Mal's Father by teethgrinder

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Mal's Father

POSTED BY: TEETHGRINDER
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 16:41
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Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:01 PM

YELLOWJACKET

Sam Elliott. The western mogul himself.

Or...Tom Selleck.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 1:36 PM

BORIS

Yeah Tom Selleck if they can't get Sam Elliot. I have been watching a series called Jessie stone...it's crap mostly but Selleck does what he can with the material. David Keith would be a good choice as a big brother for MAl.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 10:26 PM

SPACEANJL

Anybody seen that really duff tv movie with Kevin Sorbo in it, as the preacher turned bounty hunter? Now there would be an interesting choice...

I have to ask, why the hell does Mal's background have to involve high-born or high-flying Core folk? Is there some idea in people's minds that folks out on the Rim are all dumbass redneck types and only an infusion of blood from the 'civilised' world will save them? Why can't they just be tough, smart, honest and ordinary people?

I've always thought the idea behind 'Firefly' was that everyone else in it was just so completely under the radar that no-one would ever have noticed them except for the event of the Tams. The worrying trend seems to be for huge coincidences (Book as Secret Operative! Inara holding the Fate of the Government!) which makes a nonsense of this. Mal is only on the Government scope because of a certain bloody-mindedness.

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Monday, August 18, 2008 9:53 AM

TUJIAOZUO

Quote:
I have to ask, why the hell does Mal's background have to involve high-born or high-flying Core folk? Is there some idea in people's minds that folks out on the Rim are all dumbass redneck types and only an infusion of blood from the 'civilised' world will save them? Why can't they just be tough, smart, honest and ordinary people?

That's kind of what I've shot for with Mal. One side of my family came across on a covered wagon (settled in North Dakota) and the other drove from Arkansas to California in a truck with no breaks during the dustbowl. Just because they were lower class doesn't mean they weren't decently educated. granted there are a few rednecks, but most are very intelligent. I still live on the farm my Great Grandmother settled when she ended in California, and it's very simple and very small (and in the middle of flippin' NOWHERE) but we were given a good education, I can tell the difference between Mozart and Vivaldi, and I've walked cotton rows chopping weeds at six in the morning. Rural doesn't mean uneducated, it just means a different view of the world, a more honest one if you ask me. I think that's Mal's view and how he was bought up. There weren't alot of resources on Shadow, but his mother taught him what she knew and he saw the view of the world as a rancher, the bottom of the food industry (literally, after farmers who initially grow the product, food changes hands more than once until getting to the buyers). Being at the bottom is a very unique and honest position, which I think he carries with him along with what he went through during the war.

Quote:
Originally posted by boris:
Yeah Tom Selleck if they can't get Sam Elliot. I have been watching a series called Jessie stone...it's crap mostly but Selleck does what he can with the material. David Keith would be a good choice as a big brother for MAl.

Those Jesse Stone movies are about as bad TV writing as it can get (my mom has been in love with Selleck since Magnum so I've been subjected to a few) but he can pull a decent preformance out of what they give him. I think the best movies to reference for him as Mal's Pa would be the aforementioned Quigley movie and the Crossfire Trail, Monte Walsh movies he did a few years back for TNT (which are pretty damn good)

Sam Elliiot's another good choice (though I think there's more of a similar look between Nathan and Tom), as is Mel Gibson and Mark Harmon(I dunno about Harrison Ford, it might be that the last Indy movie ruined him for me, but I can't see Solo being a father of hometown Shadow boy. If Mal was raised vesselside by brigands, or Han fell in love with his Ma as a pirate on leave and left afterwards, hell yeah. Just not the circumstances Joss has given him)

Your Indian Pirate Lord,
Ash

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:46 PM

BORIS

How bout Glenn close as Mal's Momma? Any body ever see Sarah Plain And Tall? or Kate Mulgrew? (ex Captain Janeway from Star trek Voyager)or Ellen Burstyn?

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4:00 PM

NCBROWNCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by boris:
How bout Glenn close as Mal's Momma? Any body ever see Sarah Plain And Tall? or Kate Mulgrew? (ex Captain Janeway from Star trek Voyager)or Ellen Burstyn?

I don't see her as that old (late 40's to 50ish)More than likely she was between 18 and 25(at the extreme end...)when she got married. Girls in rural areas tend to marry earlier than in the city and have children earlier too.

That would put her 32-37 when Mal is 18 and leaving home. Old enough to run a ranch by herself, especially if she had a background in some sort of rural business or ranching.

On the blue blood thing. Lots of ordinary people populated the west but also lots of younger sons of wealthy families. they were likely just a fraction of the population but a significant one, especially in the colonial US.

They either had no prospects at home since older siblings would inherit the family money and they saw the US and the west as a place they could make their own way. Or they were the misfits, lone wolves, rebellious children etc. Or they just had a thirst for adventure and had access to the resources to start anew.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 4:41 PM

PLATONIST

I don't think Mal's Mom or Dad needs to be young. The average age of marriage has consistently risen in cities and rural areas, 26 for women and 27 for men. Worldwide it's about the same. Why would that change? Birth control would still be available and when not used, most men aren't marrying their pregnant girlfriends, anyway. (See Jerry Springer, any day of the week for those dramas)

Kaylee isn't married, neither is Mal, nor Jayne...so why would we assume Mal's parents were young or even married?

By the way, 18-20 year old marriages have the highest divorce rate, a whopping 89%

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