Blog 22 - "Bushwhacked" Scene

Firefly is a television series that takes place in the year 2517. In this new society only two superpowers exist, which is United States and China, they have united to form the central government called the Alliance, which prompted a merging of the two cultures. Joss Whedon focuses this show on a cast of nine characters that each has their own unique story. Mostly looking into the life of Captain Malcolm Reynolds, who was a sergeant that fought against the Alliance in a civil war that resulted in the Alliance defeating the Browncoats, the rebellion, in a bloodbath war. Six years later, Captain Reynolds or Mal, continues his life taking jobs for money on the edges of society.  Mal and his crew discovered an abandoned ship that had people killed by Reavers in it. Mal noticed that the abandoned ship possessed some valuable cargo, Mal decided to take some of the cargo and leave. Later finding out that there remained an only survivor. He then brought the only survivor to the infirmary for medical attention. Serenity was taken in by the Alliance for a government check for any evidence of illegal goods or activities in the vessel. Mal decided to put all the illegal goods in plane sight in order to avoid the Alliance to be suspicious of them carrying the two fugitives, Simon and River. This is because a Firefly-model spaceship was reported in the first episode of stealing goods from an abandoned spaceship (which was actually Serenity). In the meantime, the Alliance has been looking for two fugitives (Simon and River) that could be possibly hiding in Serenity. Instead of the captain turning in the two fugitives to the Alliance as bargaining chips so that the Serenity could escape freely, the captain decided on hiding the sibling fugitives. Simon and River were suited up and hid outside the ship from any Alliance members. The crew was later interrogated about any information about Simon and River but they lied about harboring fugitives because especially Mal knew this was a morally right thing to do.

Blog 21 - Fifth Integrated Quote: “On the Arab Street, Rage Is Contagious.”

Revolutions are often very infectious to surrounding or similar countries. The Tunisian Jasmine Revolution has sparked a series of revolutions throughout the Arab world including Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and other Arab countries. These revolutions all started with a Tunisian street vendor who self-immolated himself, which inspired many people to rebel against political corruptions. This event influenced Egyptians to post on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. People shared stories of their experience with country's political oppression and later, with help with Google Executives, organized peaceful protests against their government corruption. In response the government blocked any access to Facebook and Twitter but it was too late because the outraged protesters were already marching down the streets of Cairo. Different than usual, the police's initial reaction permitted the crowd to go down to the capital and express their wrath. As thousands congregated in Liberation Square, the heart of downtown Cairo, police started becoming anxious and impatient. The police would beat their shields to show they mean business and proceed to move in with their batons. Eventually, tear-gas shells were used and protestors retreated but then was later reinforced by hundreds of protesters pouring into the square from side streets and bridges. The protesters would yell chants and at one moment the Arab protesters threw tear-gas back at police. A young teenager with gas-induced tears going down his face explained that not every protester is afraid of standing up for change. “There were plenty of frightened people in the presidential palaces of the Arab world.” (Hauslohner, Paragraph 14) Rather than protestors being fearful, corrupt governments throughout the Arab world should be scared of this contagious outcry for justice because this revolt is not over yet.

Blog 20 – Forth Integrated Quote: “Un-American Revolutions.”

Americans always support revolutions of any kind, no matter what the circumstances. We are biased because our own country was founded on a revolution. The concept of revolutions is positive but the general notion of supporting all revolutions could have negative results. Americans cheer on revolutions but then become silent when those revolutions start to have negative consequences, such as death tolls of not just our own people but many others as well. In our world’s history, there are plenty of revolutions that have had extremely negative outcomes. As you have seen in television, the most current revolutions are taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa. So as we watch these revolutions take place in the Arab world we must remember a couple of things about non-American revolutions. First, they can take many years to develop. Secondly, the violence level is very high because the rebellion is attacking the ruling party so in return the existing political order becomes self-motivated and eventually retaliates. Thirdly, surrounding countries usually intervene either because the revolution is threatened by foreigners or because it is accustomed of revolutionaries to blame an external threat for domestic problems such as China get involved in the Korean War. People may question if that was the same for the American Revolution, the answer is not quite. The majority of our revolution occurred within a five-year time span but the level of violence and death toll is nowhere near non-American revolutions. The American Revolution inspired the French Revolution and in the French Revolution twenty times as many Frenchmen were killed than Americans during the American Revolution. "The people who made the American Revolution were, by 18th-century standards, exceptionally well off and well educated." (Ferguson, Paragraph 10) This is a major reason why there is a great chance of a higher protracted violence in today's Arab world than in the 1770s in North America. As the revolutions continue in the Arab world, they could soon become more violent reaching the death toll in tens or hundreds of thousands and then potentially a full-scale war, which could reach in the millions of deaths. If a death toll in the millions is not already disadvantageous, this bloodbath of a war could end with another tyrant surfacing.

