Jayne not being a bad guy

POSTED BY: Kaele
UPDATED: Saturday, February 4, 2006 17:12
VIEWED: 5241
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ASARIAN

Friday, February 3, 2006 12:56 PM

Jayne, the character, is very entertaining, and a veritable source of some of the funniest lines in the movie/series. But I am still in shock over what he did to River. I get why the person Jayne would do such a thing; it's really just ... unfathomable. I understand; I don't comprehend.

"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam.

CAPTKAR

Friday, February 3, 2006 11:13 PM

The character of Jayne is a very tough one to associate. Jayne has many times when he has a billy-bad-a$$ thing going on.

1) The bar fight (the train job) when he isnt going to do anythin the help the captain, and all of the sudden hes beating up three guys.
2) In War Stories when he and Zoe almost single hanndedly storm the station.
3) In the pilot when he plays the role as a sniper and takes out i think 3 guys with the rifle.

But here are also times when you can see a sensitive side to him, and genuine concern.

1) In Ariel number one because of his regret for calling the feds so he tells Mal to "make something up, don't tell 'em what I did.
2) In the pilot when Kaylee gets shot and you can se him hunched down to check on Kaylee.
3) In The Message when he asks the sheperd if he is bieng to loud for him to pray over the body, and telling the sheperd that the lord outta look after the dead.

But most of the time he just shows all balls no brain and a complete face of stupidity like on the pilot when he wants to shoot Badger even though he has 4 guns on him at the time.

With all this in mind its hard to pin a certain role to Jayne. He could be the dumb muscle of the group. He could be the soft hearted brute. Or he could just be the Jayne we all know and some of us love.

In my opinion it's too hard to classify Jayne so im not going to try to, but maybe with these items you could put togethor a better character description.

What would yall say based on my post?

-When you can't run you crawl, and when you can't crawl you find someone to carry you-

GUTTERBALL

Saturday, February 4, 2006 12:30 AM

Jayne is just...Jayne.

He's neither stupid nor overburdened with intelligence. He sometimes acts before thinking, yes, but he always shows genuine regret afterward and beats himself up as badly as anyone else if things go south.

Sure, he sometimes messes with his crew, but God help anyone else who does. You notice that, while he was willing to turn River over after she'd slashed right through him, his reasons to Mal in the infirmary were actually pretty sound -- ie., what if River came after Kaylee or Inara while in "a murderin' mood"?

In all, he's too original a character to be "the bad good guy" or "the loveable dope" or "the musclehead". He's a mercenary, and you gotta know what you're getting when you hire on a mercenary. You get someone who is as loyal as money can buy.

And Jayne? Well, he's a little more loyal than that.

Remember in the BDM when Mal and Zoe are quietly arguing about whether they should have taken that guy with them when the Reavers interrupted their payroll heist? Mal talks about a "crew that ain't been paid" in his list of reasons why they couldn't drop the payload.

If Jayne ain't been paid but is still around...well...you do the math. 10% of nothin' is, after all, NOTHIN'.

________________________________________

Please remember that the 9:30 show is completely different from the 7:30 show. Don't forget to tip your waitress.

ASARIAN

Saturday, February 4, 2006 8:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by GutterBall:

You notice that, while he was willing to turn River over after she'd slashed right through him, his reasons to Mal in the infirmary were actually pretty sound -- ie., what if River came after Kaylee or Inara while in "a murderin' mood"?

Hey, what can I say? He looks better in red! :)

Quote:
If Jayne ain't been paid but is still around...well...you do the math. 10% of nothin' is, after all, NOTHIN'.

Yeah, I know; you can't do a whole show about nothin' (only Seinfeld can pull that off.) But, it's River, you know? You can't just sell River, well, down the river. :) Now somethin' about that is just downright unsettlin'.

But okay, your observations about Jayne -- my personal obsession with River notwithstanding -- are actually pretty keen.

"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam.

HORRID

Saturday, February 4, 2006 1:03 PM

theres also the fact that he sends alot of his money to his Mom to help out.

I just finished watching the movie again and one thing I noticed was when Jayne goes to get River when she's locked up. it seemed like river might have psychically planted that suggestion in his mind. cos she's in the little room realises what miranda is and that she needs to get to the bridge and all of a sudden as jaynes just screwing around in the kitchen the need to open the door and get her off the boat seems to just come over him like a wave. might be reading too much into it but just a thought

GUTTERBALL

Saturday, February 4, 2006 3:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
Hey, what can I say? He looks better in red! :)

*blinks* He can look BETTER?? Ha!

Quote:
But okay, your observations about Jayne -- my personal obsession with River notwithstanding -- are actually pretty keen.

Now that was downright gracious! I must admit that my "keen" observations probably spring from the fact that I adore the big lug beyond all reason.

I have a soft spot in my otherwise diamond-hard heart for big guys who name their big guns and find comfort in the fact that they might be the only survivor of a bloody excursion.

What can I say? I love a muscle-bound mercenary!

________________________________________

Please remember that the 9:30 show is completely different from the 7:30 show. Don't forget to tip your waitress.

FILTER

Saturday, February 4, 2006 4:47 PM

The thing that makes Jayne a great character is his unpredictability. You never know if he is going to turn on you or save your life, or both. He has some of the funniest lines in the show, and actually, almost every line he has is covered in a humorous tone. Such as in the movie when Mal takes River back on the ship after she kicks everybody's butt. Jayne askes what they are still doing on the ship...didn't they have an intricate plan on how they weren't going to be there.....hahahahah. makes me laugh every time.

Filter

FILTER

Saturday, February 4, 2006 4:50 PM

Another great Jayne moment is when he is in the cargo hold with Kaylee during Serenity and he reflects on what it would take for him to kill a man...he says I'd kill a man if....i got paid...etc. Basically, he'd kill a man for almost anything....but would he?

Filter

CHRISTHECYNIC

Saturday, February 4, 2006 5:04 PM

There are a lot of examples, but one that I think is overlooked is in Serenity (the episode) when he says the money wasn't good enough to betray Mal.

Now we know that Jayne will turn on people for an extra 3 percent and his own room. We know that he'll throw his partner out of a ship before he gives up money.

In Serenity he is offered enough to buy his own ship, and he doesn't betray Mal. If that much wasn't good enough no amount will ever be.

If you watch Jayne is a believer in family. Mal, Zoe, Wash, and Kaylee are all family. He could have just as easily turned over Mal and Zoe along with Simon and River and probably would have gotten a bigger reward for catching the acomplaces, but he didn't.

However at the same time he is not a nice guy, most of the time. He new River was innocent, he knew she would be torutured, and he was even moved by it, yet he still turned her over.

I think his top two priorities are those who he considers part of the crew and money, in that order, and all else is secondary. Morality is one of those things almost always.

For example in The Train Job, when he says that maybe they'll come back for Mal and Zoe you know he means that they will, just that they're going to do it after they finsh the job. (Thus making sure they don't make meatpies out of the lot of them.)

At the same time, after I said morality is one of those things, Jayne isn't just the first one to say that Mal is right they and should risk almost certain death to do something right. He is also the one who asks, "You suppose he got through, you think Mal got the word out?"

He's the one who thought it was wrong to manipluate the Mudders, though that was in large part pride, and he clearly would have rather died in the place of the mudder, someone he didn't even know.

-

Jayne isn't a good person, but he is the kind of person that will watch over Kaylee though the infirmary window, send money back home to mom, and check the straps on everyone.

CHRISTHECYNIC

Saturday, February 4, 2006 5:04 PM

I think there is something wrong with my mouse because I'm fairly sure I only clicked it once.

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