So then, have you watched Firefly?

[matgb]

So, last week while she was down, we had one of those "what DVDs to watch" discussions on our one (semi-planned) evening in. It turned out that snapesbabe hadn't seen Firefly. At all. Now it appears that tinuvielberen hasn't seen it either (but has now seen the light). This bothered me, y'see, when I first got an LJ, it seemed everyone was a fan, there were Firefly icons everywhere, being a fan seemed like something akin to a cultural norm. Now, of course, I know that's not true, but it sure seemed that way, and for two self-confessed SF fans to have not seen it? Weird. So, poll time:
[Poll #1030452]
Because, y'know, Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, does a proper Sci-Fi series, and Murdoch's Fox network messes him around, but the DVD sales are so good that Universal spring for a mid-budget film anyway? Plus, it's funny. Oh, and one of the opening lines is We're not going to die, y'know why? Because we're so very pretty... Which, y'know, is mostly true. So, via Amazon (UK, don't have the US search installed) the series is £15, the film is only £5.

Oh, and after a bit of pestering, here be a link to my Wish List, which I've started updating again; I used to use it as a handy "to buy" list, but then, y'know, finances collapsed. I guess it makes sense to post it, I'll be 33 in less than five weeks. Ouch.

Comments

[matgb]

As was said in the comments at Dr Beren's, it takes awhile to get going; I can definitely see why it got cancelled, a slow build up action series combined with bloody awful scheduling and a weird concept, too confusing for Fox.

We'll watch Heart of Gold (for a nice bit of feminism—sort of, anyway) or Jaynestown for utterly surreal plot. Actually, no, Our Mrs Reynolds. Because you'll love Saffron.

You're not actually getting a choice on this one, just so y'know ;-)

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had kind of gathered that.

[matgb]

&heart;

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Thank you for getting your code wrong on purpose just to make me smile. It worked ♥

;)

[frightened.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good choices. When I could only get disc 4 to work, I asked the missus, "do you want the depressing one, the finale one, or the one with the cool chicks in the brothel?" She looked at me like she couldn't believe I was asking such a stupid question.

It does take a while to get into. My housemate and I didn't really see what the fuss was about. But then 'Bushwhacked' was a really creepy, good horror story, and we figured out Inarra's job and that was awesome. And we fell in love with it.

[matgb]

Yeah, I think I gave the first two a 'too-positive' viewing when they were on, looking back now watching with someone new to it and I can see they're actually not great episodes, I'm thinking out-of-sequence Out of Gas might be a better introduction, not sure though.

Hmm, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the pair of you like the one with all the pretty girls, even if the plot is a bit too obvious...

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

Heart of Gold loses its feminist credential as far as I'm concerned because OMG what the bloody hell are they doing letting Simon (who obviously hasn't a clue about obstetrics, let alone midwifery) anywhere near that poor girl who ends up labouring on her back all the way through the episode? Because I refuse to believe that there's no one in that house who knows how birth works.

[/rant]

Sorry. I've been proofreading Midwifery Matters, which always gets me a little hot under the collar with regard to birth. But honestly, that did spoil the whole episode for me. Birth is a feminist issue and I can't stand the way that all the (otherwise brilliant) female characters stand back and let Simon blunder around like a bumblebee in a jam jar.

*wanders off to write a more sensible comment lower down*

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

See, I was with you till the last sentence. I think that's a VERY sensible comment. One thing that made me VERY uncomfortable about the couple of episodes I watched was (forget her name, bad with names) "the ambassador". I know that prostitution is a fact of life, but to have the subjugation of women treated as so acceptable; necessary, even...

Grargh. I thought that sort of thing was in the past.

[matgb]

The Companion Guild and similar are fleshed out a lot in later episodes, and it's very much made clear that the complete opposite of subjugation is the plan; an opinion frightened (above) shares from what she's said.

They've gone way beyond legalising and accepting it in the background, it's quite well worked through in many ways.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Background or foreground, if all the prostitutes are women, that is the subjugation of women. It is women being bought and sold by free MEN as objects of sexual gratification and not as people. It is women being dehumanised. If there are also male companions then I will happily eat my words. Are there?

[matgb]

It's implied, but we only see two Companions total, Inara and the former companion running the Heart of Gold; and she offers Mal a boy when he turns the girls down, so yes, they're there.

You know what I'm like, I don't tend to go into huge amounts of detail, so I could dig around the sites but essentially it's implied there are both, and Inara is shown turning down potential clients a few times (and has a few female clients at times).

