SERENITY!

[melayneseahawk]

I can see why you all were so insistent that I see this film. It was amazing. I mean, really.

Now, I know a few people said that the movie wasn't as good as the series, but I think they were merely different. The characters were essentially the same, and all the more awesome for it, the interpersonal relationships spot on, but the fundamental purpose of the piece was different, which changed just about everything. The series was about the nine of them trying to survive, and doing whatever they had to do to do so. The movie had a higher purpose, to bring truth to the masses and reveal the horrible plots of the evil totalitarian government (ok, done now). The series didn't care about right and wrong outside the bounds of honor among thieves; the movie is all about doing what's right no matter the risks. The perfect imperfection of man is much more of a theme in the film than in the series and, Goddess help us, the film has a moral (sorry, had to get the one more). Some people may not like a side order of morality with their science fiction violence; I happen to like it if it doesn't get in the way. And I don't think it did.

That said, I'm so mad that they killed Book and Wash. I mean, why?! Why them, and not Jayne? Was that to prove that no good deed goes unpunished? I mean really, guys, not on.

And if Summer Glau isn't a dancer, I'm a 40-year-old man.

In other news, it's time for more poetry. To match Serenity's moral,

"How to Make a Human", Lawrence Schimel
Take the cat out of the sphinx
and what is left? Riddle me that.
Take the horse away from the centaur
and you take away the sleek grace,
the strength of harnessed power.
What is left can still run across fields,
after a fashion, but is easily winded;
what is left will therefore erect buildings
to divide the open plains, so he no longer
must face the wide expanse where once
his equine legs raced the winds
and, sometimes, won.
Take the bull from the Minotaur
but what is left will still assemble
a herd for the sake of ruling over it.
What is left will kill for sport,
in an arena thronged with spectators
shouting "Olé!" at each deadly thrust.
Take the fish from the merman:
what is left can still swim,
if only with lots of splashing; gone
is the sleek sliding through the waves,
alert to the subtle changes in the current.
What is left will build ships
so he can cross the ocean without
getting his feet wet; what is left won't care
if his boats pollute the seas he can no
longer breathe, so long as their passage
can keep him from sinking.
Take the goat from the satyr
but what is left will dance out of reach
before you have a chance
to get that Dionysian streak of mischief,
the love of music and wine, the rutting parts
that like to party all the day through.
What is left will be stubborn and refuse
to give way; what is left will lock horns
and butt heads with anyone who challenges him.
Take the bird form the harpy
but the memory of flying, a constant yearning ache
for skies so tantalizingly distant,
will still remain, as will the established pecking orders,
the bitter squabblings over food and territory,
and the magpie eye that lusts for shiny objects.
What is left will cut down a whole forest
to feather his sprawling urban nest.
At the end of these operations,
tell me: what is left? The answer: Man,
a creature divorced from nature,
who's forgotten where he came from.

~ Firefly
~ followed by Serenity, of course
~ Brothers Grimm
~ Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix: Revolutions, so I know what you all have been bitching about
~ the other Blade movies, because I want a good laugh
~ Brokeback Mountain again, because I loves me some angst
~ Capote
~ other things I'm forgetting

And now, to wellymucking like crazy. I'm so behind.

Comments

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Summer was a ballerina before switching to acting, I believe.

And you can't kill Jayne! He's the gorram Hero of Canton! 'sides, killing Jayne would leave Vera all alone.

I have to run off to bed, but one more thing: I actually think that the poem you've posted runs rather counter to Serenity's principles. I'll explain why later.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Summer certainly walks like a ballerina.

Jayne was willing to trade Vera to Mal for a girl, for God's sake. He's not to be trusted with such a fine piece of work.

And I never said the morals were the same, I just said they matched, at least in my mind.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Jayne's not to be trusted, period. But his death wouldn't have left the audience in shock like Wash's or Book's. Also, Jayne is awesome.

'sides, girls are pretty compelling.

The thing I disliked about the poem is that its intention is to denigrate humanity. "OMG WE ARE T3H EVIL OMG OMG!" Humanity isn't the abject cesspit that the poem depicts. And both Firefly and Serenity show humans as being complex creatures, neither wholly good nor wholly evil. The key thing here is complexity. The poem says "Screw that, I wanna rant about how we've killed the environment."

Poem Author: Go back to your so-called "Greenpeace." :)

[prionz-rok.livejournal.com]

SPOILERS!! Gah, m'dear, spoilers, spoilers...whimper...waaaaaahhh.

(Granted, this isn't as bad as the time I had 6th Sense and Gladiator simultaneously wrecked, but still...)

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Ah! I'm sorry. I know what that feels like. I just assumed everyone but me had seen it. *facepalm* Is worth seeing, though.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Simultaneously? Impressive.

My mom spoilered Gladiator for me when I was trying to see it, trying to convince me I wouldn't like it.

I still insisted on seeing it, and held by my earlier conclusion that Gladiator was supremely badass.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

What do you mean? Gladiator was awful!

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

Just last summer I had 6th Sense ruined for me, but since that was years after it came out, I thought I deserved it. As for Gladiator, is the spoiler that he died? Never saw it in the end. But I *did* see Serenity (even have the OST) and it was just too cool. Your spoiler really doesn't ruin too much as far as I am concerned. Though that was my fav character. ::pouts:: I'm almost always hit by spoilers because I see movies so late. LOL.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

I'm almost always hit by spoilers because I see movies so late.

Me, too! I mean, no one deserves spoilers, but I'm usually in the same boat.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

...

...

You have lost the match.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

No, I really don't think I have.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

1. Awesome music
2. Fun gladatorial fights
3. "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?"
4. The catchphrase "Strength and Honor"
5. MAX-I-MUS! MAX-I-MUS!

Ergo, Gladiator is awesome.

QED.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

But, the history! They killed it! *whimpers*

[ib-nerd-06.livejournal.com]

yeah, she is a dancer. And btw, you've just proven my theory that you cannot, i repeat CANNOT, escape the IB program. You analyzed a movie, man, a movie. But that's ok, i still love you. :)

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Hon, I was doing that pre-IB.

[triannamaxwell.livejournal.com]

What you can't escape is TOK. Sitting in my Lit class and I start analyzing the relationship between perception and language. Silly IB graphic. But I love what IB's done to my head-- maybe that fact is that I didn't go to RM's IB has left me more sane. ::big grins::

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

maybe that fact is that I didn't go to RM's IB has left me more sane

Laugh it up, babe. We may be insane, but we're better, too. :D

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Hoo-ah.

[kashmir-ki-kali.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that poem! I've read it before in a collection of very interesting short stories called "Half Human."

I saw Serenity without having seen Firefly and I still loved it. Before you all swoop in on me, yes, I do indeed to get around to seeing the actual show, I promise ^_^

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

I do indeed to get around to seeing the actual show, I promise ^_^

Had better. :)