When Your Hero Speaks and Says What You’re Thinking

[ETA (a couple of hours after I posted this): It occurred to me this morning that in working so hard to get the interview itself posted, I failed to ask you about your reactions. This post is my long-winded way of trying to remedy that. Now I’ll smile sheepishly and head off to bed.]

So, that interview with Joss Whedon, eh? Yeah, that was a major rush. As I’ve said before, I am not a fangirl. I’ve never been a fangirl—of anything. In fact, my default is usually to distance myself from anything other people are compelled to shriek or swoon over. No boy bands in my youth; no Corey or Corey heart attacks.

But again, as I’ve said before, I am a fan of Joss Whedon (still, if I were to bump into him, I would neither shriek nor faint). There are few people whose work I respect more; I respect him both as an artist and as a businessperson. He has a vision—of the grand sort—and he doesn’t compromise it. He’s a creative genius who manages to play nicely with others, and the results are pieces of pop-culture that are fun to watch and still pack a punch. And when he’s done, he speaks honestly about his work and his experiences. He’s infinitely quotable, but not because he tries to be, and not only because of his trademark hilarious sarcasm; people are quotable when they speak their own truth.

Much of my admiration for him, really, stems from my own desire to do the same. So you might imagine how incredible it was to speak to him, and to have him say things that, were I not concentrating so hard on doing a proper interview and on not using inappropriate language, would have led me to nod myself into a concussion and to exclaim that I’ve said some of those very same things myself, and possibly to muse aloud about how I might love to work with him someday on something.

During the interview, I was most taken with his simple description of what he sees as the difference between art and craft: that art involves a loss of control. This strikes me as profound in its simplicity, and its simplicity speaks volumes to me. What do you think of it? He talked more about it in the interview. Do you agree with him? Do you see other contributing factors?

I was also tremendously satisfied to talk with him about online independent media. You may have noticed that I ended up working in a lot of questions that crafters sent to me before the interview, but the questions about online media were from me. Even before it was released and proceeded to become immensely successful, I was blown away by what he and his collaborators were attempting to do with Dr. Horrible, both because I am a very big fan of trying things that have never been done before—and trying them in a smart way that’s also creatively satisfying—and because he collaborated with people he clearly has a great time with, and made something that fully transferred that good time to an audience.

I didn’t plan to conduct the interview just as I was getting ready to announce all the crazy things I’m getting into, but it sure ended up happening at a time when I’m extremely focused on making very deliberate choices about what I want to do with my time and how I want to help support my family as I do it. Joss said a lot of things that will fuel me in my quest, and that will keep me remembering to stay in touch with my own vision and principles as I explore my art and craft.

Did anything he said resonate with you?