Objects in Space Inner Thoughts

POSTED BY: est120
UPDATED: Monday, August 2, 2004 12:53
VIEWED: 13986
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SGTZOOK

Monday, May 3, 2004 4:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chronicthehedgehog:
Book's is some sort of reference to his dubious past, though I have no idea what.

Mal's I assume is his general apathy and uncaring about anything but his crew. He's lost all his idealism.

I'm almost certain Inara's comment is because she's dying, and it's a reference to a hospital conversation. Something along the lines of:

Doctor: There's... we found something on the scan, you're...

Inara: I'm a big girl, just tell me.

Doctor: You're dying Inara...

check out my WIP firefly roleplay system at www.estador.co.uk/firefly

I initially thought that Inara's comment is directed at Mal..
"I'm a big girl, just tell me you love me and I'll stay."

It seems they both dance around their feelings and are unwilling to admit them to each other.

EST120

Monday, May 3, 2004 4:58 PM

Actually, your post gave me a thought. Maybe Book is talking about himself. In Serenity, he says to Inara that he watched Mal kill a man he swore to protect and then he says that he is not sure if Mal was wrong (meaning that Book felt it was acceptable to kill the Fed). Maybe Book is feeling remorse for thinking that way and the "innocent" person is him because he rationalizes that he (Book) did not kill the Fed, so he is not responsible, but later he realizes that he is not as innocent as he originally thought (partially guilt by association, but also his disdain for the Fed and not feeling bad when Mal kills him). So now, Book is caught between his faith and this event in his life that goes against everything his faith is supposed to represent, thus, what does that make him? A man or morals or a man of vengence? Just some food for thought.

WEERWOLF

Monday, May 3, 2004 5:11 PM

I've only seen it twice so far (but made a convert in the last week and I had War Stories on tv to minimise withdrawal symptoms) since I got the DVD set, but especially the second viewing I had the idea that River thoughtthat the others were talking to her. They weren't, realy.

If she sees twigs and picks one up while it's actually a gun, why not see people turn their faces to you and say something you? While actually (outside River's senses) they were just continuing to talk to each other. Just like the gun was always a gun.

In Ariel it was established that she's extremely sensitive to emotions. What if she just picked up these emotions and translated them to sounds?

It certainly fits with Mal's "let's pretend I'm not hollow" attitude, Wash and Zoe's love for each other (like waves crashing, inundating each other's shores, it actually made sense to me). I've forgotten Jayne's and I'm not sure about Book. But it could be that he has a hard time trusting people, anyone, and still doubts his faith, which is probably still in the process of "fixing" him.

On a side note, that Inara has been told she's dying fits in very well with her decision to leave Serenity... Putting as much distance between her and Mal so Mal doesn't feel he's lost her too and that it's his fault when she actually dies. Inara's way of protecting Mal from becoming even more hollow.

But that Tell Me stuff might also just be frustration at Mal for not saying what he really feels. After all, he thinks himself he's not good enough for her. See signature.

"Think you can stoop to being on my arm?"
"Will you wash it first?"

SKYDANCE

Monday, May 3, 2004 5:16 PM

Everybody knows Book wasn't born a Shepherd. Some might even argue that he's not a Shepherd now, but after watching his scene with River when she was "fixing" the bible, I don't believe that. Shepherd has changed. He wants, very much, to be as pious and clean and righteous as any holy man can ever be.

Something happened to change him. I'm guessing the "half a hump" relates to that something.

Mal doesn't believe for one second that Inara could ever love a broken man like himself. He doesn't even want it, because he "knows" he's not good enough for her. Check out Heart of Gold again. He has no clue she even could love him, let alone that she does. And, well ... compared to his entire world-view being torn apart at Serenity (God is on their side, after all) ... the love of one man for one woman wouldn't mean a damn thing, anyway. The universe itself is broken, and everything else is petty next to that.

I like what others keep saying about Inara being terminally ill. It would be a good reason for interrupting Mal every time he gets too close ... despite the fact that she loves him.

EST120

Monday, May 3, 2004 5:24 PM

Maybe that is what Inara means by her statement. She does not think Mal cares for her either, so maybe her asking him to just tell her is her way of saying that if he does not love her, she can handle it.

BLACKEYEDGIRL

Monday, May 3, 2004 6:09 PM

Thank you for finding those for me!

"Man is nothing else but what he makes himself." -Jean-Paul Sartre

Now all 3 of these lines, and actually all of the asides River catches, I don't really think has anything to do with her. But she's seeing what is unspoken. She is seeing what lies beneath, she is in a sense seeing the true self. River in a sense has an all access pass to every piece of Serenity, including the people on it.

While Mal may seem on top of things on the exterior, inside he's a big mess. He's got a lot of things he's been avoiding, and now they constantly confront him. "None of it means a damn thing." Even though I think that this has a lot to do with Inara, I think it is also a farther reaching statement about Mal after the war. With Inara I think he feels like anything he says to her doesn't mean something to her. She's trained to react in certain ways, and so he can't figure if she's geniune. In other words, he can't reconcile the person with her job. And even though he has feelings for her, they don't mean much unless she reciprocates them, and well that's a damn scary thing to be puttin' yourself out for. On a larger scale Mal feels deep down that pretty much everything he does is futile. It's not making an impact on the world. But what he doesn't see is how it impacts the lives of everyone around him.