Blog 19 – Third Integrated Quote: “Beyond Oppression.”

According to Rauch, the definition for "oppression" has been wrongfully used, that it is a word that defines every political designation used for any minority who feels unequal. In order to declare a population being oppressed we must understand and defined it. Political oppression consists of five main items: direct legal or governmental discrimination, denial of political franchise (right to vote, organize, speak or lobby), systematic denial of education, impoverishment relative to the non-oppressed population and a pattern of human rights violations. "Homosexuals are objects of scorn for teenagers and of sympathy or moral fear or hatred for adults." (Rauch, Paragraph 3) Even though minorities may feel that certain issues are not unfair, they are not living under oppression. We can validate this statement by analyzing the lives of homosexuals to the five criterions. Meeting one or two of these criterions maybe because of reasons other than oppression. First criterion, direct legal or governmental discrimination, homosexuals do in fact experience this criterion. Homosexual relations are illegal in twenty-three state, gay marriage is not legally recognized anywhere and gay people are persecuted by the military. Second criterion, gay people can vote but also their votes really count, Bill Clinton supposedly put his candidacy on the line to win over the gay votes by discussing his view of the military issue during the primary season and has been declare one of the most bravest things a living politician has done. Third criterion, denial of education, is definitely not met. Results from random sample surveys, found out that homosexuals had an average of 15.7 years of education compared to the 12.7 years of education of our country as a whole. The fourth criterion, relative impoverishment, also is not met. In Overlooked Opinions' sample an average gay men household income is 51,624 dollars, lesbians with 42,755 dollars compared with to the national average income of 36,800 dollars. the fifth criterion, human rights violations, is definitely not met. Since 1965 America's homicide rate has doubled and more than tripled for juvenile violet crime arrest rates. People who kill do it for either money objects or just because they can do it, hates crimes against gay people are just a small issue under a bigger picture. In fact gay people are on average sage due to their social class compared to other urban minorities such as blacks. Black males, in Los Angeles or Chicago, have a better chance to be killed than a United States soldier who was in a tour of duty in Vietnam. To say homosexuals are oppressed implies that you suffer if your gay, which makes homosexual pitiable. For that reasons gays should get rid of that notion because it is obviously not true.

Blog 18 – Second Integrated Quote: “Rage, Rap And Revolution”

The Arab youth are driven young protesters who have ignited revolutions throughout the Arab world. They want change and they want it now. These young people are on a journey to get rid of political oppression throughout the Arab world. Despite the lack of campaign for change from their parents, the Arab youth has empowered themselves for a democratic transformation. The young generation has dismissed the idea that they need foreign assistance or outside inspiration with achieving revolutionary change, they are just simply “doing it for themselves”(Ghosh, Paragraph 20). The youth wants democratic modification but they do not have a clear vision of what kind of democracy they exactly want. The biggest fundamental transformation that the youth wants is free Libya to have free and fair elections. “ ‘I don't care who ends up running this country,' says Egyptian student Khaled Kamel, 'as long as I have the ability to change them if I don't like them.' "(Ghosh, Paragraph 10) The youth feels that having the power to kick out a leader every couple years is power in their hands that they can have over the government. With this power, the Libyans can always check the power of the government whenever their government is being unjust. The young Arab people have sparked change in Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain and have sparked revolutions in Libya with many Arab countries on the way. The Arab youth have accomplished rather greatly over the recent time span but they are certainly not finished yet.

