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Originally posted by Causal:
There is something oh-so-creepy about all this...

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Over on the other board, the serenitymovie.org board there is a group of us on a crew who just love Nathan Fillion. We call ourselves Nathan Appreciators and we're quite active.

Before Flan ( what became the awesome B3!) we talked about giving Mr. Fillion something. Two of our members came up with the idea of giving him a Book filled with our memories, opinions, and appraisals of his work. We found ourselves also wanting to include what we felt about him as Mal.
For it was as Mal for the most part that Mr. Fillion touched us so. It came about that there were many pages in the Book. Some individual, some art from Mike Phillips and Kayna and some essays by a couple of our very talented writers in our bunch. Both essays addressed Nathan as Mal... and we talked among ourselves constantly about not being over the top about it. Yet we kept being drawn back to the need to let Nathan know that he'd touched us with his portrayal of Mal, that Mal had had some impact upon our lives.

Some folks worked awful hard to Save Wash when it was learned he died in the BDM. I saw a girl cry in the theater when Wash died as if she'd lost a member of her family. Joss' genius I believe.

What I'm trying to say is that these characters in some cases bring something to some peoples real lives. Some of us have been helped to be better people by this fandom and that's directly related to being affected by a certain character.
Joss made us feel like they were family, or like they are our friends. I don't find it odd at all that someone would express that. During a time of trouble in my life, Mal helped me thru that.

We all look to literature and movies and song to inspire us, to help us see more clearly or to learn something. These stories IMHO aren't any different. The characters touch our lives--- I believe Joss meant them to.





Go to www.goodworkspresents.org to find out how to honor the Captain!

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Originally posted by FollowMal:
What I'm trying to say is that these characters in some cases bring something to some peoples real lives. Some of us have been helped to be better people by this fandom and that's directly related to being affected by a certain character.
Joss made us feel like they were family, or like they are our friends. I don't find it odd at all that someone would express that. During a time of trouble in my life, Mal helped me thru that.

We all look to literature and movies and song to inspire us, to help us see more clearly or to learn something. These stories IMHO aren't any different. The characters touch our lives--- I believe Joss meant them to.

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Originally posted by Causal:
There is something oh-so-creepy about all this...

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My name is Kaneman and I approve this message.

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Originally posted by Causal:
There is something oh-so-creepy about all this...

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Originally posted by Causal:
(not that I feel good about Kaneman endorsing anything I say, mind you).

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Originally posted by Causal:
With all due respect, the fact that Kaneman agrees with me, doesn't make this any less disturbing to me (although it does make me want to take a shower). I'll grant you that the show has affected us all in various ways--but I reserve the right to be unsettled when we start addressing the actors as the characters as though 1) the actor is the character and, 2) the character is real.

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Originally posted by Kaneman:
HEE HEE....Your making me smile Casual...that's not like you. You are usually about as dry and boring as sun-baked three day old camel shit....

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Originally posted by Causal:
(not that I feel good about Kaneman endorsing anything I say, mind you).

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Originally posted by Causal:
With all due respect, the fact that Kaneman agrees with me, doesn't make this any less disturbing to me (although it does make me want to take a shower). I'll grant you that the show has affected us all in various ways--but I reserve the right to be unsettled when we start addressing the actors as the characters as though 1) the actor is the character and, 2) the character is real.

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Originally posted by DaveShayne:
Perhaps you should take that as a sign to re-evaluate your position on the matter. Yes Asarian is very intense about River. We're all intense about some aspects of the show or we wouldn't still be discussing it 4 years after it was ignominiously cancelled by clueless telecrats.

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Originally posted by FollowMal:
Have you not ever heard of something being written in a poetical or different manner to express something? It's clear to me that Asarian doesn't believe that Summer is River, nor does he believe that the character is real. I took it on face value as a piece of literature in it's own right.
What he is doing is expressing how much a literary character in a show has affected him in an artistic way.
It's much more interesting than a dry piece of essay.

