Serenity and rage and desecration and High Drama

[permetaform]

My roommate and I were chatting about Serenity and she brought up the rage that people in the fan forums she found (non-LJ) were feeling over the treatment of Wash's death in the latter half of the movie. For a while I was at a loss because his death seemed to be treated consistently within the world of Firefly.

But....then again, it wasn't treated consistently with normal cinematic codes.

To explain, lets all flash back to Firefly, episode 1; specifically, Kaylee's Death Scene, or rather, Simon Finding Out About Kaylee's Death. When there was all dramatic music? Slow-mo? Blurry faces of extreme sentiment and woe?

That, I think, was as much Joss' poking fun at the conventions as he was doing a comedic turn; and Wash's death seen in light of this makes more and more sense. Of *course* time can't stop for Wash, they're in what amounts to be a war, there's no time for music, no time for sluggish movement, no time for your eyes to go blurry.

But...God. Wash, pinned to the eye of Serenity. Like the bodies Mal pinned to the outside of Serenity. Like a Reaver's ship.

Joss "desecrated our home", with Wash's death. And those parallels make such an awesome amount of sense to me, 'cause it explains some of the feelings around Wash's death relative to the movie. The body of Wash as desecrating the body of Serenity the movie.

And damn, that's guts, to trust in his movie enough that he knew that the impact of Wash's death would be felt even if he left out the codes of High Drama. He trusted that Wash made enough of an impact that he wouldn't *need* to manipulate the audience into feeling the tragedy.

Which, dude, bravo!

Comments

[niqaeli]

See, I get why people are rageful. I just... disagree.

I feel that Wash's death was necessary to the story. I think Joss treated it exactly right. He caught me literally mid-laugh and it felt like someone punched me in the gut, no exaggeration. It felt exactly like someone punched me in the gut, complete with winded and inability to breathe and overall disbelief. I had tears in the corners of my eyes. And I would have cried, but there was no *time*.

I can see where people are seeing it as a cinematic cliche, but, really I read it as anti-Hollywood. Joss very intentionally didn't leave us time to process it. Mal and Zoe and everyone else didn't have time to process it. We don't get time to process it.

But it did leave me absolutely terrified for everyone. For the rest of the movie, and especially at their last stand... I swear, I thought they were all going to die and it was going to be a meaningless last stand for Serenity and oh god that very idea hurt. Joss managed to make me doubt the Hollywood ending wherein there is some kind of happy if not a true ever after. Considering that I went in knowing that he had material for further movies and pretty cynical about movies in general, that's pretty fucking impressive.

So while on some level I suppose I understand the rage, I don't really. I was pretty much, "Joss, you got it right and I love you, you motherfucking bastard."

But I guess how you relate to the show informs how you relate to the movie, and, apparently, as ever I relate to the show in a way very different from much of the fandom.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Yes. Exactly. What you said.

Except that I did cry the first time I saw it; I stuffed my first in my mouth so I wouldn't make any noise, and just sat there in my seat and shook. It was a more physical and startling grief than I'm used to feeling, even though movies and tv often move me profoundly.

The second time I saw the movie, it still hurt like a motherfucker, but it was easier to take, knowing it was coming. And since then I've been rewatching episodes, and am loving seeing both Wash and Book alive again. "War Stories" in particular just knocks my socks off, especially knowing how Wash's story is going to end...

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

I cried the first time. I cried more the second time, because I knew I wasn't going to laugh. I had to put my hands up to my face and do my best to go for the "silent cry," because otherwise, I would have been disturbing everyone around me with the same sort of loud, heaving sobs that I reserve almost exclusively for the deaths of real people.

[permetaform]

::nods:: actually the second time was a lot stronger for me too, I think almost 'cause I was bracing for it there was even more of a shock? (if that made any sense ::cringes::)

[permetaform]

I was pretty much, "Joss, you got it right and I love you, you motherfucking bastard."

But I guess how you relate to the show informs how you relate to the movie, and, apparently, as ever I relate to the show in a way very different from much of the fandom.

::nods:: or almost, I think, how much you're willing to let your fannish happy-place evolve? 'Cause Wash's death means that Serenity is now a very different ship, his death is a *loss* and it can't be replaced. It can't. So the ship's feel is different and so I think it's almost...not "home" anymore?

I mean, the fannish experience is all about the "more"; ie. "I want more source and since there isn't any I'll find fic". But with the death it's tons harder to write in-canon fic that preserves the quality that drew people into Firefly initially. It's almost Catch-22, come to think of it. ::wry grin::