"Just tell me, I'm a big girl." Now I think this may be as simple as Inara wanting Mal to give her a reason to stay. Nandi hinted to both about each others affection for the other, and Inara with her training has got to know that there is something Mal isn't telling her. She probably has a gut feeling about what it may be, but she thinks that Mal doesn't think he can trust her with his feelings. Or at least with the truth, good or bad she can handle it, but what she doesn't see is how instead of dealing with things, she's running, and can't handle it. River does see it. Maybe she's looking for an excuse to leave, or maybe seeking a reason to stay. Maybe she knows that Mal has got to let it all out sometime, let his emotions catch up to him, make him whole again, maybe she knows she's the only one who can help him. Although I really do love the idea of her being ill, I just think we would have had further hints to this fact beyond a needle and a day or two at the hospital. Personally I think she is leaving cos as a companion it is her job to not have ties to this world, because her clients come first. If she creates a 'family' (as she says Nandi did) it gets more complicated because she questions if what she is doing is good, and she may make concessions based on her affections for the crew over her client. Maybe it's as simple as 'she could lose her companion license and be left a common whore' over something like this.

"I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not, where does that leave you?" I think this is a window into Book's past. I think the most telling line about Book is when River freaks out about his hair and Zoe tells her it's okay that he is putting the hair away, and River says something to the effect of: "No it's still there, waiting." Is in a sense that while Book may be putting on appearances, on the inside there is still a struggle because of the things he has done. Book may be a man of God, but he isn't God, and thus still has the thoughts of a man, the man he was and the man he is trying to become. I think he is really struggling with the 'if you do something that is wrong for all the right reasons, with a righteous outcome, is it still wrong?' If you take away innocence all you are left with is actions. None of that crew are innocents, so where does that leave them? Where does it leave Book? Can he 'save his soul' or is he going to be damned anyway? Where does it leave him? I think this comment is a lot like Mal's in the sense that Book doesn't feel he is making an impact, or maybe it's that he feels he can't make an impact, that there is no saving. In the Abbey things were simpler, but I think Book is remembering that on the outside the lines become blurred, and

HOWDYROCKERBABY1

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 12:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chronicthehedgehog:
Book's is some sort of reference to his dubious past, though I have no idea what.

Mal's I assume is his general apathy and uncaring about anything but his crew. He's lost all his idealism.

I'm almost certain Inara's comment is because she's dying, and it's a reference to a hospital conversation. Something along the lines of:

Doctor: There's... we found something on the scan, you're...

Inara: I'm a big girl, just tell me.

Doctor: You're dying Inara...

check out my WIP firefly roleplay system at www.estador.co.uk/firefly

WOAH. i never even thought of that!!! That would be why she was leaving and why she didn't elaborate on what happened with the doctor's on ariel...

wait...maybe she's pregnant? Do they have super condoms in the future or just normal ones?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Here's to Jayne, the box dropping man-ape-gone-wrong-thing"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JUMPY

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 12:15 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlackEyedGirl:
Thank you for finding those for me!

No Problem! lol I took the DVD out just to listen to it myself!

Mercy is the mark of a great man…*stab*…I guess I'm just a good man…*stab*…Well, I'm alright.

KARENKAY99

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 12:44 AM

i think cybersnark has mal exactly right. he's going through the motions but none of it means a damn thing.
and chronicthehedgehog mentions the theory that inara is dying. i've heard this one before. it fits very well. i don't think her comment has anything to do with mal. i actually read the end of HoG differently. Mal was ready to profess his love and she knew it. all she had to do was let him. but then she gives the speech about when you get so attached you never want to leave so she must leave.
jayne & simon's comments are obvious. wash & zoe also. and the theory that kaylee has nothing to hide fits too.
but book ... i like what est120 said that maybe the comment was about himself. not so innocent anymore. i also think it's very likely that the comment is from his mysterious past. but i like to toy with the idea that it's something he'll say in the future. what kind of situation in books future could spark that comment? is he beating up another lawman? is he after someone on our crew? was it said in jest?

"They say the snow on the roof is too heavy. They say the ceiling will cave in. His brains are in terrible danger."

LJOSALF

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 1:05 AM

Very thoughtful analysis.

Although, I really must come down on the side of every "comment" being an immediate emotional reading put into words for our benefit. I don't think any of them are reflective or contemplative or refer to past or future events.

Book is engaged in conversation about what is arguably an intensely personal subject, and, certainly, Book's comment--like Mal's, Inara's, Wash's and Zoe's readings--is not directed at River. I would have to say that it is triggered either by the topic of conversation--sex and abstinence--or by the person he is holding the conversation with--Jayne--or both combined and it is directed, IMHO, at Jayne. Book thinks he knows something about Jayne that is damning but also apparently doesn't care whether it is true or not. The direction in the script for Book's line is that it is to be delivered as "lethal" and it certainly seems condemnatory. Could be Book is cosying up to Jayne in order to keep a close watch on him....

What I find compelling about Book's line is that he conceals his emotions better than anyone else on board Serenity--didn't we all go, "Where the hell did that come from?" the first time we heard the line--and that deceptiveness says something about Book's character. It makes him seem very two-faced to me....Exactly what is Book like when he lets his hair down--metaphorically, of course?

Ljosalf

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

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