Mal and his people are just low-life thieves...
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 14:32
VIEWED: 39973
PAGE 1 of 17
...I've heard it said by some.
I feel Mal and co. are survivors; they don't steal from regular folk, or endanger lives. They nibble off the edge of the Alliance to live. They definitly ain't getting rich stealin' and such. Plenty ways to get wealthy in the 'Verse if you got no morals...
Thoughts?
Chrisisall, Alliance Historian
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
"The war's long done. We're all just folk now."
Mal
Folk indeed. Our crew are just scraping by, like so many of us folks out here. Their ways of doin' it just be a little more colorful than ours!
I'd not hold it against 'em if they really stuck it to the Alliance and made out real well.
Besides our crew has morals... they watch out as Mal says " for me and mine". Doesn't preclude them from doin' "good works."
My Mama taught me to always share with others, but charity starts at home. You ain't gonna be able to help others, if you're down and out yourself.
" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I've heard from some right on this board that Mal is someone you wouldn't want to know in real life, that he's cold and hard, and that no matter how entertaining Serenity/Firefly is, we're basically rooting for crooks.
I don't hold with that.
I think they're Big Damn Heroes, as much as their existence allows them to be.
Like the best in us sometimes has to be.
Chrisisall, pattin' us Browncoats on the back a little
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I don't think the crew is targeting the Alliance every time they do a job, it's just that the Alliance has its fingers in so many pies that it's hard to steal something that doesn't belong to them.
What about the laceter(sp?) in "Trash"? That guy may have been rich, but I don't recall him having any official connection to the Alliance.
What about the payroll at the beginning of the movie? If I recall, the connection to the Alliance there was pretty loose.
I'm actually one of those who would call the crew a bunch of low-down petty thieves; and I'd say it with pride. Mal isn't Robin Hood. These people aren't heroes. They're just trying to live free. I think of them as pirates, and that's what makes them unique. It's one of my favorite things about the show that the characters are complex and imperfect. Anti-heroes, if you like the term.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
They do what they have to in order to survive. However there is a line they will not cross that others will.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by PrincessRohannen:
I think of them as pirates, Anti-heroes, if you like the term.
Right on. You saved me from saying it.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by StyrofoamGuy:
They do what they have to in order to survive. However there is a line they will not cross that others will.
I think I may agree with you, but I wonder if you can put that line into words?
Will they stop at killing? Nope. Crossed that line a few times right in the pilot, and in several episodes after that.
They certainly won't refrain from stealing from the innocent dead (Bushwhacked).
I wonder exactly where that line is?
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Id say that line is smack dab in the middle of The Train Job. Returning the medical supplies to those in need, and knowing full well the repercussions from Niske...
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I don't hold with that, either!
Our crew are not crooks. They are living life within the boundaries that they have. What is it Mal says...."The way it is, is the way it is."
Some folks haven't ever had to suffer ( war, strife, loss of home and family, hunger, loss of health), and I reckon their take on what is considered crooked or not might be a little different. If your children ( your crew) are hungry and you live on the raggedy edge, aren't you going to risk much to make sure they are taken care of? My Mom and Dad grew up during the depression, and they've told me tales of what people had to do to survive.
It's really easy to brand people crooks and brigands when you are comfortable and well fed, but when life is rough ( a rough most folks where I'm from have never seen) the rules change.
Joss wrote Firefly after reading " The Killer Angels". From what I've read, he based life in the 'verse on the rebuilding of things after a devastating war. Our crew is not living the fat life on one of the core planets. They are "in the black", that makes the take a little different.
Whew, what a rant I went off on... but I stand on my opinion. Our crew are BDH's, shaped by their times and I'm proud to admire them. I would want to know them in real life.
" You hold. Hold til I get back." Mal
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Causing harm to (living) innocents would seem to cross that line to me.
If the term 'pirate' is applicable to them, you must use it in the most fanciful sense though, like in 'Pirates of the Carribean', wherein not all pirates are out to loot and kill everyone.
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun Chrisisall
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME