cybermathwitch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cybermathwitch) wrote2005-10-01 01:17 pm
cybermathwitch) wrote2005-10-01 01:17 pm
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Leading up to last night I commented several times to several different people about my hopes for the movie both in terms of fandom and personally for me, myself.
Dionysus is one of my patron gods, you see. Theatre was created for his worship. So, it's no surprise that I see shows/movies as somewhat religious experiences. Not all, of course, but many. And anything by Joss Whedon by it's very nature has to be put in a category above and beyond brain-candy. Plus, I'm a fan of Firefly. And this is a huge accomplishment for genre fandom as well - "failed" genre show getting enough press/support to be made into a major motion picture? With nationwide release by a major studio? Yeah. Big Damn Deal.
I've only seen the movie once thus far, so many things aren't yet where I can talk about them - this is just my knee jerk (ok, after I've slept knee-jerk) reaction.
Joss Whedon has always been damn good. In this movie, he's gone beyond that. It was an ecstatic movie in that it is capable of wrapping you up and letting you forget the reality around you (even if they're people you know around you). It was also cathartic all across the map.
I. Have. Never. Cried. So. Damn. Hard. At. A. Movie. In. My. Life.
I laughed at the same time, and felt awful about it, but Joss doesn't give you a choice in the matter. You're going to feel and experience exactly what he wants you to feel and experience whether you want to or not. Period.
The visuals and movie-making style are frankly stunning. Common thought would lead you to assume that a movie would be "slicker" than a tv show, but Joss uses that budget to make it gritty and hard-edged. He also blatantly thumbs his nose at Fox (IMO) and makes the characters everything he's ever wanted them to be. Frank and dirty, raunchy and violent, down to earth and unyeilding. Flawed (oh gods are they flawed) and anti-heroes rather than "heroes". The soundtrack is fabulous, although I mourned the loss of the title-theme. It wouldn't have fit into the story progression, and I get that, but it was definately missed.
I can't stop hurting for Zoe.
They fixed River - but they didn't "fix" her... she's still just plain weird (LOVE!) and a little creepy in a good way (how wonderful was the shot of her peering curiously down into the cabin where Kaylee and Simon were at the end?)... and the fixing made sense. It'll still give her nightmares, I'm sure - she's still WAY too blown open/sensitive to be normal - but she *knows* what the images are now. She knows what it was, what happened, and who's memories and feelings she was dealing with. (It's very likely she got a quite garbled view of nightmarish fear from the "key member" of the Alliance she gleaned it from, with echoes of the scientist's own emotions.) So now she can start to understand and to heal.
Loved "little albatross".
I don't think that this movie could have been done/doable if there hadn't already been a cast familiar with the characters and dedicated to them. The movie couldn't exist w/o the show behind it, and it is my dearest hope that more and more people will rediscover the show now.
I'm sure I'll have more when I'm not a wrung-out, exhausted mess of a maenad/fangirl.
Notes:
The point of theatre in Dionysian worship is ecstasy and catharsis.
From dictionary.com:
Ecstasy:
1. The state of being beside one's self or rapt out of one's self; a state in which the mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, as when under the influence of overpowering emotion; an extraordinary elevation of the spirit, as when the soul, unconscious of sensible objects, is supposed to contemplate heavenly mysteries.
2. Excessive and overmastering joy or enthusiasm; rapture; enthusiastic delight.
3. Violent distraction of mind; violent emotion; excessive grief of anxiety; insanity; madness. [Obs.]
4. (Med.) A state which consists in total suspension of sensibility, of voluntary motion, and largely of mental power. The body is erect and inflexible; the pulsation and breathing are not affected. --Mayne.
Catharsis:
1. A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.
2. A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
Psychology.
3. A technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness.
The therapeutic result of this process; abreaction.
(within the movie there's a lovely example of catharsis when River views the "miranda" recording for the first time, feels along with the scientist, and then proceeds to throw up rather violently. After which, she states, and then realizes that she's alright. As in really and truly.)
Dionysus is one of my patron gods, you see. Theatre was created for his worship. So, it's no surprise that I see shows/movies as somewhat religious experiences. Not all, of course, but many. And anything by Joss Whedon by it's very nature has to be put in a category above and beyond brain-candy. Plus, I'm a fan of Firefly. And this is a huge accomplishment for genre fandom as well - "failed" genre show getting enough press/support to be made into a major motion picture? With nationwide release by a major studio? Yeah. Big Damn Deal.
I've only seen the movie once thus far, so many things aren't yet where I can talk about them - this is just my knee jerk (ok, after I've slept knee-jerk) reaction.
Joss Whedon has always been damn good. In this movie, he's gone beyond that. It was an ecstatic movie in that it is capable of wrapping you up and letting you forget the reality around you (even if they're people you know around you). It was also cathartic all across the map.
I. Have. Never. Cried. So. Damn. Hard. At. A. Movie. In. My. Life.
I laughed at the same time, and felt awful about it, but Joss doesn't give you a choice in the matter. You're going to feel and experience exactly what he wants you to feel and experience whether you want to or not. Period.
The visuals and movie-making style are frankly stunning. Common thought would lead you to assume that a movie would be "slicker" than a tv show, but Joss uses that budget to make it gritty and hard-edged. He also blatantly thumbs his nose at Fox (IMO) and makes the characters everything he's ever wanted them to be. Frank and dirty, raunchy and violent, down to earth and unyeilding. Flawed (oh gods are they flawed) and anti-heroes rather than "heroes". The soundtrack is fabulous, although I mourned the loss of the title-theme. It wouldn't have fit into the story progression, and I get that, but it was definately missed.
I can't stop hurting for Zoe.
They fixed River - but they didn't "fix" her... she's still just plain weird (LOVE!) and a little creepy in a good way (how wonderful was the shot of her peering curiously down into the cabin where Kaylee and Simon were at the end?)... and the fixing made sense. It'll still give her nightmares, I'm sure - she's still WAY too blown open/sensitive to be normal - but she *knows* what the images are now. She knows what it was, what happened, and who's memories and feelings she was dealing with. (It's very likely she got a quite garbled view of nightmarish fear from the "key member" of the Alliance she gleaned it from, with echoes of the scientist's own emotions.) So now she can start to understand and to heal.
Loved "little albatross".
I don't think that this movie could have been done/doable if there hadn't already been a cast familiar with the characters and dedicated to them. The movie couldn't exist w/o the show behind it, and it is my dearest hope that more and more people will rediscover the show now.
I'm sure I'll have more when I'm not a wrung-out, exhausted mess of a maenad/fangirl.
Notes:
The point of theatre in Dionysian worship is ecstasy and catharsis.
From dictionary.com:
Ecstasy:
1. The state of being beside one's self or rapt out of one's self; a state in which the mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, as when under the influence of overpowering emotion; an extraordinary elevation of the spirit, as when the soul, unconscious of sensible objects, is supposed to contemplate heavenly mysteries.
2. Excessive and overmastering joy or enthusiasm; rapture; enthusiastic delight.
3. Violent distraction of mind; violent emotion; excessive grief of anxiety; insanity; madness. [Obs.]
4. (Med.) A state which consists in total suspension of sensibility, of voluntary motion, and largely of mental power. The body is erect and inflexible; the pulsation and breathing are not affected. --Mayne.
Catharsis:
1. A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.
2. A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
Psychology.
3. A technique used to relieve tension and anxiety by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness.
The therapeutic result of this process; abreaction.
(within the movie there's a lovely example of catharsis when River views the "miranda" recording for the first time, feels along with the scientist, and then proceeds to throw up rather violently. After which, she states, and then realizes that she's alright. As in really and truly.)