See, you now have another reason to watch, you can critique the portrayal of the companions ;-)

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

What about this "brothel full of cool chicks" that people are talking about? That implies lots more than two.

I'm also with El S that birth should NOT be portrayed as the horrible medical matter it generally is on TV and in films. And I haven't even GLANCED at feminist_sf in WEEKS.

Blargh. I'm going all ranty. Time to crack open the brandy, I think

[matgb]

Brothel != Companion.

It's run by Inara's friend, a former companion, who's gone rogue/independent. The whole centralised authority with strong rules (and protection) vs individuals on their own taking risks and teaming up is a theme the whole way through, the brothel is an analogue of the independents, the Guild is the Alliance, etc...

and pretty much with you on the portrayal of birth thing, but also agree with her point that it's not just the media that does it, the Govt has been doing it for decades as well.

Brandy=good...

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

:/

I suppose I shall have to postpone judgement until I've watched it, but I reserve the right to have feminist rage.

[matgb]

Ah, see, that's the problem with any show where you've got a level of actual real knowledge; cf physicists and any TV/film based SF (ask davidnm).

I wouldn't have known he was doing stuff wrong, plus also, y'know he's the Doctor, ergo he does Medical Stuff, and that's all the writers really need worry about.

However...

let Simon blunder around like a bumblebee in a jam jar.

Loving that image ;-)

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

Yes, but midwifery isn't necessarily medical stuff, only when things go wrong. I'll have to watch it again to see what exactly is going wrong (I vaguely remember 'Woe, woe, she's having a baby so she's automatically DOOMED' type stuff, which also annoyed me, but don't recall any specifics.) But fair point, it really is (mostly) a specialist rant, though I must also say that it irritates me that TV is promoting this 'OMG birth is scary and dangerous and we can't do it without a DOCTOR' attitude; that said, I suppose it's (unfortunately) only reflecting that attitude of the Great American Public.

I'm quite ranty on the end of Revenge of the Sith, too. ;-)

That wonderful simile isn't mine, I'm afraid; I nicked it from Dorothy Sayers.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

I don't think that having experience of birth is that specialist. Many of us have been through it, or watched a partner go through it.

[matgb]

Society in general moved to medicalise birth though; not my field but I know I've heard/read complaints about it and moves to bring back better access to midwives, etc.

I also know a few people who are very much in favour of the medicalising trend, it's not something I know enough about to have an opinion on (yet), although SB seems to agree with you so that'll influence if it becomes an issue.

With apologies for rantiness, but you know the strength of my feeling on matters like this

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Society in general moved to medicalise birth though

You missed the "patriarchal" off the beginning of that. You know WHY women were encouraged for a couple of centuries to give birth lying on their backs, even though it vastly increases the danger to the women, the pain, the length of labour, etc? To make it easier for the doctor to see what was going on without having to do any of that nasty bending down. Up until recently, what gender were pretty much all doctors?

I think that there's a little sentence in the wikipedia entry on childbirth that sums up the attitude of people who favour the medicalisation of childbirth very well: Some studies find that although epidural use can lengthen the labour and increase the need for operative intervention, it has no adverse effect on perinatal outcome.

i.e. the baby is fine, so who cares if the woman suffers from exhaustion and is more likely to need to be sliced open?! That doesn't matter!

Again, it's all about the subjugation of women; although in this instance it's as baby-producing machines, rather than sex objects. And of course, we both know that postpartum women can NEVER be sexy.

;)

apologies? I learn stuff. That's good.

[matgb]

we both know that postpartum women can NEVER be sexy.

Absolutely. Never ever ever. Like I've said above, I know very little directly on the subject, so I merely offer these as counter points:
http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2007/05/this-independent-midwife-insurance.html

http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2007/06/next-theyll-be-confiscating-our.html

Not got around to meeting Katy yet, but have met DK, nice bloke, for an Eton educated UKIPer.

It's possibly worth observing that the first post nearly won an award for "most unintentionally humoerous post" due to some errors she made, but she's got a strong point, if not a good one...

Re: apologies? I learn stuff. That's good.

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

See, yes, I agree that people who WANT an epidural should be allowed to have one, and yes, medical aid should be available if it's needed (as it should be for anything, really), but that's COMPLETELY different to the enforced treatment of EVERY birth as a scary and unnatural thing, which is what we were talking about.

* pokes you for setting up straw men *