Blog 17 – First Integrated Quote: “Gaddafi’s Last Stand”

Ghosh explains the oppression that Gaddafi has had on the Libyans for many years so that we can understand the state of the Libyan people in order to better understand the circumstance they have been for years and why this sparked this revolution. Some of the hardships that the Libyans face are police brutality and the current economic state of the Libyan people.  This article mentions different actions Muammar Gaddafi has done throughout his dictatorship. Some are being responsible for funding terrorist attacks and oppressing his people. The general theme of the article is that Libyans are through with Gaddafi hence the title “Gaddafi’s Last Stand.” The title also tells us that Gaddafi is not willing to give up power so he will fight to the end. In one of his speeches, Gaddafi said “I am a warrior, I am not going to leave this land, and I will die here as a martyr.” (Ghosh, Paragraph 8)

 

Libya has one of the world’s largest oil deposits but the riches do not circulate throughout the country. Money flow in Libya only takes place among a very small population, which only include the wealthiest people. “Relatively litte was spent on his people: a Gallup poll released last year showed that 29% of young Libyans were unemployed and 93% described their condition as ‘struggling’ or ‘suffering’.” (Ghosh, Paragraph 10).  Due to the lack of money flow, almost one third of Libya’s young were unemployed last year and over ninety percent of them described themselves as in misery.

Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Gaddafi's Last Stand." Time 177.9 (2011): 24-29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Blog 15 - Fifth Source: “Nonviolent Resistance and Violent Response: Dual Conditions Necessary in Overcoming Oppression.”

This article analyzes the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance in order to achieve their goal of getting rid of oppression. This article uses examples such as Mohandas Gandi and Martin Luther King Jr. to illustrate that nonviolence is in fact the most effective way of protesting oppression. The author argues that, literature fails to tell under what conditions will nonviolent resistance be effective. Depending on whether the oppressed group is nonviolent or retributive the group, the ruling group will be either moderate or violent. Yeates explains that only a peaceful agreement between oppressed group and a ruling group is that the oppressed group is nonviolent and the ruling group is moderate.

 

This relates to my paper because my real world connection is the Libyan revolution against Muammar Gaddafi. At first the Libyan people protested with nonviolence but the ruling group, Muammar Gaddafi, decided to respond with violence. Gaddafi ordered fighter jets and tanks to kill his own people. Instead of responding to the nonviolent oppressed group with a moderate way in order to reach a peaceful agreement, he decided to attack his people thinking that he can continue to oppress them. In this condition it seems that nonviolent revolution is not the most effective approach that maybe even a violent retaliation is necessary to end Gaddafi’s dictatorship. In one of my earlier sources (“Gaddafi’s Last Stand.”) Gaddafi even quoted that he will fight to the end and die as a martyr, he wants it his way or no way. This article helps analyzes the situation in Firefly that the ruling group, Alliance, is not open or moderate but more like Gaddafi and not willing to give up power. In result, it might be effective for the people who are against the Alliance to react with violence in the movie Serenity.

 

 

 

Yeates, Owen. "Nonviolent Resistance and Violent Response: Dual Conditions Necessary in Overcoming Oppression." Conference Papers -- American Political Science Association (2003): 1-24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 Apr. 2011.

Blog 14 - Forth Source: “Un-American Revolutions.”

My forth source is about revolutions and that caution that should be in place when staging one, like the recent Libyan revolution. Ferguson discusses that in the view of United State citizens’ political revolution are extremely encouraged, mostly because our nation was founded by a revolution. Ferguson explains that no matter the difference of the situations such as the disastrous outcomes we Americans still tend to side with revolutions. In this article Ferguson says, “Time and again, Americans have hailed revolutions, only to fall strangely silent as those same revolutions proceed to devour not only their own children by many other people’s too.” Proving a point that revolutions can have catastrophic outcomes, which means a potential death count of thousands or even millions of people.

This article and my paper share a common theme that people should pursue moral justice through revolutions against the political oppressing government. The article furthers this theme into revolutions and how they can be very dangerous because of the death toll is usually high in revolutions.  In the series Firefly, the Browncoats are fighting against the political oppressing Alliance but end up losing. In this war the Browncoats were massacred and left hopeless of moral justice. Even though the Alliance has great control over the people in Firefly, Mal decides to keep on fighting for moral justice but in a non-physical way (by hiding two fugitives that true did nothing wrong to deserve that title.)  Even with the war being over, Mal is still fighting for what is morally right.

