GREENFAERIE'S BLOG

GreenFaerie

A Browncoat Blog.... My Thoughts
Sunday, November 5, 2006

Well, here it is. I'm not much of a blogger or writer, but Firefly is something special to me, and so I am inspired to write my story.

HOW I BECAME A BROWNCOAT

One day a few years ago I was using one of those file sharing programs where you can download stuff illegally. It was a passing phase, and I don't do that anymore. But at the time, I was searching for something I vaguely remember from TV that I never got to see. All I could remember was it's name, "Firefly", and it was sci-fi, and I missed my chance to see it. So after a brief search, I found a few episodes. A few hours later, I was in love with a cancelled show I never got to see when it aired (thank you, FOX, you idiots).

A search on Amazon.com and a few weeks later I had the DVDs in hand, and was completely under the spell of Firefly. It was magic. Art. Genius. Love. I was completely perplexed. How could this show be cancelled? I joined fireflyfans.net, and the movement for more Firefly. A year later I was overjoyed when I heard about the movie, Serenity. I was shocked and awed when I saw it, literally vibrating afterwards. Then totally depressed when I learned it was not a phenominon like Star Wars. It should have been. It deserved to be.

A few months later I came to terms with the fact that I liked Firefly better than Serenity. The movie was great, but it was not Firefly. It was not the day-to-day life of our beloved crew, it was instead a Big Damn Movie. I would rather have had another 14 episodes than a two-hour movie extravaganza. But I understood this was all Joss could do. At least I got to see more of the story.

THE STATE OF THE 'VERSE

Dammit, I want more Firefly. It deserves to be reborn. More than any other show, or any other concept I could think of, I believe this 'Verse needs to be explored more. Screw Star Wars and Star Trek. They've had their run, and I had a kind of love for them. But not like Firefly. Give me real characters, real emotion, and real... realness.

I've bought more Firefly/Serenity merchandise than any other branding. DVDs, Visual companions, comics, cards, ornaments... almost everything. Just goes to show you that even though I could get the episodes via a pirate source, I was moved to buy the real stuff. FOX and Universal made money from me thanks to illegal file sharing. Not saying piracy is right... Just saying in this case, it sure didn't hurt FOX or Universal.

So here I am, over a year since the movie, and things don't look great. Sure, we should get a comic book, and maybe a few novels... but Firefly should be on TV again. And I still think there is a chance it may be. But dammit, what's taking so long? Are there really more stupid people on this planet than smart ones?

I'm sure anyone reading this can say "been there, felt that", but I just had to put it down here. Now on to some more thoughts I have had about Firefly...

IS MAL AGNOSTIC?

One of the things I find compelling about Malcolm Reynolds is his so called Agnosticism. He is not an Atheist. He may not even be an agnostic, since he says God is not welcome on his boat. So he may still beleive in God, but he just doesn't "believe" IN Him. He's turned his back on God, because he feels abandoned.

I believe in God. I think atheists must be delusional (as I'm sure they think I am) because they cannot disprove God's existence, no more than I can prove it. But the problem I think is what the definition of God is. I don't believe He is a "He" or even something tangible or measureable. God cannot be male or female any more than a galaxy of stars can be. God is beyond my understanding. We humans only really know what four percent of the universe is. To believe there is no God is to assume you know all there is to know. I do not know everything, therefore I cannot truly know what God is. I can only believe that there is some power beyond my understanding. That is God to me.

Mal has made the mistake of believing in a God that takes a particular interest in him. How self-centered is that? So when Mal loses the battle of Serenity Valley, he feels betrayed. But if God does not take sides, he cannot betray. God made the universe, but does not control it. Thus, we have Free Will, and as a side effect, Bad Things Happen. Mal has not come to terms with this.

This does not mean to me that God is not good and loving. He is. I see this all around me. There is beauty, love, and good all over the world. All I need to do is look for it. But if I look for ugliness, hate, and evil, I will find that too. It's all in how you choose to look.

IS INARA A WHORE?

Here is another compelling concept in Firefly. The Companion. When you boil it down, she sells herself for sex. But it's more than that. She offers herself to another for their spiritual, mental and physical rejuvination. It's all connected. It's not just sex. She performs a ritual that heals. Before modern religeon and the male-dominated society ruled, sex was viewed as a union of spiritual proportions. It was a connection to God. But today's standards defile the act to simple animalistic urges. A shame, really. I think the Companion is a call back to the strength of the female spirit, and the power of primal love. So no, she is not a whore. In every transaction Inara makes in Firefly, we see someone who seeks to promote healing, and growth, not merely sex and money.

COMMON GROUND

So, there is Mal and Inara. The relationship. They cannot come together because of their beliefs. Mal thinks she is a whore, and is wrong. Inara thinks he has feelings for her, and she is right, but cannot respond without losing something of herself. For her to respond to Mal would be to reject whatever it is she is running from. Hopefully we may see in the future of Firefly a reconcilliation of these terms.

More thoughts to come...

COMMENTS

Tuesday, November 7, 2006 7:46 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


Fascinating thoughts, GreenFaerie...definitely gotta ditto your thoughts on everything here, though the passages on Mal's faith and Inara's status as a Companion are especially perceptive:D

BEB


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