Blog #32

The paper about desensitization to death is timely due to all the modern events that are going on currently, as well as the culmination of the surroundings our generation was raised in. Movies like Lord of the Rings (I don't watch a lot of movies, haven't seen anything recent since Despicable Me) have casualties in the thousands, and we only mourn when Boromir dies. The deaths are on the side, they have no impact, seemingly no meaning. We watch movies like this all the time, and yet you never see anyone cry in the theaters when Nameless Soldier A gets shot while the hero escapes. Nowadays we have things like Call of Duty and Halo. Call of Duty is a game prominent in American gaming culture, where people can get online and shoot each other. Killing isn't just a side event in these games, it's rewarded. People get excited to kill, and get bonuses and benefits from killing large numbers of people. How is one expected to care about something that is trivialized into a game?

The news that shows up only helps to prove the point. The media was all over the Libyan conflict for quite awhile. Although I'm sure that it had many followers, I noticed that people cared very little about the casualties and events of the conflict, and were much more concerned about the rising gas prices. No sorrow for the people dying, people were instead grief-stricken about the effects on their wallets. Worse yet, after the Japanese tsunami hit, headlines barely mentioned Libya for several weeks, focusing on the event that could produce bigger numbers. In all honesty though, there was quite a response to the deaths in Japan. Thankfully it seems that enough people dying can elicit some emotion in these times, but the number simply seems too high.

Blog #31 - Caring About Death

     I decided to do my paper about desensitization to death. By desensitization to death, I am referring to the ability with which we are able to watch and hear about people dying with absolutely no emotional repercussions. In a real life setting, the media constantly reports the deaths of people in a very calm setting. A newscaster can talk about how many thousands of people died without changing tone from discussing the latest football games. Even when discussing specific deaths, the news tends to focus on the implications of the death, as opposed to expressing any sorrow for the loss.

      The fictional setting may be an even greater culprit. Movies nowadays show people realistically getting killed by the hundreds. Unless it's a main character, people simply don't care about the deaths onscreen. In War of the Worlds, we watch several people get turned into ash as the main character tries to escape. I may be different, but I found myself not caring and only rooting for the main character to escape the death ray. Video games are also a potential cause for desensitization. As shooting games try to reach the highest level of verisimilitude, we are actually able to feel the gun in our hands, and kill people onscreen over and over.

      Although this may seem like a terrible situation, would it be better if it wasn't true? To express guilt and sadness over each death may be a huge burden in today's world. In older times, it was more acceptable due to the close-knit communities, where you relied on the other people and were able to feel a greater loss. Nowadays, where we are in contact with all 6 billion other people, it would be emotionally devastating to feel for all of them. But despite that, is it really okay to look at death with such uncaring eyes?

Blog #29 - Nerds

Four-Eyes No More: The New Nerd

By Chris Hofer

http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/3793

This was a rather amusing article about nerds. Because I classify myself as such, this article piqued my interest. The author states that nerds no longer have glasses. While only a few months ago, I was able to point to myself and agree with that statement, I no longer can. After spending several years completely glued to either a book or a computer screen, I have become incredibly near-sighted. Now I have joined the ranks of the bespectacled nerds that the author claims are dying out. In general, I think his assumptions are based on the wrong side of things. He claims that nerds are becoming more socially accepted. From all my experiences in multiple high schools, this isn't quite the case. What's becoming more socially accepted is technology. Having a cell phone is a social must, as well as computer access to get on Facebook or Twitter or whatever kids are using nowadays. Also popular amongst guys are video games, particularly shooting games. Well, to be honest, it's mostly just Call of Duty anymore. Nerds are still socially outcast, and can often be picked on by the “cool” kids. Don't believe me? Then you've obviously never had a cup of soda thrown down your tuba at a football game. The stigma of being a nerd has lessened slightly as technology continues to become an ever-important part of our lives, but there still remains a strong social barrier that allows the cool kids to express their inflated superiority over some group of people.

Blog #28

Colbert[ican] Politics: Red, Blue, or Purple?

http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/5581

The article I read is about the supposed politics of Stephen Colbert. Seeing as how I'm a bit of a fan of his show (much bigger fan of Jon Stewart though), this article seemed appealing. Stephen Colbert, the wacky newscaster who doles out humorous criticism across the entire political spectrum. The author goes in depth about Colbert's character and the persona he uses to help make us laugh. He goes on to state that Colbert has neither a conservative or liberal bias, being part of “purple” politics. I generally have to disagree with this statement.

