I never picked up not even once a single reference to the chinese culture in Firefly, I only noticed it definatly in Serenity with the Chinese/Japanese commercial in a certain bar scene.
Anyone else with comments?
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
What I found amusing was that while the Chinese culture was incredibly prevalent, I don't recall ever actually seeing a Chinese person on the show.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Um, they swore in Chinese. They sometimes wore Chinese-influenced clothes-- especially Inara. There were Chinese-influenced goods in shops even in frontier towns. There were a TON of cultural references.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:I don't recall ever actually seeing a Chinese person on the show.
There was a chinese precence in the first episode when they land on Persephone... but I know what you mean. None of the characters are actually Chinese, despite the two nations (American and China) being the dominant countries.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
The higher-classed people tend to have Chinese surnames. Simon and River Tam. Atherton Wing.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
And if you pay attention, anytime they're on planet all the background stuff was Chinese influenced. The open air markets, and Chinese characters on everything.
I actually thought it was pretty prevalent.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I know just that I never noticed it, I'm sure when I rewatch the series I'll renotice it.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
You didn't notice them swearing in Chinese? Or that official recorded messages play in both Chinese and English ("Warning--oxygen levels low" and that sort of thing)?
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Do the comic books explain this more?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
No.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
really? I thought someone mentioned somewhere that the comic books say something about China/US merging or something. But I could have made that up
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Well, I could be wrong--it may be touched on very briefly; I'll have to check.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Joss mentions it in commentary on one of the episodes (I think for the pilot).
But yeah. The show had more Chinese in it than the movie IMO. Just watch when they're planetside, during The Message and Serenity and Shindig.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
I never really noticed it in the movie, though I was warned in advanced. Its much more annoying in the show. (i like it sometimes, but they really do sound bad saying it. makes me wanna rethink learning an eastern language.) How did you miss all crazy Chinese swearing in Firefly?? My roommate keeps requesting subtitles for those parts. ha.
I see alot of random Chinese people popping up in the backgrounds of different episodes.