Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
Firefly and/or Joss Whedon
Odin:
--- Quote from: snubnose on 08 Mar 2011, 01:45 ---Ouch.
Much written in this thread ...
... no time right now to read that all.
--- End quote ---
You might want to delete your other posts and RTFT, then. You're wrong on several points and the ones you aren't directly wrong on have already been covered.
The Operative in the Serenity movie, for one, is British. How can you fuck up and think that guy was asian?
Carl-E:
Oh Snubnose, you never disappoint! Your lack of understanding about anyone not like yourself is like a shining jewel of obtuseness in a world of cultural sensitivity.
Never change, dude.
We need the target practice...
maddness:
--- Quote from: Akima on 07 Mar 2011, 19:27 ---
--- Quote from: Carl-E on 07 Mar 2011, 05:11 ---It really sounds like something broke in Firefly's creation, and if I ever do see it, the racial makeup will certainly be in my thoughts, rather than just being a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something's wrong.
--- End quote ---
Then my work here is done. :-)
--- End quote ---
See, this I do not agree with.
Watch something and then dissect the hell out of it if you want, but to watch something new and not be able to like/dislike it based on how it made you feel/think, is just bullshit in my book. The point of most tv shows/movies, aside from making money, is to entertain. Are we now to make a checklist of things to watch for before we sit down to see any new show? Check off any time we catch a hint of racism, nationalism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, whatever other ism we are told is wrong? And not just by your definition of them, but what someone else has defined them as? What would be the point of watching anything at all?
I'm not going to be hypocritical and act like I've never been bothered when someone in a movie or tv show is supposed to be speaking/writing in my native tongue and it's an ungrammatical mess or wondered why they couldn't just have cast someone who was a native speaker, but I don't think that necessarily negates any entertainment value that the movie or show may have. At least, it doesn't for me. I remember as a young child that the only people I generally saw who looked like me were all cleaning ladies, laborers, prostitutes, criminals, junkies and caricatures at best.
I'm giving the spellchecker a workout today. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and my dyslexia is really working it today.
Carl-E:
I think my point was missed...
Something would nag at me, seeing non-asians in an asian-appropriated world using asian slang/curses. I'd still watch for the entertainment value, and if it were well written, I'd appreciate that. I'd also lambaste the hell out of any cheesy special effects, and fume over glaring errors in physics. It's part of who I am, and what i bring to a viewing. My kids knew full well about the controversial casting in Airbender, but as fans went to see it anyway, and were greatly entertained, cultural insensitivity notwithstanding (I should point out that my "kids" are full grown adults).
This conversation has merely brought it out a little more, and made me aware of one of the shortcomings the series had. It is, at best, a sidenote, a detail in the created "world" that may or may not help me suspend disbeleif. A compelling enough story, well written, can easily overcome such shortcomings and provide escapism without the extra trappings, even though culturally correct casting would help build the believable atmosphere.
What I'm saying is, there's no checklist. Knowing this ahead of time won't decrease my ability to be taken away by a good story. It's just a shame they couldn't have done it right.
shiroihikari:
--- Quote from: Maddness ---The point of most tv shows/movies, aside from making money, is to entertain. Are we now to make a checklist of things to watch for before we sit down to see any new show? Check off any time we catch a hint of racism, nationalism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, whatever other ism we are told is wrong? And not just by your definition of them, but what someone else has defined them as? What would be the point of watching anything at all?
--- End quote ---
This is how I feel about it. Lately, I feel like I can't talk about entertainment with anybody anymore without hearing complaints of how the show is a piece of shit due to some -ism or other. I don't watch television and movies to combat social issues. I watch television and movies to temporarily forget about how much life sucks, and to be entertained, and to have fun goddammit. I care about social issues but I don't pretend for a minute that demanding my entertainment be completely free of every kind of -ism is actually going to change the world for the better. Stories are typically about characters and characters are sometimes sexist, racist, and whatever other -ist, just like real people.
--- Quote from: akronnick ---I think the majority of Firefly's problems were due to the fact that they were trying to make a space opera for network television.
That rarely works, and the fact that the network in question was owned by Rupert Murdoch probably didn't help.
The show had many good ideas, including the Asian fusion design concept, which were not followed through with.
What resulted was a mediocre show with decent special effects and a better than average ensemble cast, but was never able to carry through with its potential due to not being able to live up to unreasonable network expectations.
If it had been done three years later and on a cable network, it could have been Battlestar Galactica.
--- End quote ---
Did we see the same show...?
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