FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Dollars and Cents

POSTED BY: INEVITABLEBETRAYAL
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 03:38
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Tuesday, August 24, 2004 7:45 PM

INEVITABLEBETRAYAL


Please pardon if this has been brought up before...

In "Jaynestown" we witness a local bard playing what appears to be a ballad to Jayne, the "Hero of Canton." I know this is all review. But the last time I watched my DVD I got stuck on the line, "He saw the magistrate takin'/Each dollar and leavin' five cents". Now, every other time I'd seen the episode, that line just slid right on by and I never gave it a second thought. But this last time, I wondered, "What the devil is he doing talking about dollars and cents??" We've seen reference to platinum in "Safe" and "bits" in "The Message", and although I might be missing one (possibly having to do with "credits"--the ubiquitous sci-fi currency stand in), they never talk about dollars and cents except in this one episode.

*Whew*

Glad I got that off my chest...

So the question is, why is a 26th century mudder pop star singing about dollars and cents, a unit of currency that would be over 800 years old in his day, and come from another planet?


_______________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2004 8:04 PM

PURPLEBELLY


Mudders are only allowed to use company tokens, which are denominated in dollars and cents, rather than the core planet credits or open currency platinums.

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Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1:44 AM

STARPILOTGRAINGER


Or, like songwriters sometimes do, in searching for a rhyme he reached a little into more obscure language.

Plus, how many people still sing "Shave and a hair cut... two bits?" ;)

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6
http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

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Wednesday, August 25, 2004 1:54 AM

NEDWARD


Quote:

Originally posted by InevitableBetrayal:
So the question is, why is a 26th century mudder pop star singing about dollars and cents, a unit of currency that would be over 800 years old in his day, and come from another planet?

I think he's a folk singer, not a pop star. If so, he could use whatever out-of-date terms he fancied. Besides, 800 years isn't unusual. We've been using the pound in England since 1158 (I think the thaler [dollar] is 14th century, but hey).

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Thursday, August 26, 2004 11:01 PM

GAVIDA


Quote:

Originally posted by InevitableBetrayal:
Please pardon if this has been brought up before...
We've seen reference to platinum in "Safe" and "bits" in "The Message", and although I might be missing one (possibly having to do with "credits"--the ubiquitous sci-fi currency stand in), they never talk about dollars and cents except in this one episode.




The reference to credits is in "Safe" as well, in the flashback where Simon's father pays the fine to get Simon out.
Probably it is not exactly the right quote, but Mr. Tam says something like "I just paid 2000 credits to get you out"

Maybe Credits is the common Alliance currency, with the others, like Platinum and bits are more local currencies used in the outer worlds?

And who knows, maybe the planets and moons themselves have another local currency made up by the first settlers to arrive there.
So the mudders could still stick to Dollars and Cents as the offical mudder-currency?

Just my take on it, though

Keep flying,
Gavida

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Friday, September 24, 2004 6:23 AM

DB


It seems to me that using a "mythical" currency from the Earth that Was is a good literary device to mythologize your hero. Perhaps "Five cents on the dollar" is an archaic colloquialism like "Minding your P's and Q's" or "in for a Penny, in for a Pound"...

And even if there are no dollars anymore, there are certainly cents. (Assuming, of course that some derivative of the metric system exists here) What else are you going to call hundredths of a credit/platinum/whatever?


DB Sousa

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Friday, October 15, 2004 11:03 AM

YT

the movie is not the Series. Only the facts have been changed, to irritate the innocent; the names of the actors and characters remain the same


Quote:

Originally posted by db:
And even if there are no dollars anymore, there are certainly cents. (Assuming, of course that some derivative of the metric system exists here) What else are you going to call hundredths of a credit/platinum/whatever?


Why should a metric currency imply hundredths? Perhaps they find tenths, or thousandths, a more significant ratio.

I think it is most likely just a mistake on the part of the writer. But it could be folk use of colloquialism, for the sake of style & rhyme. Lastly, the writer could have chosen to avoid problems, in reconciling with other Firefly eps, by not using any denomination. "There's one for you, nineteen for me". Of course, that leads to another problem.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

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Monday, February 21, 2005 8:16 PM

REAVERINA1985RIVIERA


I think I figured it out:

Credits are Aliance currency, totaly electronic, like online banking.

Since the outer planets have very few modern ammenities to handle money transfers, their money would have to be physical, coins made out of gold (dollars) and silver (everything else). Paper money would have no value at all.

Platnum would be the coin equivalent of a $100

Considering the Mudders were mostly indentured serveants, I think they made $150 per-person a day.
What they actualy take home would be, what?, about $30?

up yours, Boss Higgins.
---------------------------------------------
The real-life box droppin', man-ape gone wrong thing, without the pesky falling boxes

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Monday, February 21, 2005 10:06 PM

BELASERA


Wish I made $150 a day. Those are some pricey indentured servants they got there!

"I'll be in my bunk."

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Monday, February 21, 2005 11:19 PM

PURPLEBELLY


This link may give some illumination on the nature of indentured labour http://www.answers.com/indentured+labour&r=67
The thread is, of course, answered succinctly in the second post above.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 3:49 AM

DUG


There's plenty of examples in our American language of using outdated terms for money:

-Two bits (older american phrase, I think)
-Worth his salt (roman)
-In for a penny, in for a pound (british)
-sold out for his 30 peices of silver (biblical reference)
-hide your talent under a bushel (more biblical reference)

Not so unusual that ther might be a survival of terms in the Firefly verse as well. As others have mentioned, the border planets may well have set up their own economies and may be using dollars and cents.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 4:56 AM

REAVERMADNESS


Quote:

Originally posted by dug:
There's plenty of examples in our American language of using outdated terms for money:

-Two bits (older american phrase, I think)



Submitted for edification purposes only.

Most people know that it means 25 cents, but the origin is a mystery to them.
'Bit,' which ultimately comes from the Old English 'bita,' originally meant a morsel of food. From there it went on to denote any small thing, particularly a fraction of a larger whole. By 1683 in the English-speaking American colonies 'bit' had come to denote a Spanish/Mexican real, or one eighth of a peso. The peso was a common form of currency in the colonies. And in the early days of the United States, pesos were commonly used as dollar coins and real coins represented twelve and half cents, hence two bits equaled 25 cents.




When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa. Not screaming and yelling like everyone else in the car he was driving.

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Saturday, February 26, 2005 10:41 PM

REAVERINA1985RIVIERA


Quote:

Originally posted by belasera:
Wish I made $150 a day. Those are some pricey indentured servants they got there!
B]



Don't forget about inflation, Firefly is set in the far future. In today's money, I guess they make about $20 in a 10 hour workday. So they keep $1 day.

Yep, that sounds like indentured servitude to me.

---------------------------------------------
The real-life box droppin', man-ape gone wrong thing, without the pesky falling boxes

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005 3:38 AM

CYFER


Just a note about a reference you missed. Badger says "a penny for the smart lady" or something like that in Shindig when Zoe gets why he is at the ship.

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