Firefly River vs. Serenity River : fanfic portrayal
POSTED BY: EmpireX
UPDATED: Thursday, March 8, 2007 02:01
VIEWED: 30380
PAGE 8 of 10
I'll add another blatant plug for your fics and raise you a mental visual.
Mal realizes what he's thinking and immediately starts looking around for a wire brush (to scrub out the inside of his head for having those thoughts).
"Wait..what am I THINKING??!!!"
Okay, what he does for amusement in his own head is one thing....what he does with his body needs to square with his code of ethics.
(... you could always put him through so much he starts crunching new code...)
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That's pretty much a large part of the next story arc right there. 
See, I think the best angst comes from the little everyday things.
Just watch that last scene in Serenity again. Or the last interaction between Mal and River in OiS. As has been pointed out, up until then, he's barely spoken directly to her (except the panicked endearments when he tries to get her to put the gun down at the beginning of the episode.) But there is a real connection forming there - and it is Love, the sense of family and belonging. And I'm sorry, but I never got any sense of a connection forming between Jayne and River at any point in the series or the BDM. (I've watched 'em a few times over, shall we say.)
I am going to have me so much fun...(evil Minear-like laughter)
And of course, Inara is going to have a cow (oops, there they are again...)
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Leave the arcing to Joss!
Joss clearly states in the Director's comments that Mal is "teaching" River (an underage girl) a life lesson and uses the piloting metaphor to speak on the nature of love. Misinterpretation of this scene sullies its' beauty and Joss' words.
Justifiying using it as a springboard for a future romantic(sexual) relationship in fan created fiction is misguided because it compromises the growing trust between two of your main characters.
Please don't beg for comments. You already have mine.
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Please go read her fics before assuming anything about what she's likely to do.
Hers is an evil laugh and a twisty mind that makes you think you're going one place only to find yourself somewhere else. You usually do not see it coming, but when you go back you can see where she laid the trap all subtle like.
She's more likely to beat up on Mal 'cause it's fun to Cap'n bash. I'm pretty sure River is sacrosanct (more or less) until she's feeling all better.
But I could be wrong..
I've got River going with a younger boy, though she did make a pass at Jayne just to see what would happen. He got to show a bit of moral fiber, and be terribly discomfited at the same time. Jayne turned down trim. No, really!
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Actually, I've read some of the above mentioned writer's fic posts and enjoyed them and left comments.
Give me a chance to clarify. The relationshp between Mal and River is one that is dear to my heart (I'm a parent of a teenage daughter) and I love the direction Joss was going with them post movie (as I see it as a daddy/daughter relation, remember Lil' Albatross) as much as I love Inara's journey in to teaching. After my own heart... are ya Joss?
We all agree that they are "family". Saying as much, any implication that they are destine for a sexual encounter or relationship beyond a teenage crush loses its luster as anything I would be interested in reading.
Writers can write what ever they want, but if they want to be taken seriously by their intended audience (thinking breathing fans of Joss' verse) they need to challenge themselves to go beyond current standards of poorly confluented popular media writings that often include serial bedhopping. The Forty Year Old Virgin writers actually poked fun at these practices with great success.
Fiction is the hardest writing genre a writer attempts. It takes drawing from personal life experiences to create fleshed out characters within a well developed plot. We can only assume that a big part of River's character growth will be sexual (she has heightened awareness after all, LOL) but to portray every male character on and off the boat as lusting after her innocent virginity in the guise of jealousy for her affections is creepy and lecherous at best, especially for Mal because it is out of character. The Captain has a strange sense of nobility and after all he is in love with someone else regardless if it works in your AU.
As an English teacher, nothing burns me as much as young talented writers that portray every relationship between male and female characters as a potential pairing. It's the easy way out. The adolescent angsty soap opera. From an audience's viewpoint, it is far more interesting for characters to develop relationships not based on preconceived gender orientation, ie Mal and Zoe or Wash and Kaylee. It keeps us guessing!
There are numerous themes that writers can draw from in this verse. Choose from your heart and write with your soul. If you end up with a fairytale so what? We all love The Princess Bride. Like I tell my students, wait to put your name on your work until you are honestly satisfied -- a final copy-- something to be proud of. And certianly never ever put my name on it!
I will watch for her next posting with anticipation.
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Why, thank you, kind sir.
I'm afraid I did go down the route of bed-hopping with Jayne, but that was because, he was, well, Jayne. And the character he has a relationship with, is a grown woman with life experiences and a full knowledge of what she's getting herself into. (Jayne's pants mainly, but, meh...
