![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
media!
Firefly rewatch: Joss also got away with “quim” in The Message, from a guy who was about to make prison rape jokes. He’s not Aaron Sorkin, but he does have some repeats.
Objects in Space: Wow, I have an essay’s worth of things to say about the parallels between River and Jubal Early (the girl who flows and the man in the wrong place at the wrong time). As River says, “I’m very close to him. He doesn’t even see it.”
They both attend to objects in ways that don’t make sense to the people around them (the gun, Early licking the ship, etc.)—indeed, they both seem to have an affection for Serenity, though perhaps Early’s is just feigned to hide his bloodlust. They both mishear/hear the wrong thing (Early mistaking “Are you Alliance?” for “Are you a lion?” which also has connections to River not being a person—e.g., Simon’s fight with Kaylee when Kaylee says no person could do what River did, and River’s other claims about herself not being a girl/wanting to be a stone). They both terrify Kaylee. Early draws his gun and points it at Simon without looking, just as River later does to Mal in the film. They both lie about their intentions—Early about his lack of desire to hurt people, River about her willingness to go with him (and when she lies, she’s using true parallels: she’s dangerous, like him, she doesn’t belong). River tells Early “you’re not right,” and then Mal tells River, “you ain’t quite right.” River also tells Early, “You’re not well”; his mother was glad to see him go.
Whedon’s love for ironic cuts repeatedly puts River in Early’s place or vice versa, just as the narrative itself does when she gets on his ship. So Mal says “we got someone on board this ship might be a danger to us,” then there’s a cut to Early. (And when Mal says, right after that, “Ain't a question of whether we like her,” it turns out that it is exactly that—or at least it’s a question of whether she’s crew/family, compared to Early. As a side note, I would love to see a comprehensive examination of show credits that asserting a premise opposite from that of the actual show, like Mal’s voiceover claiming that they’ll take any job, doesn’t matter what, when the show is devoted to proving the contrary.) In the end, a key factor differentiating River from Early is that she is not alone and does not want to be alone despite her Alliance-imposed isolation, which is really what her merger with the ship is about.
Ugh, I love this show so much.
Pacific Rim: Neural handshake achieved! Not only do I love Raleigh/Mori (though I could’ve used a Bechdel test pass), I see all the tasty crossover potential. Sam/Dean (those memories would be an awesome angstfest); Mulder/Scully (ditto, and Scully’s reaction to Mulder’s abduction memory would be priceless); and so on.
Objects in Space: Wow, I have an essay’s worth of things to say about the parallels between River and Jubal Early (the girl who flows and the man in the wrong place at the wrong time). As River says, “I’m very close to him. He doesn’t even see it.”
They both attend to objects in ways that don’t make sense to the people around them (the gun, Early licking the ship, etc.)—indeed, they both seem to have an affection for Serenity, though perhaps Early’s is just feigned to hide his bloodlust. They both mishear/hear the wrong thing (Early mistaking “Are you Alliance?” for “Are you a lion?” which also has connections to River not being a person—e.g., Simon’s fight with Kaylee when Kaylee says no person could do what River did, and River’s other claims about herself not being a girl/wanting to be a stone). They both terrify Kaylee. Early draws his gun and points it at Simon without looking, just as River later does to Mal in the film. They both lie about their intentions—Early about his lack of desire to hurt people, River about her willingness to go with him (and when she lies, she’s using true parallels: she’s dangerous, like him, she doesn’t belong). River tells Early “you’re not right,” and then Mal tells River, “you ain’t quite right.” River also tells Early, “You’re not well”; his mother was glad to see him go.
Whedon’s love for ironic cuts repeatedly puts River in Early’s place or vice versa, just as the narrative itself does when she gets on his ship. So Mal says “we got someone on board this ship might be a danger to us,” then there’s a cut to Early. (And when Mal says, right after that, “Ain't a question of whether we like her,” it turns out that it is exactly that—or at least it’s a question of whether she’s crew/family, compared to Early. As a side note, I would love to see a comprehensive examination of show credits that asserting a premise opposite from that of the actual show, like Mal’s voiceover claiming that they’ll take any job, doesn’t matter what, when the show is devoted to proving the contrary.) In the end, a key factor differentiating River from Early is that she is not alone and does not want to be alone despite her Alliance-imposed isolation, which is really what her merger with the ship is about.
Ugh, I love this show so much.
Pacific Rim: Neural handshake achieved! Not only do I love Raleigh/Mori (though I could’ve used a Bechdel test pass), I see all the tasty crossover potential. Sam/Dean (those memories would be an awesome angstfest); Mulder/Scully (ditto, and Scully’s reaction to Mulder’s abduction memory would be priceless); and so on.