Firefly 12/13/02

[Chun-tzu]

I wish River's particular brand of crazy made a little more logical sense to me, but that might make it less appealing.

River seems to be an autistic savant. Autism is a disorder (thought to be biological) in which the individual has a severely impaired ability to relate to other people. It's extremely difficult to tell what's going on in an autistic person's mind. A savant is someone with an amazing talent that is beyond normal people, like being a human calculator or having an amazing gift for music. In River's case, this gift seems to be a limited kind of telepathy.

If you're really interested in this kind of thing, you should watch "Rain Man," starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

 

[Suldulin]

frell! I forgot it was on

 

[Oogar]

River seems to be an autistic savant. Autism is a disorder (thought to be biological) in which the individual has a severely impaired ability to relate to other people. It's extremely difficult to tell what's going on in an autistic person's mind. A savant is someone with an amazing talent that is beyond normal people, like being a human calculator or having an amazing gift for music. In River's case, this gift seems to be a limited kind of telepathy.

If you're really interested in this kind of thing, you should watch "Rain Man," starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

*giggle*

I actually work in a house as a caregiver for 4 autistic individuals. None of them are savants (though I have worked with one or two minor savants in the past). I know how the four I work with (all of which have a functional capacity which is greatly limited) interact with the world, and with other people --- poorly in most cases. The autistic individuals which I work with are very rigid, with symptoms of O.C.D. Dispite this, after working with an individual suffering from these symptoms, one can often see and learn the patterns which will facilitate the greatest ease in providing a comfortable living environment and daily routine.

In River's case, we can gather that her, Induced and hightened, savant abilities came at quite a cost. Unlike a "normal" autistic individual (with which she shares many symptoms) there seem to be halucanigenic episodes, as well as many behaviors which seem more Bi-Polar. Hence my comment that I wish her "crazyness" was a little more logical. Although River does have a few Autistic qualities, she understands people and their motivations far more then anyone suffering from severe autism would. At least, by the definition of severe autism which I have studied, she seems more capable of relating to people then I would normaly atribute with such a diagnosis.


In Joss we Trust (my mantra durring the first year of college on BtVS).

 

[Chun-tzu]

Unlike a "normal" autistic individual (with which she shares many symptoms) there seem to be halucanigenic episodes, as well as many behaviors which seem more Bi-Polar. Hence my comment that I wish her "crazyness" was a little more logical. Although River does have a few Autistic qualities, she understands people and their motivations far more then anyone suffering from severe autism would. At least, by the definition of severe autism which I have studied, she seems more capable of relating to people then I would normaly atribute with such a diagnosis.

A few years ago, I applied for a PT job working with an autistic kid, as part of a team. I didn't get the job >sigh<.

Yeah, I'd agree that River's not a typical autistic individual (and she may not even meet all the criteria for it). I don't know about bipolar, though. Whatever River's thing is, any mood shifts seem to be secondary to her main problems. You could argue that she's schizophrenic, since she's so out of touch with reality. But again, she's missing some of the classic symptoms of schizophrenia, i.e. paranoia and hearing voices.

But there's a theory that people with schizophrenia are constantly flooded with sensory stimuli that they can't filter, they get it all at once, and in the recent hospital episode, they alluded that something similar is happening with River. If River really is telepathic, it must be ten times worse, being flooded with the thoughts and emotions of other people. But as far as we know, this doesn't happen all the time; she just catches glimpses into the minds of others.

I don't know that Joss and Tim were modelling any particular disorder with River. But that doesn't really matter, since craziness comes in many, many different shapes.

 

[Henry]

A *BUMP* for the poster who couldn't find it earlier.

Personally, I was half-believing River had actually melded into the ship, for a minute there. It was insane enough to have been true.

My favorite line was delivered by Gina Torres, though:

Wash: "That's like something out of science fiction! It's ridiculous."
Zoe: "We live on a starship, dear."

 

[Pielorinho]

Everyone seemed to like that line except me, Henry. To me, it rang as false as:

Henry: That's like something out of science fiction! It's ridiculous.
Me: We're communicating over the Net, mate.

Things that surround us, I mean, don't look like science fiction: they look like the mundane, everyday world. Spaceships shouldn't look like science fiction to a spaceship crew, any more than the Internet looks like scifi to you and me. It broke the fourth wall.

That said, it was pretty damn funny.

daniel

 

[DanMcS]

Things that surround us, I mean, don't look like science fiction: they look like the mundane, everyday world. Spaceships shouldn't look like science fiction to a spaceship crew, any more than the Internet looks like scifi to you and me. It broke the fourth wall.[/B]

And that's what Wash said in response.
"We live on a space ship."
"So?"

That was the line I liked.

 

[Pielorinho]

And that's what Wash said in response.
"We live on a space ship."
"So?"

That was the line I liked.

Really? Wow, I totally forgot that when I was thinking about the line later.

Once again, Joss is way ahead of me .

Thanks!
Daniel

 

[Whodat]

Three to go…

Fox ordered 15 episodes of Firefly, and production on the last of the episodes has been completed. However, only 10 of the 15 episodes have aired. “Serenity”, which is two hours long, apparently counts as two episodes.

So far Fox will only say that “Serenity”, the unaired pilot, will air Friday and that the network plans to “eventually” air the three remaining eps.

1) “The Train Job”
2) “Bushwhacked”
3) “Our Mrs. Reynolds”
4) “Jaynestown”
5) “Out of Gas”
6) “Shindig”
7) “Safe”
8) “Ariel”
9) “War Stories”
10) “Objects in Space”
11 & 12) “Serenity”

The final three episodes have titles, and production has finished on at least two of them.

Yet to be shown…
13) “Heart of Gold”
14) “Trash”
15) “The Message”

The final episode was supposedly directed by Joss himself.

Fox has cancelled Firefly, so they really have nothing to lose by slipping a mid-season replacement in next Friday. I’m curious to see if Fox will show the three remaining unaired episodes.

 

[Henry]

Really? Wow, I totally forgot that when I was thinking about the line later.

Once again, Joss is way ahead of me .

Thanks!
Daniel

You forgot it, I didn't even hear it.

I think Zoe's point was that "Sci-fi" was very relative, and Wash missed the point. What River did, in context, ain't that far-fetched. But then, maybe it was Zoe and me who missed the point.