Karma vs Moral of the Story

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Death 1: Shepherd Book

Book was a retired Operative for the Alliance, who was trying to get as far away from his past as possible. He also needed to hide from his previous employers, hence his attraction to Firefly. He was trying to change his Karma and make amends through Christianity. But the Alliance he helped build was expanding, and it fanally caught up to him. Ironically, it was a fellow Operative who ordered his death, as he always feared would happen.

Book's Operative skills did save the day for Mal and crew, by killing the entire Alliance hit team, thus allowing the neoBrowncoats to survive their landing, and continue their mission to Miranda.

Book joked that it's not very Christian to kill in self defense, a common myth. The irony is is that it has always been Christian to kill in self defense.

"It means an Operative... That's trouble you've not known.... They'll come at you sideways. That's how They think, that's how They move. Sidle up with a smile. Hit you where you're weak. That sort of man is hard. Kills and never asks why."
-Shepherd Book (Alliance Operative, retired, in fear of assassination by Alliance "to keep his official secrets secret"), STM

"I don't murder children."
-Mal, STM
"I do, if I have to. I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no allusions about that but it must be done. You will never understand how...
-The Operative (Commie MI6/CIA), STM

"I killed the ship that killed us. Not very Christian of me."
-Shepherd Book (retired Alliance Operative), STM

"You did what was right."
-Mal, STM

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
-Rabbi "Jesus", Mathew 10:34

"He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
-Rabbi "Jesus", Luke 22:36

Death 2: Wash

A common script in horror and action movies is that jokesters and pacifists die first, since they drop their guard and don't take situations serious. This is common in real life, that when a person is laughing and enjoying life, some criminal sees that as an opportunity to knock their head off.

Wash was cracking a joke and relaxing, which delayed his exit from the crashed spacecraft under attack. The punishment for no sense of urgency is death.

Wash's life of crime was a ticking time bomb. He probably would have died when the Reavers attacked during the bank robbery, except River warned them. So Wash owed his life to River, and he died while delivering River to Miranda.

What concerns me about Joss's scripts is that marriage is discouraged for all his characters, perhaps as a marketing decision based on demographics. Or this is a premeditated agenda by his masters to subvert family life, as condition for his employment, to promote the Anglo-Sino Alliance New World Order.

So the married guy was perceived as "weak", and got killed for it.

Hence, marriage and Christianity are for losers?

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Hopefully, Joss will find a way to ressurect these two characters, not as demons, or clones, but as flashbacks to develope their characters, who are haunting the memories of their friends.

Soooo, do they or don't they stack up. I couldn't tell you what a typical hollywood death is if my life depended on it.

I can guess that a hero dies with honor, or has a positive spin to it.

Bad guys deserve their death.

Although, with existantialism and the absurd being more mainstream than it was in the 30's, I expected the stereotypes to evolve. But you just can't fight the cinematic language.

When the first image of a character you see is his/her shoes, you know it's a person with power. We all feel that when we see it. Changing those perceptions, or shocking them in a new direction may explain why you made such a choice for your subject.

Incidently, I'd love to know what you would think of Mr.Orange's death in Reservoir Dogs... Eastern and Western cultures dissagree with the perceptions of that particular scene.

I'd love to know more.