Bits and pieces
Feb. 6th, 2004 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI've been watching the Firefly pilot again. Damn you, Fox! It was ever so good. Joss had to introduce a larger ensemble than in either Welcome to the Hellmouth or City Of, and their histories and already existing relationships. And he did it without a glitch, making none of them dull. One sees this and wants to learn more about all those people and the world they live in. Also, because of the two-episode length, there ist time for subtleties that aren't possible in The Train Job. Note that the Alliance ship, the first representatives of theirs we see, actually does the decent thing and breaks off pursuit of the smuggler in favour of rescuing the supposed ship in distress. As good a signal as any that we aren't dealing with a monolithic Evil Empire here.
I fear that due to everybody's reaction outside of spoiler cuts, I may be spoiled for something in You're Welcome. But maybe I'm lucky and wrong. It was so good to remain unspoiled till now.
A.J. Hall and friends have an amusing thread about movies that falsify history and impact the way we see it going. My problem with this is that it's a grand literary tradition. Never mind Thomas More, it was Shakespeare who made sure Richard III.'s reputation remains ruined and that the 20 years or so of Macbeth's reign are some bloody months or so in our collective consciousness. And than there's Schiller, who trashed Elizabeth's reputation in the German-speaking countries with his Mary Stuart. The fact he lets the two of them meet is just the mildest offense. The same Schiller also changed Philipp II's son Don Carlos from an infantile sadist into a romantic hero, and had Jeanne d'Arc dying on the battlefield.
And what do all of these have in common, aside from the, err, economical way of handling the truth? They're great theatre and thus sure to stick around. Which is at the same time galling and delightful, if you're both into history and into theatre, like yours truly.
I fear that due to everybody's reaction outside of spoiler cuts, I may be spoiled for something in You're Welcome. But maybe I'm lucky and wrong. It was so good to remain unspoiled till now.
A.J. Hall and friends have an amusing thread about movies that falsify history and impact the way we see it going. My problem with this is that it's a grand literary tradition. Never mind Thomas More, it was Shakespeare who made sure Richard III.'s reputation remains ruined and that the 20 years or so of Macbeth's reign are some bloody months or so in our collective consciousness. And than there's Schiller, who trashed Elizabeth's reputation in the German-speaking countries with his Mary Stuart. The fact he lets the two of them meet is just the mildest offense. The same Schiller also changed Philipp II's son Don Carlos from an infantile sadist into a romantic hero, and had Jeanne d'Arc dying on the battlefield.
And what do all of these have in common, aside from the, err, economical way of handling the truth? They're great theatre and thus sure to stick around. Which is at the same time galling and delightful, if you're both into history and into theatre, like yours truly.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-06 12:39 pm (UTC)I loved this tidbit in the original pilot. Most writers would have gone with the cliche of the evil empire with no regard for human life vs the righteous band of outlaws. But, as usual, Joss chooses to go with shades of grey over black and white. And while Mal's hatred of the Alliance is understandable given his personal experiences, we begin to question his perception of them from this one small detail.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-06 02:05 pm (UTC)Don't make me mourn for 'Firefly' more than I already do *sob*.
And than there's Schiller, who trashed Elizabeth's reputation in the German-speaking countries with his Mary Stuart. The fact he lets the two of them meet is just the mildest offense. The same Schiller also changed Philipp II's son Don Carlos from an infantile sadist into a romantic hero, and had Jeanne d'Arc dying on the battlefield.
Yikes. I always feel that Elizabeth I can look after herself; I expect she met Schiller in the afterlife and kneed him in the goolies (if you'll forgive the extremely colloquial English), but why on earth did he make J d'A die on the battlefield? I would have thought that her real end was so much more dramatic than anything anyone could make up.
Schiller's Joan...
Date: 2004-02-06 02:13 pm (UTC)Quite why he thought this was better than getting burned after being deserted by friends and interrogated by foes: to be fair, at this point the protocols of her interrogation (which subsequent writers drew from) weren't available to the general public yet, and certainly not to a German poet living in Weimar, so he could not use them, but it's still incomprehensible to me. *shrugs*
Re: Schiller's Joan...
Date: 2004-02-06 02:52 pm (UTC)Oh, let me join ...
Date: 2004-02-07 01:00 am (UTC)I must confess, I had already wondered about the non-mentioning of Serenityin the nice "Best pilot, best character introduction, etc." meme that you did a couple of weeks ago, since it is such a wonderful episode, full of amazing subtleties and also perfectly consistent with the rest of the show. A quality which is, for good reason, rarely found in pilots...
we many, we bereft many...
Date: 2004-02-07 02:00 am (UTC)City Of, otoh, I did watch as a pilot, with considerable scepticism, and was swept away. Hence the choice.
Off to check my mail for certain packages, just in case, and then to watch more Firefly...
packages ...
Date: 2004-02-07 03:50 am (UTC)although this seems rather like an insider's remark between the two of you ;-), let me add to the topic of packages:
A very nice one arrived at my place yesterday (thanks :-) )and a conciderably smaller package is on its way to you, and will hopeully arrive on monday ;-)
F
Re: packages ...
Date: 2004-02-07 05:21 am (UTC)Re: Schiller's Joan...
Date: 2004-02-07 09:54 am (UTC)Elizabeth I assume just stares him down, though he might mutter something under his breath about politics being bad for a woman's character anyway...