Sterba - J.J. Abrams vs. Joss Whedon

J. J. Abrams vs. Joss Whedon

Wendy Sterba

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sterba, Wendy.

Title: J. J. Abrams vs. Joss Whedon : duel for media master of the universe / Wendy Sterba.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016016800 (print) | LCCN 2016024157 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442269903 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442269910 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Abrams, J. J. (Jeffrey Jacob), 1966-Criticism and interpretation. | Whedon, Joss, 1964-Criticism and interpretation.

Classification: LCC PN1998.3.A27 S84 2016 (print) | LCC PN1998.3.A27 (ebook) | DDC 791.4302/33092dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016016800

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To my sisters:

Sandy, who, Spock-like,

can always tell me whats logical, and

Mindy, who would survive any zombie apocalypse.

In thankfulness to both for watching all those horror,

science fiction, and Hollywood B classic films

together on TV when we were kids.

Whodve thunk theres a living in it?

Never give up! Never surrender!

Conceit. It is such a lovely word and one rarely heard these days and yet this book is based on it. That is not to say that either Joss Whedon or J. J. Abrams is in the least conceited. If anything, as heroes of the Geek Underground, the opposite is true. They are self-abasing, modest souls who are thrilled and surprised by their own popularity and success. No, the conceit is mine. In 1977 George Lucas and Steven Spielberg set the film world ablaze with the release of their space spectacles Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Star Wars and Spielbergs earlier hit Jaws turned the motion picture industry on its ear, changing sound, visuals, special effects, and both audience and studio expectations, all at the wave of a helmet or a very large shark tail. As geniuses of the screen, Lucas and Spielberg have dominated a generation of movies, but in our own galaxynot as long ago nor so far awayits hard not to think of the future and to wonder, whos next? With their successes and the changes they have made in the media world, Abrams and Whedon seem poised to inherit the empire. Each has revealed ingenuity and virtuosity in television and film production as well as creativity in the use and expansion of new media as art. But who is the new Spielberg? Where is the new Lucas?

Abrams and Whedon are famous for their legions of fans and succession to the throne is an issue that has already erupted into fictional violence when Lethea used the well-known fan, rivalry as fodder for a satiric post, that a J-Squared (Abrams) fan gave a Whedon-supporting Browncoat a bloody nose.

Letheas tale of war in the Twitterverse is satire, but it nonetheless suggests a question that is on the minds of thousands of fans and is a question that sorely needs an answer: How far have we come since 1977 and who is the Hollywood heir-apparent to Spielberg and Lucas for the next generation? This book revolves around the idea of an imaginary contest to crown the new, undisputed Most Royal Geek Leader of the media universe. This conceit allows for an exploration of all the exceptional things that these producer/writer/director/creators have done and also for an understanding of how the world of media, and particularly the world of media of the fantastic, has changed through their agency. In the end, we know that both are distinctive and brilliant and have different strengths and weaknesses. Each is a winner in his own right. The conceit is a diversion, an amusing pastime, a way to explore changes in the industry, changes in our times, and the genius of these two creators. With that being said, let the games begin!

A book is always the sum of more than its parts and authored indirectly by more than the name honored on the spine. Thanks go to my editors at Rowman and Littlefield, Stephen Ryan and Bowdoin Van Riper, who inspired the topic, encouraged me along the way, and also put up with the many editing challenges, both novel and mundane, that I was able to invent. Bow is particularly worthy of praise and should have been given credit for several ideas mentioned on these pages. I also want to thank my sisters, who turned out to be useful experts on unexpected things like early episodes of Star Trek and which giant ant movie had Florida sugar plantations. Many, many kudos to my niece, Dorothy Colp, who guided me through much of the anime and graphic novel material from an insiders perspective. Thanks to Susan Clark, Karen Ritzenhoff, Margret Eifler, Ralf Nicolai, Ottomar Rudolf, Kaspar Locher, and Dieter Paetzold, for holding my feet to the academic fire and always making me answer one more question, be it through streaming tears of confusion or transcendent joy. I would be remiss in not again thanking the library people at College of St. Benedict and St. Johns University and the institutions themselves for giving me time and support to work. Thank you, Sarah Pruett and Karen Erickson, for championing my efforts. Annette Atkins, I could never have finished this without your help and the writing workshops, sponsored by our anonymous donor who stipulated we should write simple, clear sentences for real people and leave the esoteric jargon behind. I am hugely indebted also to my eighty-seven-year-old mom, who still reads everything I write. Without you, I would never have thought about why we like Bette Davis better than Joan Crawford. Finally I want to acknowledge my husband, Don, who has put up with disorder (no, chaos!), nerves, frustrations, and funks while Ive been writing this book. Thank you for forcing me to watch things that I was sure I would hate, and usually loved, and which almost always ended up finding an important place in what I was writing. Now if you could only train the cat to stay off my computer keyboard!

A Love Story

The secret to the movie business, or any business, is to get a good education in a subject besides filmwhether its history, psychology, economics, or architectureso you have something to make a movie about. All the skill in the world isnt going to help you unless you have something to say.