Where are the chicks? Ahem... I mean Reaverettes?

POSTED BY: IsaacShepherd
UPDATED: Saturday, February 18, 2006 18:57
VIEWED: 9454
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ISAACSHEPHERD

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:10 PM

I was watching the BDM lately and I had noticed that there are no female Reavers. Although we only see flashes of them on occasion, it just accured to me that normally Joss does everything with a purpose, either for plot later on when we get more Firefly/Serenity or for symbolism sake. And stating that only .10% of the population of Miranda became Reavers I wonder if there is a certain characteristic that makes one susceptible to becomming a Reaver.
In Bushwacked I believe it was the guy that turned into a Reaver was a male possibly around his twenties or so. Creating more Reavers would also be difficult for them unless Mal's theory is correct from Bushwacked. Just wondering if anyone else had any insight on this or perhaps there are female Reavers that I hadn't noticed.
IS

GRIZWALD

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:28 PM

I've never spotted any female Reavers, either. Perhaps in their savagery at the beginning they turned on one another, overpowering the less strong, until their madness progressed to the point where they no longer felt pain and no longer bothered to attack one another because the thrill of inflicting pain was gone in one another, but by that point, all that were left were the biggest, strongest, most savage.

Just an idea.

I posted a theory a week or so ago here about maybe the Reavers being composed of the very top stratum of intelligence of the population, since they are able despite their madness to maintain their ships and keep flying. I also believe that

Select to view spoiler:

River got at least one dose of the Pax while in the "school" - I believe that is what she was telling us in the River Tam Sessions - but this met with some rather vehement disagreement here on this board when I mentioned it the last time. I still think that's what happened. Certainly it goes with the intelligent subject + Pax = Reaver theory; she is the most intelligent of all, and her Pax was administered under controlled conditions.

JONUS

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:33 PM

Male Reavers = Creepy, yet cool

Female Reavers = Just plain gross

Attack me, not my opinion.

ISAACSHEPHERD

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:44 PM

That's an interresting theory GRIZWALD. That sounds possible to me. If she did get a controlled amount of the Pax, that could explain her multiple personalities, soldier one minute, next a little girl. The PAX could have created a violent personality (like cutting Jayne with the knife)or destroyed part of River's orignal, but the Alliance created for figured out how to trigger it the Reaver in her. It makes me wonder what the other subjects were like considering River was the best of the experiments. Losing her mind at times, yet unstable.
IS

MALNOURISHED

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:44 PM

I thought that there was at least one female Reaver near the beginning of the BDM.

Maybe in the scene on Lilac where...

Select to view spoiler:

...the little boy is telling his Mom that he heard gunfire, and she tells him to run tell Lawman. She then promptly gets her face bitten off, of course, and I think the Reaver who did it was female.

I don't have the DVD with me at the moment to check, so I could be wrong.

PURPLEBELLY

Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:03 PM

I assumed that the Reavers' sexual identities were akin to those of the dwarves in the Pratchett canon -- that is, necessary but obscure.

ROCKETJOCK

Thursday, February 16, 2006 3:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MalNourished:
I thought that there was at least one female Reaver near the beginning of the BDM.

I reviewed that scene; the shot is extremely brief, virtually subliminal, but I don't think the reaver in question is female.

As to the lack of female reavers, it's not too surprising; human agression is tied up with hormone levels, and testosterone is one of the strongest agression stimulators. It wouldn't be unreasonable that only males develop the overagression syndrome that makes one a reaver. (It's not sexism, folks, it's biochemistry.)

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

PENGUIN

Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RocketJock:
Quote:
Originally posted by MalNourished:
I thought that there was at least one female Reaver near the beginning of the BDM.

I reviewed that scene; the shot is extremely brief, virtually subliminal, but I don't think the reaver in question is female.

As to the lack of female reavers, it's not too surprising; human agression is tied up with hormone levels, and testosterone is one of the strongest agression stimulators. It wouldn't be unreasonable that only males develop the overagression syndrome that makes one a reaver. (It's not sexism, folks, it's biochemistry.)

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

I agree...It would all be related to testosterone..

RHYIANAN

Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:46 PM

I just assumed that you couldn't really tell the gender of the reavers. Who knows how far the self mutilation actually goes? Not to mention that you really don't get to see the reavers up close for any decent period of time to see if they are male or female.

The apparent lack of female reavers could be a psychological thing too. We're so used to believing that males are more aggressive than females, so we see them all as male.

Wash: Yeah, but psychic? That sounds like science fiction.
Zoe: You live on a spaceship, dear.

HERA

Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:58 PM

I keep meaning to pause and check this, but I keep thinking the first Reaver that Inara shoots (the one that hit Zoe in the back) is a female.

Conjecture at this point. I'll research and get back.

"Wanna?" – Mal to Kaylee, Out of Gas

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