Genius, I tell you

[ivyfic]

The first time I watched Serenity was opening night in a sold-out theater in Manhattan. People laughed and cheered and applauded the whole way through. I just rewatched it at a Sunday matinee in New Jersey. The theater was maybe a third full, and this was the kind of crowd that keeps to themselves. No laughing or talking or anything to break the illusion that each of us was watching this movie alone. (Though when things went to soft light on River in the Maidenhead, some guy said, "uh-oh.")

Then Wash died. Everyone gasped. Even me, who knew it was coming. And after that - people were laughing and cheering. It's like the emotional shock galvanized us in a group, sharing this experience together, and suddenly people were expressing their reactions. That's why Joss is so gorram brilliant. I've seen dozens of action and sci-fi films and main characters always die in them. It's a requisite of the genre. I doubt everyone in that theater had seen the show, so Joss managed to make it just as painful for newcomers.

If you pay attention to the movie, you notice that everytime Zoe gets into an argument, or into danger, or is upset, Wash is always comforting her. He's always reaching out his hand, grounding her. Without any overhanded emphasis, you got how connected these two people were. Then, in the crash sequence, Joss treated the destruction of Serenity as one would normally treat a character death - long, drawn-out, blow-by-blow. And because you've just come through that, it is so shocking when Wash dies.

I didn't cry the first time, I think I was too surprised. This time I did. What got me was Kaylee asking where Wash was. And you get most of the way through that scene before anyone notices that he's not there. They don't even spend any time on it in the way most shows would. Doesn't matter if you're in the middle of a shoot-out, I can name a dozen shows that take the time to have heart-to-hearts when a character dies. Here they don't have time to stop. They just keep on fighting because they don't have a choice.

Comments

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Joss treated the destruction of Serenity as one would normally treat a character death

That's a beautiful observation. I was fully caught up in OH NOES!! SERENITY!, wincing at every bit of screeching metal, and Wash's death in the quiet afterward left me literally gaping with shock.