Malcom Reynolds

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• Camera follows Mal as he walks through the ship highlighting both areas of the ship as well as the crew
• Many of the dialogue exchanges with each character often  starts with Mal in the dominant position but then equalizes, especially when the other characters are questioning his leadership
  • This suggests that Mal’s leadership is not purely dictatorial but seem more familial
  • This sequence is similar to the opening in Seven with Detective Mills and Sommerset where there’s constant trade off in dominant positions relative to the frame
  • Mal’s position with the characters become defining of his relationship with each person For example:
    • With Zoe, the distance of the characters during the dialogue suggests potentially more routine familiarity and Mal trusts Zoe (does not need to micromanage her)
    • Kaylee also has that distance as well with the same implications but also Mal never enters the engine room, suggesting his respect for Kaylee’s domain (and expertise)  in the engine room
    • His position relative to each woman is less prominent than with Jayne and Wash’s where he’s clearly dominating more
  • With Zoe, the distance of the characters during the dialogue suggests more routine familiarity and….Mal is more hands-off with Zoe?
• Light and dark also plays a role
  • Conversations with Zoe and Jayne are in darkly lit corridors
    • We find out later both act as the muscles of the group
  • Conversation with Kaylee happens after he walks into more brightly lit/homey areas and the engine room itself is more brightly lit
    • This suggests too how Mal may view Kaylee differently
      • In the series, the relationship develops as Mal feeling more like a father-figure to Kaylee. The film tries to portray that in more subtle ways, not having the luxury of time
• The dialogue itself establishes the kind of relationship Mal has with each of the other crew members
  • Throughout the film, the other crew members will ask Mal some hard questions that reveal his character more
  • Also interesting to note that he tends to walk away when it’s things he doesn’t want to hear/deal with
    • This is very consistent with how his character is portrayed (Wash’s later comment about their standard MO: run and hide)
    • This is also part of the “arm’s length tactic”, trying to actually convey that through his motions and physical space
  • Dialogue also establish the state of affairs that Mal has to deal with
    • Ship falling apart, him dealing with the idiosyncrasies of each person (like Jayne’s obsession for weaponry)

• Confrontation with Simon is defining of both the character and the plot
  • The camera positioning, lighting as well as the dialogue reveals a lot in to support this confrontation
    • Simon and Mal start almost as same size reflecting potentially equals before Mal starts moving. Then the camera continually adjusts the framing of these two and who is dominant in frame during the rest-movement-rest pacing to reflect the struggle for dominance
  • This supports the dialogue that Mal is treating Simon and his sister as guests, not crew, contrasting them against the rest and Mal holds them at distance even further than most
    • He also calls him by “the Doctor” and not by name like the other crew members, another way to describe the not-part-of-the-family relationship
    • The concept of his crew as a family that he looks over grows more and more prominent over the course of the movie
  • Particular bit in the dialogue: “naughty men like us” and later, the word “misbehave” implies a certain sense of mischief that keeps the darker humour going
    • It also contrasts the Operative’s serious words later regarding being a monster
  • Portrays Mal as a man who requires obedience from all on his ship but…most of the time doesn’t get it
• Note also that through all of this, everyone calls Mal “captain”. In fact we don’t learn what his name is until much later and Zoe’s own name doesn’t get revealed either until the last part of this sequence
  • This may be on purpose as it’s revealed later that only Mal and Zoe fought in the war on the losing side

• Also River is not introduced through Mal’s eyes either, suggesting that there’s a disconnect between them
  • Mal’s first dialogue with River has River being entirely cryptic and Mal completely misinterpreting her foreshadowing words
    • Mal: Do you understand your role in this?
    • River: Do you?
    • Mal: It’s what I do…