Although reports that he is insufficiently feminist appear to have been exaggerated, Joss Whedon does appear to be insufficiently Browncoat. Or so it would seem since he recently blocked the first fan-based effort to acquire the rights to a television series by nixing Unstoppable Signals’ movement to revive Firefly, the one-season hit space western whose film sequel Serenity just beat out The Empire Strikes Back for Best SciFi Film of All Time at io9.
(If you need more background on the show and its connection to post-9/11 global political culture, start with this and follow the links.)
This latest fan effort to resuscitate the show was sparked after lead actor Nathan Fillon stated in an Entertainment Weekly interview:
”If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.”
Fillon, whose character Malcolm Reynolds is an archetype for outside-the-box machinations against government or corporate powers that be, quickly became an icon for Firefly fandom’s guerilla marketing bloc, who interpreted his dream as a cause and his words as a call to action. A Facebook page was established to gather pledges for a “Buy Firefly” fund in anticipation of the new Fillon-produced show and quickly attracted over 116,000 members and more than $1 million in pledges.
It also attracted some derision by those who thought the idea was a waste of money and time, not least by Fillon himself, who quickly retracted his statement and asked fans to donate to his favorite charity instead, Kids Need to Read. Browncoats took this seriously and many sent money they had planned to pledge to the show to KNTR and well as a variety of other charities. They also hatched a new plan: rather than raise the money for Fillon, they would aim to buy the rights to the show themselves:
Call it what you want… democratic entrepreneurialism, populist production or just plain crowdfunding, we believe it is possible to create the first film company that is owned by the fans and for the fans. And why not? The many are mighty.
But in early March Joss Whedon’s sister, claiming to speak for Joss, tweeted
Guys, no one in the Whedonverse is in support of www.helpnathanbuyfirefly.com. Please save your money!
According to Screenrant:
Tancharoen later amended her statement with a longer message, stating that there were no hard feelings from the Whedon clan, but Joss and Co. weren’t comfortable with fans trying to take direct control of the Firefly rights, and even less with them collecting real money to do so.
In a disappointed show of deference, pledge collections for HNBF shut down and the fans began directing actual donations toward additional charity efforts instead. These have included design contests and merchandise sales to benefit a variety of organizations including the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, the Dyslexia Foundation and Equality Now. However they also continue to explore the idea of crowd-sourcing fan productions of other TV series’ “to address a genre that is plagued by unjust cancellations and complaints of low profits despite its unimaginable importance to our cultural fabric.”
While Whedon’s position is certainly understandable from a copyright perspective, one must note the irony: this notion of “people’s control” over objects of art is perhaps the logical culmination of the very political sentiment promoted by the show Firefly. And the humani-liber-tarian spirit in this comments thread, collecting fan ideas on moving forward is a fair bit, well, mighty. (At least in one sense of the word.) I especially liked this one:
Firefly seems to appeal to people with a soul. I don’t mean nuthin’ with any religiosity, I just mean folk who got more’n a passing interest in the fortunes of other. Build the good works into the fandom-related activity whereby we sit around the campfire enjoying our collective appreciation through story, and song, and craft. But at the same time, we pass around a cup and do a little takin’-up for those who ain’t so lucky.
And when the morning comes, get our gear on and set out for places what have the aforementioned folks-in-need. Show the world that we can do more than just get frothy on the internetz. Show them that a bunch of shiny people maybe can’t make a big ole difference against all the misery out there … but we sure can try just the same. Like vinyahuinewen said, let’s be Big Damn Heroes.
Beats sittin’ around grumbling about how rotten the world can be.
“I don’t care what you believe in, just believe in it.”
[cross-posted at Lawyers, Guns and Money]
This isn’t a fair account of what happened. It wasn’t Fans v. Whedon – an enormous number of fans thought HNBF was a terrible idea. See this comment thread for the debate between the hardest of hardcore Firefly fans: https://whedonesque.com/comments/26019.
