Mal's backstory

POSTED BY: BYTEMITE
UPDATED: Thursday, March 24, 2016 01:39
VIEWED: 20506
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BYTEMITE

Thursday, November 21, 2013 2:13 AM

>Good point. Wouldn't have had to have had 40 ranch hands all at once. Although I'd imagine some of them would stay for more than one season, and there probably were a few who were constant fixtures throughout the years.

Still seems like they probably had a good spread though. I'm still pretty sure from this representation that Mal came from a fairly well-off background, otherwise I'm not sure why his mother would be so concerned about him having a classical education and ballroom dance and all that.

BYTEMITE

Thursday, November 21, 2013 2:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ebfiddler:
Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Mal never says anything about a father in the series, movie, comics, or any of the other supplemental information. Could be Mal just doesn't know, which could be consistent with either a deadbeat or just plain dead. It's kind of a mystery though, and narratively speaking, mysteries are fun. I'd actually like to see Mal's backstory tie in with some kind of Alliance conspiracy and the Unification War, since that itself would relate to the myth arc and River.

Once again, Bytemite, I think you're sneaking looks at my hard drive or something, the way you guess at the story arcs I want to play out in my as-yet-incomplete fanfics. Either that, or your uncanny use of logic and character insight has graduated into full-blown impossible prediction levels! ;-)

Maybe this is the kick in the seat I need to get out of fanfic stasis and start writing again.

More of a case of strange minds think alike. I've mentioned that I thought Mal's father might've been a politician who stumbled on a Blue Sun secret and got assassinated for it a couple times, and hinted at it in some of my fanfics.

I don't think that's exactly what you have planned, based on what I can remember about your plans for Light and Shadow.

DICKKING

Friday, February 7, 2014 10:38 AM

Generally speaking I think Tim Minear had more to do with Mal's character development than Joss Whedon. Mal is classic liberal ie. Libertarian. Tim Minear has a long history of being involved with libertarian fiction. Including writing a screen play for the libertarian bible "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein. Mal volunteers to fight for the independents. This is not contrary to non-agression since he is basically defending his way of life. The right to live your life without being meddled with or exterminated, as a campaign by the alliance would possibly have done. Family must have been well off since it's normally those that have something to lose that would like to keep it. The poor, defenseless, and hungry rarely start the war, they normally join later if at all. That's why tyrannical governments first disarm and then nationalize food production. When you have nothing to fight with and government has your next meal, you start to obey your masters very quickly. Many in tbe American revolution were land owners and merchants.
Another item I often see written about Mal is that he practices a form of moral relativism. I tend to disagree wirh that notion. Shooting first at an assassin, fed pointing gun at defenseless girl he plans to abduct, is not amoral. You can argue he's doing what anyone would do when confronted with a rabid dog. You don't let the dog live just because it hadn't bitten you. All advise and actions taken by him all point to a man of principle. Saffron is treated as an individual and not chattel. All his transactions are attempted to in fair trade.About the only fuzzy area in his logic is being OK with taking from the alliance. Theft from a crook is still theft. As Wash would say "stealing from the rich and selling to the poor'. Nonetheless the point is arguable. His hatred of the alliance is therefore easily explained before the war as rising against tyranny and supporting his principles of freedom. His hatred after the war is a given. Yet he still says the war is long over, we're all just people now. He lives on the edges of Alliance influence and ignores unjust laws. A scofflaw and not quite a hero, just regular folk that wishes to be free is what he is.
As for his father? Well that could be made into an interesting story since anything can be said.
Just my 1$ worth since 1$ is worth about 2¢ these days.

BYTEMITE

Saturday, February 8, 2014 12:32 AM

Quote:
About the only fuzzy area in his logic is being OK with taking from the alliance. Theft from a crook is still theft.

In this regards, Mal is both worse than and better than it initially appears.

There is a sort of moral greyness in continuing to rebel via crime - steal from the Alliance or slavers, and the people who will get hurt will be Rim citizens and the slaves. Plus Mal often ends up stealing from local proxies of the Alliance as opposed to directly.

