Professor of Nerdlesque

Much like how Joss Whedon was inspired to interpret Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, my gang of misfit friends and I were inspired to create Whedonesque Burlesque.  I wonder, if Shakespeare was still around, would Joss be as bound and determined to tell the Bard, “Oh, my friends totally got together at my house, drank a little wine, and made a film adaptation of your play.” It’s not much different than someone walking up to Joss and relaying, “Hey, my friends got together, drank a little wine, took off our pants, and did a burlesque adaptation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Actually, last night, it probably went more like this, “Hey Joss, I was Buffy in a burlesque show inspired by you!” No really, it happened.

Do I need Joss to know about Whedonesque Burlesque? Nope. In fact, for a while, I feared it. Let me explain; I was in high school and college in the nineties, and my Internet upbringing taught me that fan-generated works harmed and infringed on the original properties. Reading X-Files fan fiction meant I had read lengthy and misguided copyright disclaimers over and over and over again. I remember feeling that what I was doing was little dirty and wrong (which was certainly not helped by the fact that most of the fanfic I read was also a tad dirty and wrong). Thanks to the work of academics like Henry Jenkins and lawyers like Rebecca Tushnet, the legal and cultural reaction to fan-created works has shifted. Tushnet, herself an author of X-files fan fiction, wrote an award-winning paper, Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law, wherein she states “Fan fiction deserves protection because it gives authors and readers meaning and enjoyment, allowing them to participate in the production of culture without hurting the legitimate interests of the copyright holder.“

In Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Henry Jenkins describes the hostile mockery directed at fans by their favorite actors. Fandom was in many ways isolated and separate from the creators of the original works. During the 2011 production of Whedonesque Burlesque, when I was first asked if it was okay to tell Joss about our show, I paused. Would we get shut down? The show had already sold out. I’d already contracted all the performers. This was my ass on the line now. Then the “well duh” moment hit. This is a man who has made a career by understanding and supporting his fans. It wasn’t a distant relationship. He needed us like we needed him (cue “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King).  I later learned that Joss was told about our show and the report back was he was tickled. I tickled Joss. SCORE!

But back to what happened last night – burlesque performer Lady Laycock had a little conversation with Joss at the after-party of the Seattle International Film Festival. I’m not sure if she’s fully recovered, so I’ll recount some of it for her. She told him how she created a Buffy burlesque act (a beautiful and emotional act, I must add) and his response was the stuff that dreams are made of; he told her she was “hotter than Sarah Michelle Gellar” and joked “I’m not imaging this burlesque act at all.” It’s a fan win. Likewise, I’m now tickled to confirm that Joss has a bit of perv, like me.

I’m still working out what this all means to nerdlesque, these stories being told to me over and over again of fans meeting the people who have inspired their work. While I don’t yet know what it means, I can say how it feels. It feels awesome.

UPDATE: Do you know what else feels awesome? Running into Nathan Fillion on the street and telling him he helped inspire a burlesque show. His hands are so soft. They are like baby hands!

(photo credit Inti St. Clair) 

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