Ferguson, Niall. "UN-AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS." Newsweek 157.10 (2011): 2-3. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Blog 13 - Third Source: “Rage, Rap And Revolution”

My third article is about the role young people had in the political movements of the Middle East. The article quotes a science professor at Cairo University, Hassan Nafaa, that gave the name “Miracle generation” to the young protesters for doing more in weeks time than their parents have done in years against Mubarak’s political dictatorship. Nafaa honestly admitted that would not ever believe that his students would be accountable for the recent democratic change in Egypt. Furthermore, a college student named Kamel, describes his experience with Egyptian police when he accidently fell of a train onto the station’s platform, lying there an Egyptian police came and hit him because he is not suppose to be doing that. Kamel then creates a blog and posted about this event of police brutality. This article also talks about a Google executive, Wael Ghonim, who is responsible for helping organize protests throughout Egypt. Ghonim created a Facebook paged called ‘We Are All Khaled Said”, Khaled Said was a young businessman that was a victim of police brutality; he was beaten to death by the Egyptian police. Kamel later joined and became one of the Facebook page’s lead organizers. Ghonim became the face of the revolution in Egypt by using this Facebook page to organize protests all through Egypt. Kamel and many others also helped organized protests in Egypt that sparked a revolution that would in result overthrow their evil dictator.

 

This article relates to my paper because in the television series Firefly Mal hides the two fugitives from the Alliance, maybe this act is the beginning to something bigger like a revolution in the later episodes or even in the movie Serenity?

 

 

Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Rage, Rap And Revolution. (Cover story)." Time 177.8 (2011): 32-37. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Blog 12 - Second Source: “Beyond Oppression.”

This article is about the life of gay people in the United States. In the beginning, Rauch discusses two stories about discrimination of gay people. The first story is about Glenn Cashmore who was walking to his car in a neighborhood known for having a lot of gay people when someone shouted “Hey, Faggot!” and shot him with a pellet gun. The second story was about a teenager heading down a street with two other teenagers when two men called them “faggots.” And proceeded to hurt the three teenagers. One of the teenager boys escaped, another’s face was brutally attacked and the last teenager, John Wear, was stabbed and later died. John Wear’s family said he was not gay but still was killed for thinking he was. The article continues to discus the discrimination and hatred that gay people suffer through but makes an argument that they are not oppressed. Rauch explains that even though gay people’s lives are not easy nor perfect in the United States that there lives are not too bad. One of his evidence is that gay men on average make about a household income of $51,624 and lesbians averaging $42,755 in comparison to the national average which is $36,800. According to this article, gay are not being politically oppressed but there is still existence of gay discrimination.

This article relates to my paper because political oppression and discrimination are still forms of moral injustices that occur in both in Firefly and the real world. In Firefly, the government is definitely repressing the people from any radical changes or rebellions such as the war previously against the Browncoats. So with political oppression and discrimination people still must stand up for moral justice.

Rauch, Jonathan. "BEYOND OPPRESSION." New Republic 208.19 (1993): 18-23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Blog 11 - First Source: “Gaddafi’s Last Stand”

My first secondary source article is about the current revolution that is taking place in Libya. As the title suggests, this research article focuses on Gaddafi’s history of wrongdoings, the current state of Libya and Gaddafi’s determination to stay in power. According to Ghosh, Gaddafi has funded terrorist groups and civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa. A common theme of this article is that the Libyans are through with Gaddafi and want him out of power with him having any say in the matter. In reaction, Gaddafi is putting up a fight until the end, he even said “I am a warrior, I am not going to leave this land, an I will die here as a martyr.” Gaddafi has already sent off tanks and fighter jets against the protests and having foreign forces attack as well. The article’s argument is that Gaddafi is not willing to give up on his position of power, so the only way to remove him from power is my making him.

 

The Libyan Revolution can relate to the television series Firefly, they both have in common that the Alliance or Gaddafi, both corrupt, will continue to fight until they have their way. Also that both the Alliance and Gaddafi have immoral laws and commit immoral actions even though its regarded as legal since they are the government. In Firefly, maybe there will be some type of revolution or even a small rebellion against the Alliance or that the Browncoats reunite and begin another war against the Alliance.

 

 

Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Gaddafi's Last Stand." Time 177.9 (2011): 24-29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Blog 10: 5 Sources

I want to research about political oppression and how the people react to it. A common theme throughout the entire Firefly series is moral justice. The main characters such as Mal stand up against the government to fight for what is right even though the government deems that to be illegal. Since my real world example is about the recent Libyan revolution, I want to focus on what has been done in the past they can help aid people in standing up for the government for the future. A great real world example is another recent revolution in Egypt; maybe there is something the Egyptian protesters were able to accomplish that the Libyans could take advantage of. Another great example is the struggle for equality among black people in our nation’s history, there several examples of how successfully blacks and African-Americans fought for their rights. I also want my research to do is to provide current examples of any indicated of political oppressions in the United States. Depending on your opinion, some say gays in the United States do not have the same rights as the rest of US Citizens. This might be a current example of political oppression that still exists. Another example could be Women’s rights, not as strongly decades ago but some say women are still not treated equally. For example, on average women make much less than men even if they have the same job. Through reading the five scholarly articles below, hopefully I will be able to find adequate quantity and quality amount of information. 

