The Real Reason We Feel This Way
*** The following has serious spoilers about Joss Whedon’s debut film, Serenity. If you haven’t seen it, please do, and please do it soon.
In the roiling aftermath of emotions among Browncoats following the release of Serenity, I just posted the following on the official movie boards:
The Real Reason We Feel This Way
Well, there are several reasons, but during a conversation with my wife about Serenity I think that she and I uncovered the most important reason that many of us feel angry/cheated/hurt by the deaths of Book and Wash. And it is Joss’ fault. Please, just hear me out.
Living in the States I've seen plenty of coverage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita over the past several weeks; aerial shots of the devastated landscape, computer generated animations of the storm, and lots of numbers: numbers of the displaced, numbers of missing, numbers of dead. And while my conscious mind can register those images and numbers, they’re too abstract to make me feel the true gravity of the disaster. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I felt nothing, but if I had felt the weight of the event I probably would have vomited on the spot.
But there was a moment that registered for me though, when an elderly man returned to his battered home against police orders. This husband later told reports, “My wife needs her medication. I don’t care if the house is falling down. Hell, I don’t care if the whole town caves in. She’s the world to me.” I could identify with that man’s emotions. Screw the state of the house or thoughts of things like the bacterial laden New Orleans floodwaters. His wife needed help, She’s not an abstraction. She’s family.
So in Serenity we learned that 30 million people on the planet Miranda died of the Pax, while approximately 30,000 became Reavers. We saw maybe a dozen of their bodies. Our conscious minds registered the tragedy. We agreed that the truth must known.
But none of that meant spit when our family members died.
For us, we who’ve watched and rewatched, who’ve donated time and money, who’ve written emails and letters and postcards, who’ve fought for this movie, Book and Wash aren’t just characters in a drama. They’re family. And, at the emotional level, we couldn’t care if they died for the sake of 30 million people, or even 30 billion people.
And that’s Joss Whedon’s fault.
As the writer and director, it was his job to make us care about the victims of The Pax, to make us feel -- in our guts -- the importance of getting out the signal, even if that meant the death of members of our family. This he failed to do. When the credits rolled, those of us who felt connected to Book and Wash felt that the price paid was too high. I argue that this is the greatest weakness of the film.
But it’s one of the only weaknesses. I’ve cried each time I’ve seen Serenity, but I’ll keep seeing it in the theatres and on DVD. I wish Joss had given us the understanding, in our hearts and not just our minds, that the people of Miranda deserved the deaths of two of our Big Damn Heroes, but it’s still one hell of a good movie. And it’s worth our support.
In the roiling aftermath of emotions among Browncoats following the release of Serenity, I just posted the following on the official movie boards:
The Real Reason We Feel This Way
Well, there are several reasons, but during a conversation with my wife about Serenity I think that she and I uncovered the most important reason that many of us feel angry/cheated/hurt by the deaths of Book and Wash. And it is Joss’ fault. Please, just hear me out.
Living in the States I've seen plenty of coverage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita over the past several weeks; aerial shots of the devastated landscape, computer generated animations of the storm, and lots of numbers: numbers of the displaced, numbers of missing, numbers of dead. And while my conscious mind can register those images and numbers, they’re too abstract to make me feel the true gravity of the disaster. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I felt nothing, but if I had felt the weight of the event I probably would have vomited on the spot.
But there was a moment that registered for me though, when an elderly man returned to his battered home against police orders. This husband later told reports, “My wife needs her medication. I don’t care if the house is falling down. Hell, I don’t care if the whole town caves in. She’s the world to me.” I could identify with that man’s emotions. Screw the state of the house or thoughts of things like the bacterial laden New Orleans floodwaters. His wife needed help, She’s not an abstraction. She’s family.
So in Serenity we learned that 30 million people on the planet Miranda died of the Pax, while approximately 30,000 became Reavers. We saw maybe a dozen of their bodies. Our conscious minds registered the tragedy. We agreed that the truth must known.
But none of that meant spit when our family members died.
For us, we who’ve watched and rewatched, who’ve donated time and money, who’ve written emails and letters and postcards, who’ve fought for this movie, Book and Wash aren’t just characters in a drama. They’re family. And, at the emotional level, we couldn’t care if they died for the sake of 30 million people, or even 30 billion people.
And that’s Joss Whedon’s fault.
As the writer and director, it was his job to make us care about the victims of The Pax, to make us feel -- in our guts -- the importance of getting out the signal, even if that meant the death of members of our family. This he failed to do. When the credits rolled, those of us who felt connected to Book and Wash felt that the price paid was too high. I argue that this is the greatest weakness of the film.
But it’s one of the only weaknesses. I’ve cried each time I’ve seen Serenity, but I’ll keep seeing it in the theatres and on DVD. I wish Joss had given us the understanding, in our hearts and not just our minds, that the people of Miranda deserved the deaths of two of our Big Damn Heroes, but it’s still one hell of a good movie. And it’s worth our support.
posted by Christopher A. Dellario at 9:35 PM
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