Unpopular Opinions

To the guy that said Joss is over-rated, I agree with you. Yes, he's great at creating characters and universes and jokes, but at the same time he does have flaws as a writer. While I like the strong female slant that's in his work, at times it gets really preachy. Women are strong and don't need men to take care of them. We get it, move on. We don't need feminist rhetoric every third line of the script. And with every father character more villainous or perceived villanous than all the monsters the Hellmouth spits out put together, it's obvious he's airing his psychological laundry out to dry, which is not appealing at all. Scripts aren't supposed to be therapy sessions. And if you are an atheist and don't believe in God, then why do you reference gods and heaven and hell dimensions in BUFFY and ANGEL. Plus, killing off characters is something that should be done sparingly. I look at THE SOPRANOS as a fine example of show that knows how to kill off characters. The way Joss does it in killing off popular characters and keeping around annoying ones is a little hackish.

But I've never considered the "day to day life" angle until now, and you're right. I think the closest thing Joss has done in terms of reality, in terms of actual people in real life that isn't surrounded by demons and spaceships is the two episodes of THE OFFICE he's directed, and that's more to do with the great team that Greg Daniels has put together. And while Joss did a great job with "Business School" and hopefully "Branch Wars" next week, I think he'd go into aniphalactic shock if he had to do something outside the sci-fi/fantasy/comic book genre. He's not like, say, Alan Ball, whose SIX FEET UNDER basically took "The Body" and stretched it out over five seasons and is a show I can personally identify with more than anything Joss has done.

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My ((an)other) unpopular opinion: I don't see Jayne and River getting along. Ever.

Yes, Rayne is totally out of the window for me, but I can not see any future "brotherly", "comradely" or any other (positive) connections either. They all feel *very* out of character to me.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
YesIthinkKayleeisocasionallyirritatingandwhinyandkindofahornyschoolgirltypewhowouldgoafteranymanprettyandintriguingenough
andthatJewelhadwaymoreoffdaysthantherestofthecastwhichmadethewhinyworseandthecharacterlessbelievable

Don't hurt me

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No one's hurting folk today, on account of unpopular words being on-topic here. :)

I wanna say something about the whole "kindofahornyschoolgirltype" thingy, though, because I feel Kaylee's character is often misunderstood in that regard. *goes to dig up an older post*

I've seen folks shocked when they first learnt of Bester's "Prairie Harpie". But I say Kaylee is the near epitome of a psychologically healthy person. When it comes to sexuality, she's got no noticable hang-ups of any kind; she's neither uptight about it, nor overly obsessed with it: she neither fears the flesh, nor allows it to devour her. Sexuality just naturally flows from her innocence, rather than from anything else.

Kaylee is fairly open about sex, too ("Have good sex!"). Not because she's loose, but because she sees no harm in the mention of it (again attesting to her innocence). To her, sex is a not the harmful, creepifying elephant in the room that needs careful tiptoeing around. Kaylee has managed to integrate sexuality to a rarely attained level of normalcy.




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"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Originally posted by MerryK:
I agree...and also found it rather amusing/frustrating that in a fairly PC show (what with the feminism and corrupt government), we still had macho men as the heroes.

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Except the time Zoe saved Tracy's ass. And the time that Zoe went back into Niska's skyplex to save Mal. Not to mention that it always Zoe that Mal takes on jobs (instead of, say, Wash or Simon) because she's a better fighter than the two of them put together. Come now. Macho men as the heroes? The main hero may be Mal, but that doesn't mean that all the men are tough-as-nails and all the women are shrinking violets. Heck, Wash frequently jokes about his lack of involvement in combat ("I was going to watch. It was very exciting."). I think that the badass-ness goes according to character in this one, not by gender. Else Zoe's one damn fine looking man!

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Quote:

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Originally posted by asarian:
I wanna say something about the whole "kindofahornyschoolgirltype" thingy, though, because I feel Kaylee's character is often misunderstood in that regard. *goes to dig up an older post*

I've seen folks shocked when they first learnt of Bester's "Prairie Harpie". But I say Kaylee is the near epitome of a psychologically healthy person. When it comes to sexuality, she's got no noticable hang-ups of any kind; she's neither uptight about it, nor overly obsessed with it: she neither fears the flesh, nor allows it to devour her. Sexuality just naturally flows from her innocence, rather than from anything else.

Kaylee is fairly open about sex, too ("Have good sex!"). Not because she's loose, but because she sees no harm in the mention of it (again attesting to her innocence). To her, sex is a not the harmful, creepifying elephant in the room that needs careful tiptoeing around. Kaylee has managed to integrate sexuality to a rarely attained level of normalcy.

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I agree with all of this and I think her character is a counter poise to Inara. Although Inara's job entails her having sex with clients and therefore by definition you'd think that she'd be the one with no hang ups about sex... uh uh, it's the opposite. She's very schooled and disciplined because she's been trained, but IMHO Inara isn't sure this is really what she wants to be doing.

While Kaylee delights in life and sex and most things. Purely. No hesitation or hang ups on her part.



http://amazon.com/Serenity-Collectors-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B000Q9IZ5C

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Causal:
Except the time Zoe saved Tracy's ass. And the time that Zoe went back into Niska's skyplex to save Mal. Not to mention that it always Zoe that Mal takes on jobs (instead of, say, Wash or Simon) because she's a better fighter than the two of them put together. Come now. Macho men as the heroes? The main hero may be Mal, but that doesn't mean that all the men are tough-as-nails and all the women are shrinking violets. Heck, Wash frequently jokes about his lack of involvement in combat ("I was going to watch. It was very exciting."). I think that the badass-ness goes according to character in this one, not by gender. Else Zoe's one damn fine looking man!

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Well spoken! And LMAO!



http://amazon.com/Serenity-Collectors-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B000Q9IZ5C

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I don't disagree with any particular point, Causal...you misunderstood me. Joss has said that Firefly is Mal's show—he is the one that is portrayed as the most heroic, the one we should be admiring and caring about. We can like the other characters as well, but it is Mal whom the focus is almost always on. In fact, most scenes are played so that we are supposed to sympathize with him, even when if you look at it logically he is being quite ridiculous. And Mal is macho. The non macho men are poked fun at quite regularly for their peacefulness, through Joss in self-deprecating humor or by the other characters. Jayne is occasionally made fun of because he jumps at any opportunity to fight, and sometimes Inara or Zoe pokes fun at Mal's impulsiveness/recklessness, but the tone is always more in favor of a little recklessness rather than avoiding conflict. All the characters are portrayed in a more admirable light when they pick up arms, whether in lighting, framing, or music.

And your point about Zoe? Just adds to my point...why do we look up to her more than Kaylee, who has equal if not more talents, but in a peaceful area? Because Zoe is a soldier, and that is who the show portrays as admirable. That is what I object to, the constant glorification of war and combat. When will we get our non-combatant hero?

Oh, and I never said that the women were shrinking violets...when I said macho men, I was comparing Mal to Wash and Simon, not the women at all. "Macho people as heroes" would have been a more accurate representation of my opinion.

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