedon was racist to chicken.
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Chickens no, but if I was a rabbit I'd be standing outside the WB waving an "UNFAIR TO BUNNIES!" placard.
 
nerd4hire said:
Chickens no, but if I was a rabbit I'd be standing outside the WB waving an "UNFAIR TO BUNNIES!" placard.
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Yeah that is right. We must start that group.
 
Spike actually American

hi,

this may have nothing to do with this thread, but technically, Spike is not British. or at least the actor is not. and he's like Giles age almost. 😉
 
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