Colbert generally takes an over-exaggerated conservative approach in his episodes. This helps make fun of of liberals through the use of blatantly sarcastic remarks about them, and makes fun of conservatives by stating their ideas in a nearly nonsensical fashion. In playing the conservative side of acting though, I feel that he's acting almost like a counter to the similarly-styled, and yet liberal-leaning, Jon Stewart. Jon is less sarcastic than Colbert, and has a much more definitive liberal feel. Despite all this, I feel that Colbert plays the conservative role more naturally due to having an actual conservative leaning himself, even though he can point out when others are being ridiculous. One such example is during my favorite Christmas episode, where Jon and Stephen were both irate to the point that their sarcastically bitter remarks lost a lot of sarcasm, and began to simply be bitter attacks toward government actions at the time. Colbert is simply good at presenting his news with only a sarcastic bias, and doesn't let it control what he presents.

Blog #27 - Introduction

      Creating a super soldier is a dream for any military that has existed. A super soldier is a vague term that implies that someone has extraordinary abilities in areas that soldiers require. Superhuman endurance and tactical knowledge are important, but the ability to fight is the most desired. A super soldier is typically depicted as having tremendous skill with firearms, unmatchable hand-to-hand fighting abilities, and excellent stealth tactics. A popular example is Captain America, one of the more popular comic book heroes. Captain America gained his identity after a frail man took some experimental concoction; the serum gave him nearly all of the abilities mentioned above. Captain America, with his newly discovered powers, fought comic representations of America's enemies for years to come.

      The serum that the frail young man took in has some questionable implications that are of much importance in the actual development of super-soldiers. Notably, it was an experimental drug, which means that it was not at a final stage, and could have had disastrous results instead of superpowers. The man took the serum willingly, giving his consent and knowledge to the project. However, this is rarely the case with the actual development of super-soldiers, as tests are dangerous and often performed on unwilling or even unwitting subjects. Any “serum” that is tried often can have disastrous results, and even within America has led to the death of test subjects. To go further in depth on these issues, we'll first focus on another fictional setting, the Firefly movie, “Serenity.”

Blog 25

My specific real world connection is the testing of Frank Olson. Frank Olson was a military scientist who had hallucinogenic drugs tested on him by the CIA. They did this as part of the MKULTRA Project, which was a project designed to create mind control, which could lead to the ultimate soldier or assassin. While I would have preferred a situation where someone like River Tam was actually made, this has never been the case. Therefore, I am doing my situation on one of the most notable tests in an attempt to create something like her.

Frank Olson was a bacteriologist in the army. He was given drugs by the CIA against his knowledge. After taking these drugs, Lux of Erowid claims that Olson fell into a depression. After some time, Olson reportedly killed himself. News articles of the time state that he jumped from a 10^th story hotel window, probably due to his recent depression. Olson's son didn't believe this answer, which was only supported when the CIA admitted that they had given Olson LSD as part of their project. His son believed that Olson was (almost ironically) assassinated in the opportune fashion of dropping someone out of a window. Although the exact details of his death will never be revealed, the fact remains that Olson had been drugged by the government in their attempt to further their project.

Although a bit more roundabout than an ideal situation, the drugging and subsequent death of Frank Olson exemplifies the ruthlessness of the government in trying to create the ultimate assassin. Incredibly similar to the situation of River Tam (albeit with lower technology, and not as directly), the death of Frank Olson demonstrates the terrible methods involved in creating the ideal killer.

Blog #23 - This is for hens to laugh at

      For my scene (which I admittedly did not blog about), I chose the one where River Tam sees the subliminal message in the advertisement, and goes on a killing rampage. At first Mal watches in shock, and seemingly some amusement and fright, but then attempts to grab his weapon. When Mal grabs his weapon, he and River have a short standoff before Simon Tam came in and shouted a phrase that put her to sleep.

