Part 1. "P.C."???
When I criticize a story/movie/tv show for being "P.C.", it's usually because it:
a) ends up demonizing White Guys or whatever ruling elite you like instead of simply humanizing the oppressed (Dances with Wolves is a good example - sure, the Natives are people, but the whites are almost uniformly stupid and sadistic; although to be fair the rival tribe is also badly caricatured as well...you know, that movie actually kind of sucks...)
b) is hamfisted about it - devoting a plot line to hitting you over the head with an obvious "Racism is stupid, m'kay?" message, or whatever. (the Star Trek episode with the race of aliens who are black on one side and white on the other, and folks who are black on the right side are seen as inferior than the folks who are black on the left side, is my prototype for this).
On the other hand, simply holding a moral viewpoint that is typical of a college educated liberal in the U.S.A. can't be held against it. That's just a viewpoint, and calling it "P.C." is just name calling in my book. While I can see that Firefly holds to certain educated-liberal moral viewpoints, it also challenges some others. And, I can't think of a single episode storyline off the top of my head whose point was to hammer home a P.C. mantra. Rather, the stories progressed because certain characters are in certain situations, not to make a Big Moral Statement.
Part 2. "Speculative fiction."
Very simply Firefly is today's issues played out by today's PC characters, in the far future.
When I look at speculative fiction, which scifi is, I usually expect it to reflect that societies change with time. What's more the nature of space will alter perspectives.
Now this is kind of interesting...
Of course, science fiction as a genre has many flavors. Sometimes it's simply an adventure story, set in space 'cuz then you get cool weapons and monsters and stuff. (e.g., Star Wars).
Other times it's playing out ideas or logical puzzles or whatever, but isn't really concerned with re-thinking basic assumptions about society. Isaac Asimov is a good example. Certainly "I, Robot" (the book, not the movie) is all about ideas and technology, but people are pretty much like they are now. I still remember an Asimov line, I think from the Foundation series, that referred to "housewives across the galaxy", which is the perfect example of this. It's been a long time, so maybe this is more figment than real, but it's a good example even if I made it up.
Other times, today's issues are played out in an environment that hopefully changes perspective, allowing a certain objectivity, not unlike the way Gary Larson in The Far Side used animals carrying out human actions in a way that makes us laugh at the human behavior itself. I'd place Firefly in this category (and also partly in the first - adventure/drama with cool stuff and cool setting... although like most other Wheedon stuff it's also a sly parody of genre).
Speculative fiction that actually rethinks societal assumptions is extremely rare. Nearly non-existant, if you get right down to it. Off the top of my head, "The Matter of Seggri" (Ursala LeGuin)is maybe the most successful story of this sort I've read. It's about a planet where men are extraordinarily rare, and are treated as a special class to be protected because of this. A story with the premise could have been hamfisted, but instead really tries to work out the complex and subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences that would result from this. It's a beauty of a story. There's another story whose author and title escapes me, but I'm sure I have it in a compilation around here somewhere, in which "plastic surgery" is so advanced that people can change appearance, gender, race, whatever quite casually and tend to do so often. It's quite a different world, and I remember the author doing a good job of seeing that this would fundmentally change how people interact.
But basically, even these stories only have the effect and power they have because we see these issues from our viewpoint. LeGuin does a great job envisioning new gender roles and relationships, but ultimately we're interested because we relate it to our own ideas of gender.
Firefly is far less ambitious in fundamentally rethinking society, to be sure. Mostly it's a story that uses sci-fi and western settings to add flavor and to provide conventions that can be "tweaked" and twisted. (Wheedon says he loves doing "genre" because it provides built-in story-conventions to be subverted). Certainly the societal role of the lofty Companion Inara vs. the role of the backwater whores provides some interesting food for thought, and the pervasive power of the Blue Sun corporation (only subtly handled as a background element for the most part before the series was cancelled) has obvious relevance. Sure, this is playing out current issues in a new setting, but I think it's done well, with respect for the characters and the intelligence of the audience.
Of course, if that's not your cup of tea, so be it.
This message has been edited by Zhimbo, 12-31-2004 10:00 AM
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