Jayne - more than guns and muscles?

POSTED BY: SpaceAnJL
UPDATED: Sunday, September 2, 2007 08:28
VIEWED: 12779
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EMPIREX

Monday, August 27, 2007 1:32 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAnJL:
But this is the point! Jayne doesn't need to change.

No, you're right. And I like Jayne just the way he is. It's the way Joss wrote him!

I'm just saying that if a fic writer wants to make him a bit more... cuddley/grownup/moral/whatever, it would be a bit more realistic to put him on a journey towards that change than, say, just finding the love of a good woman out of the blue ( Or black. Whatever. =D ) and suddenly he decides to be "good".

Patsy: When you were two years old, we tied you to the central reservation of a motorway.

Edina: But you were like a homing pidgeon, sweetie....back within a week!

CRYSTALKEI

Monday, August 27, 2007 1:49 AM

So he may end up on the 'right' side for the 'wrong' reasons. (BDM/Heart of Gold)

Remember Spike in season 5. He got that chip and found out he could beat up demons, so he fell in with the scoobies...that's jayne. He gets to shoot people with mal, when that stops, he's outta there.

Jayne Cobb, the Dick Casablancas of Firefly

SPACEANJL

Monday, August 27, 2007 3:35 PM

Jayne is always going to end up on his own side. If you think back on what we've seen of his past associates - Ferlinghetti, Hessian - not the best kinda folk to hang out with. Mal and crew might be lawbreakers, but they are a different kind of bad. I expect Kaylee and Wash came as a massive shock. You think you're falling in with badass military rebels, and there's some wisemouth in a lairy shirt and a cute li'l thing in overalls (who you ain't allowed to hit on, 'cos the scary woman might shoot you, and 'sides, she's younger'n your sisters...) I think association with these people is altering Jayne's ideas of what it's like to be on a crew, and provoking latent loyalty and trust. Not conspicuous factors in his previous crews, I should imagine.

I'm always surprised by the number of fics that have Jayne with a rough homelife. That letter from home (and the Hat!) spoke of a much nicer upbringing. Not a wealthy, well-educated one, but a proper family upbringing. He still has both parents, they are still together and there was no indication of conflict in '[Matty] waves hello, and so does your father...'

So, I see him as someone who went out to work early, doing the things he was best at (tracking, shooting, violence) and has always taken care of himself, because there wasn't anyone else to do it. Not through neglect - provisional backstory being that his father worked a lot of hours in a manual job to keep the family. (Nobody welds like a Cobb, despite the layoffs.) Now, he's part of a group that takes care of each other, which is a new experience for him.

EmpireX, I think when Jayne finds love, it ain't gonna be with a 'good' woman...

*warning - ficpimping* When I wrote my scenario, it was very much with the idea of exploring the edges of what we'd seen of His Big Bad Self. I wanted to put in a character who would fulfil Wash's role of the 'let's not kill everybody in the room' crew member, perhaps someone who would provide an idea of what normal life in the Core was like (Tams and Inara - not your everyday folk...) I always intended that she would end up as the cook, because Mal wanted to hire one (Out of Gas flashback) And then I re-read an old AB interview. (His idea that Jayne would like to settle down, and the type of woman he might like.) Bam. Character. A smartly dressed, independent businesswoman. Since she has no background knowledge of the crew, she's free to form her own opinions, and being on board, initially as a passenger, she gets to know Jayne outside of the shore-leave persona. And a grown woman is perfectly entitled to think 'yummy' when a bit of tasty like that strolls by.

Plus - I think it would be quite in character for Jayne to be entranced by a woman who can cook and has her own still.

SPACEANJL

Monday, August 27, 2007 5:53 PM

*bump* 'Cos.

NBZ

Monday, August 27, 2007 6:19 PM

I think no one replied 'coz you got all the angles covered.

SPACEANJL

Monday, August 27, 2007 6:40 PM

Oooh, does that mean I get a prize?

JONGSSTRAW

Monday, August 27, 2007 7:53 PM

Is it ever 'splained anywhere how Jayne got the name Jayne? Like the "Boy Named Sue"..given to him to make him strong?

SPACEANJL

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:38 AM

I think I read somewhere that it is an old English corruption of the name 'John', but the Johnny Cash connection spoke very loudly to me, too. (The first time I heard 'Highwayman' last verse, I freaked completely.)

JONDESU

Sunday, September 2, 2007 6:25 AM

I think Jayne is a very deep character, but he will always be crude and base, despite a fierce loyalty once it's earned (which admittedly takes a lot) and a great deal of concern for his actions. He doesn't hesitate to kill when it's needed, but remember he also didn't hesitate to bow his head for Book's prayer in the pilot, and he wholeheartedly supported praying over the dead Tracey and others. I think there's a childish sort of faith there, not true belief in the Christian sort of way, but he's concerned over his fate, although he also probably believes he's beyond hope. I think he could grow, and I think he wants to in some ways, like with him struggling to understand why the kid took the shotgun blast for him in Jaynestown. I also have come to accept (and write) Rayne, though Jaylee still disturbs me and Jaynara is downright vomitous (sorry to anyone who likes it, but I stop reading at the first sign of that type of relationship, it just doesn't fit with either character).

So yes, much more than guns and muscles, but not in some of the ways some people look for him to be.

jW

"Yep, that went well."

PSYCHOTIC

Sunday, September 2, 2007 8:28 AM

Jayne is an awesome character, not a 2-D, stereotypical "muscle", Chewbacca.

Jayne's mom taught him well, IMO. He believes it's okay to do whatever he must to survive, but he also knows the difference between good and bad. A reason why Jayne and Book bonded so well was because they both did things that they weren't too proud of. Bad things. After many workout sessions together, Book became Jayne's conscience, as well as Mal's.

Jayne fears what he cannot understand. God is one of those things.

I don't think that Jayne has experienced romantic love before. He only loves Inara for sex, and Kaylee as his little sister and teases her so. That can change, but he'll have to share his inner thoughts/feelings to someone. He can't learn to be vulnerable within any short period of time.

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