Author: Nancy E. Shaffer

NANCY E. SHAFFER has been an experimental psychologist (M.A., Cognitive Psychology, Rice University), a philosopher (Ph.D., History and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Davis), and software developer. She taught history and philosophy of science at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec and the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her philosophical work has appeared in the journal Philosophy of Science and her pop-culture philosophy website, All Things Philosophical on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series. Dis/inhbition is her first novel. She currently resides in Tempe, Arizona.

Oooh, free stuff!

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 6 Comments

“In January 2008 the Duke University Press will publish “Undead TV: Essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer” edited by Elana Levine and Lisa Parks. The collection of essays come from media studies scholars, who tackle the Buffy phenomenon and its many afterlives in popular culture, the television industry, the Internet, and academic criticism. The writers engage with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s celebrity image, science-fiction fanzines, international and youth audiences, Buffy pulp fiction, and Angel’s body, showing how this primetime drama became a blockbuster that stands out from much entertainment television by offering sharp, provocative commentaries on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and youth.

Recognizing that you run a Buffy fansite devoted to philosophical studies, we are very excited to offer you the chance to receive a free advance copy of this upcoming book. Please email me your current mailing address, and I will send a copy of “Undead TV” your way promptly.”

No hero’s journey for Harry?

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 19 Comments

I was wondering what other HP fans on my flist think of this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070725/cm_csm/ysawyer_1

“J.K. Rowling’s towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all great children’s literature: the hero’s moral journey. Without that foundation, her story – for all its epic trappings of good versus evil – is stuck in a moral no man’s land.”

Personally, I feel it’s dead wrong, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.

Season Ate

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 14 Comments

The other day, another person wrote asking if I was going to do ATPo analyses of the Season 8 comics. With the usual argument–“Joss says they’re canon!” Yeah. Uh. Joss also once said spatulas were haunting him.

Anyway, leaving aside the fact that a great deal of what’s going on in the comics is just recycling of old villians (and not even the most interesting ones), in a medium (comics) where the sky *ought* to be the limit with new and interesting stuff from the master’s imagination,

one of the main points of ATPo analyses was to explain what the frig is going on in an episode (or issue) and I can’t for the life of me figure it out! Every panel, I’m like…”*Now* where are we?!” “Who’s that?!” “How’d we get from what was just going on to *this*?” “What are they *talking* about!?”

If I can’t understand it, I can’t explain it, and…

I suppose there’s a part of me that wants Season 8 up at ATPo for completeness’ sake, and that’s why I’m even bothering to mention it. ‘Cause, not impressed with it (the paranoid military story line’s kinda cool, but still feels a bit recycled….) for the most part, and, I guess I’m one of those fans who was satisfied with season 7 being the end of the story.

What it’s all about (a guided tour)

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 10 Comments

Eight and a half years ago (Jan 1, 1999), I got arm-twisted by some friends at the Bronze Posting Board into creating a website for my thoughts on the tv show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I called it “All Things Philosophical on BtVS.”

I got email. People wanted to talk to me (for some reason), and people wanted to talk to other visitors to the site. So seven years ago this Thursday (June 14th, 2000), I created a discussion board for the site.

Cool people came to the board. They had really cool thoughts* on the show, and on the spin-off, Angel. The board grew and grew. Small groups of ATPoers (or Existential Scoobies, as we sometimes called ourselves) who lived close to each other or were visiting towns where other ATPoers lived got together in person for food, laughs, and conversation.

And then, in 2003, the television show that brought us together was to come to an end. ladystarlightsj wrote me an email suggesting that perhaps we should all get together as a big group to celebrate the finale. We decided on a location: Vancouver, British Columbia, and a date (alas, not May 20th, 2003, but later that summer). ATPoers came from far and wide to that picturesque city. There was food! There was drink (spilled on the carpet)! There was singing! There were BtVS and Angel DVD-viewing sessions! There was much laughter and discussion and silliness.

It was so much fun, we decided to do it again the next year. We gathered in Chicago (2004)
We gathered in New York City (2005)
We gathered in Lake Tahoe (2006)

And this year, we are gathering in Toronto.

So you’ll understand if I’m excited!!1!

*It’s called discussion people, DISCUSSION. For some of us, that is the whole *point* of fandom. The term “meta” is a derogatory misnomer. Ptui! We shall speak of it no more!

Random Trek thoughts

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 8 Comments

I complain about ST’s regressiveness by contemporary standards, but this show was ground-breaking in its day. Back in 1964, when the show was first pitched to the networks, sci-fi was commonly thought of as the province of pre-pubescent boys–the stuff of Saturday matinees, comic books, and serialized periodicals that got stuffed in with the kiddy mags.

Star Trek gave sci-fi a decidedly adult face by putting it in a military setting any World War II vet would have recognized (well, except for the women, and the inevitable cheesiness). And it had a mixed-race, mixed gender crew in the days of pre-second-wave feminism and segregation.

So credit where credit is due.

Now onto my random comments: 1.1-1.10

Trek!

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 27 Comments

So to celebrate my recent change in job title, I bought myself DVD sets of the original Star Trek.

*OMG geeks*

OTOH? This show has a sexist offense every ten minutes. I’m timing them. Soon there will be a drinking game.

ETA: How annoying is it that the episodes are on the disks in their air date order, instead of the order they were intended to be shown in? We all know networks suck!!

Star Wars!

~ Nancy E. Shaffer ~ 18 Comments

gehayi reminds us that today is the 30th anniversary of the opening day of the movie “Star Wars” (now called “Episode IV: A New Hope”). I was one of the little dweebs standing in those lines that wrapped around the block, waiting to see a movie that had dazzling, ground-breaking special effects even in the TV commercials. But it wasn’t the special effects that made the movie. That was icing on the cake. It was the use of mythos, of the most ancient story-telling tropes mixed in with a futuristic, sci-fi setting that made it special. Combining religious mysticism, heroes and villians, good and evil, space battles and explosions, intelligent humor, humanistic, personal character struggles, amazing cinematography, musical themes that followed each character (the “Peter and the Wolf-esque theme in the initial scenes where the droids wander Tatatooine was inspired), and a butt-kicking babe who could rescue her own rescuers…what was there not to love?

Just wanted to mark the moment, because it had a big impact on me and still does.

ETA: Oh yeah, and Han shot first. Make a note of it.