I just remembered two other subtle movie allusions in Serenity, one to The Searchers and one to The Big Sleep.
When the operative says he's a monster, and that his job is to make this better world that he believes in, but that he will have no place in it, he's basically articulating the last scene of The Searchers. In that scene, John Wayne's Ethan character walks away from the doorway after returning the girl to her family. He's too much like the Indians, too much like the West itself to be a part of the civilization he's making. What the Operative says, is exactly what film students write in their papers about The Searchers.
And that brief scene at the end where Mal is checking with Zoe and asking about the ship but really asking her how she's doing, and they both know what's being said but stick to the ship report? That's the same gambit used in The Big Sleep where Bogie and Bacall talk about sex by talking about horse racing.
Is that discussion by misdirection so rare that it's that easily traceable to a single genesis?
Is that discussion by misdirection so rare that it's that easily traceable to a single genesis?
It's a common strategy, I would think, but that is probably the most famous instance of it.
I can't think of another one that works as well or goes on as long.
Though Nutty is of the opinion that it's cheesy.
The instance or the mechanism?
The instance or the mechanism?
That particular Big Sleep example. Perhaps
because
it goes on so long. We'll have to ask her.
The exchange in question:
**********
Vivian: Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they're front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run.
Marlowe: Find out mine?
Vivian: I think so.
Marlowe: Go ahead.
Vivian: I'd say you don't like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
Marlowe: You don't like to be rated yourself.
Vivian: I haven't met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Marlowe: Well, I can't tell till I've seen you over a distance of ground. You've got a touch of class, but I don't know how, how far you can go.
Vivian: A lot depends on who's in the saddle.
So, not very long it's just an extended conceit.
And here I can see that they do apply it directly to each other, rather than leave that aspect unspoken.
Isn't that "just" innuendo?
Isn't that "just" innuendo?
Probably so in that instance.
But still that's what the Serenity scene pinged for me.
