Let's Talk About Literature...Less Freud, More Coleridge

POSTED BY: Mattie
UPDATED: Friday, March 17, 2006 16:09
VIEWED: 1627
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MATTIE

Friday, March 17, 2006 2:52 AM

Well, 26 posts later (my most successful thread yet--so sad, I know), and two weeks later I have finally made it around to starting something new.

Just in case anyone is interested, here's a link to our first very philisopical lit discussion:
Let's Talk About Literature... Anyone?
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=18462

This time I found a gem of a piece which relates directly to the BDM and maybe even to the series. The poem "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the poem that Mal references right before he fights the Operative. Check out this link and find out why: http://www.online-literature.com/coleridge/646/
(think albatros--not that needed my help anyway)

You start the talkin'. I've thought waaay too much about this to start. It'd be an essay, and I'll save that for my Joss Whedon fan English professor.

Let the discussion begin!

Wacky fun!

CYBERSNARK

Friday, March 17, 2006 3:25 PM

There's definately a parallel with the Mariner being forced to tell his tale --the proverbial(*) signal that can't be stopped.

(* Does "You can't stop the Signal" qualify as a proverb yet? If not, how much longer 'til it does; a decade? A generation? Who gets to decide these things?)

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

MATTIE

Friday, March 17, 2006 4:09 PM

Mariner in this poem has to keep telling his story. It makes me think of that scene where everyone's on Miranda, inside of Serenity after they've found the message. Mal gives his speech to the crew: "One day the Alliance will swing back to the belief that they can make people...better."

Why is it Mal, though, and the rest of Serenity's crew, that are forced to tell that story? The Alliance "killed the albatros", so why is it hung around Srenity's neck and not thiers?

Wacky fun!