      Probably due to the sense of detachment usually felt when watching movies, the lack of importance of the people in the bar, and the general amusement of watching a 90 lb. Summer Glau rip through dozens of men, I did not really feel the underlying terror that this scene really should instill. This scene isn't quite the first to show her assassin abilities in action, but is the first that shows her going on a complete rampage, killing without provocation or difficulty. This slaughter of innocent people shows the true terror of what a super soldier is capable of. Not just the terror of the slaughter, but also of who the super soldier is. However hilarious it is to watch this child engage in the ultimate bar fight, its just evidence of the terrible testing and training that she went through to achieve that state. The R. Tam Sessions help to back up most of these arguments, detailing some of her experiments, and giving an early example of her ruthlessness as she kills her interviewer with a pen.

      Of particular interest is the control of River exhibited throughout the scene. From the commercial advertisement that had the code to send her into the super soldier bar fighter to the code phrase that Simon shouted to put her to sleep, River has codes implanted within her to control her. This is very relevant to a point that Lux made in his article about needing control over the perfect soldier/assassin. Slightly paradoxical, as you want complete control, but complete control means lack of initiative or ability to operate outside of parameters. The codes seem to be a good compromise that allow for a strong degree of control anyway.

(Just a small note, my title is the translation of the phrase that Simon shouts)

Blog #18

      The Nazis were infamous for their desire to create the perfect people. The Aryan race, as it was called, was the race of ideal men. Blond haired, blue eyes, many people know of the basic characteristics that Germany desired, despite the leader of the movement looking very different himself. Seeking to complete what they considered to be Nietzsche's Ubermensch, the Nazis systematically wiped out those they considered to be the opposite of their ideals. Although that part is well-known, little is known about how the horrors of how they tried to genetically engineer even more Aryans.

      Josef Mengele was a scientist who tried to discover a way to produce Aryans. Accurately named the Angel of Death, he specialized in his experiments on twins and children. His experiments were some of the darkest of the period. “Children were castrated, had limbs amputated, or their eyes injected with chemicals in an attempt to make them turn blue. One twin would be injected with typhus, then both would be killed and their organs compared.” (Bogod, 1155). Although some of them lack a clear purpose, having their eyes injected with chemicals has an obvious motive. If Mengele could find a way to successfully turn someone's eyes blue, that was one step closer towards perfecting the master race. Truly a more brutal method of trying to create a superhuman to be a supersoldier, the methods are only a step beyond the CIA's covert testing. Whereas the Nazis did kill several times as many, the CIA nevertheless did have a couple casualties.

Blog #17

      Dr. Ewan Cameron, a university researcher, had been doing experiments that attempted to restructure personalities. He did so through a repatterning process that made use of the psychedelics that were so abundant in science of that time. His main goal with this procedure was to cure schizophrenia by eliminating multiple personalities. The CIA saw a different opportunity in this.

      The CIA, ever seeking more covert methods to gain advantage over the Russians sought to create the perfect assassin.An ideal assassin would be similar to one written about in a popular 50's fiction novel, and thus called a “Manchurian Candidate.” According to Lux of Erowid, “. . . A 'Manchurian Candidate' is someone who has been brainwashed to carry out covert actions such as assassinations and sabotage against their will, without having the awareness that anything is amiss.” (n.p.). If this assassin was created, the CIA could have people be killed without the killer knowing that they did it, an ideal situation. Such a killer could be theoretically produced using personality restructuring, so the CIA began to secretly fund Cameron's work as part of their MKULTRA project. The MKULTRA project was a project based around the use of drugs to create a form of mind control. Cameron's research constituted a potentially perfect method for developing mind control, and thus being able to make the Manchurian Candidate assassin. Cameron was fairly unsuccessful in his research, as he could neither completely submerge a personality, nor restructure a personality without having the old one resurface. This reflected the overall outcome of the MKULTRA project, which was unable to accomplish any of its major goals.

Blog #15

Faden, Ruth. ACHRE Report. Pittsburgh: U.S. Government Printing Office, Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html>.

      This article contains further information about the MKULTRA project. The MKULTRA project was an operation by the CIA to try and create a form of mind control using various drugs and psychedelics. Unsuccessful and illegal, most of the records about the project were deliberately destroyed in 1973. As opposed to the tests performed, this article mostly talks about the legal ramifications of the testing.