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Originally posted by FollowMal:

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Originally posted by DaveShayne:
We're all intense about some aspects of the show or we wouldn't still be discussing it 4 years after it was ignominiously cancelled by clueless telecrats.

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Thanks for sayin' Dave.

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Originally posted by Causal:
I will not check my opinions at the door.

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Originally posted by Causal:
I'll go this far with you: it was probably insensitive of me to comment in the first place, instead of moving along. That said, I will not check my opinions at the door. I still believe that this whole thread has a very creepy feel to it, and I'm just afraid that I can't apologize for that opinion. In the future, if I see something similar, I'll sidle on; but I fail to see how being a fan of something means that I have to accept as rational some of the more extreme elements of the fandom. I respect Asarian's right to feel however he pleases, and I respect Asarian's right to say what he will. But I share both those rights, and I'm afraid that I just won't accept that I don't have every bit as much right to say "wierd" as Asarian (or anybody else) has to say whatever is on their mind. Fandom is not dogmatism.

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Originally posted by FollowMal:
I went back and read my post pretty carefully and I didn't see anything that I said that meant that I thought you should not express your opinion. If I made you feel that way I apologize. That was not my intention. I was merely pointing out my own feelings about the "letter". Perhaps I strayed in making my first sentence appear to be addressed to you and not making it more plainly generic? I will be more careful with my words from now on.

That's the nice thing about our fandom. There's room in it for lots of different feelings and opinions. I don't think anyone here would want you to not say what was on your mind, anymore than they would not want me to say what was on my mind.
Freedom of expression here is intrinsic to the board.

My opinion of what is expressed by this "letter" is just different from what you see expressed here.

I don't see "extreme" or "weird".

I see an artistic representation for his words.

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Originally posted by Causal:
God, I love this fandom!

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Originally posted by Causal:
God, I love this fandom!

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Originally posted by asarian:
it makes my own humanity participate in an active manner.

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Originally posted by kurya:

Hey.

Just wanted to give some thoughts on this thread.

My first set of thoughts pertain to the nature of the letter. I do not mean to attack you Casual, so please take the following words as such, I fully respect your opinions and your right to have them and express them. And since you already expressed desire to be more open and accepting, it is moot for me to respond to you but I will respond anyways, just to give my take on this.

I can see how one might think this is a bit disturbing, it is true that if a person can not tell the difference between fantasy and reality, then that is cause for some concern and can be a source of problematic behaviour.

However, I do not see evidence of that here, and that to write to a character is just a literary device to add, one can say emotional depth to the piece, and to convey how much the story of that character's journey has affected the author. I do not know if it is asarian's intent, he did not seem to convey it, but to me really, this format brings forth more emotion.

In my second set of thoughts, I also wanted to convey my thanx to Asarian to writing this piece, and I also wanted to express how much her journey and specifically her relationship to her brother has touched me.

It has hit a bit closer to home for me specifically. I won't go into details, but I had a sister but she passed away a few years ago. She had severe Down's syndrome, so severe, she didn't have the faculty to speak, or convey complex ideas, or feed herself etc... she was basically a 24 year old baby. A soul trapped in a severe condition. She got the greatest care from my parents who have sacrificed to make sure she got good care at home, and was fed, her diapers changed, etc. But even in that situation she still had a presence that affected us. And so the story of River, a genius and a wonder trapped in a psychosis, really strikes me. And how devoted her brother was to her to hoow much he had to sacrifice just to save her, strikes a chord in me. I never had to do such a thing for my sister, and I do not know if I would have the courage, but I would like to think that I would do the same thing if I was in similar circumstances, and I admire Simon's devotion and courage, even if ficticious. The story of the Tam siblings touches me, and almost mirror's my love for my sister.

So that is all, I just basically want to echo how River's and Simon's journey speaks to me.
Prakash

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