I have a distinction between manipulated and used that I may be projecting into other people's posts.

Well, I as a person don't feel manipulated, but my emotions often are. Sometimes deftly, sometimes cheaply, but it's kinda why I show up in the first place.

I thought the senselessness and suddenness of Wash's death made a lot more sense than the Book's Grand Guignol death, which couldn't have possibly mattered to people who didn't watch the series.

I didn't get the feeling so much from Serenity, but the one time I really felt I was being manipulated was when Gary died on thirtysomething.

I hated Gary, and cheered. But Hope's miscarriage gutted me, long before my own reproductive adventures in unwonderland. But then, thirtysomething was the most passive-aggressive emotionally manipulative bad for me relationship I ever had with a tv show.

Sometimes deftly, sometimes cheaply, but it's kinda why I show up in the first place.

There's a distinction I make, which I'm not sure I can explain properly. It's the difference between when the manipulation comes from the storytelling, and when the storytelling takes a back seat to the manipulation.

Wash's death manipulated me in all the ways I think it was supposed to--utterly shocking and ratcheting up the tension. The first time I saw the movie, I was completely in shock from there till the end. At that point *anybody* could die, and I was truly afraid they would--Zoe, then Kaylee, then (especially) Simon. I didn't take in a lot of details of the end of the movie till my second and subsequent (let's not count, shall we?) viewings.

So, yes, manipulated, but that didn't bother me. Rather, it worked to hammer home the peril. Not that Wash dying doesn't bother me, because it *hurts*, a lot.

I can also project some interesting future times for a Serenity which has lost both of its moral compasses.

Gary died on thirtysomething.

!

I don't think I knew this! I think college interfered with my viewing somewhere along the line.

Funny - I think that Wash's death was the moment I decided the movie was more than just fun, but had actual greatness. I screamed, and tears flew out of my eyes, and I was hyper-ventilating for the rest of the film - and I was in it.

Maybe my acceptance of Wash's death has something to do with the fact that, though I always loved Wash, from the moment with the dinosaurs, he was never my favorite character, never one I was totally emotionally invested in. In fact, I feel like right with Joss on how I saw the series; for me, it was always All About River. And Mal. The greatest episodes of the series, in my opinion, can easily be split into the Simon/River Episodes (Ariel, Objects in Space) and the Mal Episodes (Out of Gas, War Stories), and I always felt that these were The Arcs. Wash, Book, Kaylee, Jayne, Inara, even Zoe - these characters existed to further those stories. Sure, they were very well developed characters, and certainly had fascinating stories of their own to tell, but they were always secondary, always at risk.

And I also think, to some extent, any of them were disposable in the right movie script. Kill Jayne whenever you want - it's easy. Kill Inara just so she can fall into Mal's arms and send him into a fit or vengeful rage - easy. Kill Kaylee for exactly the same reason. She'd die with such sadness - it would be Tara's death all over again. Shocking, random, and the entire crew would go all vengeful. Easy peasy. Kill Simon exactly when he got wounded, so that River's killing spree is motivated by revenge more than rescue - easy. From the perspective of a series watcher, none of the deaths are easy. The characters are all too meaningful. But from the perspective of the movie watcher, any one of them - or all of them - could have been set up to be the red shirts.

I didn't feel the series was all about River, but that having the movie be about her mystery (I was curious after all) might make the series seem like that, iff the movie was the natural next step.

But it wasn't. Episode 14 was the natural next step. Serenity (and no sequels) was the best I could get out of a bad situation. It doesn't change the series for me, except for adding sadness to rewatches.

I screamed, and tears flew out of my eyes, and I was hyper-ventilating for the rest of the film - and I was in it.

I think I'm watching movies wrong.

Heh. I tend to get into movies pretty hardcore, especially in a theatrical environment. But my reactions to Serenity were extreme by even my standards. I think it had to do with a) my connection to the series, b) my expectations, and c) the environment I saw it in. It was one of the preview screenings, so everybody there was way into the movie.

But I also sobbed at two separate places in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Movies get at my emotions.