Firefly - Episode 2: The Train Job

Firefly

Genre

The genre of Firefly could be space western and drama. The setting of this TV series is 2571, on a variety of moons and planets, and in a spaceship, Serenity. There also exists a pioneer culture in Serenity, so the genre could also be western. I think the fusion of Western and Sci Fi is very fresh, however, some reviewers say that this genre is a "forced hodgepodge of two alarmingly opposite genres just for the sake of being different." I think these reviewers are saying that putting two completely different genres could be original and fresh, but won’t bring a well-known success. Space western is a subgenre of science fiction. There’s also a genre of drama in this show because there are conflicts of political, moral and ethnic issues.

Semiotics

Semiotics exists a lot in this show. There are a lot of things that are signs of something else. What I think about this show is that, this show is a sign of our future. In episode 2, there were events of illegal runs and robbery in space. I feel that events like these are possible in the future. There could be homes in space, planets, and moons.

Although I only watched one episode of this show, I could realize that this show kind of foreshadows our future. This show lets us know that things like better communication systems, better transportation systems, and robotics could be possible to exist in the future.

Also, I think this TV series foreshadows the conditions of the world’s governmental powers. In the show, the United States and China are the only existing superpowers of the world. I think this is possible because the United States is already a superpower of the world, and China is slowly growing to be a superpower. Its technology and government are developing quickly.

Arrested Development

Arrested Development

1. Semiotics

I think Bluth family signifies disharmony among family members in this show. They always cause trouble and they seem to not have unity. By looking at this family, the audience can learn that not having unity in a family can lead to disharmony within family members.

2. Genre

Genre of Arrested Development is comedy and drama, according to the website http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0515236/.  However, I think of it more like a drama rather than a comedy, because I found only two or three scenes funny. Sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld consist of scenes that are intentionally made ridiculous and foolish. However, scenes in Arrested Development are just normal and obvious. Scenes are not made intentionally funny, they are just scenes put together to make a story. This show permits more time for plot development rather than jokes. To me, this is show is a drama, rather than a comedy.

3. Representation

I think this show represents the real world to the audience, that is, this story is related to the world of people. There are a lot of dysfunctional families in this world. Bluth family is represented in this show as a dysfunctional family. Most of the Bluth family members seem to have some problems. Lindsay, Michael’s “twin” sister, is very shallow, superficial, noisy, and ignorant. She often flirts with other men. Michael’s older brother Gob received little attention from his parents since he was a child. His mother just hates him. He seems to have difficulty in language. Michael’s son George is very obedient, since he lived only with his father since he was a child. Just like this, most of the family members of Bluth family seem to have some problems. By looking at Bluth family, the audience can realize that family like this doesn’t look good. Other people might say bad things about a family like this. By showing this kind of family, this show teaches audience to not live like this family.