![]() In this future, the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures. The show explores the lives of a group of people, some of whom fought on the losing side of a civil war, who make a living on the fringes of society as part of the pioneer culture of their star system. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things." The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a " Firefly-class" spaceship. Whedon served as an executive producer, along with Tim Minear. Some notable swears include "pigu," which translates to ass, "aiya" and "tzao-gao," which are both used like "damn" in English, and "go tsao de," meaning "dogf***ed." The show also uses some creative phrases in Chinese that do not literally translate into English swear words, but can still turn the air blue.Firefly is an American space Western drama television series, created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. When the audience hears Chinese, they know that the situation is truly serious. It's something not often seen on television and an original way to engage audiences in the events of a dramatic show.Īlthough the characters do sometimes use Chinese to get away with swearing, there may not be as much cursing used in the show as the audience thinks. The foreign language also adds emphasis to the dialogue. Even without knowing the literal translation of the words, it's easy to tell that the characters are cursing. In moments of high emotion, the meaning of a few words or a sentence can be understood through context and the actor's delivery. Characters use it in arguments, when they're angry and when they want to make a point. Wash, the pilot, uses it when an alarm goes off alerting him of an equipment malfunction. Mal and Zoe are frequently heard using it when their circumstances change for the worse or there's an unexpected shift in the plan. When the Firefly characters do speak Chinese, it's often in times of crisis. " And so to take those two and juxtapose them, the idea that every nobody speaks fluent Chinese to me is kind of delightful and not actually unrealistic." Whedon also said in a later interview that he found the idea of the mix of cultures plausible, especially in a western frontier setting. " The Wild West was full of people from the Far East, and so the mixture of those two cultures - that’s what history is, it’s culture in a blender," the showrunner explained. " Since they are the two great superpowers of this earth, I thought instead of killing each other, as everybody seems to be predicting we will, what if they in fact came up together and kind of melded?" he said. ![]() In an early on-set interview in 2002, Joss Whedon said he decided to use Chinese to show the blending of the two cultures. Still, language is integral to society, so the idea that everyone is fluent to both languages paints a picture of a truly integrated culture. Although the culture is apparent in the characters' language and clothing, actual Chinese people were not cast in the show. The Firefly series has been accused of cultural appropriation, since there are no major Asian characters.
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