      Due to the fact that drugs were tested on unwitting participants, the government faced a lot of legal issues after everything was said and done. Unfortunately, the government is largely successful in manipulating the government, and therefore could avoid some of the lawsuits that seem like they should have gone through. Some participants even died as a result of the testing, most notably Frank Olsen. In some cases, because the performed tests on military personnel, the CIA was able to get by with calling it duty or service, and the Supreme Court even agreed. The MKULTRA tests were related by several people to the testing done by the Nazis, and how America blatantly ignored the results of the Nuremberg Trials. This leads to an interesting tie-in between the Nazis, America, and the events in Firefly. All three were trying to create something for warfare. The Nazis were trying to complete the perfect soldier by genetically engineering people to be Aryans, America was trying to develop mind control to help win the Cold War, and the Alliance was trying to build the perfect assassin, as well as create something that could pacify planets.

Blog #14 - Annotated Research 4

"World: Pattern of Terror." TIME 24 Aug 1970: n. pag. Web. 8 Apr 2011.

This article is simply a collection of some of the more major incidents of various political assassinations that took place in Latin America in the 60's and 70's. Most of the assassinations are of ambassadors of various nations. The killings themselves seem to primarily be done by guerillas. Not much reason is given for these assassinations, except one mention of it being done based on “war crimes.”

The 60's and 70's were infamous for the assassinations and disappearances that took place in Latin America. These assassinations seemed to be similar to the situation in Firefly, to some extent. In the movie, the Operative is trying to hunt down the crew and fetch River Tam. Cold and willing to kill, the Operative ruthlessly hunts them down, and murders several people who get in the way. This is all done based on the escape of River Tam from an Academy that was training her to also be an assassin. Her brother helped her escape from the mental torture that they used to train her. In helping her get out, he managed to steal valuable secrets that could compromise the integrity of the Alliance. Although not for the same reasons as the Latin American assassinations, they are done in a similar vein. The Operative does fail in the end, but several crew members end up dying. The crew then manages to broadcast the history of the Reavers throughout the system, forever damaging the reputation of the Alliance, but not taking it down.

Blog #13 - Annotated Research 3

Finucane, Brian. "Enforced Disappearance as a Crime Under International Law: A Neglected Origin in the Laws of War." Yale Journal of International Law 35.171 (2009): 171-195. Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.yjil.org/docs/pub/35-1-finucane-enforced-disappearance.pdf>

This article focused on enforced disappearances, particularly done by a government. Most of the article details the Nazi regime (similarly to the drug based articles), and the Night and Fog operation. In the Night and Fog operation, people were forcibly taken away, and presumably killed or detained in a concentration camp until their inevitable death. The detainees had no way of contacting their family to let them know what happened. This led to fear and horror among the families, who never received information about where the person went. The journal article talks about the difference between war crimes and and crimes against humanity, and how the Nuremberg trials classified enforced disappearances as both. Such acts are obviously war crimes in a military situation, because the people are being targeted and not protected in any fashion. The main point is the classification as a crime against humanity due to the mental terror inflicted upon the families. The criminal implications of enforced disappearances outside of military situations was also touched upon, and how there could be individual trials and consequences under those circumstances as well. This relates heavily to Firefly, as the Alliance is trying to kill off River and Simon Tam. Although not quite making them disappear, it is obviously an undercover effort, and has negative consequences when it is exposed. The assassination of the Tam siblings to keep inside information safe is similar to the Nazis using enforced disappearances to quell resistance. The familial implications are mostly lost in the Tam situation though, as it appears they are staying undercover from their parents as is.

Blog #12 - Annotated Research 2

Lux, . "MKULTRA: Psychedelic Mind Control and Its Legacy".." Erowid Extracts. N.p., 27 Mar 2009. Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/war/mkultra/mkultra_article1.shtml>

This fascinating article details some of the actions of the CIA under the MKULTRA project. During the Cold War, the U.S. tried to find various ways to use mind control to gain an advantage over communism. Seeing psychedelics as having the most profound effect on the mind, they strongly went with that route. MKULTRA was basically a covert operation that tested LSD and other psychedelics on unwitting participants. In doing so, the CIA hoped to gain a truth serum, or a form of mind control. Seemingly, neither was obtained. Most of MKULTRA was illegal and violated ethical standards. In one project, prostitutes were paid to take men to a certain building and drug them with LSD. The testing had negative effects at points, even driving one man to apparently kill himself. This article relates strongly to the Firefly movie. In the movie, the Alliance tests drugs on an unwitting planet, also with their hopes set on a form of mind control. Similarly, the CIA tested LSD on various participants, although with a much less severe outcome. Although the participants weren't turned into Reavers, the LSD tests did seem to provide much of the background for the psychedelics usage of that time. Thankfully, MKULTRA was shut down in the early 70's, although the impact that it had on the government's reputation was minimal, and no charges were pressed against the former operatives in the project. This seemingly relates to the Alliance, as its only damage proved to be a bit of a reputation loss.

