Serenity

Brought to you by Boss Joss.

I went with friends to see Serenity on Friday. (Scroll down to Rug Rage, Part IX, for a glimpse of the theater lobby carpeting.) It was a blast. That movie is an acid trip mishmash of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blade Runner, and The Bourne Identity, with an O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Very good show, even for someone like me who had never seen the canceled-too-soon TV series, Firefly, that inspired it. Two thumbs up.

You can tell Serenity is a Joss Whedon work a parsec off. He’s the guy who created Buffy, you know, and he isn’t about to tamper with formulae that work. Serenity has the requisite square-jawed, nostril-flaring Angel-type guy, the tough Buffy-type girl, the brawn-over-brain Xander-type guy, the smart/sensitive Willow-type girl, and all the sharp and shiny dialogue you could want. And of course, the character I liked best got offed at a completely unexpected moment. Good times.

My main criticism: None of the women looks like she weighs enough to remain standing in a light breeze, same as in Whedon’s TV shows, so shame on His Holiness for continuing to glamorize the waif-woman image. Heroines don’t have to look like interchangeable 11-year-old boys to be interesting, I promise. Also, we GET it already, okay? We GET that she’s strong even though she looks fragile, and we GET that’s he sensitive even though he looks tough. We GET that you’ve worked against stereotypes so long they’ve become new stereotypes. So GET a new hook. Please.

Anyway. It’s the characters that drive a Whedon show, but I was quite intrigued by one of Serenity’s main plot points, too. Basically, there’s this planet that was remodeled for human habitation — did I mention this is science fiction? — that the Scooby Serenity Gang has to reach to find out why there’s a beacon blaring. Well, it’s because 99% of the inhabitants are dead. Seems the government, in an effort to make the populace kinder and gentler, laced the planet’s atmosphere with an anti-aggression drug called Pax. (Anyone? Anyone? Yes, pax IS a Latin word meaning “peace.” Very good.) Unfortunately, it worked a little too well; with their animal instincts Paxed out, 99% of the population simply lay down to die. D’OH!

But what of the other 1%?

The other 1%, it turns out, were not only Pax-resistant, but Pax-averse, and the drug had an effect on them opposite of what was intended. They became Reavers (does that sound like “reverse” to anyone else?), hyper-aggressive monsters who not only hunt, kill, and eat other people and desecrate the bodies, but also mutilate themselves in the process. They’re never shown on screen for more than a frame or two, nor are their crimes described in more than a few shuddering words, so your imagination is free to run stark raving wild — and believe me, it will.

Our heroes fight their way through the Reavers and other obstacles to bring the evil to light, but they’re still a long, long way from eradicating it. — Oops, did I just spoil the ending? Sorry.

The moral of the story here is slap-your-face obvious (another Whedon trademark): human beings robbed of all aggression are no longer human, but neither are those too hopped up on it. True humanity means knowing when to bare your teeth.

This lesson arrived at a particularly interesting time for me, as my work life has been anything but serene lately. I’ve been playing paxly, but I’m almost ready to flash my fangs. Meanwhile, my non-work life is bearing fruits of friendship and insight, not because I’ve demanded them, but because I haven’t. This suggests that serenity is not the state I’m in, but the state in me.

Too bad it doesn’t come with a map.

Today around the world: October 3 is World Temperance Day.