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'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': Jordie Bellaire, Jeanine Schaeffer Talk Taking the "Ultimate Marvel" Approach to the New Series
JB: I think me and Jeanine when we first started talking about the project, we both talked about how we both love Willow. I think Willow definitely has a lot of charm being this sweet, quiet, bookish girl, but she really came into her own confidence in the later parts of the show. I just think that's the thing that young girls need today, you know, I think we need strong female characters who are confident, not just shrinking violets. Not to say that obviously there aren't women who are like that, still confident, but I just thought it would be a nice flip and a nice change for once to have somebody smart, to have somebody sweet, who is also confident and who can speak her mind and can be honest, and open, and frank
Where do I even start! When was Willow ever ‘just a shrinking violet’? It sounds like they have a very one note idea of what makes a female character a strong role model. What Buffy fan wouldn’t argue that Willow wasn’t pretty badass in her own right, what with her smarts, her computer hacking, and her magic? She doesn’t have to start wearing fishnets to be cool enough for your readers! (Not hyperbole, they are literally putting her character in fishnet stockings and midriff bearing tops like the costume that Willow wears in Halloween as an example of something that she would never ordinarily wear, this is now her everyday wardrobe apparently...) Also she grew in confidence over the course of the series, from the very beginning she was starting to find her voice through her friendship with Buffy, she was able to speak up as early as The Harvest to defend Buffy from Cordelia and her friends after previously slinking away and saying nothing in the pilot when Cordelia was bullying her
And anyway you have an example of female characters who are confident and speak their mind right there with Cordelia and Buffy, why is it so wrong to also have a shy and introverted character? Also I’m not sure I follow their argument on ‘a lot of more sort of bookish or nerdy girls have larger communities now that they can go with the Internet. So I think they've, again not that there aren't girls who are still like, you know, reserved or shy in real life, but I think they have an opportunity to learn more about themselves and build up more confidence because they can more easily find communities of people who are like them.’
I don’t see why that would make Willow more confident and this sexy dresser, isn’t it more likely that a shy and nerdy character like original Willow would just end up spending even more time online in today’s world? Finding friends and communities online that speak to you doesn’t necessarily translate to confidence in the real world after all
JB: Well again, I think like the reversal of Willow, I really liked Dru and her journey throughout the show and the books and stuff, and I really wanted to start her off strong and maybe a little brazen and arrogant. I think that her being a strong character and kind of being frightening, not because she's so unhinged because of what had happened to her in her history. I really wanted her to come off just completely like dominant, completely controlling, really frightening, just like The Master. Again, reversing the idea that there is a male antagonist to Buffy, but actually that her greatest foe could actually be a woman. That's sort of why we went with that for Dru. In my mind, I just want to see her starting off kicking ass, like right away. I don't want us to think, "Oh poor Dru." I want to kind of be like, "I don't want to be in the same room with her at all. She's horrifying."
That...completely erases her entire backstory from the show? And okay maybe this is nitpicking too much, but why slap the name Drusilla on to a Buffy character who has next to nothing in common with her? She was creepy and scary in the original concept of the character too, but there was also the tragedy of her being stalked and driven completely insane by Angelus, and they’ve completely ignoring all of that it sounds like. Fine if they want to genderbend the Master and do something different there, but combining an entirely different character with the Master makes no sense when those two characters could not be more different? Why not just call her The Mistress from the get-go and make her a new character, because this description sounds nothing like the shows Drusilla to me
JB: Well, I think Spike is a sweetheart. He's a big old sweetie pie. I'm a big Team Spike. I really like Spike, and I think that he is a poet. I mean, imagine how a poet's gonna get on with a domineering lady in his life. It's probably not going to be super great for Spike. I don't think he's gonna have a lot of agency. I don't think he's gonna have a lot of his own say or control of things. So that's sort of the relationship I'm interested to explore.