I so wish you bloggers would get your facts straight:
“Joss Whedon does appear to be insufficiently Browncoat. Or so it would seem since he recently blocked the first fan-based effort to acquire the rights to a television series by nixing Unstoppable Signals’ movement to revive Firefly, …”
He did nothing of the kind. I think he barely knew this movement existed. By the way, he is busy getting ready to direct a major Hollywood film, so I think his energies lie more in that direction than needing to be beholden to a grassroots organization who demand he acquiesce to their needs.
“But in early March Joss Whedon’s sister, claiming to speak for Joss”
And again, that is not what she did. She was re-stating something that had already been said, i.e. that no one in the Whedonverse supported HNBF’s plan.
Once again, someone puts the onus on Joss Whedon, his family, and his colleagues. And as ZRB before me points out, many hardcore FIrefly fans as well, thought this was a terrible idea.
Oh, dear. Did I imply in the post that all fans supported this movement? I hope not, and for good measure have added the link provided by ZRB on the text where I mention those who derided the plan. This post is meant as an account of the movement, not an endorsement of its goals.
As for Whedon, I can imagine he has many good reasons for thinking this was a bad idea, to the extent he’s thought about this at all. But Tonya, in terms of ‘facts,’ Whedon must have known the movement existed in order for his sister’s statement in the tweet I cited to be true. Additionally, the HNBF movement has never to my knowledge (nor did I imply this) ‘demanded that Whedon acquiesce to their needs.’ They expressed hope, self-organized, asked nicely, humbly took no for an answer, and are now channeling their efforts into other directions. I think it’s that spirit that I find most intriguing about the movement, rather than the Big Damn Plan itself, which I agree was always pretty unrealistic.
As to Whedon being insufficiently Browncoat, this is obviously meant as a quip, since the term “browncoat” refers to fans, and Whedon is the creator of the product. I do nonetheless see an irony in his unwillingness to engage with their ideas given that their movement can be viewed as a cultural expression of the socio-political undercurrents of the show itself. At LGM, a discussion is developing over the nature of that intertext itself:
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2011/04/%E2%80%9Ci-don%E2%80%99t-care-what-you-believe-in-just-believe-in-it-%E2%80%9D#comments
Charlie, did you ever read through HNBF’s Facebook page and website? There were many comments such as, “Get Whedon over here! … Why doesn’t Whedon respond … We shouldn’t do anything until Whedon confirms in person here he doesn’t want this …” That’s what I was referring to as far as demanding he acquiesce. No one ever asked Joss if he wanted this – it happened – and all of a sudden, he’s called to task for not supporting a group he’s never even heard of. And no, I don’t agree he must have known. When Maurissa Tancharoen explained that initial Twitter post (for which she was abused and threatened), JW was befuddled by the commotion, as in “The who, what, where now?”
Well, you have clearly followed this far more closely, and taken it far more personally, than I ever plan to. My analysis is based on admin posts from the organizers of HNBF plus some of the coverage, and I’ve also read many (but clearly not all) of the comments on the various threads and the FB site.
It wouldn’t surprise me if your reading of those threads is correct, however I don’t assume that the statements of some commenters necessarily reflects on the official view of the organization. And I don’t recall seeing any of the articles I cite in this post “taking Whedon to task” nor did I do so. What I see the leaders of the movement expressing is disappointment, and a willingness to abide by his decision. As for me, what I’ve done here is primarily to note an irony.
Just wanted to say that as an HNBF admin, your combination of objectivity, amusing if potentially over-the-top quips, and constructive criticism about unrealistic nature of the big damn plan are appreciated. Its nice to see someone take a less heated approach to it. We certainly always acknowledged the BDP as highly unlikely to work, but figured it was worth suggesting the idea.
I also appreciate your acknowledgement that we have never done anything but humbly ask- though of course as with any enormous group of people on the internet there are fanatic elements that reflect poorly.
Gracias and all the best to you!
@amused