Concerning the Bossman...
Jun. 27th, 2006 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luciazephyrSomeone asked me, back a few months ago, why the hell I respect Joss Whedon so much. And I think I found my answer.
"That one line from Mal was very important to me because what he's basically saying is that, "if I actually become someone who cares about things, I might become a bigger monster than I am right now", and that's a piece of information that I find vital because when he does care about things, he asks the crew to lay their lives on the line and if you've seen the movie, then you know that some of them do.
And that's the thing I find so fascinating is that the person who believes, like the Operative, is capable of terrible things. A leader is, by nature, something of a monster and Mal has failed to be a leader to this crew, partially because that's one of the things he's tried to put behind himself, that kind of deadly conviction. So when he says "you'll see something new" and we do, we're all cheering for him, we all- this is what we wanted, but at the same time, be careful what you want, because it's never that simple and if there's anything I've ever tried to convey, it's that nothing is simple.
One of the things that I did with this movie, always, was try and hide the intent of everything I did, and that is to say that I didn't want the evil empire with Darth Vader. The Alliance is, largely, a benevolent force, it's just out of its depth in these tiny planets with their own cultures- it doesn't know how to control and shouldn't be trying. And the Operative does actually work for good, he doesn't go on over to the dark side and he doesn't wear all black- at least not at the beginning- so, um.
It's the same in the music, trying to hide, not trying to make it sound bombastic and manipulative, but at the same time hitting everything, and with the cinematography- making it all look beautiful without making it look lit. Making everything bigger than life while pretending that it's actual size and only really towards the end of the movie actually admitting that we're in a movie.
This is the mandate that I worked with and it's a very, very fine line to walk and made everybody's job really hard and I don't really think anybody liked me by the end of this. And that includes me. I don't think I'll be working with myself again. We didn't get along."
-Joss Whedon, on Mal, leadership, his mission, and how he portrayed it.
A man who can do that, and shows me that he's doing it- that is why I love the man. He's the reason I want to go into film because, my god, look at what you can do with it!
This is mostly for me, btw. I just wanted to get that out there. I like having justification for my obsessions, but that's another post altogether.
-Luce
PS: I considered bold-fonting the parts that impressed me the most but... um... that'd be the whole shebang, so I didn't. Just sayin'.
"That one line from Mal was very important to me because what he's basically saying is that, "if I actually become someone who cares about things, I might become a bigger monster than I am right now", and that's a piece of information that I find vital because when he does care about things, he asks the crew to lay their lives on the line and if you've seen the movie, then you know that some of them do.
And that's the thing I find so fascinating is that the person who believes, like the Operative, is capable of terrible things. A leader is, by nature, something of a monster and Mal has failed to be a leader to this crew, partially because that's one of the things he's tried to put behind himself, that kind of deadly conviction. So when he says "you'll see something new" and we do, we're all cheering for him, we all- this is what we wanted, but at the same time, be careful what you want, because it's never that simple and if there's anything I've ever tried to convey, it's that nothing is simple.
One of the things that I did with this movie, always, was try and hide the intent of everything I did, and that is to say that I didn't want the evil empire with Darth Vader. The Alliance is, largely, a benevolent force, it's just out of its depth in these tiny planets with their own cultures- it doesn't know how to control and shouldn't be trying. And the Operative does actually work for good, he doesn't go on over to the dark side and he doesn't wear all black- at least not at the beginning- so, um.
It's the same in the music, trying to hide, not trying to make it sound bombastic and manipulative, but at the same time hitting everything, and with the cinematography- making it all look beautiful without making it look lit. Making everything bigger than life while pretending that it's actual size and only really towards the end of the movie actually admitting that we're in a movie.
This is the mandate that I worked with and it's a very, very fine line to walk and made everybody's job really hard and I don't really think anybody liked me by the end of this. And that includes me. I don't think I'll be working with myself again. We didn't get along."
-Joss Whedon, on Mal, leadership, his mission, and how he portrayed it.
A man who can do that, and shows me that he's doing it- that is why I love the man. He's the reason I want to go into film because, my god, look at what you can do with it!
This is mostly for me, btw. I just wanted to get that out there. I like having justification for my obsessions, but that's another post altogether.
-Luce
PS: I considered bold-fonting the parts that impressed me the most but... um... that'd be the whole shebang, so I didn't. Just sayin'.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 07:21 am (UTC)I wish they'd let him loose more often and trust that the audience will "get it". Honest, we will! (Even my Husband got into Firefly and Seerenity and that is saying something!)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 10:09 pm (UTC)*is pathetic geek*