College of Charleston sophomore Sarah Rivas doesn’t miss an opportunity to attend Comic Con International and question screenwriter/producer Joss Whedon (best known for his writing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Toy Story). This year, she asked Whedon a question about her English 110 final essay, which focused on his show, Dollhouse. The assignment was to answer a question – any question, using academic research and secondary sources as well as original reasoning and critical thinking.

“I’m a fan of Whedon and Dollhouse so I decided to look into the question of whether Dollhouse was a piece of feminist work or not,” Rivas explains. “Whedon is a god in the nerd community and I look up to him, so it was incredible to write that essay, then actually talk with him about his intentions and how it was perceived.”

Rivas believes Whedon has shown women’s strength in mediums like television by challenging both women’s and men’s gender roles. He has been a long supporter of the feminist movement and identifies as a feminist, yet as Rivas was gathering research on him and the show, she found a lot of people were saying he or the show could not be feminist because he was a man. Through her essay, Rivas wanted to prove the show was feminist and people were misinterpreting certain aspects of it.

“I wanted to hear from Whedon how it felt to be excluded from a group that he had done so much for. In my eyes, he revolutionized how women are portrayed in television through characters like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was irritated when I read other feminists saying he couldn’t be a feminist, so I wanted to hear from him how he responded to statements like that.”

Watch Whedon’s Comic Con session. (Rivas asks her question at 22:31)

Her English 110 professor, John Warner, a nationally-recognized writer and blogger, says he’s proud of his student. Read Warner’s Inside Higher Ed blog post on this essay assignment.

Warner says, “The essay she wrote is the process of exploring a text (the television show) and interrogating it for meaning that gets below the surface. My memory of Sarah’s process is that after developing her initial thesis, she spent a lot of time honing her message until it expressed exactly what she wished. I knew it was a good essay when I forgot that I was supposed to be grading it and just went along for the ride.”

Rivas says both the essay and conversation with Whedon have prepared her for the future. She is a history major with plans of moving to her hometown of Elk Grove, Cali. and serving as a police officer.

“I hope to be a role model for young girls as a police officer and mayor, disproving ideas that women can’t be in law enforcement or politics,” says Rivas. “I think that’s why I look up to Joss so much, because he has challenged gender roles through characters in his shows. I consider myself lucky that I got to grow up in a world that was influenced by his work.”

You can bet Rivas will be at next year’s Comic Con with more questions for Whedon, she says the fun never gets old.

Reach Rivas at rivassn@g.cofc.edu.