Joss Whedon Versus the Corporation

Erin Giannini served as an editor and contributor at PopMatters, and has written numerous articles about topics from corporate culture in genre television to production-level shifts and their effects on television texts. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sherry Ginn is a retired educator currently living in North Carolina. She has authored books examining female characters on science fiction television series as well as the multiple television worlds of Joss Whedon. Edited collections have examined sex in science fiction, time travel, the apocalypse, and the award-winning series Farscape, Doctor Who, and Fringe.

Table of Contents


Preface

Introduction. The Scariest Monsters of All: Corporate Culture in the Works of Joss Whedon

Part I. Antagonists, Complicity and Insidious Movements: An Overview of Corporate Culture in the Works of Joss Whedon

One. “Evil white folks really do have a mecca”: The Corporate Antagonist in Angel and Firefly

Two. A Stranger Comes to a (Small) Town: Buffy, Roseanne and the Long Reach of Corporate Culture

Three. Who Owns the Show? The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel vs. Mutant Enemy

Four. In the Belly of the Beast: Dollhouse, The Cabin in the Woods and Dr. Horrible’s ­Sing-Along Blog

Part II. Subverting Tropes, Corporations and Media: A Dollhouse Case Study

Five. “That is their business, but that is not their purpose”: Dollhouse as a Subversive Text

Six. Curiosity or Arrogance? Dollhouse and the Troubled Relationship with ­Corporate-Sponsored Technology

Seven. “We’re pimps and killers, but in a philanthropic way”: Interrogating Corporate and Governmental Politics

Eight. “Call us what you want, just not family”: Undermining Whedon Tropes in the Dollhouse

Conclusion. Whedon as Corporate Critique, or Can TV Change the World?

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Television and Filmography

Index