Update

[alixtii]

Well, I'm at school. My classes sound like they're going to be really interesting, and I'm very excited. Time to make my last semester as an undergraduate count. Getting moved in, of course, is always a chore; I'm not quite completely unpacked.

Flist was at skip=425, but I caught up. Haven't read all the fic yet, though, although I've most of it that was written by my flist. If I missed omething, feel free to drop a comment (not that I really think anyone will).

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Happy belated birthday to jadedcynic! Hope you had a great day, Bri, and thanks for all the work you do in fandom. Also metafandom is listed as having a birthday, so I think it'd be an excellent opportunity to repeat how much I love it and give a big thank you to the editors.

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Statler and Waldorf continue to be oh-so slashy, and in a meta way at that. Although, aren't they canonically in-laws?

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This article at the Chronicle of Higher Education made me think. It's mostly about Facebook, but Livejournal could fit in the rubric of what is talking about just as easily. (Or more easily--personally I've found LJ to be far more addictive than Facebook.) It recognizes that changing technology has changed higher education, and acknowledges that the fact has both pros and cons, but I think it sort of shortchanges the pro-sides. Sure, maybe we haven't learned what is quite the best way to utilize technology in higher education, but that doesn't mean that we never will, or that our choices are as simple as deciding whether to spend money on faculty or technology. (And as a potential-future-faculty, I don't see that as an easy choice either.) Sometimes once Pandora has opened her box, however, the best plan isn't to see how well one can shield oneself from the miseries so much as embrace them until finally at last one finds Hope.

And that's enough of that tortured classical analogy.

But I think "ego-casting" is here to stay, and I'll probably have more on it later. I think there's a fanthropology post in there somewhere.

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I finished watching Firefly and rewatched Serenity, both with and without Joss' commentary. I stand behind my earlier comments: Serenity is the best action-adventure movie I've ever seen, but a lot of us didn't want an action-adventure movie. We wanted more Firefly. We wanted cozy domesticity, and moral complexity, and existential themes, a nd genre-bending, and a lot of other things that a major motion picture just can't supply. And while I can't fault Joss for making the best use of the media he was working in--indeed, I would have faulted him if he hadn't--that doesn't keep me from missing Firefly and wishing we had more. The deleted scenes help, in that they have a more TV feel to them (which is why they were cut)--but they're not canon. (Not that I want more canon, per se. As a fanfic writer I have all the canon I need. I want more Summer Glau playing River and Jewel Staite playing Kaylee, because their performances are the one thing that fanfic just can't provide and I miss.)

On re-watching, it seemed pretty clear to me that Simon realizes that he is Kaylee's de facto boyfriend. And he falls into that role without much fuss--he takes her out on dates, gets drunk with her and calls her pretty, is randomly in her bedroom, and spends more time with her than anyone else besides River. Someone who was crass would say that he had all the duties of being a boyfriend without any of the benefits. (Those people are stupid and do not share my understanding of relationships, but is a particularly vivid way of describing their relationship in canon.)

So why doesn't Simon kiss her? I can think of any number of reasons. He knows that she'll still be there tomorrow, so he doesn't have to make the decision today. He's afraid he can't divide his attention between her and River. She's so far from his fantasy of what a woman should be, and he can't give that up. He's afraid of hurting her. Deep down, he knows that he doesn't love her. He's afraid of the commitment. He's secretly having an affair with River. Whatever.

None of the reasons he might hold for not pursuing a romantic relationship in the series negate his choice to pursue one in Serenity. While Joss doesn't give us much information to go on as to what changes his mind, I found the change of mind itself perfectly believable. He could have believed they were going to die, so he told Kaylee what she wanted to do. He could have been emboldened by the moment. He could have fallen in love with her in that moment (which IMO would be pretty superficial, especially after spending so much time with her those 8 months, but I'm just saying that--contra wisdomeagle and others--that I find the movie's Simon/Kaylee believable, if not ideal). He could have finally given up on his fantasy. His relationship with River changed in some way, perhaps because she is "saner" (Joss's words, I believe, and a strange case of trying to eat your cake and have it too). Some of these options are more likely than others, but canon gives us room for any of them, and I think most are plausible and consistent with Simon's character.

Inara, on the other hand, isn't as clear as Kaylee with her signals. I'm not sure if she knows what she wants herself, and I certainly can't figure it out, and so neither can Mal. And since he can't figure out what she wants, he can't decide for himself if he wants to geive it to her.

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

alixtii: about Malx/Inara (or however you annotate a non-ship) remember the deleted scene from Serenity, where Zoe tells Simon that Mal lost *everything* in Serenity Valley; that's got to have an effect on his ability to form relationships.

About Simon/Kaylee: it's not a really hopeful sign in OiS when, after the Shepherd interrupts what looked like an impending kiss, Simon wipes his hand on his sweater. However, I must say that when they're sitting on the couch, Simon doesn't seem to me like the kind of person who would let someone who *wasn't* on intimate terms with him stick his or her foot in his face, and Kaylee could just as well mean "picture you naked...you mean, like you were five minutes ago?"

