The Kilted Writer

Here, I am addressing the television series by Joss Whedon, not the 1992 motion picture. As I posted earlier, Joss Whedon uses mind, body, and spirit characters very clearly in his work, as in Firefly/Serenity . In Buffy, as in Firefly, the characters are clear and there are layers in each of the character types. For this post, I will only address primary characters for analysis, but I will mention the lower layer characters in the discussions. I am also looking primarily at episode 1.1 for this discussion, but there are things mentioned from later episodes and seasons. The Spirit Character: Buffy ( Sarah Michelle Gellar) Buffy is introduced dreaming of vampires. She doesn't want to resume her role as the Slayer, but she is drawn to it despite those desires. Her reasons for wanting to avoid her responsibility are all based on relationships. She says she will lose all her friends, get kicked out of school, and won't be able to tell anyone what she does. It...

Nine characters. Three sets of three character types, all working together to create a compelling cast of characters. This is the final installment, the final layer of body, mind and spirit in Joss Whedon's 'Firefly' series. The Body Character: Inara Serra ( Morena Baccarin) Inara is a 'registered companion.' In the world of Firefly, prostitutes have a social hierarchy, and registered companions are at the top of the heap. They only accept the highest of society as clients and are revered by much of society. The fact that Mal has a registered companion operating on his ship gives him access to some of the more reputable ports in the galaxy. Mal, however, sees no distinction between a common whore and a registered companion. They both represent loveless and purely physical relationships to him. Inara never sweats, never gets dirty, and always looks her finest. While this may not be a universally true statement, it's clear enough in the series ...

The primary mind, body, and spirit characters in Joss Whedon's "Firefly" television series. The second layer characters will be described in this post. The Mind Character: Simon Tam (Sean Maher) Many times, people in medical professions, like doctor, coroner, etc., operate as body characters, but not in "Firefly." He shows this in the pilot episode when Kaylee is shot by a bounty hunter. Rather than immediately moving into action to save her life, as a body character would, he bargains with Mal for protection for himself and his sister, River. Like Zoe, Simon often acts as a devil's advocate, questioning the logic of actions taken by other characters. He also brings a different perspective on core planets (planets controlled by the Alliance), knowledge that lets the crew get away with a hospital heist. Simon is not just a doctor, he is one of the best. He was top of his class and brilliant in everything he attempted. He engineered River...

"Firefly" was a television series that only lasted one season, but developed such a large cult following that a major motion picture, "Serenity," was produced to close out the story. Joss Whedon wrote both the series and the motion picture screenplays and expertly applied mind, body, and spirit characters throughout, just as he has done in other works, such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Dollhouse." In Firefly, Whedon uses three layers of mind, body and spirit. In this post, I will only address the first, or top, layer. The Spirit Character: Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) The pilot episode of Firefly began with Mal Reynolds and Zoe Washburne in the middle of a battle with the Alliance. Their rebel forces (the Browncoats) were pinned down and in dire need of air support that wasn't coming any time soon. Mal was the one running around trying to encourage the fighters, saying things like, "We are just too pr...