Dragaera

Phy's _Serenity_ Review

Sat Oct 1 18:34:01 PDT 2005

http://phywriter.com/archives/2005/10/01/phys-_serenity_-review/

Me, I' m an idea man.

It's my idea that the world exists in, on, and around ideas.  Our times have 
key ideas.  And, believe it or not, it's not the idea that drives the movie 
_Armageddon_.

Joss has picked up on the subconscious stream of thought that is driving 
us--one that has been driving us for some time now.

It is not about America saving the world.  That only happened cause America 
happened to be the free agent of the world and moved to stop the world's 
first stroke of evil in the new era of post-colonialism, which of course is 
driven by the need to create the perfect world.

This need is a new human need, driven in part, I imagine, by the dawning 
realization that even our subconscious shies away from, that our God, so 
long invulnerable to the pains of life, indeed, the very author of the pains 
of our lives, is gone--and maybe never was here in the first place.

We need a new god to shepherd us through this age of humanity's adolescence, 
where the potentials of human behaviour, and the span of human possibility 
is becoming evident, but where we are still ultimately children with no idea 
about true responsibility.

This movie succeeds because it doesn't talk about anyone saving the world.  
It talks about the responsibility of those who live within it.  How many 
movies have you guys seen lately that talks about moral responsibility on a 
species-wide scale, that isn't just fantasy-driven crap that involves 
anything from nature spirits (that we must somehow champion) to the simple 
story of the errors of our own ways (mistakes that of course disappear under 
the erasing effects of our wonderfull loud and destructive BFGs)...?

Hollywood had better keep paying this man.

Jon