Went to my uncles cabin in the woods for a few days to relax, he's got the box set of the show and decided to give it a rewatch, was a pretty big fan in college. Got through like 3 episodes and shut it off.
Yes, Whedon is a creepy and maybe knowing that affecting my judgment, but honestly does feel like I'm noticing things my younger brain didn't. A lot of the dialog seems overwritten, some of the "quirky" shit the characters do comes off more obnoxious than endearing, also the story is giving me weird AnCap vibes. I mean yeah the Alliance clearly is pretty evil but we never get much explanation as to what the Brown Coats political program is, why did they want to succeed? Them being confederate coded sure as shit doesn't help.
Also, it almost leans TOO much into the whole western asethic sometimes, to the point I find it unbelievable. Okay, sure, humanity hastily colonized some planets and now some have regressed into SciFi Deadwood, I can dig that. But like, people on horses with cowboy hats seems a bit too comic for me.
Idk, just some random observations.
Edit: oh yeah and the intro song fucking sucks. That was something I thought even back when I liked the show.
I forget that the term was for the sex worker class in the series, but I remember characters, some of them being friends, calling her names or using her profession as an insult.
And it's like you intentionally made this occupation a supposedly respected class, but then when somebody wants to make a cheap shot, you can use any of the misogyny Whedon finds acceptable.
Tbf, I think Mal constantly insulting her profession is supposed to be a bad character trait of his, and if I recall he does get called out for it later in the show.
In a vacuum maybe it's just a bad trait, but I think in the context of Whedon's treatment of women, I can't chalk it up to just character writing.
Whedon chose to create the setting, the class of sex workers, making one on the main characters a member of that class, and the lead protagonist say the things he says.
I think that those choices make the show age especially poorly.
companion
Thank you!!