I think maybe originally he kind of pretended that he was a bit more equal than I think he actually felt comfortable. I think we're gonna lean into the fact that he's an outsider, even among outsiders, especially near Dru
The person being described here isn’t Spike at all, it’s William? Obviously they are the same person deep down, but Spike’s whole persona was to do everything he could to go against how he was as a human, that’s how ‘Spike’ was first created by William in the first place. It’s really nothing like the character of vampire Spike if you’re not going to capture that swaggering intro from season 2. And look I love Spike too, but ‘Well, I think Spike is a sweetheart. He's a big old sweetie pie...I think that he is a poet’ Really though?!
The whole description of sweetheart Spike not having a great time with a domineering lady in his life sounds super questionable and woobifying him to me in fact, especially when Drusilla’s character was all about exploring the terrifying concept of a young woman being stalked and victimised by a man until she lost her mind and entire sense of self, and now instead of that she’s going to be the one victimising Spike? In their rush to update some complex female characters and make them more typically ~badass~, it just sounds like they are tripping all over their good intentions
And again this all sounds like it has next to nothing in common with Spike and Dru from the show, so why not introduce brand some new characters if you want to make your villains something completely fresh and different? I absolutely get why they want to change things around and put their own spin on things, but at a certain point why even keep the same names when you are writing characters as the exact opposite of their season 2 selves?
And my final nitpick is that I read on ONTD that the Prophecy has been changed? It’s no longer "Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."
It’s now
-"Into every generation a slayer is born; A Chosen One. They alone will wield the strength and skill to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. They are the Slayer."
That’s one of the most bizarre changes to me in fact, it’s meant to be more inclusive to use neutral pronouns I guess, but the whole concept of Buffy from the beginning was celebrating female power?
To be a little more positive though, I do like that the art looks miles better than the artist they used for the season 8 comics (the article has lots of examples of the inside art). I just wish they didn’t feel the need to completely change preexisting characters, while still giving them the same name. It’s interesting that I haven’t heard them discuss Buffy much actually, so I assume that means that she hasn’t been changed as much as the supporting cast?
JB: I think me and Jeanine when we first started talking about the project, we both talked about how we both love Willow. I think Willow definitely has a lot of charm being this sweet, quiet, bookish girl, but she really came into her own confidence in the later parts of the show. I just think that's the thing that young girls need today, you know, I think we need strong female characters who are confident, not just shrinking violets. Not to say that obviously there aren't women who are like that, still confident, but I just thought it would be a nice flip and a nice change for once to have somebody smart, to have somebody sweet, who is also confident and who can speak her mind and can be honest, and open, and frank
Where do I even start! When was Willow ever ‘just a shrinking violet’? It sounds like they have a very one note idea of what makes a female character a strong role model. What Buffy fan wouldn’t argue that Willow wasn’t pretty badass in her own right, what with her smarts, her computer hacking, and her magic? She doesn’t have to start wearing fishnets to be cool enough for your readers! (Not hyperbole, they are literally putting her character in fishnet stockings and midriff bearing tops like the costume that Willow wears in Halloween as an example of something that she would never ordinarily wear, this is now her everyday wardrobe apparently...) Also she grew in confidence over the course of the series, from the very beginning she was starting to find her voice through her friendship with Buffy, she was able to speak up as early as The Harvest to defend Buffy from Cordelia and her friends after previously slinking away and saying nothing in the pilot when Cordelia was bullying her
And anyway you have an example of female characters who are confident and speak their mind right there with Cordelia and Buffy, why is it so wrong to also have a shy and introverted character? Also I’m not sure I follow their argument on ‘a lot of more sort of bookish or nerdy girls have larger communities now that they can go with the Internet. So I think they've, again not that there aren't girls who are still like, you know, reserved or shy in real life, but I think they have an opportunity to learn more about themselves and build up more confidence because they can more easily find communities of people who are like them.’
