Mal didn't change in the way the main character does, but more in the way a minor character does...
But I was awake for about an hour thinking that the movie is actually the story of Mal and River. It's entirely a
pas de deux
between them. River's survival uses Mal's actions to happen, but more, River's healing, her incorporation, happens because of Mal's actions. At the same time, Mal's healing, his change from on-the-run to taking-it-to-the-enemy, happens because of River's behavior and changes.
Mal is the kinetic force, in a sense the ship, that conveys River to the place she needs to be in order to become a kinetic force in her own right. It's a perfect final chord that the end is the two of them on Serenity's bridge, as equals.
More, including the term "disenfranchised irredentist," but my own Mal is awake now.
So, Frank, when do you start as a screenwriter.
Now see? We rewrote Spiral. We shoulda had a chance at rewriting Serenity. It woulda been great!
Heh. I think I posted in the Buffy thread once the re-write in my head of sesason 5 (in summary form only) where Riley was the Glory host, not Ben (Adam's chip and removal of same somehow opened the door for Glory to start using the time share). Ben would have been a red herring who gets offed/mindsucked at some point. It still would have ended with Giles doing what he did to Ben, except he'd do it to Riley.
Loving on Frank's brain a lot, myself, here.
Raq, I did get the pas de deux thing from Mal and River. If Firefly had gotten three or four years' run, I don't know if that's where the story would have wound up or not. If that's where it was headed, maybe I would have stayed on board for the ride.
But for me, the crew each represented an aspect of Serenity, I guess, everybody fractured in some way and missing pieces. The process of the audience discovering those fracture lines, those missing bits, the process of the characters coming together to mend, or to combine in such a way as to become a whole, finding and lending each other strengths...that was the story.
(Sorry, got interrupted) And the movie didn't tell that story. The entire crew could have been recast with new actors for all the importance those characters had to the movie's story.
It was the bait-and-switch factor that made me feel so betrayed, that none of these characters mattered, only River, and Mal in how he enabled River.
I think I posted in the Buffy thread once the re-write in my head of sesason 5
If someone Nillyed this, I would read it. IJS.
And did I spell the past tense of Nilly right? It looks wrong, but it looked wrong with an -ied too. It's that whole names into verbs issues, I guess.
I'd go with Nillied or possibly Nilly-ed.
If someone Nillyed this, I would read it. IJS.
Honestly, I don't think it was much more than what I posted above (as I said, I just put it out in summary form). I might have proposed a way to redo INTO THE WOODS, but that also might be another thing that was just in my head. Pretty much the same way I did a quick summary of how cool season 3 could have been (much as I adore it as is) had it spent 3 or 4 episodes in the Wishverse instead of just for THE WISH. Cordelia would have died as she did in the episode, but at the end of it, not in act 2.
So much serious postage here lately. Could I ask, what inspired all this discussion of a two year old movie?
I'm still sad about Wash. It helps to talk about it.
I've finally gotten enough perspective on the film to articulate why it didn't work for me, and why it was such a disappointment as a film. I wanted it to be better. I was prepared to overlook a considerable amount of schlock. But when you go throwing perfectly good characters into the grinder without justification, without justification in the story, then I call it bad writing.
I'm still too mad about the way he and Book were squandered to be sad for losing them.
