PHYRELIGHT'S BLOG

PhyreLight

Jayne’s possible story line if “Firefly” was allowed to continue.
Monday, February 19, 2007

So, I decided to take Asian Religions this semester at my university because my public school education was very limited when it came to eastern cultures. I have already taken Western Civilizations my freshman year, so I felt I’d be wasting my time taking another history class like Eastern Civilizations. So, when it came time to pick a philosophy course, I thought that perhaps the best way to learn about a culture is through its religions, thus the Asian Religions course.

(If I’m wrong anything in the fallowing on Jainism, please feel free to correct me. What can you really learn about a whole religion in a 50 minute class?)

Today we learned about Jainism (pronounced like Jayne-ism), which some would say is sort of like a sister religion to Buddhism. The root for the name Jain comes from the Sanskrit word “jina” meaning “conqueror”. A jina is an enlightened being who has conqured material existence, and he/she is release from the cycle of rebirth and moves onto a higher spiritual level of existence. Jains don’t believe in a god, but a jina becomes something like a god, though no prayers or devotionals are offered up to them by mortals. Jains also believe in non-violence (which is a philosophy that influenced Mahatma Gandhi and later Martin Luther King, Jr.). Jainism was founded by a series of 23 tirthankaras, who are people who lived 2500+ years ago and became jinas. The most recent of these tirthankaras was a man named Mahavira (599-527 BC). The Sanskrit roots of his name are “maha” meaning “great” and “vira” meaning “hero”. (“Vira” is pronounced the way Jayne called his favorite gun, Vera. See the “Our Mrs. Reynolds” episode.) Jains are also vegans.

So what does all of this have to do with our man Jayne? I’m thinking that Joss was planning something very interesting for him. I think he was going to make Jayne into some sort of enlightened monk or religious leader. I’ve learned in screenwriting that the most interesting stories are the ones where a character grows from one way of thinking into another. So, going from an uncivilized, violent mercenary to a non-violent monk does sound like an interesting storyline. Note that Jayne’s name and his gun Vera have root connections to Jainism. (“Vera” also comes from the Russian root meaning “faith”.) Knowing Joss’s practice of killing off his characters, Jayne might have been killed off in peaceful protest after reaching spiritual enlightenment. But we may never know that…

Damn you FOX! Damn you to Hades! … [undistinguishable curses]… DEVIL NETWORK!!

COMMENTS

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 4:13 PM

BROWNCOAT2007


.... That is too ruttin' perfect... (i.e. Joss would love you for it ) ... who wonders if Joss isn't on some random firefly board under some random fannish name, writing firefly "fan fiction" (which is actually how Firefly would have continued?) ... It's a dream of mine, gimme a break

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:04 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


Ya know? I think you might be on to something, PhyreLight. Mainly becasuse of his friendship with Book during the series and up until the BDM;)

Much as any of us can figure, Book was one probably one bad motherfugger who had a moment of realization about what he was doing with his life and decided to take up the Bible and the cloth to make something of his remaining years. Now, imagine if Book had been given a chance to influence Jayne enough that he began to question his lifestyle and look for different ways of going about things?

BEB

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 8:40 AM

MSG


hmmm WOW!! I feel all cosmic and smart now. Cool to know:)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 4:53 AM

MOTOPSYCHO


oh i can see it now,'id pray fer a man in a fair fight,or if i thought he was gonna start a fair fight,or..............'
these threads intrigue me deeply as its what the show becomes,what we read into it and our perceptions of it all and we think,'well i reckon....' joss created the 'verse but we carry it with us and expand it in our own ways,its one of the things that makes the show so special (to me anyway) because even reading the fanfic's you can picture the scene as you read it,you can see mal's facial expressions or Jayne's grimaces and Inara's 'gods i give up!'look we make the 'verse for ourselves and we rule over it,and we shall call it.......

Monday, February 19, 2007 10:42 AM

FIZZIX


Oh... wow. Deep.

Very neat. I feel enlightened. Mayhap Joss knew about this.


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