Rauch, Jonathan. "BEYOND OPPRESSION." New Republic 208.19 (1993): 18-23. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Gaddafi's Last Stand." Time 177.9 (2011): 24-29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Massimo Calabresi, et al. "Rage, Rap And Revolution. (Cover story)." Time 177.8 (2011): 32-37. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Ferguson, Niall. "UN-AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS." Newsweek 157.10 (2011): 2-3. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

Yeates, Owen. "Nonviolent Resistance and Violent Response: Dual Conditions Necessary in Overcoming Oppression." Conference Papers -- American Political Science Association (2003): 1-24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 15 Apr. 2011.

Blog 9: Prospectus

In the third episode of Firefly, “Bushwhacked” I believe that Joss Whedon makes an argument of how modern day people are able to do the right thing even when it is against the law to. In this episode Captain Reynolds’ ship was taken in by the Alliance for a routine check for any illegal goods or activities. The Serenity is a ship used for scavenging abandon goods that are in abandoned ships. Furthermore theSerenity was carrying two extremely wanted Alliance fugitives. Instead of the captain turning in the two fugitives to the Alliance so that the Serenity could escape freely, the captain decided on hiding the sibling fugitives. The captains thought process was that it was morally right even though it was lawfully wrong. In my opinion, I think that Joss Whedon placed this message in this episode purposely. A great current example is the Libyan revolution. Even though under Muammar Gaddafi’s rule Libyans are not allowed to rebel against him, the Libyan people continues to fight back because of the several decades of torture that he has inflicted on his own people. In this situation, the Libyans are morally right and obligated to stage revolution in order to get rid of an unjust Libyan government. Breaking the law is very looked down upon; it can be necessary in some situations to reach a moral right. In this case, committing an illegal activity should be encouraged if it is necessary to attain a moral right that should have been in place anyways.

Blog 8 – “High School Is Hell”

High School Is Hell” is an article that analyzes how the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a horror-genre, is easily relatable to the real world, especially issues of modern teenagers. Tracy Little argues that with the use of metaphors each episode can represent a relevant theme to modern teenagers such as low self-esteem, teenage lust and heartbreak and giving into peer pressure. These metaphors of high school life are what Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about. Little goes on and analyzes the classic monsters in horrors generally represent the same thing like vampires represent social drain of work and age, werewolves represent the beast within ourselves and zombies can represent the fear of losing one’s mental faculties.

 

Little spoke about how these metaphors with monsters can at some level be very real. Especially when she mentioned that Zombie myths in Haiti could possibly be related to the use of powdered blowfish, which slowed the process of the central nervous system so that someone could appear dead but then comeback to life as a Zombie.  

 

Little continues her argument about how these metaphors can communicate themes on a deeper level with viewers that a straightforward language could not. Joining common references with new situations. With this approach, watching BtVS can connect to viewers in so many different ways and on a deeper level. The show emphasizes that the characters care more about not having a date for prom, reputation or getting a spot on the cheerleading team than imminent danger of demons and other forces of evil attacking. While fighting evil forces, Buffy struggles even more with self-identity, self-esteem and finding a new peer group at her new high school. As the title says, high school is hell because of what Buffy must deal with as teenager in high school trumps fighting monsters and demons.

Blog 7 - Firefly: "Our Mrs. Reynolds"

Today I watched the sixth episode of the Firefly series, like every episode of Firefly, this episode was about a job Jayne, Mal and Zoe were successful in defeating the bandits who where trying to steal their cargo. Due to a job well done, it was decided to have a party. After this Serenity is off for the next job. Eventually Mal discovers a young woman who tells him that she is his wife, Saffron. Mal does not believe it but Shepherd Book goes on and informs Mal that he participated in the local marriage rituals of dancing and accepting her gifts not knowingly he was getting married. Later on in the episode, Saffron is exposed as a danger to the ship. First she seduces Mal and knocks him out by kissing him with a narcotic lipstick. Then she tries to seduce Wash but fails to so she results to kicking him in the head, knocking Wash out cold. Saffron reprograms the ship to reach a certain destination; she then proceeds to one of the shuttles to escape but ends up being confronted by Inara. In order to get onto a shuttle Saffron seduces Inara as well but that fails when the alarm goes off. Inara later finds Mal unconscious on the floor and decides to kiss him and also falls to the ground due to the narcotic lipstick. At the end of this episode Mal does not think Inara just got dizzy when she saw him on the ground, that she was kissed but from Saffron.

