I have a bone to pick about Firefly

POSTED BY: Lunatique
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 02:56
VIEWED: 8805
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LUNATIQUE

Friday, April 1, 2005 5:21 AM

First of all, I am a huge Joss Whedon fan. I'm a creator/writer myself, and I think Joss is one of the most talented guys working in entertainment.

My bone is this:

Although Firefly is absolutely my favorite from Joss, there's always something that bugged me about it.

Firefly is a universe where everyone speaks Chinese, regardless of their race/cultural background, and Asian culture has completely merged with their contemporary society. So why is it that none of the main/supporting characters are Chinese or straight Asian? Sure, some are supposed to kinda-look Asian-ish, but not enough so to actually be one.

REGINAROADIE

Friday, April 1, 2005 5:31 AM

Well, if I remember correctly, the borderpeople Mal and Wash do the trade with in WAR STORIES look very much like Mongolians (a group from Asia). And seeing as how they were only 14 eps made, the show was probably in that transitional phase from what the show started out to what the show became during the long run. So that problem you had probably would've corrected itself.

I dunno. It's not a big problem for me. Since this is more of a sci-fi WESTERN as opposed to something purely Chinese, I'd be more concerned if they got the western (as a genre) aspect of it right as opposed to the Anglo/Chinese angle.

Besides, would you want any of the crew to be replaced by a clone of Ensign Kim?

"NO HAI ES BANDAI. THERE IS....NO.....BAND. AND YET....WE HEAR A BAND."

VETERAN

Friday, April 1, 2005 5:55 AM

Good point. Guess even a gem like Firefly can have a hole.

SLOWSMURF

Friday, April 1, 2005 7:24 AM

Personally I'd assume he wrote it primarily ignoring race and cast whoever he found.

Most of the characters would work as any race.

TLACOOK

Friday, April 1, 2005 8:21 AM

Joss was asked this question at Wonder Con (or maybe it was Wizard world. I go to too many cons.).

He said that all roles were open to all races and he just took the best actors. I can't in a million years think that Joss (who renamed himself with a Chinese word) would have purposefully limited his creations to certain races. He simply did no gratuitous casting.

LUNATIQUE

Friday, April 1, 2005 8:40 AM

Good points.

I didn't know he renamed himself. What's that all about?

TLACOOK

Friday, April 1, 2005 8:52 AM

His given name was not Joss (which means Luck in Chinese). Others probably know the details better than I.

LUNATIQUE

Friday, April 1, 2005 9:02 AM

I'm 100% percent fluent in Mandarin, and my wife is in Cantonese. Joss sounds nothing like "luck" in both dialects--unless he used some other dialect--which is extremely unlikely because he barely understands the difference and significance between Cantonese and Mandarin based on his past interviews.

WHOISRIVER

Friday, April 1, 2005 9:03 AM

I'm not 110% sure, but I believe there's a few Asian folk visible in Serenity (the upcoming Firefly movie) -- particularly in a bar sequence on a border planet.

ZOOT

Friday, April 1, 2005 9:56 AM

Oddly enough that's something that has been bugging me as well, Lunatique . . .

Would also expect there to be more mixed races due to general melting-potness (If I can coin words randomly) . . .

Okay, I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm
armed.

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