Critical Analyses
Author Stanley C. Pelkey notes the marked influence of the Western genre on the Firefly franchise. He says that in contrast to most westerns, the central civilising force (The Alliance) is portrayed as evil. He goes on to say that little concrete evidence is given to support this, especially in the series as opposed to the movie. He notes an example where the Alliance gave medical aid to a Serenity crew member, and then let them go, and contrasts with the implausibility of similar treatment being afforded to the rebels by an Imperial Star Destroyer from the Star Wars milieu. Pelkey says that even in the movie with its "dark revelation", there is still some ambiguity about the Alliance's moral alignment. Whedon himself has said the Alliance sometimes represents a "beautiful shining light of democracy" but at other times reflects the American government as it was when it intervened in Vietnam, which Whedon sees as something the US had no right or ability to do successfully.
Read more about this topic: Alliance (Firefly)
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