Vampires Suck, But Widescreen"Buffy" Sucks Worse, According to Joss Whedon

Vampires Suck, But Widescreen"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Sucks Worse, According to Joss Whedon

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Discussions on aspect ratio is very nerdy. We can probably only post about it when the king of the biggest faction of nerds, Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers movies, addresses his fanbase. Seems that there are some crummy looking re-mastered shots airing right now in the syndication re-imaging of his beloved coming-of-age comedy series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  

Buffy is now airing on Pivot, which is the self-proclaimed television channel for millennials. So in theory, Pivot is attempting to air the episodes to a new audience that was too young for Buffy's initial Sunnydale slayings. Whedon's series was initially shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Pivot has changed the ratio to the 16: 9 widescreen ratio. Which means there's some cropped shots and distortion. Older Buffy fans, or younger aspect ratio aficionados, who clicked over to Pivot haven't been too happy. And Whedon took to Twitter to say that he isn't either. 

Just look at these boxed in monstrosities  now airing on Pivot. Crop tops and foreheads are cropped off, shoulder muscles are given less spacial definition, and vampire lairs, though lit more clearer, are less foreboding.

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Whedon had previously combated Fox on the issue, sending out a press release for Buffy's fourth season home video release that stated:


“Adding space to the sides simply for the sake of trying to look more cinematic would betray the very exact mise-en-scene I was trying to create. I am a purist, and this is the purest way to watch Buffy. I have resisted the effort to letterbox Buffy from the start and always will, because that is not the show we shot.”

Despite Whedon's stature, #aspectratiowoes wasn't trending at time of publication. But hopefully his fight for the un-pixelated, un-cropped picture will rage on into the dying of the night.

[via UPROXX]

 

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