) Otherwise, the other relationships I have referred to are canon, inferred from series or BDM. And my idea of why Mal and Inara can't make a go of it, well, I've set them out so far. (Joss himself is a Frank Herbert fan, so the Bene Gesserit vibe spoke to me.)
All I'm saying, is that regardless of what he might do about it, Mal is a very likely candidate for a crush. And the responses to that situation will be interesting to write. Particularly as he is an honourable and decent man.
There is enough hinky pornfic out there without me adding to it. *adopts noble stance* I am after all attempting to create and visualise in the style of the master, a homage, if you will.
That, and I like blowing sh*t up.
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Ahhh! 
This is very frustrating. I have several chapters of fic that addresses all this in my own way, but I can't post it yet, and can't talk about it because I don't want to give things away.
Will you all just be ready to return to this topic when I finally get around to posting?
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I'm the president. I don't need to listen.
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If you promise to make a new thread.. this one's getting long in the tooth.
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Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
After all, what's not to love? He ain't weak, he's honorable, a hero, a protector (not to mention, quite a stud to boot). But see, all these glowing qualities in Mal should precisely prevent him from taking advantage of her! And, frankly, I don't think for a moment he would.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
That was absolutely perfectly put. I recognize that everyone has the right to express themselves artistically in fanfic as they wish, but for me, as a reader and as a Mal fan, it bothers me profoundly to read Mal/River "romance."
Mal, whatever his faults, is a profoundly honorable man with a deep respect of women. Do I have a crush on him? Yes indeed :)
But the Mal I love, respect, and am attracted to, the Mal portrayed in Firefly, would not engage in a sexual relationship with River, for all the reasons already discussed in this thread. Not even if she is over eighteen, not even if she has a crush on him.
In my view, the Mal/River fics violate not only River, but Mal as well. And Mal ain't a character I enjoy seeing violated.
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you when she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." .......We love you, captain.
"This is the captain. We may experience some slight turbulence and then.....explode"
www.serenityverse.com - Zoe necklace replicas, Serenity dogtags, jewelry, image gallery w/ custom DVD covers, other goodies!
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Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
Let's say, for the limited scope of this thread, that there are only two loves: Love, and the stuff surrounding making love. The part where my heart sank to my feet, is where it dawned upon me that the very fabric of Firefly is uprooted on a much more fundamental level even than I initially realized. In a nutshell (and somewhat over-generalized, to make the point): Firefly is about Love, vs. the majority of fanfic being about making love.
Why does having this sink in dishearten me so? Because, well, I think the magic which is Firefly is seated in being the opposite of pretty much everything else in Hollywood: it's about Love, and not the making love. The former is about having deep, tender, ineffable feelings of affection for people, and letting those feelings be real enough to do right by your teenage crew member, even if you don't figure the percentage. Or even if it costs you.
So I'd say, Take one teenage girl. Put her in close proximity to a charming, funny, handsome, protective war hero. And then... make it about Love, not making love. Like our genius man Joss did. I'll look forward to reading that. Don't expect to find me near the water cooler, though.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
Another wonderful and very thought-provoking point. You just made me realize what it is that is probably the most challenging in the writing of my own fanfic. That non-sexual, non-sentimental, genuine love is one of the most precious elements of Firefly, and the elusive element I'm trying to capture.
It's incredibly difficult, though, because written expressions of love tend to come across as either unrealistically sentimental for the 'verse, or as sexual. People are so accustomed to looking for the sexual element in everything that one has to be almost explicit in saying "that's not what I'm getting at!"
My story is a POW drama, and Mal and Wash are locked up together. Twice now I've told people the story outline and recoiled when they said "Oh, so it's slash?" NO! In the same story, Mal hugs Zoe in two seperate scenes, very tender, loving, and completely non-sexual scenes, and I had someone complain that I was writing Mal/Zoe fic.
So as a writer, it's very difficult to portray love that will not be construed as sexual in nature.
At its core, my story is about Mal recovering from a series of devastating events and being able to do so, being able to cope and to remain the relatively whole, caring person he is in the series, thanks in part to the unexpected love and caring of the people around him.
I think on the screen, that would be so much easier to portray without words, with the use of those little silent moments and looks and smiles. Because in the written word, with my limitations as a writer, the essense of that love captured by Firefly is the most elusive and precious quality I could imagine.
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you when she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." .......We love you, captain.
"This is the captain. We may experience some slight turbulence and then.....explode"
www.serenityverse.com - Zoe necklace replicas, Serenity dogtags, jewelry, image gallery w/ custom DVD covers, other goodies!
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