Blue Collar Scifi by William08

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Blue Collar Scifi

POSTED BY: WILLIAM08
UPDATED: Monday, October 7, 2002 09:21
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Sunday, October 6, 2002 10:56 PM

One of the things I find most fascinating about this show is the fact that it has class as a central issue. The heroes aren't all spiffy clean graduates of some space academy or university. They're working class folks: an engineer, a hooker (despite the fantasies, rarely a high class occupation), a circuit riding preacher, a freighter pilot and some ex soldiers (not even ex-officers, but non-coms and infantry grunts).
These aren't high-falutin' upper class nabobs (like on Star Trek) but the men and women who do the grunt work and have dirt under their nails.

In other words: the hicks!

Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against this. I think it's great. In television scifi, the issue of class is rarely touched on (much less so than the issue of race), because we all want to maintain the illusion of a classless society. But this show throws that issue up in our face.

We watch the good guys get tromped on by the Alliance goons (all academy graduates, I guarantee you) in their big, spanking clean ship. Everytime they meet the Alliance, you can see the sneer of upperclass contempt on the well shaved, well bred faces of the officers as they have to deal with people they rank with janitors and truck drivers.

This is an approach I've never seen in any tv or movie scifi (with the possible exception of the "Alien" movies. I look forward to seeing how Whedon develops it.

Then again, could this be one of the reasons why it isn't doing so well?

William08

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Monday, October 7, 2002 9:21 AM

ZICSOFT

Actually, Kaylee is always referred to as a "mechanic", not an "engineer". Which only strengthens your argument, since it suggests she has little or no formal training in her work.

Before somebody with a degree in auto mechanics chimes in -- yeah, I know you have to do some serious studying to do your work. The distinction between "engineer" and "mechanic" doesn't have the kind of social distinction it used to. But it did once, and obviously in the Firefly world it does again.

I think the pilot tried to emphasize this kind of class issue by having the characters speak different dialects of English. They've toned down that aspect, alas.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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