Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Rate this topic


MisterSwig

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Doug Morris said:

For now I think I'll leave Firefly on my back burner.

You really shouldn't.  I think I'm right about the theme of the show, but maybe I'm not; what I can guarantee for certain is that you need to see it.  Maybe start with Serenity (the movie which summarizes what the general plot of the show was meant to be) but it is in your own self-interest to start somewhere with that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Doug Morris said:

The date September 2 comes up repeatedly in Atlas Shrugged.  In the real world such a coincidence of dates would not be worth considering, but it's legitimate as a literary device.

Rand started writing AS on September 2, 1946. I don't suspect her of using numerology. Just self-reference.

The reason I think Chinese numerology might be relevant to Firefly is because the Chinese language and culture are components of the show. The Alliance is really a union of the American and Chinese core planets. So like all the other yin-yanging in the show, Whedon also depicted the West and the East joining together.

16 hours ago, Harrison Danneskjold said:

I'm actually quite curious as to why it got cancelled, though.

Yeah, that's a whole debate on its own. I don't think Fox understood or appreciated the show. The person who cancelled it, Gail Berman, said the show was expensive to produce and wasn't getting good enough ratings. But airing episodes out of sequence and in the "Friday night death slot" didn't help matters. Also, Whedon had to fight Fox over basic story elements. For example, Fox wanted a romance between Mal and Zoe, but Whedon stood firm and insisted that the Zoe-Wash marriage was important. 

Edited by MisterSwig
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, MisterSwig said:

Rand started writing AS on September 2, 1946. I don't suspect her of using numerology. Just self-reference.

She also used May 1st for implementing Direction 10-289. Perhaps this was meant as a subtle hat-tip toward a Mayday distress signal? Again, hardly numerology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This would take checking, but we should at least consider the possibility that Rand picked the date because it fit her timeline. For example: the valley is in session only in high summer; she has to stage the tunnel disaster before that (without the irrelevance of winter travel conditions), and next she has to set up the disappearance of Quentin Daniels that will lead Dagny to the valley; ergo May 1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/31/2021 at 10:02 AM, MisterSwig said:

For example, Fox wanted a romance between Mal and Zoe, but Whedon stood firm and insisted that the Zoe-Wash marriage was important. 

Thank Galt he didn't back down on that!!!  I think it's much better with all the complicated entanglements he chose to put in there than it would've been with one between Mal and Zoe.

 

Also, thank you for letting me know about Big Damn Hero.  Apparently it's one of the ones Audible gives away for free to all members, so I'm about halfway through listening to the audiobook right now and it's definitely almost as good as the show.

It does seem like the Alliance and Mal's fight for freedom is pretty central to that as well, but I'll see if it's worth commenting about once I've actually finished it.

Regardless, though, this is another excellent story and I am grateful that you pointed me towards it.

 

---

 

Also, September Second could also be abbreviated with Roman Numerals as 9/II.  Coincidence???  Ha!

 

PS:

 

Yes, it definitively is coincidence; that's how the vast majority of Numerological claims work.  And since Atlas Shrugged was written (someone please help me specify here) somewhere in the 60's or 70's, the only way for Ayn Rand to have deliberately referenced 9/11 would be if she somehow had access to knowledge from the future.  But if you're ever talking to a Numerologist and want to blow their mind (and/or cause them to shut up) ...

Edited by Harrison Danneskjold
postscript
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/1/2021 at 10:53 PM, Harrison Danneskjold said:

September Second could also be abbreviated with Roman Numerals as 9/II

Wouldn't that be IX/II?

Want to tie correlation into Wonder Woman 1984? Consider extending the capricious connection to  Kristoffer Polaha.

Edited by dream_weaver
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/26/2021 at 2:21 PM, Eiuol said:

 

Maybe, maybe not. Without the context, I would guess that the action scene that you are mentioning has a completely sensible justification, even if surprising. And if there is no justification, it can easily be bad writing - no ulterior motive but definitely failing to account for how a character can fight. If that's true, I would bet that many of the Rock's action sequences were just as ridiculous and overblown. Actually, that might be the point: Fast and the Furious isn't supposed to be remotely realistic and is often wildly exaggerated.

I've seen more bad writing on the face of it than any attempt necessarily to make a political statement by means of bad writing. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...