Blog #11 - Annotated Research 1

Bogod, David. "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?." Anaesthesia 59.12 (2004): 1155-1156. Web. 8 Apr 2011

This article is all about the experiments that Nazis performed on its prisoners. Considered to be some of the worst scientific testing to date, this article primarily focuses on the hypothermia experiments performed by Sigmund Rascher. People were often submerged in cold water, or stranded naked in a blizzard. As they froze to death, their vitals were recorded, and most were left to die. This article goes on to describe several other experiments as well. Several chemical tests were performed on women, men, and even children (particularly twins). They were pumped full of various chemicals, and had the results recorded, even in the most obvious of tests. I chose this because I find it to be similar to the testing that Alliance from Firefly did on the planet of Miranda. The Alliance tested a new pacifying drug on the planet, and ended up killing over 99% of the population. The small remainder became the feral Reavers, and now terrorize the solar system with their disgusting deeds. It provides interesting insight as to how such scientific data is treated, and somewhat why the Nazis performed these tests. Regardless of how cruel the tests were, most were seemingly done in an attempt to “better” one group of people. The hypothermia tests were done to help freezing pilots; the chemical tests were done to try and genetically engineer a master race. This is similar to the reasoning that the Alliance seemed to have about testing the drug on Miranda; they wanted to make a drug that would calm people down. However, both had a very poor approach in the application of their tests.

Blog #10 - Research

I want to research illegal government operations, primarily those revolving around scientific testing and forced disappearances. Not only do I want to find out more about certain cases, I want to find out the reasoning behind why it went on. This comes from the questions posed in the Firefly movie. It is mostly about scientific testing, and the negative consequences of it. Thankfully, a lot of governments that were particularly well-known for engaging in these practices have been overthrown, and this information released to the public.

Bogod, David. "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?." Anaesthesia 59.12 (2004): 1155-1156. Web. 8 Apr 2011

Faden, Ruth. ACHRE Report. Pittsburgh: U.S. Government Printing Office, Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/ohre/roadmap/achre/chap3_4.html>.

Finucane, Brian. "Enforced Disappearance as a Crime Under International Law: A Neglected Origin in the Laws of War." Yale Journal of International Law 35.171 (2009): 171-195. Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.yjil.org/docs/pub/35-1-finucane-enforced-disappearance.pdf>.

"World: Pattern of Terror." TIME 24 Aug 1970: n. pag. Web. 8 Apr 2011.

Lux, . "MKULTRA: Psychedelic Mind Control and Its Legacy".." Erowid Extracts. N.p., 27 Mar 2009. Web. 8 Apr 2011. <http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/war/mkultra/mkultra_article1.shtml>.

Blog #9 - Serenity Prospectus

I plan to do my analytical research paper on the Firefly movie, Serenity. Although I have yet to watch the movie, as I wish to see it after I finish the series (this weekend), I have read enough about it to decide what I want my paper to be about. The movie focuses primarily on the corruption of the government through two aspects. The leading cause of the conflicts in the series are caused by illegal government testing. They tested a new drug on a planet, leading to the Reavers, and they tested on River Tam, which she escaped from. This leads to the second point of corruption, as the government tries to have River assassinated. Although Joss Whedon has stated that the Alliance is meant to represent the American government is some fashions, I want to research the actual practices of governments in this field. This will be rather difficult, due to the fact that it's not a common practice for such information to be revealed, but there have been enough practices of the sort throughout history to glean enough information. On who and for what reasons are scientific tests done without consent? Who is assassinated by the government and why? Firefly provides us with a government that does things on a wide scale, and we can see the darker undercurrents that move some of their actions. While it's not so obvious in the real world, I think it raises a bunch of interesting questions. A good scene to use would be one where they discover how the Reavers were made.

