Reaver culture and American football
POSTED BY: gohm
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 07:27
VIEWED: 5310
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I was thinking about the Reavers...
The only time we actually see the Reavers is in the BDM, and then they're utterly bonkers. Not only are they not the prettiest of boys (all we see are males), not only do we not hear them speak (we hear growling and screaming), but they're also more than a little thick. The Reavers eagerly run into gunfire, and later fight River hand-to-hand (plus, sword-to-head) tactics instead of just shooting her. In short, they seem like armed, rabid dogs.
However, we've seen them operate spaceship, navigate between planets, use ingenious weaponry, etc. In 'Bushwacked', the Reavers set up a very clever trap that no doubt required some creative engineering. And, of course, they need to have some social structure to co-exist on spaceships between raids.
So, how we reconcile our Reaver dichotomy? Perhaps they can operate like a really angry American football team (brutal, hyper macho, yet organized) most of the time. Like a football team, perhaps Reaver culture glorifies strength, cunning and disregard for pain. To those unfamilar with the sport, it'll appear brutal and barbaric at first viewing. For those well versed in the sport's strategies, it's extraordinarily complex.
I've read interviews with football players in which they speak of the practices and training before a game as something to be tolerated to reach the violent release of the game on Sunday. Maybe the Reavers spend their week cutting themselves, sharpening their teeth and patching together their ships just enough so they can have the opportunity for their barbarism on the weekend.
I shudder to think of Reaver cheerleaders.
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Interesting analogy.
Various fans have offered explanations of the Reaver paradox. Perhaps the vampire model is appropriate. We don't see vampires sucking each others' blood, do we?
Maybe the Pax causes some biological need for non-Reaver flesh that must be satisfied from time to time, and that leads to a feeding frenzy. Between smorgasbords, the Reavers can deal with each other in a relatively sane fashion.
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I'm pointin' right at it!
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Don't bad mouth American Football Frenchie. It is called the NFL. Its a privilage to grow up here part of our culture is boy scouts and football a way life. Then we grow up to join Patton's Third Army to knock the snot out of hitler youth. We are 10 and 1 in the history polls. Reavers and muslims you might have a dog gone point. Why don't you go put gravy on your fries uhhh. On the day of Monday Night Football are ya ready.
I like smacken em.
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Quote:
Originally posted by gohm:I shudder to think of Reaver cheerleaders.
...gyrating about to the strains of "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie...
...Actually, "The (insert town/city name here) Reavers" would make a good name for an American football team... just trying to imagine the looks on the opposing teams faces as they go out onto the field...
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Reaver cheerleaders...
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For some time now I`ve had the suspicion that there was a huge untold story about Reaver background.
The Pax and Miranda were I think, probably a simplification Joss came up with for the BDM rather than something that was around from the beginning, at least in the form they appear in the screenplay.
What little we learned about them from Firefly was most likely intended to be of the `what everybody knows` variety rather than accurate information. Laying the groundwork for more elaborate Reaver plotlines later.
Sadly, I doubt we will ever find out for sure.
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Flight Instructor: Son, know what the first rule of flying is?
Me: Don`t crash? 
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Ever heard of chem trails.
I mean anyone we can't spare.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rabbit2:
The Pax and Miranda were I think, probably a simplification Joss came up with for the BDM rather than something that was around from the beginning, at least in the form they appear in the screenplay.
One thing that bugs me... Why did they test the Pax on the whole population? Surely you'd want to test it in the laboratory first...
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Miranda was the lab. Furthest planet on the rim. Had a void of space between it and other rim planets. Way away from the border and core. Perfect, kinda like New Mexico. Why go there. Elitist run the alliance absolute power corrupts ablsolutely. Sorta like Mickey Dees and Coke. Pizza Hut and Pepsi. They all crushed Burger Chef awesome 70's chain.
Jayne were robbing the place not occupying it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cruithne3753:
One thing that bugs me... Why did they test the Pax on the whole population? Surely you'd want to test it in the laboratory first...
Good question. Maybe they did and had no problems. It's just when they scaled things up and had 20 million pax-dosed people interacting with each other that problems showed up.
Not sure how that would work, but it's the best explaination I could think of.
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