Serenity's on again in a minute - I may have to watch it for the 4th time

[8den]

Die hard Weedon fans are much like the polar opposite of Die hard Weedon haters.....

 

[Garek]

What? there are four women in the show, and each one of them is well drawn and unique.

I am not thinking about the numbers, rather the roles they play. Nearly all authority in the film is in the hands of the male characters. You have the captain, male, the outpost, old guy who take them in, male, and the assassin on the mission for the alliance, also male. Then there is the chief scientist experimenting on the girl, male, and then you have the fact that the girl is being look after by her older sibling, male. The only female authority figure I can think of is the teacher, but then a female teacher of young children is conforming to gender roles.

 

[nick h.]

Remember the robot sex-slave girl. What a great advert for the future of gender politics.

 

[The Octagon]

I am not thinking about the numbers, rather the roles they play. Nearly all authority in the film is in the hands of the male characters. You have the captain, male, the outpost, old guy who take them in, male, and the assassin on the mission for the alliance, also male. Then there is the chief scientist experimenting on the girl, male, and then you have the fact that the girl is being look after by her older sibling, male. The only female authority figure I can think of is the teacher, but then a female teacher of young children is conforming to gender roles.

Or to look at it from a different viewpoint, the second in command (and hardened war veteran) is a woman, the chief engineer is a woman and the superhuman psychic killing machine is a young girl.

And Dollhouse was great after the (admittedly ropey) first 4-5 episodes, so ner.

 

[scifisam]

I am not thinking about the numbers, rather the roles they play. Nearly all authority in the film is in the hands of the male characters. You have the captain, male, the outpost, old guy who take them in, male, and the assassin on the mission for the alliance, also male. Then there is the chief scientist experimenting on the girl, male, and then you have the fact that the girl is being look after by her older sibling, male. The only female authority figure I can think of is the teacher, but then a female teacher of young children is conforming to gender roles.

Did you stop watching it after the first half an hour? Because the teacher and the scientist were both minor characters on screen for a minute or two. And it's kinda hard not to think of Zoe and River as authority characters.

Any character in any movie can be described in a pithy two- or three-word description, but that doesn't mean that's all there is to them.

 

[8den]

I am not thinking about the numbers, rather the roles they play. Nearly all authority in the film is in the hands of the male characters. You have the captain, male, the outpost, old guy who take them in, male, and the assassin on the mission for the alliance, also male. Then there is the chief scientist experimenting on the girl, male, and then you have the fact that the girl is being look after by her older sibling, male. The only female authority figure I can think of is the teacher, but then a female teacher of young children is conforming to gender roles.

Zoey is smart funny and loyal to Mal, and has the balls to stand up to Mal early on in the film "We didn't used to leave a man behind" and is sharp and cool and cold when Wash dies, leading the defence. Kaley is the ship's mechanic a subservient role in all Sci-Fi films and tv (how many episodes of Star Trek are Scotty Centric), but how often do you see a female mechanic in TV and films? River literally drives the plot, driven mad by secret she's been forced to keep, and single handedly kicks the crap out of a amry of psychopaths. The Film ends with her confidently taking charge of flying the ship. Inara is a authority figure, she doesn't kow tow to anyone, and indeed is the one who saves Mal in the fight with the operative. She's incharge of her own sexuality. It's delved into much greater depth in the series.

Weedon is famous for writing strong female leads, christ he wrote a movie, and 7 series about a little Girl called Buffy who saves the world "alot".

 

[8den]

Remember the robot sex-slave girl. What a great advert for the future of gender politics.

Yes because men don't have realistic sex dolls now or anything.

http://www.realdoll.com/

 

[Lord Camomile]

Was on again last night. Left it on "until there was something better to watch", ended up watching the whole film

It really is rather good y'know.

 

[fractionMan]

Weird, I watched it on DVD last night. It's a hell of a lot better if you've watched firefly tbh.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Definitely. I actually found Serenity first, then went to the series, then back to the film.

Then back to the series, obviously

The deaths mean a lot more, which is to be expected. Always felt that it was a shame they had to show their hand so fast in the film though, as one assumes various plot points would have been built up to in the series, if they'd been given the time.

 

[Crispy]

I am not thinking about the numbers, rather the roles they play. Nearly all authority in the film is in the hands of the male characters. You have the captain, male, the outpost, old guy who take them in, male, and the assassin on the mission for the alliance, also male. Then there is the chief scientist experimenting on the girl, male, and then you have the fact that the girl is being look after by her older sibling, male. The only female authority figure I can think of is the teacher, but then a female teacher of young children is conforming to gender roles.

I know this is an old post. But you are wrong.

It is a good movie isn't it? I have a total mancrush on nathan fillion

 

[Jon-of-arc]

I know this is an old post. But you are wrong.

It is a good movie isn't it? I have a total mancrush on nathan fillion

Yeah, Crispy is spot on. Whedon is well known for having strong female characters and trying to explore feminism in his TV shows. Wiki says he has even been honoured for this by "Equality Now"... Seems to me to be the Jim Cameron of the TV world.

And whilst all JW characters suffer from some degree of social awkwardness, by a long way it tends to be the males who are emotionally stunted. I don't think that the hierarchical positions of any male/female characters is supposed to be representative of their "strength"...

 

[DotCommunist]

He's got two decent feature writing credits Titan AE and oh whats that name Toy Story (he got nominated for a Oscar for that.)

He was a staff writter when Roseanne wasn't shit. Ever wonder why Becky Connor had a "Invisibles" poster on her wall

He's written a bunch of comics including a decent run on the X-men.

He wrote Buffy, Angel and Firefly in the same decade. While the writers strike was on he wrote a incredibly musical video short.

Cabin in the Woods has incredibly word of mouth. And he's directing the freaking Avengers movie.

Everything else is total shit?

Total crap mate.

So he's a scab then?

 

[Jon-of-arc]

So he's a scab then?

I was wondering that. Would musical videos be covered by the writers strike?

 

[Crispy]

Here he is on the picket line:http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/840/840597p1.html

IGN TV: What do you think it will take to get things to change and to come to an agreement?

Whedon: We have to break them. These are multi-billionaires who could give a rat's ass about any of the issues they're actually talking about except for one – If they can break this union, then they can break them all. If they can do that, then they can control everything...
...The only way we can break them is just by stopping. By being out here instead of in there. And we'll do it. We'll do it for a year. We'll do it forever.

Good guy.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

This film is still great and what the series should have been...