 

This episode reveals some feelings between Mal and Inara. At the end of this episode Inara thinks that Mal knows about her kissing him because they were both knocked out because of the narcotic lipstick. Mal believes Inara’s claims are just foolish that she just feel Inara saw him on the ground so he came to the conclusion that Inara fell for Saffron’s seduction not her actually kissing him when she thought he was dead. This act alone shows that there are some feelings that at least Inara has for Mal. I predict that later on in the series that this will be observed more.

Blog 6 - Firefly: "Safe"

Today I watched the fifth episode of the Firefly series. This episode symbolizes the theme of family because when Mal and the crew must leave Jiangyin, in order to reach medical attention for Book’s bullet wound, they are forced to leave the kidnapped Simon and River temporarily on Jiangyin. Simon and River were taken to a community that had not doctor and with Simon’s help he can help heal the locals. The locals find out about River’s almost psychic abilities and declared her a witch and ordered to be burned to death. Simon tried to explain that River is not a witch but they continue to burn River. Simon finally offered to give up his own life so he could die with his sister. Right before burning Simon and River, Mal and his crew came to the rescue and saved them both. Near the end of this episode Simon questions Mal’s decision to comeback and rescue Simon and River even though they were inconveniences to him at first. Mal explained that he is a part of his crew. Simon says, “But you don’t even like me, why’d you do it?” Mal replies, “You’re on my crew, why are we still talking about this?” At the end of the end of the episode they all enjoy a dinner together. As you can see, Mal’s decision to comeback for Simon and River was due to his moral belief of having each other’s backs in his crew and that they are almost like a family.

 

Blog 5 - Firefly: "Shindig"

In the forth episode of Firefly, “Shindig”, Inara has a regular client in Persephone where she is attending a ball. Mal and Kaylee also happen to be attending the same ball to but for a different purpose. Mal is looking for Sir Warrick Harrow about a job and Kaylee is just there enjoying the ball. Inara, Atherton (the client), Mal and Kaylee eventually run into each other at the ball. Mal takes Inara to the dance floor and voices his opinion about Atherton. Atherton interrupts their dance and insults Inara. So Mal stands up for Inara and punches Atherton, which not knowingly entered himself into a sword-fighting duel. Mal has no experience with sword fighting and Atherton is an experienced sword fighter. Mal practices through the night in his locked room when Inara comes to help him escape but Mal decides to stay and fight because Atherton has no respect for Inara. Afterwards Inara instead helps him practice for the duel the next day. In the duel an overarching theme is continuing to be represented in theFirefly series, which is Mal’s true self of being morally just with his actions. In this episode Mal is in a duel against a much-experienced Atherton, the loser dies. Mal takes advantage of Atherton being distracted by Inara but punching him and taking to the ground. With sword in hand, Sir Warrick Harrow demands Mal to finish Atherton off but Mal decides to be merciful and spare Atherton’s life. The episode ends with Sir Warrick giving Mal the job to transport cattle.

 

Blog 4 - Firefly: "Bushwhacked"

Today I continued the Firefly series and watched the third episode called “Bushwhacked”. In this episode I believe it reveals a lot about Mal’s personal morals and beliefs. Mal and his crew discovered an abandoned ship that had people killed by Reavers in it. Mal noticed that the abandoned ship possessed some valuable cargo, Mal decided to take some of the cargo and leave. Later finding out that there remained an only survivor. He then brought the only survivor to the infirmary for medical attention. Serenity was taken in by the Alliance for a government check for any evidence of illegal goods or activities in the vessel. Mal decided to put all the illegal goods in plane sight in order to avoid the Alliance to be suspicious of them carrying the two fugitives, Simon and River. This is because a Firefly-model spaceship was reported in the first episode of stealing goods from an abandoned spaceship (which was actually Serenity). In the meantime, the Alliance has been looking for two fugitives (Simon and River) that could be possibly hiding in Serenity. Instead of the captain turning in the two fugitives to the Alliance as bargaining chips so that the Serenity could escape freely, the captain decided on hiding the sibling fugitives. Simon and River were suited up and hid outside the ship from any Alliance members. The crew was later interrogated about any information about Simon and River but they lied about harboring fugitives because especially Mal knew this was a morally right thing to do.