Blog #8 - Getting myself lost and confused in the philosophy of post-modernism

Here is another example of more postmodern nonsense. Trying to use irony to describe reality doesn't result in reality being ironically different, it just creates seemingly philosophical contradictions. Saying that a metaphor has the ability to be more real than whatever situation it is referring to is, in my opinion, not feasible. A metaphor can help to present a intangible idea in a more tangible sense, this is true. However, the reality of intangible ideas, such as fears, is that they exist as something intangible. Putting them into a more tangible form does not make them more real, it simply presents them in a fashion that can be more easily understood and represented, and sometimes even related to. Doing so does create a fantasy, a fictional setting in which it does become a reality. It is a reality within the fantasy, but the fantasy is not real within reality. Metaphor can bridge the gap between reality and fantasy, but is unable to ever set fantasy above reality, despite what we may perceive. For example, the “M” from McDonald's seems to represent a hyper-reality where one can obtain fast food that is quick and always the same. This is not true, but we seem to associate the “M” with such things nevertheless. Thus the fantasy is presented, and within the fantasy presented by the “M,” the food is fast and identical.. Within the fantasy of the arches, that is all reality. However, the arches truly promise nothing, leading to the argument that the hyper-reality is what we perceive, and is thus more real than what actually constitutes our reality. This is false, as the consciousness does not make up reality through its assumptions, but the reality of what McDonald's truly is makes up reality. Although the “M” does not promise us fast and identical food, it is nevertheless connected to McDonald's, although a more realistic one. The reality is that the “M” is related to a realistic McDonald's, where the food is finite and contains minute differences. The “M” only represents a metaphor to the perfect McDonald's food, and even should we believe in the fantasy, it becomes obviously false once you get the food and reality sets in. The “M,” while being a metaphor for the perfect McDonald's, is unable to ultimately change our perception of the end reality of our food. Therefore, any hyper-reality is really only an illusion, and cannot last in the truth of our actual reality. In any fantasy, a metaphor can indeed become real. As the article describes it, Buffy takes metaphors and makes them more literal in order to better express something can be hard to communicate otherwise. These metaphors create an amusing fantasy, often ironic, to express something hard to express in reality. This fantasy where our fears are literal and tangible is a hyper-reality, an illusion similar to the perfect food promised by the “M.” However, the reality is that fears aren't tangible in the same way the food isn't perfect, and what's found in the confines of fantasy can't change reality, despite how we may perceive it.

Blog #7 - Episode 6 of Firefly

This episode was quite possibly the funniest thing I have watched in a long time. From the opening scene that had the captain in a dress to him marrying a con artist, this episode was primarily about humor. Although it did introduce a new character, and explore some more between the captain and the Companion, everything was done in as humorous a light as possible. In a short summary, the captain accidentally marries a rather attractive a woman. This woman ends up seducing (or trying to) everyone who comes near her, and then steals a lifeboat and sends the crew to their deaths. The crew manages to escape this fate of course, and go get their revenge on the con-woman. Naturally, when the captain gets married, Inara the Companion becomes quite jealous of the newlyweds. She is told at one point that the captain is dead, and immediately rushes to his room, kissing him once she finds out that he is alive. Humorously enough, she also gets some of the drug that knocked him out when she kisses him, and promptly passes out herself. This leads to some funny moments later when she tries to deny her actions and pretend that nothing happened. Most of the show's humor does tend to be darker; most of the jokes seem to revolve around death or tools of death. This kind of humor really fits the setting of a harsh, western-style life, since the characters are constantly in near-death situations. They seem to be the types that joke about the things that scare them, or that they're familiar with.

Blog #6 - Episode 5 of Firefly

This episode of Firefly pretty much set the scene for a bunch of new mysteries, as well as some developments in character relationships. Mostly (and thankfully), this episode focused on one of my favorite characters, River Tam. River is the character with the most mysterious and quirks in the Firefly series. Played by the adorable Summer Glau, she is schizophrenic, telepathic, morbid, intelligent beyond belief, and remarkably good at dancing. River was sent to a school when she was younger that did some terrible things to her; it apparently traumatized her to her current state. This episode showed a younger version of River, a cheerful girl who still displayed an odd tendency to say creepy things. The modern River isn't much like her younger self; she often falls into frightened fits where she screams and throws things violently. She barely ever talks coherently, and when she does, it is either a disturbing fact, an airy philosophical statement, or a detailed history of someone's past. The latter seems to indicate that she can read minds. When the townspeople in this episode discovered this talent, they immediately deemed her a witch and starting the ever-classic burning ritual. Interestingly, some townspeople seemed to be okay with River until she started revealing information that compromised the integrity of some of them. Once she did this, the situation went from the townspeople being calm and collected to screaming that God wanted her dead. Whether or not they legitimately thought God wanted her dead, or infusing religion with their own fears and intentions isn't something I particularly want to discuss in my blog, I just wanted to point it out.

