I've always thought so as well. However, there clearly should have been an Asian in the main cast. Garrett Wang was free!
Is "Firefly" overated or underated?
- Thread starter Jayson
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I've always thought so as well. However, there clearly should have been an Asian in the main cast. Garrett Wang was free!
There was. Kaylee.
Tam is indeed meant to be an Asian name. I remember on the DVDs they say they always wanted the rich people to have Asian related names, and that in Simon and River's case it was their last name Tam.
Mal, Zoe & the crew of Firefly operated under a "freedom" from society and societal conventions that was quite clearly and romantically portrayed as preferable to merely going along with the "secure but hardly free" lifestyle offered by the Alliance. It's all right there in the lyrics to the theme song ("take my land; Take me where I cannot stand; I'm still free; You can't take the sky from me")
Any analysis that ignores this fact is either ignorant or obtuse.
The English language and culture is prevalent in most of the world now. Do you think that means that there are English/American people around in every country where you'll hear people insert a lot of English phrases and expressions into their speech? I can assure you it doesn't, since those English phrases and expressions come from movies/TV/music/Internet, despite the fact that there aren't any British, American, Australian or Canadian people around. The prevalence of Anglo-American culture sure doesn't mean that Brits and Americans are making their colonies all over the world.
Pretty sure that isn't true. According to her she is of British, Irish, French and Iroquois ancestry. It's probably the Native American that you're seeing in her. She isn't Asian by any stretch of the imagination.
Wiki seems to agree with you. Guess I'm wrong.
Yes, it probably is the Native American part that threw me off.
Native Americans are descended from asians, though.
I don't care what is in the lyrics. I simply disagree that the lifestyle of Mal and Zoe was romantically portrayed as preferable. It may have been preferable for those two characters, most likely because of their opinion of the Alliance, but most of the other characters lived that life through no choice of their own.
I'm simply saying that things weren't presented in the show in a right vs. wrong manner. There were simply different lifestyle choices, and none were shown to be inherently superior, even though the theme song was written from one character's perspective.
Like I said, such analysis is ignorant, willfully or otherwise ("I don't care what is in the lyrics"), and obtuse ("disagree that the lifestyle of Mal and Zoe was romantically portrayed as preferable").
Of course Firefly doesn't portray its world in purely black and white. But the theme song's lyrics weren't an accident, they cannot be simply ignored; and to not see the clearly biased viewpoint of the series requires an analysis that completely misses the point. Ignorant and obtuse. No amount of saying otherwise will exonerate such an analysis from its obvious flaws.
Of course Firefly doesn't portray its world in purely black and white. But the theme song's lyrics weren't an accident, they cannot be simply ignored; and to not see the clearly biased viewpoint of the series requires an analysis that completely misses the point. Ignorant and obtuse. No amount of saying otherwise will exonerate such an analysis from its obvious flaws.
Not sure you do, though. As evidence I call the next sentence:
Nobody's saying that the series is providing a thesis that why Mal's way of life is the superior way all humans must follow.
But the show does prefer him to the bureaucracy of the Alliance, and definitely weighs in on the retrospective side of the Independents. And when the franchise does break out its Big Message Moment in the film, it's given to Mal, and his Aim to Misbehave speech.
Why is it bizarre for Inara to love Mal? Opposites attract, maybe?
Zoe is Mal's loyal right hand woman and close-as-skin war buddy. She will always be at his side and with him wherever he goes.
Mal's a grown man with his own life to live and money to make. His ship is his business so he lives there.
There were no job prospects for Kaylee at her home and she loved engines. If it hadn't been for Mal's offer she wouldn't be making any living.
It doesn't seem all that plausible that there wouldn't be any work for someone with Kaylee's talents.
True, but Mal's the one who offered her a job first. Also, she and the rest of the crew (besides Jayne) seem to be loyal to a fault towards Mal. That's why they stay.
Watching the series for the first time. Just saw Out of Gas, loved it. Really loving the series now. Savoring watching them for the first time. Christina Hendricks is a goddess amongst humans.
doubleohfive
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Is it overrated or underrated? No. Firefly's biggest detracting quality is the near-fanaticism some of its fans display in proclaiming their everlasting adulation and devotion to it. Otherwise, it's another well-made Joss Whedon series that some like, and some don't.
To weigh into the Alliance good or bad debate when I did my rewatch I remember I took a tally of the good things the Alliance did compared to the bad. And it came off as fairly even, in eps like 'The Train Job' it's the Alliance that are bringing medecine to the needy and Mal who's hijacking it. If I remember the commentary for Serenity Joss says he sees the Alliance as essentially a benevolent force.
I'm not sure it's a question of good or bad it's a question of freedom/anarchy versus restriction/good goverment, Simon, River and Inara all actually supporting the Alliance in the war, Wash and Jayne not really seeming to care much and Book...?. The Firefly crew are essentially outlaws who like the freedom of the wild frontier, a frontier that is rapidly shrinking (like The Wild Bunch). But you could argue that they like it because they're the strong who thrive in such circumstances, a lot of people who are much weaker appreciate what the Alliance can do for them. For the question of slavery we do see it in the Firefly world but never on an Alliance world.
I'm not sure it's a question of good or bad it's a question of freedom/anarchy versus restriction/good goverment, Simon, River and Inara all actually supporting the Alliance in the war, Wash and Jayne not really seeming to care much and Book...?. The Firefly crew are essentially outlaws who like the freedom of the wild frontier, a frontier that is rapidly shrinking (like The Wild Bunch). But you could argue that they like it because they're the strong who thrive in such circumstances, a lot of people who are much weaker appreciate what the Alliance can do for them. For the question of slavery we do see it in the Firefly world but never on an Alliance world.
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