The Psychology of Joss Whedon: An Unauthorized Exploration of Buffy, Angel, and FireflyJoy Davidson, Leah Wilson First there was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; then its spin-off “Angel"; then the cult hit “Firefly"; and its follow-up film, “Serenity." They all had two things in common: their creator, Joss Whedon … and their surprising psychological depth. Revisit the worlds of Joss Whedon … with trained psychologists at your side. What are the psychological effects of constantly fighting for your life? Why is neuroscience the Whedonverse's most terrifying villain? How can watching Joss's shows help you take on your own psychological issues? It's all the best parts of Psych 101—without Professor Walsh. * Robert Kurzban explains how Mal's morals are a form of evolutionary pornography, and why we like to watch * Thomas Flamson explores free will in the Whedonverse—with prophecies, sacred duties and the long arm of the Alliance, does anyone actually have any? * Carole Poole demonstrates how Buffy and Spike's season six relationship could be considered metaphor for narcissistic personality disorder—and concludes that Buffy may have been better off continuing it * Bradley J. Daniels looks at River's Alliance-altered brain, and the real effects of “stripping" the amygdala * Mikhail Lyubansky shows why, psychologically, death really is Buffy's gift * And editor Joy Davidson takes on Angel's mommy issues—how the course of his whole extraordinary existence can be traced back to the woman who made him a vampire |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Darn Your Sinister Attraction | 21 |
Free Will in a Deterministic Whedonverse | 35 |
THOMAS FLAMSON The Adaptive the Maladaptive and the MalAdaptive | 51 |
An Analysis of Slayer Longevity | 65 |
How Buffy Learned to Confront Her Fears | 79 |
Existentialism Meets Feminism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 105 |
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adolescent Alliance amygdala Angel antisocial personality disorder behavior believe brain Buffy Summers Buffy the Vampire Buffy’s Buffybot Buffyverse characters child childhood choice clinical cognitive confronted Connor consciously crew Darla death demons emotional episode evil evolutionary existential therapists existential therapy experience face Faith father fear feel feminism fight finally Firefly friends gender Giles girl guys honor human Inara Jayne Jayne’s Joss Whedon Joss’s Jossverse Joyce Kaylee kill Klüver-Bucy Syndrome Liam living lobe loyalty Mal’s Malcolm Reynolds male man’s masculine meaning mortality salience mother narcissistic neural neuroscience one’s PH.D prophecy psychology psychopathy radical feminist Reavers relationships responsibility River role Sahjhan Scoobies Scooby Gang season six seems sense sexual ship Simon social someone soul Spike Sunnydale Terror Management theory there’s things tion turn vampire Vampire Slayer Watcher watching Whedonverse Willow Wolfram & Hart women Xander