Unstoppable Serenity

This week the PLC is going Beyond the Bookshelves, to examine other aspects of pop culture that inform our writing. We also are unrolling a fantastic new feature this week- Guest Spot Tuesday. Our first guest blogger is Sam Sykes, author of forthcoming fantasy novel Tome of the Undergates.

For my first Beyond the Bookshelves feature, I want to talk about my favorite tv show.

Eight years after its cancellation, Firefly is still garnering new fans. And not just any sort of fans, but fans who get all foamy-like at any mention of their favorite series. (Hello, my name is Amy McLane and I own two bottle props from the bar set of Serenity and have a River figurine in the mail and no I do not own any other merch from any other SF franchise, TUVM)

Why? Why do people love Firefly so much? Why does it inspire me to heretofore unknown levels of fandom? Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself.

Here’s my theory.

I love Firefly because I am given a fairly large ensemble cast of characters- Jayne, Wash, Mal, Zoe, Inara, Simon, River, Sheppard, and Kaylee- and not one of these characters is flat. All of them have depth, all of them are capable of surprising us. All of them are capable of changing.

A great example of this is the episode Jaynestown. Jayne is the hired muscle of the crew. He’s not the brightest, and he’s also greedy, lacking in moral fiber, and very self involved.

In Jaynestown, Jayne is faced with the mudders of Canton, an entire village of indentured workers who, living in muck and misery, worship him as a Robin-Hood style folk hero.

Seems Jayne botched a robbery on Canton a few years ago, accidentally dropping the loot on the impoverished town. First Jayne is wary of stepping foot on the planet. Then he is angry when he remembers the money he lost. Then, when he is recognized, he gives in to his unwarranted fame and drinks all the eye-searing booze and humps all the floozies he can get his hands on (one).

But at the end of the episode, Jayne denies his legend and pushes over the statue the mudders have made of him. You can see him feeling real pain for the people of Jaynestown, and in the closing shots he talks to his captain, struggling for understanding.

Mal reassures him by saying, “It’s my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another.”

In addition to being a very funny episode, it’s a very touching episode. Jayne is capable of surprising depths- and that’s just one character. Many other things happen in Jaynestown I haven’t touched on- like the job Serenity landed on Canton for in the first place… Kaylee and Simon getting drunk together… Inara’s adventure with the magistrate’s son… River going toe-to-toe with Sheppard and his “broken” Bible.

All these full, round characters, all 9 of them, are always interacting,  playing off each other, fighting and bantering in a way that is both entertaining and heartfelt. And the space-western Firefly universe functions as a 10th character, constantly throwing new challenges at Serenity‘s crew.

As a writer, I think that’s something to admire, and something to learn from.

Tune back in tomorrow for Sam Sykes!