While I don't understand the craze behind Joss Whedon, I have to respect the major Web 2.0 embracing that is demonstrated in his latest project, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. This is not another viral video, this is not another web sitcom. It's an event, a moment in time, a quickfire community assembled around valued content.
Dr. Horrible a three part series releasing every two days and then coming down for good. All acts will be available until midnight, Sunday, July 20. Then they will "vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom - that's still playing. Like, everywhere)" according to Letter from Joss Whedon available on the site.
It's ingenious. In a time of disposable culture, grassroot advocacy, and niche social networks, Joss is tapping into the vein of Web 2.0 in a way that most of traditional media has yet to comprehend.
"It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, "It's Show Business - not Show Friends"? Well now it's Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.) "
And it looks like it's already working. The first installment released on Tuesday crashed the website.
So why is this important? Again, I'll defer to Joss who explains it best in his letter...
"Do what you always do, peeps! Do what you're already doing. Spread the word. Rock some banners, widgets, diggs... let people know who wouldn't ordinarily know. It wouldn't hurt if this really was an event. Good for the business, good for the community - communitIES: Hollywood, internet, artists around the world, comic-book fans, musical fans (and even the rather vocal community of people who hate both but will still dig on this). Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It's time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen. Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I'm a little afraid of you."
Marta Strickland
in
media morphing, this is viral
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Well, this is exactly part of the craze over Joss Whedon! His ability to understand the world in the present day, and to not be afraid of taking risks. Sure, Xena had its musical episode out briefly before Buffy's, BUT! Joss had been planning it since the the start of the show, as he is a big musical fan and knows how one should be handled. Though, of course he'd have to change things around a bit for the medium. He also knew he'd have to wait it out - the timing had to be just right. Allowing the show to settle in and using a monumental episode to carry it out, etc. etc. *praises his genius*
lol But yes, same goes for his almost all silent episode. And then his ability to make his characters into different characters a couple times (via spells), and once again, have us connect to these characters and care. What I enjoyed the most was uberdark!Willow at the end of season 6, with her tragedy, she turns to the darkest arts and almost destroys the world. This was clearly a way of showing someone going through an extremely difficult situation and then making things worse by doing any number of things that would ruin their life and the lives around them. And just under 30 minutes of this online musical series, he has us caring more about these characters than most tv shows can in half a season for their's. Apparently, Joss has ideas for a sequel in which I'm sure he would flesh them out even more.
Again, it's his ability to understand the world today to carry out his artistry. Then there's his understanding of the human condition and ability to tell the story through this. And there's no one like him in tv land. There are 1 or 2 talents who come close (Ron Moore, especially), but Joss does it like no other. And this comes from someone who was hesitant to try out Buffy and Firefly years back.
Sorry, hopefully I didn't waste your time. I'm sure you've read posts like mine elsewhere in the past. I just had some time to spare and figured I'd talk about one of my favorite people in the world. :)
Posted by Gina | July 17, 2008 2:23 PM
Posted on July 17, 2008 14:23