“It's not my place to ask. I believe in
something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.” – the
Operative.
*Spoilers will be found*
Joss Whedon’s Serenity, based off his show Firefly
is an examination of the importance of free will, the greater good, and the
danger of true believers. Set in 2517, long after the earth was used up, the
film follows Mal and his crew. After being on the losing side of a war, Mal
works as a smuggler while evading the Alliance. After being an officer for the Independents,
he plays the hero, aiding those the Alliance ignores as a fugitive. The film
makes obvious attempts to stress the separation of classes with the dichotomy
of the lives of those on the inner planets and residents of out planets. Opening
with a robbery, Mal explains to the Alliance peacekeeper how to get in the
least amount of trouble for not stopping the robbery and how he needs to shoot
him in the foot for the least damaging but believable excuse. The man needs a
justification of his actions, as not to be labeled a criminal. Excuses are
created for the purpose of denying what he originally though was his duty.
If Sarte had an affinity for sci-fi,
Serenity would be right up his alley.
An avid Independent, his questioning of, “Who, then, can prove
that I am the proper person to impose, by my own choice, my conception of man
upon mankind?” would directly fall in line with questioning the Alliance’s
views on controlling its populace. In what acts as the culmination of the
Alliance’s wrongdoings, the crew of Serenity winds up on a planet void of any
life. It was terraformed like all the others, colonized, civilized, but nothing
remains. They find a message explaining that the planet was not destroyed by a
terraforming event, as taught by the Alliance, but a chemical designed to
pacify everyone on the planet worked too well. All affected either were too
passive and just stopped living, remaining still while others had the opposite
effect. They became the reavers. Those who would, “If they take the ship,
they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing
– and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order,” were created by
the Alliance.
The film draws upon
the Satrtian assertion that not man is above any other. Mankind creates its own
conceptions of itself, not a single body.
This is what prompts the film’s most
climactic conflict. Freewill is too important too Mal to not get the message
out. The crew creates a battle between
dozens of warships, both Alliance and Reaver. During the crew’s flight through
the battle, Whedon sets up an incredibly chilling moment, which highlights the
absurdity and seemingly worthlessness of life. Wash, Serenity’s pilot repeats
his mantra to stay cool through the battle and chase. “I am a leaf on the wind
watch how I soar.” He repeats this phrase with little other dialogue from the
others. Then Whedon makes one of his trademark moves.
In less than half a minute, you are given a sense
of relief for your heroes making out alive to the crushing, instantaneous death
of arguably the most friendly character. He dies so suddenly that I processed
it slower than the Mal. This scene draws more from Camus than Sarte’s ideals on
absurdism.
Camus
was an avid opponent of totalitarianism. Another Independent. Mal risks his
life to fight for the rights of others to choose. After spending all of his
post war life as a fugitive he finds a cause he needs to fight for. “I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe
on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to
the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So
no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave.” This seemingly innocent and playful
finish lightens the suicidal nature of his mission. Mal looses a member of his
crew and thousands die in the battle, but the message they find is sent out to
every planet in the Alliance. The only thing left is to keep going as a fugitive
and a smuggler.
—Zach Wildstein
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