Chinese influence of a deeper level
POSTED BY: SchoolboysWink
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 6, 2007 21:10
VIEWED: 7286
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Not everyone sympathizes with "browncoats". Some people just don't get the series. I do agree that fans of the series come from all walks of life and are as varied as they come. you can lead a horse to water... as important as the details that make the verse so distintive and beautiful, what is missing also creates in imagination and "what could have beens...". i think the series has taken a life of its own now, and what it is today is bigger than the series originally was. we write and discuss some minute details about the plot, characters, and even furniture inside firefly verse. but interestingly enough, to most people its just not that interesting. the episodes evoked not just passions and interests, but they elicited a heartfelt pang, a wistfulness of dreams and hopes that never achieved their full potential and goal. which is what i'm doing here, not achieving the proper representation of my observations in thought.
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I understand where you're coming from, Lawman, but I really can't sympathize as I have not come across anyone who was indifferent to Firefly after watching it. Serenity the movie, yes, but not Firefly. It's true, though, the fandom has expanded the universe to an unimaginable vastness.
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Quote:
Originally posted by MerryK:
I understand where you're coming from, Lawman, but I really can't sympathize as I have not come across anyone who was indifferent to Firefly after watching it. Serenity the movie, yes, but not Firefly. It's true, though, the fandom has expanded the universe to an unimaginable vastness.
Even my wife has gotten into the show more than most shows (and more than she would admit). When I was trying to get her to watch it, and would make comments about the show, she would give me that "here we go again" look. Now that she has seen it, she responds to my references and we've actually had a couple of decent conversations about the show. The very fact that she remembers all 9 (10, counting Serenity) characters' names after only effectively half a season says something. Granted, she is not up to my level of nearing unhealthy fixation, but that is probably for the best for our marriage. One person buying three copies of the BDCE the week it came out with intentions to purchase more is probably enough.
I think I've even started to pique the interest of a co-worker. We both play D&D Online, and I was telling him about the new guild I had founded. He wanted to join, and I told him he'd have to get onto a Firefly fan site and brush up on his lingo if he wanted in. "I'll pass," he says. But a couple hours later over the cubicle wall I hear him say "So what is Firefly, anyway?" (I'd mentioned it before at work, but not in detail.) Remembering Joss's response, I went the polite route and merely said "It's a TV show." "They've got a cool logo," he then said, so he must have been looking at SOMETHING. Later, I gave him a piece of paper with my guild name of "Shadow's Browncoats" on it. "What's a Browncoat?" he asked. In earnest I responded, "Do you really want to know?" He replied with equal earnestness that he did, so I told him. He's not the kind to really WATCH TV or movies often, but the seed has been planted.
I must grudgingly agree with Lawman, though, that there MUST be people out there that don't like or "get" the show. I mean, there would have to be, right? Yeah, the time-slots and whatnot kept moving around, but SOMEBODY must have watched an episode or half of one and just changed the channel and never changed it back. (Gorram purple-belly better hope I don't find him...) Anyway, I'm sure there must be people somewhere who just doesn't like it. I will let you know when I meet one.
"When you can't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right!" -Jayne Cobb quotes Shepherd Book
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wow! what an amazing thread!
cheers people - i was GRIPPED!
again with the - wow!
shiny shiny people
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pulling this back in a vaguely ON topic direction - i am interested right now in how people think cultures in general have survived into the verse... in the trainjob commentary Joss and Tim point out how they tried (well, enjoyed) throwing different cultures onto the screen - and in interview Joss has stressed the 'it's all up for grabs - it's all in the mix' aspect of the show/'verse. Which is a loose kind of post-modern approach (i guess)...
but we see little genuine onscreen evidence... the odd costume - the statue on sihnon - a few references elsewhere...
it makes me wonder if culture/roots have gone the way of the earth that was... the Alliance would stress that they ARE culture (and they may not be wrong) - the independents would say they are holding to a culture otherwise near extinct (and they might not be right)...
i'm writing a fic where a character has had to rely on third hand info (the net and tv in effect) to build a version of a culture they identify with ... which is most likely way way way from the 'truth' of that culture past.
any thoughts? any bits of the show i should look at again???
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From what I see on Firefly, the cultures of the US and China predominate but there are bits and pieces of others that somehow have survived.
I would think though that at least some ethinic/cultural groups some how reconnected with each other after the trip to the new galaxy or they may have even stayed together during the "Exodus".
Also, there would be family stories and traditions passed down to new generations. This could spark some to research their roots and return to the old traditions. Just look at the popularity and obsession with genealogy here on "Earth that Was."
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
From what I see on Firefly, the cultures of the US and China predominate but there are bits and pieces of others that somehow have survived.
I would think though that at least some ethinic/cultural groups some how reconnected with each other after the trip to the new galaxy or they may have even stayed together during the "Exodus".
Also, there would be family stories and traditions passed down to new generations. This could spark some to research their roots and return to the old traditions. Just look at the popularity and obsession with genealogy here on "Earth that Was."
makes sense what you say... i sorta tried to present a case where a culture hasn't survived...
i think it would be nice to see the exploration of a 'reconnected' culture... small scale - but i keep thinking as well of the rastas - and 'zion' in william gibson's work...
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Ah, yes, Gibson...
I'm liking your idea of the Native American culture...(guess you saw the guy in the wheelchair, too, huh? Keep reading TTT...)
The Chinese influence is strong enough that most folk seem to be bilingual, and signs and keyboards are all in those two languages primarily.
But the idea of what culture might survive, and in what form is something I'm playing with. (Like 'Demolition Man', and the ad jingles?)
I have a Captain whose heritage is Japanese. And an ex-pilot who is Egyptian. There are all sorts of small cultural things in the background of the series - Amon's skullcap, someone in a burqa. But people are going to be dependent on officially sanctioned sources or whatever family history has been handed down. The ultimate Chinese whispers, I suppose.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAnJL:
I'm liking your idea of the Native American culture...
except that that culture has not geuniely survived in my take on the 'verse. When i watched Firefly - a western - first thing i noticed was 'there aint no injuns'...
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But the idea of what culture might survive, and in what form is something I'm playing with.
and very nicely too - flatter fawn etc
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(Like 'Demolition Man', and the ad jingles?)
I have a Captain whose heritage is Japanese. And an ex-pilot who is Egyptian. There are all sorts of small cultural things in the background of the series
but friction too, right? i don't buy the 'enlightened' vision of the future so popular with the board - it's star trek -
the alliance seems to keep women in very restricted roles and i doubt that a rim world culture capable of burning witches isn't also capable of racial awareness/tension - so i've tried to bring that in to both zoe and other characters - but gently (natch).
the core is clearly class aware after all.
Quote:
The ultimate Chinese whispers, I suppose.
HA!
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