Gotta love it when the title tells you all you need to know. “The Existential Joss Whedon – Evil and Human Freedom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Serenity”. Well, there you go.
This book by J. Michael Richardson and J. Douglas Rabb (224 pgs, softcover) looks at Joss’ themes of evil and human freedom as a continuation of Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky, only with more spin kicks.
Chapters cover such topics as Russian existentialism and vampire slayage; moral choices; ethics; faith and bad faith; constructing reality through existential choice; some limitations of science and technology; love and self-sacrifice; love, witchcraft, and vengeance; soul mates and moral responsibility; love and moral choice; forms of freedom; and Whedon as moral philosopher.
It ain’t cheap – averaging $35 – but it might be interesting. If you enjoyed the commentary on “Objects in Space,” you’ll definitely want to check this out.