(no subject)

the best stories, i think, have resonances in reality.

I finally watched Serenity (i think i'm going to have to stop putting finally, because it's always finally. I never seem to watch a movie when i feel that i ought to). It was amazing, as expected. Every moment of harsh, frontier morality rang true. the language they used was beautiful. And the fear of a government that controls the way you think, the fear of "believers," these are all fears i hold close to my Barthesian influenced heart.

But i felt that an association i made in one distracted moment made the story be so much more powerful. In a western there's always going to be conflict between the man with his hard-fighting, gun-slinging, no man left behind, frontier morality and the US Marshall, sent to enforce law and order and the political decisions of the American government. But who do you fear in a western? And not those modern nancy-boy westerns that we get nowadays. Not even the good old Disney Davey Crocketts. But back when we didn't have to be PC, back when we could hear the pow-wow drums and really fear, and not think about the eradication of native cultures... I think you know what I'm talking about.

I felt horrified at associating Reavers with Indians, until the plot turned. We made our own worst enemy. We turned innocuous people into something to tell small children about in the dark. I'd heard before that the French introduced scalping, that we kill the indians who made peace with us and then complain when they attack. My mom tells the story of the massacre of the Native American women and children by US troops, who found a baby alive and the baby had a beaded cap with the image of the american flag sewn right in.

Serenity was a dramatization of a power that we have always had- the ability to make monsters. Sometimes the monsters only live in our heads: the monster of belief. Believing that others are monstrous can turn you into a monster. And sometimes we make real monsters, we hurt and we kill and we ignore and then we are surprised when they hate us. there's no defense for the actions of the monsters we create. they are still monsters. But we created them. How much of the blame falls on us?

Serenity 10/10
Yuri potential: Hot interesting women... each with a male attached... give it a half a thumb
Alison Bechdel's Rule: More than one woman: check. Occasionally the women talked to each other about something besides a man. Occasionally they talked about killing. But not often.
1.5/3

(no subject)

the best stories, i think, have resonances in reality.

I finally watched Serenity (i think i'm going to have to stop putting finally, because it's always finally. I never seem to watch a movie when i feel that i ought to). It was amazing, as expected. Every moment of harsh, frontier morality rang true. the language they used was beautiful. And the fear of a government that controls the way you think, the fear of "believers," these are all fears i hold close to my Barthesian influenced heart.

But i felt that an association i made in one distracted moment made the story be so much more powerful. In a western there's always going to be conflict between the man with his hard-fighting, gun-slinging, no man left behind, frontier morality and the US Marshall, sent to enforce law and order and the political decisions of the American government. But who do you fear in a western? And not those modern nancy-boy westerns that we get nowadays. Not even the good old Disney Davey Crocketts. But back when we didn't have to be PC, back when we could hear the pow-wow drums and really fear, and not think about the eradication of native cultures... I think you know what I'm talking about.

I felt horrified at associating Reavers with Indians, until the plot turned. We made our own worst enemy. We turned innocuous people into something to tell small children about in the dark. I'd heard before that the French introduced scalping, that we kill the indians who made peace with us and then complain when they attack. My mom tells the story of the massacre of the Native American women and children by US troops, who found a baby alive and the baby had a beaded cap with the image of the american flag sewn right in.

Serenity was a dramatization of a power that we have always had- the ability to make monsters. Sometimes the monsters only live in our heads: the monster of belief. Believing that others are monstrous can turn you into a monster. And sometimes we make real monsters, we hurt and we kill and we ignore and then we are surprised when they hate us. there's no defense for the actions of the monsters we create. they are still monsters. But we created them. How much of the blame falls on us?

Serenity 10/10
Yuri potential: Hot interesting women... each with a male attached... give it a half a thumb
Alison Bechdel's Rule: More than one woman: check. Occasionally the women talked to each other about something besides a man. Occasionally they talked about killing. But not often.
1.5/3