Can't take the sky by wytchcroft

BLUE SUN ROOM

Can't take the sky

POSTED BY: WYTCHCROFT
UPDATED: Saturday, August 25, 2007 15:04
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:33 PM

does anyone have thoughts on the use of 'the sky' as a symbol in Firefly?

i'm thinking of the theme song - and in SAFE, where River mentions the cows that 'remember who they are' after seeing the sky - and in 'Our Mrs Reynolds' Wash details a Sky myth.

in my fic 'Words on the Wing', i tried to include the sky.. when the companion-to-be is first trained it is at a cost - by sacrificing someone else she actually loses her Self... and i point out that while talking to her mistress (possibly Inara) she 'ignores the sky'.

Later she sacrifices herself to the blue hand men and it saves someone else - while she rediscovers herself by doing so. her 'reward' is the inclusion of the theme song at the conclusion - again the sky.

has anyone else from the blue sun room tried to use/play with/explore the symbology from the show?? -
i find it quite slippery and opaque, tricky to get a bead on... but it's a fascinating side to the actual show that people seem to rarely discuss...

any thoughts?

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Friday, August 17, 2007 8:37 AM

TUJIAOZUO

I've worked the song's symbolism into the show. Not the 'sky' part of the themesong, but the 'take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand' lines. In one chapter of one of my fics, I did some exposition between Mal and an OC of mine called Ru. I wrote out their dialog as their backstories, and really took the lyrics to heart because I wanted them to be very juxtaposed with the characters.

Zoe's family was taken by slavers right after the war. She spent a year or two hunting them down before reuniting with Mal, worse for wear after never being able to save them. Take my love...

Mal went back home after the war to live on his mother's ranch and work as a cowboy. A year into it, she died of a stroke. He planned on taking over the ranch, however the Alliance claimed Immenent Domain, took the land from him and dropped a town on the property. With the money he had from selling the herd and horses, he bought Serenity Take my land...

After running from an Alliance Vets Program she had gotten snuck into for medical attention, Ru went home to Triumph. However when she got home, she found her hometown recently attacked by Reavers. Upon seeing her entire family slaughtered, she dropped to her knees, unable to stomach the gore and the heartache. Take me where I cannot stand...

I just always thought that the song itself could be taken very literally, as if they were actual moments in some of the characters pasts.

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

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Friday, August 17, 2007 10:44 AM

WYTCHCROFT

thank you! what a great reply

- i'm going to go and look again at your fics!

FireFly - it's a deep well.

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Friday, August 17, 2007 11:40 AM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

I think Joss mentions on one of the special features that he wrote the song literally for Mal. "Burn the land and boil the sea" is generally interpreted as the destruction of Shadow, for example. "There's no place I can be since I found Serenity" is easy to understand once you refer to a deleted scene from one of the earlier episodes, where Zoe tells Simon something like, "Once you're in Serenity Valley, you never leave. You just learn to live with it."

As far as the sky goes, it's probably the most important in terms of the story as it progresses. Mal says "Gettin' awful crowded in my sky" talking about the Reavers in the pilot. I always saw the sky as freedom, literally Mal's freedom, because the other time he refers to it he also says "my sky."

I never thought to apply the song to the other crew members, but they're some interesting thoughts the both of you have.

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Friday, August 17, 2007 9:04 PM

ZONER

Quote:
Originally posted by TuJiaoZuo:
[B

i like this post.

i think river is of the land.

wash of the stars (sky?).

mal moves between them maybe.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007 9:09 PM

JETFLAIR

Quote:
Originally posted by yinyang:
I think Joss mentions on one of the special features that he wrote the song literally for Mal. "Burn the land and boil the sea" is generally interpreted as the destruction of Shadow, for example. "There's no place I can be since I found Serenity" is easy to understand once you refer to a deleted scene from one of the earlier episodes, where Zoe tells Simon something like, "Once you're in Serenity Valley, you never leave. You just learn to live with it."

As far as the sky goes, it's probably the most important in terms of the story as it progresses. Mal says "Gettin' awful crowded in my sky" talking about the Reavers in the pilot. I always saw the sky as freedom, literally Mal's freedom, because the other time he refers to it he also says "my sky."

I never thought to apply the song to the other crew members, but they're some interesting thoughts the both of you have.

That's pretty much how I interpret it, with a slightly different twist on the sky part. In my story, which covers Mal as a prisoner of the Alliance after the war -

- Take my love: Mal's family was killed when Shadow was destroyed
- Take my land - Shadow and the ranch that was to be Mal's were destroyed
- Take me where I cannot stand - There is a time in the story where Mal is chained up in a cell, and literally cannot stand
- You can't take the sky from me - Mal discovering that the Alliance can take his home, his freedom, the people he cares about, everything....but they can't take the feeling and the memory of sailing through space, nor the knowledge of the vast world outside the walls of the prison. Also reflected in the day-to-day lives of the prisoners, which is closed off and controlled, but they can always see the sky.
-Tell 'em I ain't going back - will be in the future of the story

"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you when she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." .......We love you, captain.

"This is the captain. We may experience some slight turbulence and then.....explode"

www.serenityverse.com - Zoe necklace replicas, Serenity dogtags, jewelry, image gallery w/ custom DVD covers, other goodies!

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Saturday, August 25, 2007 7:56 AM

RIVERFLAN

Quote:

i like this post.

i think river is of the land.

wash of the stars (sky?).

mal moves between them maybe.

Wash is definetly of the stars. He said once in OMR "I think the reason I went into flight school was so I could see what the hell everyone was talking about"

River is of the land, or of the mind, I'm not sure which.

I think you're right about Mal moving between the two. He want to find freedom in the sky, but has to touch down to land in order to feed himself.

I can't think of the symbology for the other characters. Any ideas?

River: "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vaccuuming systems."

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Saturday, August 25, 2007 12:37 PM

DUKUSUKKER

what a cool discussion...

the only reference i can think of right now to "the black" is Kaylee's line in Serenity:

"it can get awful lonely out here in the black..."

It is interesting to think of her while hearing the line "take me out to the black, tell em i aint coming back...", especially since she is full of hope, positive energy and the most giving of love...yet of everyone on the ship, she is the most starved for love. she left her family and her world behind in hopes of a better life - and may not have found one. I dont think she dwells on that...she sees bright everywhere. She's lonely. Even if she doesnt realize it.

Would never have thought of any of this had this string not started. thanks...

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Saturday, August 25, 2007 3:04 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

Quote:
wytchcroft wrote:
Thursday, August 16, 2007 20:33
does anyone have thoughts on the use of 'the sky' as a symbol in Firefly?

i'm thinking of the theme song - and in SAFE, where River mentions the cows that 'remember who they are' after seeing the sky - and in 'Our Mrs Reynolds' Wash details a Sky myth.

I don't think the three relate.

Isn't it Saffron who details the sky myth while attempting to seduce Wash? It's more of a creation myth, sans God (a single creator). The symbolism is purely sexual. Which is why she choses it.

River's comment regarding the cows is how they are a thing of nature and being taken out of a natural environment they are no longer a part of that whole. Here I'd say that the statement is one of fact, there's no symbolism used.

The sky reference in the theme song, I think is another truism. When all you've got left is the clothes on your back, there's nothing left to take and there you are just you and the air you breathe. Of course it has double meaning for the obvious reason that Mal choses to lead a nomadic life literally in the sky.

Keep on flyin'

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