Mal lost his faith...

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Monday, May 16, 2005 21:36
VIEWED: 6993
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CHRISISALL

Sunday, May 15, 2005 2:49 AM

Oh, definitly. Jayne must've had a bad childhood, never feelin' part of anything. Serenity was the only thing between him and a lonely grave, and he's beginnin' to understand that. He has a 'family', for the first time. I really like that character. Heck, there's no character or actor that I don't like on that show. Mal is saving Jayne as much or more than the crew is saving Mal. It really is a show about family and bonds, loyalty and redemption.

Family guy Chrisisall

SHINYMOM

Monday, May 16, 2005 12:06 PM

The notion that Jayne has no family, or had a bad childhood seems to me is dispelled in The Message. Jayne gets that package from his mother who made him the cunning hat. "Oooh, enclosed!" Jayne says upon reading the letter. He also has a little brother who has been sick, and he's been sending money home. Maybe the family that the crew of Firefly is/is becoming reminds Jayne of what he once had as a child , and still has when time and opportunity remind him of it. I think life has been pretty rough for Jayne since he left home, possibly at much too early an age. Hhad the show not been canceled, we probably would have been granted a closer look into Jayne's life, perhaps like the flashbacks of Simon and River's childhoods.

ShinyMom

"Chow's in ten...no need to dress."

MANWITHPEZ

Monday, May 16, 2005 1:08 PM

I think Jayne may have had a stern authority figure in his father. The only mention made of Jayne's father is in Ariel..."My daddy always said someone that can't find work ain't lookin' hard enough."

Which brings me to this...Jayne seems to be very rooted in his senses. If its money, or the gain of money or comfort or sex or food, then Jayne is all about it. But, here is the essential paradox of Jayne Cobb. He enjoys these things mightily, but can you think another character that enjoyed these things so thoroughly who worked as hard for them as Jayne does? Jayne is almost a bachannalian character, but he's not lazy, and I appreciate that. Its refreshing to see someone who revels in the flesh (so to speak) who's not portrayed as a shiftless layabout.

You know, I'm not sure that they mention a brother in The Message, though, they mention someone who seems to be living with his mother named Maggie, more than likely, a sibling. You know, it could be a little brother...Anyone who would name their son Jayne, may name a brother Maggie...Never thought of it before.

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

XENOCIDE

Monday, May 16, 2005 2:11 PM

I think that Mal's faith ties into the whole "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do" theme.

For Mal, if there is a god, then he is certainly not on friendly terms. Mal has the sam problem many faithful have always had... Why do bad things happen to good and righteous people? Why does justice fail and totalitarianism prevail?

If there is no universal good, no god, for Mal then all that matters is how he acquits himself of his responsibility. If meeting his responsibility to his crew meat putting Jayne out the airlock as red paste then he wowuld do it. It was Jayne's conscience that saved him... that glimmer of redemption that Mal felt a respnsibility to honor was all that saved him. Mal does the job and he gets paid. He is all about honoring some carefully ranked hierarchy of unspoken and spoken commitments.

-Eli

If voting mattered, they'd make it illegal.
www.civil-unrest.com

CHRISISALL

Monday, May 16, 2005 7:19 PM

I meant that he had no family figurativly, like none he could share his troubles or adventures with. And his daddy sounds he was a harsh dude.
I should have said the crew was his 'new' family, I guess. He missed somethin' somewhere, 'cause the notion of loyalty is something new to him, and I think he's warmin' up to it.
We'll see in the BDM.

Ain't no 'sycologist Chrisisall

WEICHI

Monday, May 16, 2005 8:25 PM

Ok, this is my first post, but I had to jump in because I was just talking to a friend about the Jayne - airlock scene in "Ariel". Most of the comments have been very insightful, here are my two cents.

First, Mal lost his faith in the War, and it is unclear to me how much of a grounding he still has in basic right and wrong. What grounding he does have, and what faith remains, is a belief in caring about folk that care back. This is what he says to Saffron to explain how he comes out on top.

So, he and Zoe are totally tight, Kaylee shares his love for the ship. The rest of his relationships are conditional - Wash he needs, and he knows Wash cares for Zoe. Simon's caring for his sister impacts him, and, because he cares and is responsible for the folk on the ship, he needs him. Book starts out as just a fare - and this is the character we still need to know more about. Inara has her ambassador function, and functions at other levels for Mal. River only joins the family in "Objects"

Jayne he signs on purely out of necessity. I believe he is completly ready to kill Jayne, Jayne intentionally brought the alliance down on the family. Jayne is not saved by concience, or by showing his guilt but by showing he CARES ABOUT THE OTHERS - or at least what they think. Jayne gives up on his own life, but he does not want the rest to know what he did. I think you can see that this surprises Mal, great acting on both of their parts.

WEICHI

CHRISISALL

Monday, May 16, 2005 9:36 PM

weichi, good first post. Agree completly.
I am currently watching Buffy S2 for the first time, and I see where Joss honed his skills. But Firefly is way better!

Jayne Cobb, he's my man, if he can't do it, Vera can Chrisisall

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