Thoughts on Serenity Found
Nov. 17th, 2007 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tesla321, I thought I would say something about Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe.
I read Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly in March, and loved it so much that I was excited for Serenity Found.
Somewhere in Serenity Found (although, of course, I can't find it in a quick flip-through of the book), someone makes the point that Firefly was made before Iraq, Serenity was made after, and the difference tone reflects that. The tone of the two books reflects something of the same cultural shift.
I remember Finding Serenity as much more fannish, much more about the love of the show, and much more about the characters and their relationships. Serenity Found is much more political, much more academic, and much more commercial. I think of Finding Serenity as closer and Serenity Found as more distant.
And now, bits from three essays that stand out.
Actors
I already mentioned that I loved Nathan Fillion's "I, Malcolm." Let me share with you his biography paragraph:
Libertarians
In "Freedom in an Unfree World," P. Gardner Goldsmith reads the whole Firefly universe as a libertarian allegory, which reminded me of what Anais Nin said: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." (Goldsmith's bio paragraph tells us that he was "2006 NH Libertarian of the Year.") I can see how you could read it that way, and I'm sure it appeals to free market capitalists, but to my hippie liberal, we are all one sensibilities, the lack of any collective responsibility for the well-being of all reads as morally irresponsible if not downright reprehensible.
While I could go along with most of his points for the thought experiment, there was one thing that didn't fit at all with my reading of the Firefly/Serenity story arc: "We discover that River's great mental acuity was manipulated by the Alliance in terrible experiments, conducted at what was supposed to be a school for gifted students off her home world (a remarkable indictment of government education)." My reading of the academy has always been that it wasn't a legitimate school, but rather a respectable looking front for the experiments. This isn't about government education, but about government abuse of power and covert ops.
Romance Novelists
In addition to Nathan's essay, the other one I absolutely loved was Lani Diane Rich's "Curse Your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Things My Husband and I Have Argued About While Watching Firefly." It's so good that I put in a hold request for one of her books at the library. I was surprised, though, that she says, "'Our Mrs. Reynolds' is easily our favorite episode of the entire season, and the most quoted." Because I'm enjoying the book, I thought I would watch my way through the series (in order) again, which I've started doing. I think I intended to do this when I read Finding Serenity, too, and got caught at the same sticking point: I hated "Our Mrs. Reynolds" the first time I saw it, and I haven't been able to watch it again. But the writers in both of these essay books love to talk about it. So this weekend, I'm going to watch it. I only have one more episode of Joan of Arcadia on this week's disc from Netflix, so there isn't really anything else for me to procrastinate with.
tesla321, I thought I would say something about Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe.I read Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly in March, and loved it so much that I was excited for Serenity Found.
Somewhere in Serenity Found (although, of course, I can't find it in a quick flip-through of the book), someone makes the point that Firefly was made before Iraq, Serenity was made after, and the difference tone reflects that. The tone of the two books reflects something of the same cultural shift.
I remember Finding Serenity as much more fannish, much more about the love of the show, and much more about the characters and their relationships. Serenity Found is much more political, much more academic, and much more commercial. I think of Finding Serenity as closer and Serenity Found as more distant.
And now, bits from three essays that stand out.
Actors
I already mentioned that I loved Nathan Fillion's "I, Malcolm." Let me share with you his biography paragraph:
Nathan Fillion has permission to participate in your book, and is allowed to go on any field trips that may be included with promoting it. We are so happy that his university education was not for naught. He has had so much fun with that show and we can't believe how it just keeps popping up again and again! Let us know if there is anything else you need, and please make sure Nathan eats the apple we put in his lunch and don't let him lose his mittens.It reminds me of the article where the interviewer just started calling Fillions in the phone book to try to get to Nathan and ended up talking to Cookie.
--Cookie Fillion
Libertarians
In "Freedom in an Unfree World," P. Gardner Goldsmith reads the whole Firefly universe as a libertarian allegory, which reminded me of what Anais Nin said: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." (Goldsmith's bio paragraph tells us that he was "2006 NH Libertarian of the Year.") I can see how you could read it that way, and I'm sure it appeals to free market capitalists, but to my hippie liberal, we are all one sensibilities, the lack of any collective responsibility for the well-being of all reads as morally irresponsible if not downright reprehensible.
While I could go along with most of his points for the thought experiment, there was one thing that didn't fit at all with my reading of the Firefly/Serenity story arc: "We discover that River's great mental acuity was manipulated by the Alliance in terrible experiments, conducted at what was supposed to be a school for gifted students off her home world (a remarkable indictment of government education)." My reading of the academy has always been that it wasn't a legitimate school, but rather a respectable looking front for the experiments. This isn't about government education, but about government abuse of power and covert ops.
Romance Novelists
In addition to Nathan's essay, the other one I absolutely loved was Lani Diane Rich's "Curse Your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Things My Husband and I Have Argued About While Watching Firefly." It's so good that I put in a hold request for one of her books at the library. I was surprised, though, that she says, "'Our Mrs. Reynolds' is easily our favorite episode of the entire season, and the most quoted." Because I'm enjoying the book, I thought I would watch my way through the series (in order) again, which I've started doing. I think I intended to do this when I read Finding Serenity, too, and got caught at the same sticking point: I hated "Our Mrs. Reynolds" the first time I saw it, and I haven't been able to watch it again. But the writers in both of these essay books love to talk about it. So this weekend, I'm going to watch it. I only have one more episode of Joan of Arcadia on this week's disc from Netflix, so there isn't really anything else for me to procrastinate with.