Okay, I lied. I didn’t think I would publish another Cinematic Chiasmus for a long time, but something happened this past week that forced my hand. I woke up at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, and I couldn’t fall back asleep. After sitting there in bed for a good hour, I figured I would make the most of my time. So I started mapping out the chiasmus of Serenity.
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This is one Cinematic Chiasmus I didn’t want to write because I didn’t think it would work. But I felt an authoritative voice telling me to just do it. And since I had nowhere to be and nothing else to do at that moment, I took the advice. This proved to be an almost effortless chiasmus to put together. However, it did have a few moments that misbehaved until I figured out what was going on.
This is for all you Browncoats out there. You can’t stop the signal.
The Chiasmus
Here’s the nice, shiny way that Serenity’s chiasmus unfolds.
A. The Operative’s intro, and then the Serenity crew’s intro after Malcolm Reynolds asks, “What was that?”
B. Kaylee Frye pines for Simon Tam during prep for a mission departing from Serenity
C. Reavers attack during Mal’s heist, and River Tam is helpless to fight back
D. A Reaver ship follows the mule, and it crashes into Serenity. Hoban Washburne ends up alone on the bridge wondering whether his efforts managed to save anybody
E. Simon punches Mal, so Mal determines to kick him off the ship and discusses leaving men behind
F. Kaylee and Jayne Cobb discuss the mystery of Reavers
G. River mentions Miranda before she begins a fight
H. The Operative reads about Mal on a computer screen
I. Mr. Universe spots a code in a commercial, showing that the Alliance has gone to enormous trouble to find River
J. Imprisoned River begs Simon not to make her sleep, mentions Miranda, and then Mal talks to Shepherd Book about belief
K. Mal and Inara Serra share a polite conversation. She invites him to her world
L. Mal verbally spars with the Operative while Inara lights incense
L. Mal brutally fights the Operative until Inara’s incense explodes
K. Mal and Inara argue angrily. He wishes she was elsewhere
J. Freed River knocks Simon out to prevent him from making her sleep, takes over Serenity to find Miranda, and then Mal talks to Shepherd Book one last time about belief
I. Mal sees images of everyone he knows dead, showing that the Alliance has gone to enormous trouble to prevent Mal from getting away
H. The Operative calls Mal on a computer screen
G. The crew learns the truth about Miranda in a video of a Reaver attack
F. Mal discusses how to reveal the truth about Reavers
E. The Operative stabs Mr. Universe, destroys his equipment, and leaves him behind
D. A Reaver ship follows Serenity, leading to a crash landing. Wash dies on the bridge after his efforts managed to save everybody
C. Reavers attack during Mal’s mission, and River finally fights back
B. Kaylee makes out with Simon during Serenity’s repairs to depart a planet
A. The Operative’s exit and the crew’s outro, followed by Mal asking, “What was that?”
A Perfect Ending
I’m particularly pleased with this Cinematic Chiasmus because I thought that it was going to be impossible. Some of the ones I write are difficult, but this one was surprisingly easy except for a few times when it seemed to misbehave like a spirited child having a bit of fun.
This is especially true of A and J. Things weren’t happening in the right order, but they were all right next to each other, as if they knew what order they were supposed to go in, but they wanted to mess around and be deliberately difficult to untangle. However, I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt when it comes to analyzing films in this manner, so I was able to figure them out without too much trouble.
I love Firefly, and I love Serenity. It’s somehow fitting that an amazing TV show that was canceled too soon would give way to a perfectly imperfect chiasmus in its final chapter. Now that’s how you end a great story.
This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.
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