At the same time, there's sort of extenuating circumstances here, in that the Alliance has basically taken EVERYTHING from Mal. If you steal from the people who stole from you, well it's not exactly taking the moral high ground sure, but is it WRONG?

And what about theft of information, say something along the lines of Miranda. Still wrong?

What about revenge on someone who just committed an atrocity murdering an entire settlement via bombardment? Is that wrong?

Also, Wash isn't always being entirely fair to Mal. In the Train Job, Mal stole medicines from the Alliance, and then gave it to the people who needed the medicine (admittedly, the medicine was intended for them, but he still technically stole from the Alliance, not them) when he found out their situation.

If it was really more about selling to the poor than doing the right thing, he wouldn't have had that crisis of conscience. There's also the time when Mal ran off bandits on Triumph apparently pro-bono, or offering to help Inara's friend free-of-charge (which she refuses).

DICKKING

Saturday, February 8, 2014 5:58 AM

Yep, nothing I disagree with there. A bit of an enigma in some areas. "A man of honor in a den of thieves ..." without a fine hat.
I still have a bit of an OCD issue going with this show this month. Think I'll tackle the fan fiction section next. Hopefully that'll get me through the withdrawal.
:)

BYTEMITE

Thursday, February 13, 2014 12:53 AM

Just remember, Mal's less progressive attitudes have to come from somewhere.

We know he was raised christian. He doesn't appear to have any problems with people being gay, or non-traditional gender roles, but there do appear to be some limitations on his thinking that probably result from his upbringing.

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, April 24, 2014 8:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Just remember, Mal's less progressive attitudes have to come from somewhere.

We know he was raised christian. He doesn't appear to have any problems with people being gay, or non-traditional gender roles, but there do appear to be some limitations on his thinking that probably result from his upbringing.

I've recently watched "Winter's Bone" and Jennifer Lawrence's character is pretty much my image of Mal's mom. Boom. She is very, very much like Mal, with different struggles but a very similar way of showing love or breaking through her own limits to "get things done". I find it hard now, to imagine Mal growing up in context that is very different from that movie's, i.e. a verrry rugged, corrupt and imperfect place that bred fierce independence because of how shit it was, rather than out of deep philosophical thought.

The main difference being that Mal, growing up, must have been well-off enough to be able to idealize such a society, they would have had to be reasonably comfortable to keep 40 ranch hands, right? And while he likes protecting the helpless, he doesn't strike me as someone who can truly identify with them.

Considering how much of an issue Mal has with men, I'm verrrry certain his father was a dead-beat and he probably never met him.

Anyway. It's a great movie and clicked into the Firefly area of my brain.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Saturday, April 26, 2014 1:26 AM

I never got the impression Mal's dad was an abandonment situtation.
Mal's hatred for the Alliance burns strong largely because they destroyed his home planet, and apparently his mom somewhere along the way.

THGRRI

Thursday, March 24, 2016 1:39 AM

Originally posted by ebfiddler:

Well, Bytemite, you know what my backstory for Mal is, and I suppose anyone who's been reading Light and Shadow knows some of it, too.

Of course, there's lots of room for others to think differently, but here's my headcanon, with a few supporting pieces of evidence:

Rich/poor: Definitely well-off. It's said that Mal's mother had about 40 hands working on her ranch. This would be an operation of substantial size, as there are plenty of large ranches in the western US with fewer than 10 employees. Might not have been cash-wealthy, but this was no subsistence farm.

Core/Rim: Mal's mother came from the Core (to teach English on Shadow, a kind of "Teach for America" program) and took to life on Shadow like a duck to water, and decided to stay. Hence the poetry in Mal's educational background. Mal's father was a native of Shadow.

Father: Dead. Not deadbeat, runaway, or abusive, but died in tragic circumstances that affected Mal's life pretty profoundly.

Happy/unhappy: Mal's early life was happy, until the above-mentioned tragedy struck; and then even still, he was still upbeat, until the rug was pulled from under him at Serenity Valley and brought everything crashing down with it. It's more of a fall if he was not already closed-off and cynical beforehand, more of a shock, from which he takes longer to recover, if he even can.

Anyway, that's my headcanon. I'm curious to see what other people think!

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