Serenity strikes a blow for conservatism!

POSTED BY: Blinker
UPDATED: Friday, June 9, 2006 07:31
VIEWED: 19576
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THEPLAGUE

Friday, February 24, 2006 4:03 AM

I think whoever posted before that FF/Serenity are more about "human values" than trying to enshrine any particular political ideology, was spot on.

Some of the characters do seem to have anarchistic/libertarian leanings, whilst others seem to have the exact opposite. At no time, to my knowledge, is there a judgement presented on which of these views is "right".

-------------------------------
Are these our lives? NNNOOOOOO!!!

AURAPTOR

Friday, February 24, 2006 12:12 PM

Quote:
Nope... Just means you have bad taste in games and game devices. :P

You're just jealous :P I understand.

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

BREWSKI

Friday, March 17, 2006 5:44 AM

Firefly/Serenity are at it's heart a character-driven piece. Each character essentially symbolizes a type of person you or I might find in daily life. This means that each character may have traits which might be called "conservative, liberal, libertarian, populist." However, overall the tone of any great TV series is decidedly neutral and is probably set that way simply because that's what makes the $$$$.

If you hadn't noticed, there was very little mention of politics in general within Firefly/Serenity. It was all based on a personal level, and perhaps it's that disconnect which is more refreshing to me. I hate Sci-Fi that gets mired in politics too much. politics

And if anything, the Alliance could most closely be related to Facism or Utopianism than any type of government philosophy we see here today.

______________________________________________________
"He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man and gave him what for.
Our love for him now ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton the man they call Jayne!

http://boxofficebrewery.com

BREWSKI

Friday, March 17, 2006 5:44 AM

Firefly/Serenity are at it's heart a character-driven piece. Each character essentially symbolizes a type of person you or I might find in daily life. This means that each character may have traits which might be called "conservative, liberal, libertarian, populist." However, overall the tone of any great TV series is decidedly neutral and is probably set that way simply because that's what makes the $$$$.

If you hadn't noticed, there was very little mention of politics in general within Firefly/Serenity. It was all based on a personal level, and perhaps it's that disconnect which is more refreshing to me. I hate Sci-Fi that gets mired in politics too much. politics

And if anything, the Alliance could most closely be related to Facism or Utopianism than any type of government philosophy we see here today.

______________________________________________________
"He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man and gave him what for.
Our love for him now ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton the man they call Jayne!

http://boxofficebrewery.com

FREERADICAL42

Friday, March 17, 2006 6:24 AM

This whole discussion's pretty funny.

Part of the point of Firefly's 'verse is that when we left Earth-that-Was, we left behind all the political divisions that we had before, tradding 'em in for new ones.

In that world, we're all just folk now.

"See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with, long as she does it quiet-like."

NYTEGAUNT

Sunday, April 9, 2006 6:06 PM

"Keep on walking, preacher man."

ROCKETJOCK

Sunday, April 9, 2006 6:43 PM

I'm a Libertarian, so I tend to see a libertarian message in Firefly, but that's far from the only way to see it.

This all reminds me of a scene from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's novel Inferno, a modern-dress retelling of Dante's Divine Comedy; in it a man from modern America is traveling downward across the bolgias, looking for the path to Purgatory that lies at Hell's center. En route, he keeps running into contemporary Americans, and remarks about this to his traveling companions (Benito Musolini and Billy The Kid). Il Duche notes that he's encountered an awful lot of Italians on his own journeys. Billy responds "A man tends to notice his own kind."

As it is in Hell, so it is in the 'verse.

"You can't enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him." -- Robert A. Heinlein

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 7:38 PM

Sorry,

Lord of the Rings was written during WW11 and PUBLISHED in the 50's.

Nathan doesn't know it yet, but I am his one true love! Is that weird?
(he will believe, he will believe)

ARABIKUM

Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FutureMrsFIllion:
Sorry,

Lord of the Rings was written during WW11 and PUBLISHED in the 50's.

Nathan doesn't know it yet, but I am his one true love! Is that weird?
(he will believe, he will believe)

WOW. World War 11 !! I have to get back to my Cryo-Chamber. Too early...

A.

"Oh Dragonbreth! Gilthorpial!" he yodeled, waving his cleaver around like a madman. He lunged at the nearest wraith with his unwieldly sword. "Banzai!" he screamed. "No quarter asked or given! Dam* the torpedoes" Taking a vicious swipe, Stomper missed his mark by a good yard and tripped on his scabbard.

ARABIKUM

Thursday, April 13, 2006 8:37 AM

I wish my English would be better, but I try anyway. I believe the Western-Genre itself is pretty pretty conservative. Which is precisely the reason, why Joss chose that genre to be a vital part of Firefly. The Alliance is either a dictatorship or on a good way, to become one (not sure about that), which is the ultimate extreme of conservatism. A dictatorship means to me, that individuality doesn´t exist anymore. Therefore I believe the crew IS liberal or stands for liberal values, because they are fully individual. Jayne is Mercenary who´s working for those, who pay best. Not a conservative value. Kaylee is behind every man not engaged in a relationship. Not a conservative value. Inara? Well, you know yourself. And so on.

Joss is definitely not a conservative. I remember him saying, he wants to take G.W.B. on an island for having something to eat. So, why did he chose this western-setting?! Because the result of intelligently hurting those unwritten genre-laws is FUN. You EXPECT Western to be conservative. If it´s not, you´re puzzled and if done right, you gain some very very cool moments. Which Firefly has, of course.

The best way to critizise something is to make fun of those things, that are associated with it. That´s my understanding. What is so great about firefly is, that other people have another view of what it´s about. Isn´t that great?!

A.

"Oh Dragonbreth! Gilthorpial!" he yodeled, waving his cleaver around like a madman. He lunged at the nearest wraith with his unwieldly sword. "Banzai!" he screamed. "No quarter asked or given! Dam* the torpedoes" Taking a vicious swipe, Stomper missed his mark by a good yard and tripped on his scabbard.

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