Imagined interactions and identity in the works of Joss Whedon

Abstract

Joss Whedon has presented several examples of imagined interactions and how they relate to real-life communication, specifically how they relate learning about and playing with one’s own identity. In this paper, Whedon’s serial narratives are examined through an imagined interactions theoretical lens and a fantasy theme analytical lens to explore how Whedon’s serial work provides a varying look on common communicative practices in an intrapersonal and interpersonal scope and how certain ‘Whedonesque’ elements create a stronger narrative and encoding/decoding practices for the viewer. This paper presents a critical examination of the implications for remodelling a common television/film trope (the imagined interaction) and how various real-life decoding and parasocial normativity shifts as a result of being presented with the end messages from the overarching narrative. Specifically, the paper argues that Whedon has remodelled how imagined interactions are portrayed and how Whedon’s rhetorical vision affects the symbolic convergence of meaning to the audience about how to utilize imagined interactions in real life.