![]() The bit of dialogue is fleeting, and immediately the crew are moving on with their own issues, the Reavers forgotten, the audience left to ponder. But that is a simple analysis, which does a disservice to the complex nature of western and Native American interaction.īut I’m not here to talk about Reavers and Native Americans, I’m here to talk about the building of an antagonist, when the antagonist is never actually seen: how Firefly, in the second half of “Serenity”, introduces the Reavers and, in a masterpiece of suspense, makes it abundantly clear to the audience the threat that they pose and the hideous nature they exhibit.īefore this scene, Whedon has only made a brief reference to the Reaver threat, Mal noting that a, now deceased, former acquaintance was killed when his “town was hit by Reavers”, to which a worried looking Jayne declares that he won’t go anywhere near such a place, as Reavers “ain’t human”. If the Reavers and the real Native Americans share anything, it’s simply that they are two different groups of innocent people whose nature was changed by the intervention of others, both becoming more warlike and violent than before. Firefly jumps over this hole by making the Reavers a racially neutral menace, and one that is no exaggerated tale of propaganda and bigotry: in fact the Alliance goes the other way, insisting that the Reavers are a non-existent myth, until they can’t deny it any more. ![]() The Native Americans were an easy bad guy or background element in the western genre, only rarely being approached with anything like nuance or respect. They were easily painted as uncivilised savages, with all manner of atrocities and brutalities attributed to them, not unlike the Reavers of Firefly, who are almost a caricature of the racist perceptions of the earlier age. The Reavers are the future’s version of “Injuns”, “Redskins” or any other derogatory term you want to use for the Native Americans or “First Peoples”, driven westwards and away from their lands by the manifest destiny of the growing United States. In terms of Firefly being a futuristic re-telling of the Wild West in the 19 th century, it’s not hard to see where the Reavers lie when it comes to inspirations. Despite being an unseen villain, they form a gigantic and important part of the overall mythos of the show, the mystery surrounding them forming a natural central plot arc for Serenity. ![]() And yet, their effect, per the brilliant writing work of Whedon, is out of all proportion to their direct screen time. ![]() Though they only affect two episodes of Firefly – the pilot and, later, “Bushwhacked” – we never actually see one of them, just their ships and the “second generation” victim left behind from one of their raids. They are described as “campfire stories” come to life, a savage and mysterious entity, made up of nothing but violence, brutality and an overriding need to destroy. The Reavers hang over Firefly and Serenity, like a shadow creeping along a wall. ![]()
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