 

Blog 3 - Firefly: "The Train Job"

Today I watched the second episode of the Firefly series. In this episode the Mal’s crew of take on a job from Adelei Niska, a crime lord. The job is to steal Alliance goods from a moving train. Before they leave for the job Niska shows them a dead body that is hanging from the body’s feet for failing to be able to finish the job. The crew finally created an intelligent plan to transport the goods from the moving train onto Serenity. Despite having Alliance troops on the train (not guarding the Alliance goods), Mal, Zoe and Jayne are able to transport the cargo successfully with only a bullet wound on Jayne’s leg. Mal and Zoe stay on the train with their cover intact, they must wait now to arrive at the train’s destination in order to arrive back on Serenity. At the train’s destination Mal and Zoe learn that the Alliance goods they stole was medicine for these townspeople who have a degenerative disease. Mal and Zoe later arrive on Serenity, tells the crew that they have to return the Alliance goods because the cargo consisted of medicine in order to help the sick townspeople. Mal and Zoe decided to drop off the cargo and then tell the sheriff once they left. While dropping off the cargo the Sheriff caught them in the act but released them when he realized the cargo was not damaged and for both of their courage to do the right thing.

 

Watching this episode I was able to spot a theme about its never too late to do the right thing and in general to do the right thing. Instead of taking the money from Niska and doing the job, Mal knew this was a morally wrong action because he was taking away several people’s right to live with stealing the Alliance goods that consists of a medicine that could help several sick townspeople.

Blog 2 - Firefly: "Serenity"

Tonight I watched the first episode of the Firefly series, “Serenity,” it begins to introduce the main characters of the series especially Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Captain Malcolm Reynolds is war veteran of the war between the Alliance and the Browncoats. The first five minutes of this episode shows Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe, also a war veteran, fighting against the Alliance in the Battle of Serenity Valley. The Browncoats seem to lose hope until Malcolm Reynolds demands them to hold their positions until the recent request of air support comes to take out the Alliance. Later finding out that air support was not coming and was ordered to surrender, the battle was over. The Alliance ended the battle scene with annihilating Serenity Valley with numerous spaceships, a crushing defeat.

A couple of years later, Captain Reynolds or Mal owns his own a firefly model spaceship, which he named Serenity, to transport goods for jobs. Later on in the episode Mal’s crew has recruited new passengers, which are Shepherd Book, Simon Tam and Dobson. Mal later realizes that one person on his spaceship works with the “Feds” picking wrongly of Simon, Mal is then proven wrong that it was actually Dobson who was working with the Alliance. Dobson explained that he just wants to arrest Simon. At first Mal was open to it until Dobson said they could all be found responsible for harboring fugitives. Eventually letting the fugitives stay on Serenity. This first episodes seems to set up the series very well with showing what kind of person Mal is by taking in fugitives even though its illegal.

Blog 1 - Introduction

My sentence is “His passion is to go to med school, become a doctor and then travel the world to help people who need medical attention, specifically in African nations.”

I chose this sentence out of the three descriptions to represent myself because it explains my ambitions and goals, which is a huge part of my identity. Ever since I was very young I have been inspired by my father’s life experiences, which contributed to one of my deepest beliefs of that everyone deserves an equal opportunity in life. Growing up, I began to declare it my responsibility to make the most of my life by giving back to the community and to especially people who are disadvantaged.

Also, I am first generation African-American in my family with Ethiopian descent. Throughout learning about the struggles of African nations through my parents and school, I started gaining an obligation to help impoverished countries by giving disadvantaged people opportunities that would not have been given otherwise. I always remind myself that these goals could be unrealistic, how can myself, one person impact so many people’s lives? I then acknowledge that it is very reasonable and practical for one person to change many lives, in fact my father has already have done that in several ways. For example he helped his family and friends come to America in order to have a chance to make a living and to be able live their lives' in freedom. If my father saved many lives with fewer resources and opportunities than I have, then what is stopping me from doing the same?

My passion to impact people’s lives by giving back has been ingrained in myself throughout my life, which contributes to the biggest characteristic of my personality.