"My biggest fear is that people will blame me for the show. People are going to think that it is my fault that their favorite show is going off the air. And God knows we're always looking for someone to blame."
-- Sarah Michelle Gellar (smg)
Buffy has enjoyed a great run. Better than that, Buffy presents a complex, intriguing epic: that of the Chosen one in the modern era. It is entirely the brainchild of one Joss Whedon -- everyone else associated are actors or reactors, no small feat, mind you, but still babes at the feet of a God of his own alternative reality.
Like Dickens or Poe, his medium is serial fiction. The world's edge is where he makes it, the actors act how he wants them to. That is critical. I understand that there is a modicum of interference from the money-changers: directors, actors, executives, producers, the cabal of entertainment-bringers. There is a layer between him and us, and smg is part of that layer, but still the very basics, the heart and soul and beginning and end, of the world belong only to him.
And not to me. To be angry about the timing of the end, the scripture of the end, would be to try and own it myself. I don't. I only want to peek in on it, and am doubly excited by the promise of the closing curtain, as I will finally know how it all works out. There is no bitterness enjoined by the thought of the end, no malfeasance to project onto Mrs Prince (anyone else out there wondering about the royally appropriate moniker, hmm?)... because there isn't any. If the Creator Whedon says the end is nigh, it is. I haven't heard him disagree, and I know he has other projects he wants to move on. He has to have an end brewing; seven years is a long time for one story.
So, if that's not what I'm evil-eyeing her for, then what is it?
A pet peeve of mine, related to celebrity and power -- most likely jealousy, too -- comes right to head in the beginning of the interview. "I need a rest. Teachers get sabbaticals. Actors don't."
Apparently, smg doesn't know many teachers. (Or any other normal, everyday people for that matter.)
My mom, however, has been a teacher for years -- 2nd grade. Her profession is one of few that does allow more lengthy free time, but 'sabbaticals' aren't typically reserved for her type. Sabbaticals are for tenured professors, to give them time to write their treatise on Shakespeare or explore the HGP -- a project they've funded usually through research grants. Sabbaticals are rarely pleasure, usually work. Summer vacation is what my mom gets, and what 'summer vacation' means *really* is 'three months for which we don't have to pay you'. Sure, she gets a paycheck, but it's clearly a paycheck for the other 9 months that has been stretched. In what other profession can you have decades of experience, won innumerable awards for your skill, and still rank below-30-grand salary with pretty pathetic benefits? Even if my mom did desire to take three months in the Bahamas -- or even just three weeks -- she couldn't on her salary, and often she couldn't because of other obligations. smg needs no license, no current class time, to maintain her career. She doesn't have to train a student teacher, be observed and graded, or pay for the cameraman's lunches because they don't have any. She is required to socialize, to enjoy free gifts, and present her smiling face to her public. Oooh. And does this for hundreds of thousands of dollars -- salary, services, and free 'goodie bags'. Ouch, what pain luxury brings.
While playing the Buffster, she and her Prince took several long vacations. She had time for her wedding, and honeymoon. She had time to make other movies if and when she wanted to (did someone hold a gun to her head and make her read the script? sign the contract?), to buy houses in several places, and enough money to pay people to give her more time by performing daily, perfunctory tasks (like driving or laundry or hair and makeup, like shopping or planning or preparing dinner). The very fact that she sees the daily grind as a luxury explains quite clearly that luxury is what she is accustomed to. I don't doubt that fame has a price, and that many of the aspects of celebrity (and a distinct lack of privacy) can be very difficult. But so to does real life: bills you can't pay, children you have to clothe and feed, and the hardscrabble work that is most people's daily existence. And all this, in obscurity.
Sure, celebrity puts one on a large stage. It brightens the lights, illuminates the everyday foibles. But you can't be her age -- close to my own -- and not realize that that is the 'take' attached to the fame and good fortune that is the 'give' of being a star.
There is an example for super stars, and her name is Nicole Kidman. I've never seen Ms.Kidman give a bad interview, say an unkind thing, or in any way appear rude and ungrateful to her many many fans. She's been stalked, threatened and TRULY harrassed by the media (and her squinty-eyed ex) and managed to showcase only grace and poise. Watch the Aussie, girl Tuesday. She would never presume to be able to speak for so many.
My thoughts in italics
"Simply Irresistable was a bad choice--and for that, it was a great experience. I wasn't ready to make that movie, I was too young. The script was not ready. I knew in my heart before I left, that I should back out."
So you, smg, with all the infinite wisdom that comes from being.. what? A Mouseketeer?... knew better than the veteran scriptwriters, producers and directors did? Better than the studio execs? Wow. Arrogance and stupidity, all in one convenient package.
"My biggest fear is that people will blame me for the show. People are going to think that it is my fault that their favorite show is going off the air. And God knows we're always looking for someone to blame."
How snotty. And, well, speak for yourself girlie. Besides, who is really into blame and rage over a TV show?
"I have confidence in my ability to tell a visiting director: 'No, that's not right, that's not what Joss wants, that's not the show.'"
Not if you read some of your interpretations of what 'Buffy was about' (especially the ones where you disagree with what Buffy's creator thinks.)
Her favorite episodes:
The Prom gave Buffy validation, seasons 5 and 6 were all about the idea that she would have to survive alone, sans that cheezy reassurance of the community at large. So that's a little simplistic. The Body was meant to be somber and disturbing (and I found Buffy's stone-like disconsolance far more disturbing than her sexual flailings). I find it ironic that she finds Eliza so great in the episode where Eliza was mimicking smg. Becoming was fantastic, but nothing compared to Willow going bad or Adam and Riley, Glory or Rack. It sort of seems like she just didn't pay attention to any season but the first few.
Least favorite episode: "I had trouble with the one where Buffy had sex with Spike on the balcony while watching their friends. I really thought that was out of character. And I didn't like what it stood for. That was the moment that I had the most problems with."
I just want to know what her bereaved fucking spree "stood for" that was so bad. I guess Buffy, one dimensional hero, was supposed to never been needy, weak, or red-blooded?
About season 6: "It wasn't who Buffy was, or why people loved her. You don't want to see that dark heroine, you don't want to see her punishing herself. You want to see her killing vampires and making quips. It didn't feel like the character that I loved."
Who cares about the character Sarah loves? Not me. I was interested in Joss's Buffy, not the moral high mistress of the night, thanks.
Her favorite Buffy villans: Angel and Spike.
Someone is a little lacking in the creativity department. Not to mention the part where both Angel and Spike are redeemed as champions in the end, so neither of them is an actual villan. I guess it is just a little too much to expect you to get into the role just a tad, isn't it?
"Not to mention that the poor girl has sex for the first time and, you know, turned him bad. I've heard of turning gay, but..."
There aren't the words to describe what is wrong with this sentence. Can't someone just please turn her mute?
"All I can say is that I really hope I have the last line."
Of course you do, pretty thing. Now go sit in a corner and be quiet. Your attempts at thought give me head pain.