Serenity - discussion guide

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Summary

Five hundred years in the future, humanity has spread out across the universe to inhabit other planets. The disagreements between the Alliance, formed out of the central planets, and the Independent faction from the more uncooperative border planets, have previously escalated into a war. Since winning this war (called the Unification War) against the Independents, the Alliance has been the Universe's ruling body. Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), who is still deeply scarred by his war experiences fighting for the Independents, scrapes a living by undertaking petty crime to support his crew on their ship Serenity. He is assisted by his tough second-in-command and fellow Independent soldier Zoë (Gina Torres), her pilot husband Wash (Alan Tudyk), cheerful mechanic Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and macho mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin). But Serenity also carries fugitive passengers Doctor Simon Tam (Sean Maher) and his sister River (Summer Glau). River was once a brilliant child prodigy but when she went away to an impressive Alliance school, her brain was extensively experimented on. We later discover that the Alliance were altering her subconscious and conditioning her to become a living weapon. But Simon learned of her imprisonment and gave up his wealthy lifestyle to rescue her. Now she is a fantastically intelligent young woman prone to talking nonsense. As well as being mentally unstable, River is also clairvoyant, able to know what people are thinking and what will happen next.

The Alliance sends a powerful and ruthless Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) after Serenity to bring River back. The Operative begins to systematically destroy the places and kill the people that the crew find shelter with. With the help of reclusive techno-geek Mr Universe (David Kromholtz), the crew discover that River uttered the word 'Miranda' before she started a bar fight. Intrigued by the Alliance's determination to get River back and by what she might know, Mal decides to uncover the mystery of Miranda.

Background

Serenity is set in the universe of the cancelled western sci-fi television show Firefly (2002). Both the series and film are the creations of acclaimed writer Joss Whedon, who is most famous for creating the hugely popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show and its spin-off series Angel. Although critically acclaimed and loved by a hardcore fanbase, Firefly was cancelled by the Fox network in 2002 without showing all the episodes in the season. However, high DVD sales of the series box set gave Whedon the opportunity to convince Universal to let him make a film. Serenity was well received by critics. Scott Weinberg from Efilmcritic.com writes 'The cleverest, crankiest, wittiest, wildest and most character-driven sci-fi adventure in 25 years: it's the best outer-space trip I've been on since the empire struck back.' The DVD sales of Serenity have been very high in America though the film did not do as well as hoped at the box office.

Whedon was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar for Toy Story (1995) and is currently working on a screenplay for the forthcoming Wonder Woman film which he will also direct. Whedon is also a comic book writer and has written the acclaimed mini series Fray; Serenity: Those Left Behind (co-written with Brett Matthews), contributed to the Buffy comics and continues to write for the Astonishing X-Men series. He is known for writing distinctive, witty dialogue full of pop culture references and including very strong female characters in all his work, a fact he attributes to his mother's influence.

Click here for an article on Firefly.

Questions for discussion

1. Did you see the series Firefly? How does it compare to Serenity? What are the similarities between the series and the film? What are the differences? Why do you think the series did not get higher ratings?

2. What are your first impressions of Serenity's crew? Which characters do you empathise with most? Why?

3. Why do you think Mal's crew stay on Serenity despite hardly ever getting paid?

4. How is the ruling Alliance represented on screen? Why do you think they want no one to know about Miranda?

5. Were you surprised by the revelation of River's deadly fighting skills? How did this change your opinion of her character?

6. 'Only one thing's going to walk you through this, Mal – belief . . . when I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God?' (Shepherd Book)

Is the Shepherd right? Why/why not? What sort of belief do you think he is talking about? How would a Christian belief help Mal? How have your beliefs helped you in your life?

7. How are romantic relationships portrayed in the film, particularly through the characters Zoe and Wash, Kaylee and Simon, and Mal and Inara? What do these relationships say about love? How do these compare to the biblical descriptions of God's love for us?

8. What do you think about the Operative's character? Why do you think he does not have a name or rank? What aspects of religion does his character represent?

9. Are the Operative's beliefs in a perfect world without sin a positive or negative thing? How does the Operative's vision of a perfect world compare to the biblical vision of Heaven?

10. Why do you think Mal takes the Tams back on board when he knows how dangerous River is? What does this say about his character? What would you have done?

11. In flashback scenes in the Firefly series, Mal is seen to be a man of faith. Why do you think he has changed so much by Serenity? Does he regain any of his faith by the end of the film? Why/why not?

12. Do you think that Mal is right about everyone needing to know the truth about what the Alliance has done? Why/why not? Why is it so important that the truth is uncovered? What do you think you would have done?

13. Do you see any parallels between the truth-suppressing authority in the film and the real world? Do you think Whedon intends us to draw such parallels? What is the relationship between the media and modern democracy?

14. To what extent does Joss Whedon's atheism inform the film?

15. What do you think Whedon wants us to take away from Serenity? Why?

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