Controversial Mal characterization
POSTED BY: SpaceAnJL
UPDATED: Saturday, January 3, 2009 06:12
VIEWED: 42749
PAGE 11 of 12
Re: mal4prez
I think you're doing a great job with you fic, no need to feel insecure.
Joss created Mal's arc by leaving Mal no choice, but to take on the leadership role that he was born to (no more running). He takes decisive action and the outcomes are positive (with consequences) unlike what happened in Serenity Valley, where he got no back up...out of his control.
Is his path easily recreated in another scenario?...
Probably, using similar elememts that go beyond him only saving the crew and his ship. Good luck, though, that could get tricky.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
Re: mal4prez
I think you're doing a great job with you fic, no need to feel insecure.
seconded!
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One other thing about filtering, while we probably are supposed to believe at face value what Zoe says about Mal, there are others who do make statements which we are probably not supposed to.
Like the alliance commander in Bushwacked. Or the Operative. Or (maybe even) Badger (who may have been a browncoat himself in a past life - does explain some of the resentment. My only "evidence" is that he cuts his apple. But that could be because he is trying to be above others).
One thing I have noticed is that Mal has moved on far more than others allow him to.
I like the thought that Zoe's utterances are also filtered. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. ('Course I just like being different too)
On the other hand I do not like the thought that there are a few things that Mal has to deal with and after that he will be all fine and dandy.
I do not see him as something that needs to be "fixed". Just too simple. Mal is who he is.
(and if he got a chance to be heroical all over again - if it did not involve looking out for his crew - I am a firm believer he would walk the other way. can imagine him being pitched a fine and noble task, being given details, most of the crew up for it too, and he just says "no".)
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Quote:Thank you! I didn't mean to dig for a compliment, but I'll sure as hell take it LOL!
Originally posted by Platonist:
I think you're doing a great job with you fic, no need to feel insecure.
As for funny, I've written things that I thought were super funny, then gotten the feedback that the tension was too high for a laugh to carry. Oh well.
Oh, and I'm really not so much out to repeat exactly what the movie does. There are plenty of ways to push Mal's buttons LOL! I guess I just like having that darkness to play with, and I see it in him before the movie much more than after.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:Quote:I don't think that's the difference here. Jetflair has plenty of shadows and brooding in her Mal, and... well... I've tried to give him banter and humor whenever I can, although events in my fic have not allowed a ton of that. But even in my latest, my take on the first U-Day, I have him dark and violent, but still cracking jokes. May not be so funny, but I tried!
Originally posted by Katesfriend:
If you, Mal4Prez, write too broody of a Mal, and you, Jetflair, write too sunny of a Mal...
I think the real difference between jetflair and I is Mal's state of healing. She's been doing an exploration of the time after the war in which he faces his demons then, and so he's pretty much got himself together by the time he buys Serenity. (Correct me if I'm over-simplifying jetflair! I'm going by what you've posted here, though I know your fic isn't done...)
Now, I'm more in nosadseven's school of thought, that Mal is not healed at the time of the series. He's getting by on a strong foundation from a steady childhood, and he's got his leadership and humor and cleverness intact. But all that is sitting over some pretty serious hurt that he's doing his best to avoid. "it is a denial of himself, a lie, that seems to make him find his own behaviors a bit confounding at times" Yay - exactly! (Dang - why don't you write fic NSS?)
Have to say, if my fanfic version of Mal doesn't fit every bit of what NSS said, then it's because I haven't expressed myself clearly LOL! I can't agree more with her take.
Anyway, to really heal so that he can live life fully, Mal needs something to knock him out of his comfort zone and force him to face up to his issues. Which won't be fun for him, but it's the only way he can truly recover. The movie did this for him. I think that's River's role, to force him out into the big world again. Which maybe is why I'm writing a version of the `verse without the movie, so I can explore that arc my own way.
Oh - and no one would want to collaborate with me! I'm too slow and opinionated, I think I'd drive the other writer nuts LOL!
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I'm with you on the collaboration thing! Slow? Yep. Opinionated? Yep. It's only rarely that I can even tolerate a beta reader, let alone collaborate with another writer. I am hugely interested in opinions about my writing, but in an after the fact sort of way....not during the creative process.
I think you have nailed the difference in our perceptions of Mal....and it may simply boil down even further to what period of his life we find it compelling to write about.
See....I came into Firefly as a bitter, depressed, and traumatized person. I was not coping well with my own past or with my attitude towards life or people. Mal jumped out at me as this incredible example of someone who handled his traumas and stresses so well, that his example turned my whole life around at that point.
When I saw Mal, I saw someone who was affected by his past, but wasn't letting it rule his life. Who was affected by the traumas and betrayals and such of his current life, but dealt with them in a steady and optimistic manner.
If you compare Mal to a normal human being, he's dark and bitter and unstable and all that. But compare him with the way most people cope with similar stresses....he's a paragon of strength and stability and love. He copes so well that I'm in awe - and he gave me a realistically relatable example of how to cope. Not by being unaffected, but by dealing with being affected.
So it's all where you relate to him from - maybe. I know what it is to have no trust at all, to hate, and to not want to open yourself up to one single avenue where you might get hurt. Trust me, Mal is one hell of a trusting, caring, and brave guy given the circumstances.
Anyways - back on topic. You are dead-on about the healing taking place earlier than in your story. The Mal I see in Firefly ha
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and the great posts just keep on comin'! jeez you guys... i need an awe icon here :@:
You All Rule
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Beautifully stated, Jetflair. I was always drawn to your fic because of the underlying passion in them, and now I understand where that passion comes from.
Everyone heals in their own way and with their own resources, nobody can do it for you. That is why Firefly is so outstanding as a series and as a statement about humanity, that horrible things can happen, but life is too precious to waste on never healing from it. And revenge is never a solution to a problem because it destroys your humanity even further. We all find our own ways of coping, and if Mal could cope and even be looking for the rest of his humanity, then there's hope for the rest of us.
I agree wholeheartedly with the healing vs. coping thing. He may never get over all that happened, but he was trying. And that was one thing so beautifully stated in your last few fics.
I think Firefly is a perfect therapy for people looking for a role model who is a true survivor. Isn't that one of the best roles for scifi, as a source of hope for our future?
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this thread demonstrates everything good about this site and this forum.
is there anyway you shiny people can get it uploaded to whedonesque?
because... - dear god, i'm going to break my cardinal rule and use the J word -
i think it would make joss and co verrry happy.
i realise there are many other beautiful threads but this is a stunner for taking a single topic and fully exploring it.
you SO rule.
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Another question about Mal.
He knew that River was a reader. How? Why? The options seem to be:
1. He has met a (probably natural, and not as developed) reader before, so knows about it. (think of the pain the reader would feel in a war setting - I doubt any "reader" would be of much use here.).
2. He has not met a reader, but has heard stories.
3. It came to him of his own notion.
I would probably go for number 2, but 1 also seems a possibility (but then you can get into the game of Mal having been witness to almost everything that has ever happened...)
EDIT - seems this is now moved to here:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=30451
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bump for jewelstaitefan
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