On Mal's "personality change" in the movie (**MOVIE SPOILERS**)
POSTED BY: Kizyr
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 5, 2005 07:08
VIEWED: 5847
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Ok, obviously I'm seeing this differently than everyone else here.
Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds was a guy who kissed crosses and made speeches about righteous victory. He was not a dark person.
If we try to trace the "darker Mal" to his origin it was in Serenity Valley that he came into existence, from what we know of the war that was really where the Browncoats lost (though not where the war actually ended), it was their Gettysburg.
That means that Sergeant Reynolds would be mostly from before Serenity, making him the lighter faith filled Mal.
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I think that, following the battle of Serenity Valley, Sgt. Reynolds no longer includes the hopeful, faith-filled, inspiring Mal. Instead, Sgt. Reynolds is left with his military seriousness, his single-minded focus, and his utter dedication to his cause.
Compare Sgt. Reynolds from the beginning of the pilot episode Serenity from the "St. Crispin's Day speech" in Serenity. In both, he's utterly dedicated to his cause and trying his best to get his troops to go along with him. However, instead of telling jokes and bucking up his troops with witty banter, he very seriously tells them that it is time to stand up and misbehave.
It's the new and...well, maybe not improved, but different, Sgt. Reynolds.
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The only thing that Mal really loses at Serenity Valley is his faith (faith in God and faith in general).
Take my love
Take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care
I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell 'em I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me
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Quote:
Originally posted by jake7:
Judging by the OB, I must be really weird or something, because I LOVED the darker Mal.
Don't get me wrong... I loved the portrayal of the darker Mal. I thought it was incredible and enlightening.
But I hated it. On a personal, subjective level. Though, I hated it because I knew the Operative intentionally brought that aspect of Mal out, and I hated the Operative with a passion. Hell at the end of the movie, I was wishing Mal kept to his darker side and killed the Op instead of giving him the chance to walk away.
Great characterization... and that's an understatement. I'm not used to characters eliciting this level of an emotional response from me. KF
~Kaiser Farooque
ZOE: Preacher, don’t the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?
BOOK: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps...
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Lots and lots of stress, not just from the lack of jobs. I'm thinking that there was a lot of conflicts within the crew after Book and Inara left, especially with Simon/River since Inara and Book were always on Simon and River's side and they always took care of River when the rest of the crew were away. Without Inara and Book, Kaylee would have been the only one to take care of River when Simon has to patch someone up but she has a job to do as well so there could have been a lot of incidents involving River that would have pissed Mal off.
"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam
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