I don’t see why that would make Willow more confident and this sexy dresser, isn’t it more likely that a shy and nerdy character like original Willow would just end up spending even more time online in today’s world? Finding friends and communities online that speak to you doesn’t necessarily translate to confidence in the real world after all
JB: Well again, I think like the reversal of Willow, I really liked Dru and her journey throughout the show and the books and stuff, and I really wanted to start her off strong and maybe a little brazen and arrogant. I think that her being a strong character and kind of being frightening, not because she's so unhinged because of what had happened to her in her history. I really wanted her to come off just completely like dominant, completely controlling, really frightening, just like The Master. Again, reversing the idea that there is a male antagonist to Buffy, but actually that her greatest foe could actually be a woman. That's sort of why we went with that for Dru. In my mind, I just want to see her starting off kicking ass, like right away. I don't want us to think, "Oh poor Dru." I want to kind of be like, "I don't want to be in the same room with her at all. She's horrifying."
That...completely erases her entire backstory from the show? And okay maybe this is nitpicking too much, but why slap the name Drusilla on to a Buffy character who has next to nothing in common with her? She was creepy and scary in the original concept of the character too, but there was also the tragedy of her being stalked and driven completely insane by Angelus, and they’ve completely ignoring all of that it sounds like. Fine if they want to genderbend the Master and do something different there, but combining an entirely different character with the Master makes no sense when those two characters could not be more different? Why not just call her The Mistress from the get-go and make her a new character, because this description sounds nothing like the shows Drusilla to me
JB: Well, I think Spike is a sweetheart. He's a big old sweetie pie. I'm a big Team Spike. I really like Spike, and I think that he is a poet. I mean, imagine how a poet's gonna get on with a domineering lady in his life. It's probably not going to be super great for Spike. I don't think he's gonna have a lot of agency. I don't think he's gonna have a lot of his own say or control of things. So that's sort of the relationship I'm interested to explore.
I think maybe originally he kind of pretended that he was a bit more equal than I think he actually felt comfortable. I think we're gonna lean into the fact that he's an outsider, even among outsiders, especially near Dru
The person being described here isn’t Spike at all, it’s William? Obviously they are the same person deep down, but Spike’s whole persona was to do everything he could to go against how he was as a human, that’s how ‘Spike’ was first created by William in the first place. It’s really nothing like the character of vampire Spike if you’re not going to capture that swaggering intro from season 2. And look I love Spike too, but ‘Well, I think Spike is a sweetheart. He's a big old sweetie pie...I think that he is a poet’ Really though?!
The whole description of sweetheart Spike not having a great time with a domineering lady in his life sounds super questionable and woobifying him to me in fact, especially when Drusilla’s character was all about exploring the terrifying concept of a young woman being stalked and victimised by a man until she lost her mind and entire sense of self, and now instead of that she’s going to be the one victimising Spike? In their rush to update some complex female characters and make them more typically ~badass~, it just sounds like they are tripping all over their good intentions
And again this all sounds like it has next to nothing in common with Spike and Dru from the show, so why not introduce brand some new characters if you want to make your villains something completely fresh and different? I absolutely get why they want to change things around and put their own spin on things, but at a certain point why even keep the same names when you are writing characters as the exact opposite of their season 2 selves?
And my final nitpick is that I read on ONTD that the Prophecy has been changed? It’s no longer "Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."
It’s now
-"Into every generation a slayer is born; A Chosen One. They alone will wield the strength and skill to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. They are the Slayer."
That’s one of the most bizarre changes to me in fact, it’s meant to be more inclusive to use neutral pronouns I guess, but the whole concept of Buffy from the beginning was celebrating female power?
To be a little more positive though, I do like that the art looks miles better than the artist they used for the season 8 comics (the article has lots of examples of the inside art). I just wish they didn’t feel the need to completely change preexisting characters, while still giving them the same name. It’s interesting that I haven’t heard them discuss Buffy much actually, so I assume that means that she hasn’t been changed as much as the supporting cast?
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Date: 2019-01-25 03:02 pm (UTC)