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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Life isn't bliss, life is just this: it's living.

"The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, she's going to keep digging, she's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who she is." — Joss Whedon

I'm coming out of the fog. In the past six months, our own private hellmouth (not Cleveland) has opened its gaping maw and tried to swallow us, but it hasn't succeeded. And won't. Because we'll keep going.

I've long wondered if Joss was some sort of nihilist - because the world, his world, is a mean one -- cruel and without meaning. But I had a deep misunderstanding of what nihilism was, to be honest. I thought it was the idea that the world was cruel and without meaning. What it is, in fact, is the idea that values are socially constructed -- nothing is inherent. We create God, we create truth, we create reasons to go forward. We don't do it because it's right, we do it because we decided it was right.

But I think I've come to understand that he's sort of the opposite of a nihilist. Buffy, Angel, Caroline - they do what's right because they know two truths: the world is cruel but there is right in it and right is why - the deep meaning we all strive for - why we're here.

So me, I'm still here. Putting one foot in front of the other with the Season 7 Buffy theme in my head.

1 comment:

  1. Every time my life gets upsetting, I get the line from your title stuck in my head. Makes me feel better I guess.

    I love Joss, but I couldn't make myself like Dollhouse. I watched the entire first season like a chore out of a weird sense of obligation, but I quit after that.

    I think he's more of a cynic. He left not a single happy relationship intact on Buffy, and the only happy couple on Firefly was split via death. If I was looking for a word for him, I might use cynic.

    ReplyDelete

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