Joss Whedon Fans

Ok, I know this will be written off as a "do my homework" thread, but I'm actually trying to do some research for once.

For my TV History & Culture class, I'm writing a paper on the idea of "created families" in relation to Joss Whedon's work. Part of my paper focuses on the argumen that the fan community of Whedon's shows, whether it is Buffy, Firefly, or Angel, can be considered a "created family" of sorts, and to research that, I'd like to interview members of the fanbase who "travel" in internet communities like this one.

Thus, I'm asking anyone who considers themselves a fan of either Buffy, Firefly, or Angel and is interested in commenting about their fandom and their relation to the fan community, whether you're a fanboy or just a fan, to please respond either in this thread, in PM, or by contacting me at blh220@nyu.edu.

This is a topic that I am very excited about and I hope that I can get some response. I know there are plenty of intelligent people who dig the man's work on these boards that I've had a number of great conversations with, and I hope to hear from you all!

(Woodward, you better respond....)

Thanks again,

Brendan

I have that Buffy & Philosophy book, but the type of research that I'm interested in doing, there hasn't been much written about. There are very few articles about the relation of Buffy fans to one another, and that's what I'm going to explore in this paper--how the fanbase of Buffy, Firefly, and Angel can be considered a "created family" of sorts.

And Hudler, people have been writing and researching television for fifty years. Please, get over yourself.

I wasn't originally planning to write about the fans, in fact, a large portion of my paper is still devoted to analyzing both the shows in question and writing about articles written by people who are older and smarter than me. However, my professor suggested that the idea of created families in relation to the fanbase was a rich idea for exploration and that I should do some of my own research (again, based off of articles written by people older and smarter than me). I'm actually enjoying a class I'm taking, for once, and am learning quite a bit and I want to do well--I want to be thorough, and I want to write about something I'm interested in and think is worthy of scholarship. Otherwise, what's the fucking point?

(I mean, come on, Whedon himself has admitted that all his work is about created family, but there's very little written about that idea itself.)

No, in this case, I'd cite the articles written about this, I'd cite the episodes of the shows that deal with it, and I'd cite the interviews I do with fans. I've seen some articles that cite posts from the main Buffy web-board, but I'm particulary trying to stay away from that because I want it to be pretty credible.

I was actually accepted to give a presentation at that Buffy Conference in May, but I lacked the funds to go. Also, it really seemed like they were accepting everyone who wrote complete sentences in their proposals, so I was kind of "eeeehhhhh" about the legitmacy of the thing (I know the people putting it on are legit, but I wasn't so sure about the legitmacy of the actual panels. But that's me.)