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

or however you annotate a non-ship

People often find ampersands work well ;)

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Replying to hermionesviolin:
I think of ampersands as something different--a strong emotional relationship that is not sexual or erotic: so Mal&Zoe; Mal and Inara are very far from being on friendly terms.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. Though I would argue that one could use the ampersand to denote a strong relationship including one fraught with conflict, i.e., Inara and Mal -- and of course one can just say "Inara and Mal" and leave the punctuation out of it altogether.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

I don't necessarily think that Simon and Kaylee are necessarily good for each other (although I think Kaylee could be good for Simon if he let her be), I'm just arguing that their arc through Firefly and ultimately culminating in Serenity is believable.

What I like about Simon/Kaylee is that I identify with Simon and desire Kaylee, so that Simon/Kaylee satisfies my desires. I'm engaged in the text in a way that I'm not usually.

As for Mal and Inara, I really don't see any evidence until Serenity (and there I think the evidence is too heavy-handed; I'm too aware of being manipulated) that Mal himself actually has any desire in Inara. I think he might unconsciously suspect that Inara desires him, and would probably be willing to fulfill that desire (as he does with Nandi) if it were made clear, but I don't blame Mal fo any inabity to fom the relationship. Inara, on the other hand, I think is totally confused and unable to decide what she wants, and I feel for Mal trying to figure her out.

I don't think either Mal/Inara or Simon/Kaylee are ultimately true loves able to withstand the test of time. But then, we all know that I think Mal/Kaylee is the ship best equipped for that.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

I think all the 'ships were handled poorly in Serenity, due largely to the constraints of having only a couple hours to introduce the audience to these characters and also have a full plot.

I saw Mal/Inara from early on -- and I don't think that on first viewing I was actively trying to read Firefly with 'ship-lenses. In "Shindig" I totally saw him jealous/possessive, for example.

I think the major barrier for both Mal and Inara in forming a relationship is that they don't want to open up, make themselves vulnerable, let other people in, let things get complicated.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

I think the major barrier for both Mal and Inara in forming a relationship is that they don't want to open up, make themselves vulnerable, let other people in, let things get complicated.

Agreed. I think Simon shares this trait; luckily for Simon/Kaylee, Kaylee doesn't. Indeed, other than River (who literally can't help but let others in and is inherently vulnerable), she's really the only crew member of Serenity who can open up and be honest about her feelings.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh! LJ just signed me out AGAIN! So I don't get to change my icon...anyway, alixtii, I definitely think that Mal/Kaylee has a lot more potential for being a stable, healthy relationship than Mal/Inara, or, lord save us, Jaylee (...and I still prefer Jaylee to Rayne...) BUT not everybody looks to fanfic for healthy, stable relationships.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

BUT not everybody looks to fanfic for healthy, stable relationships.

Nor do I look to canon for healthy, stable relationships, which is why I can enjoy Simon/Kaylee. But I think the reason my OTP speaks to me the way it does--and has since "Serenity"--is the feeling it engenders in me that these two people are right for each other.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

alixtii: I think that Simon's afraid that every time he says something about his feelings, Kaylee is going to throw something at him AGAIN.

But the reason I prefer M/S to K/S as a ship is that Mal and Simon are both mroe complex people than Kaylee so I think they're better suited to one another.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't think that Kaylee is ever unreasonable in her reactions to Simon; he really does have a propensity to say the wrong thing (as both Zoe and River seem to agree). And as out of all the crew she's the only one who's putting her feelings out in the open, and Simon (for whatever reason) seems to keep snubbing her advances, it makes sense to me that she would understandably be hurt.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I suspect that one of the most commonly uttered phrases aboard Serenity is "Shut it, EmoBoy"--it just isn't an environment that encourages discussions of Feelings.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Hmm, perhaps you're right, and it would be a common saying if there was someone prone to talk about hs or feelings and thus get that reaction. I just don't think Simon is that person. Except when he's with Kaylee or River, he's just as taciturn as Mal or anyone else. Few crew members are shown to be particularly given to expressing their emotions. The only time when such discussion was actively discouraged of which I can think was between Mal and Saffron in "Our Mrs. Reynolds"--and their the inhibition wasn't so much expressing emotions as trying to get others to do so. Those crewmembers who do show emotions--Kaylee, River, Wash--do so without any type of reproval from the rest of the crew, insofar as I can see.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

alixtii said: Those crewmembers who do show emotions--Kaylee, River, Wash--do so without any type of reproval from the reset of the crew

In StP, one of the first things Mal says is that sometimes he just wants to put duct tape over Kaylee's mouth and throw her in the hold for a month, and I do think that emotional style is one of the many reasons why Mal and Wash's relations are somewhat strained. And I suspect that Zoe isn't sure whether Wash's greater expressiveness is a bug or a feature.

[dodyskin.livejournal.com]

Oh hey. Ta. On behalf of metafandom, you're most welcome. :):):):):):):)