Blog #5 - Episode 4 of Firefly.

Continuing with one series, I watched another episode of Firefly. Another episode, another classic bar fight. This episode seemed mostly to focus on the profession of Inara, and the nearly hostile romantic relationship that she doesn't quite have with the captain. Her job gives her the title of Companion. A Companion is essentially a woman who is well-paid for her “services.” Interestingly enough, a Companion seems to be a title to be respected, and nearly admired, as opposed to the heavy negative connotations that the equivalent job in our world brings. A Companion is typically very refined, elegant, and astoundingly polite. Although Inara may be special, rates for companions seem to be remarkably high. These high prices typically mean that only people with stature are able to obtain a Companion's services, giving a stronger image to the high status of the seemingly respectable courtesans. It is even stated in previous episodes that having a Companion around can influence some doors to open that would otherwise be unavailable. If Inara is any indication, a Companion has to be well-versed in subtly and skillfully maneuvering a conversation in such a way that allows her to discuss personal matters without causing distress to her patron. Inara seems to particularly be a gem amongst the Companions, often having people joke about men begging her to stay. Her occupation and customers seems to trouble the captain, who may or may not harbor romantic feelings for her. Whether he is simply a jealous man, or simply has a knack for punching the more malicious customers is up for debate.

Blog #4 - Episode 3 of Firefly.

This installment of the Firefly series displayed a much more disturbing tone than the previous episodes. Focusing on the cannibalistic savagery of the Reavers, a mysterious race of apparently pure evil. Reavers seem to be a primal mix of rapists, cannibals, torturers, and mechanical geniuses, and tend to blur the lines between those roles. As described in an earlier episode, if they board a ship, they would “rape the crew to death, devour their flesh, and then sew your skin onto their clothes. And if you're really lucky, they'll do it in that order.” The acts they commit are so brutal and warped, that being forced to witness them commit the atrocities will result in one losing their sanity, and reverting to a Reaver himself. This all happened to a rather unlucky survivor in this episode. After watching his entire ship be submitted to the acts of the Reavers, he cut his tongue in half, mutilated his face, and began killing pretty much anyone who came within stabbing distance. Interestingly enough, military personnel don't seem to have much information about the Reavers. Although from what I've read, the military caused the Reavers to become the way they are through a failed drug experiment, the military seems to not be willing to help fix this at all. Now, I don't mean the sense of fixing where the government wants to make it right just because it's the right thing to do, because the Alliance hardly seems that altruistic. I would imagine that the government would attempt to quell the Reavers' behavior to prevent people from finding out the dark side of the government's actions. Whether I have missed the reasoning or explanation behind this or not is yet to be seen, but I can't imagine that the Alliance would let them run amok like this, especially when they are so bound and determined to recover just one little girl.

Blog #3 - Episode 2 of Firefly

      In this episode, the crew was hired by a slightly shady businessman to perform a train heist. The group managed to pull it off more or less successfully, but ended up in a serious moral dilemma as they discover that the stolen goods are actually medicine for the sick townspeople. The medicine was being delivered by the Alliance, which is the government in control of the worlds in Firefly. Once the goods were stolen, the Alliance abandoned the townspeople, and cared incredibly little about their stolen cargo.

      The perception we get of the Alliance is what truly interests me in this episode. In both this episode and episode 1, we are given the strong impression that the Alliance is not a benign government. Although this is mostly done through the bitter comments of the captain claiming that they “interfere” almost nonstop, a truly darker side is hinted by the supposed torture of the young River girl. In this episode, the Alliance plays the bad guys by ignoring the stolen cargo and leaving the townspeople without medicine. Or that is how we were supposed to interpret the situation, in my opinion.

      What is not focused upon is how the Alliance were the original ones who sent the medicine. Without the goodwill of the Alliance, the townspeople would not have had any chance in the first place. This could be contradicted if the townspeople had purchased the medicine already and it was simply being delivered, but due to the poverty-stricken looks of the people, I can't imagine that to be the case. It seemed to be the goodwill of the government, and while they did wrong by abandoning the people, I believe that the show is trying to focus too hard on making the government a malicious entity.