Joy Davidson

Not gonna lie, I'm a Joss Whedon fangirl. I think he's a genius. On his worst day, his work is just fantastic as opposed to mindblowing. When The Psychology of Joss Whedon came across my radar, I was incredibly excited to read it. I have a large interest in psychology and the idea of delving into Joss's mind on that level, seeing what makes him tick, makes me more than a little giddy.

First, a warning: Do not read this book if you haven't watched Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity. Spoilers galore. If you haven't seen Dollhouse or Dr. Horrible, get on that immediately, but don't worry about this book spoiling them as it was written before they came about.

As I mentioned above, I enjoy psychology. I've been known to read psychology textbooks for fun. And even I found the scientific details and explanations to be a bit too much in The Psychology of Joss Whedon. As a means to explore how Whedon creates creates characters, the information is interesting. Unfortunately, a number of essayists delved into way too much science and neglected to relate it to Joss or his characters in an entertaining way.

I'm a strong believer in educating someone by using their interests as examples. I think it helps a person process and retain information when it is presented in a context they are already familiar with. The Psychology of Joss Whedon does well here. Specific scenes fans know and love broken down by psychological analysis will help fans understand complicated psychology concepts while giving them a deeper appreciation of the series, characters and Joss himself.

The Psychology of Joss Whedon doles out a lot of great information, but it could have been a little lighter. Some essays were written with the intended audience in mind, while others are clearly more clinical in nature. Psychology of pop culture figures should be a little more fun than this and the seriousness of certain essays will definitely turn off readers who usually get their psychology from Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew.… (mer)

This is a collection of essays that analyzes the three worlds of the Jossverse from a psychological perspective (but without Professor Walsh). I learned about some of the more current theories in psychology, such as Terror Management, which was discussed in more than one essay. There was a fascinating study of Buffy as a classic narcissist (and thanks to Conversations with Dead People, I'm convinced). Also an analysis of Joss's work from the standpoint of radical feminism. The essays are sometimes a little slow, but on the whole the concepts are explained well, and the examples from the shows to explain the concepts was fun. Not a totally light read - I learned some psychology theories despite myself.

Non-fiction. Recommended.… (mer)