Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 17402 : Proselytizing for Joss.

August 26 2008

Proselytizing for Joss. The blog "Izgad" compares Firefly and its Browncoats to the UFO cult described by Leon Festinger in When Prophecy Fails.

I enjoyed the comparison, though Browncoats don't exactly have a belief that is refuted by empirical evidence, although I suppose you could declare Fox an empire and our cancellation an imperial event. ;)

cabri | 06:46 CET | 21 comments total | tags: leon festinger, ufo cult, we are not of this world

Browncoat. One word. Seriously. Where do these people come from? If you are going to be extreme and fanatical, get it right. Sheesh. I can respect a full on fanatic, but lazy fanatics get no leeway.

TamaraC | August 26, 07:15 CET

I didn't get fanatic from him. More like, somebody who's pretty busy but loves Whedon and tries to get others to love Joss too without really being a dyed-in-the-wool Browncoat. Sort of like me before I found the interwebs. I didn't even know about Browncoats (as a group) until I found BC, and that was only a month before the movie came out.

cabri | August 26, 07:28 CET

I am not now nor have I ever been a Browncoat, but I liked this

The point is not even to bring Firefly back, highly unlikely at this point, but simply to show that Joss Whedon did not make a mistake

very much.

SoddingNancyTribe | August 26, 07:33 CET

cabri, I don't even know what BC is. I think the guy's heart is in the right place but the errorness of the article irks.

TamaraC | August 26, 07:35 CET

Oh, sorry, it's a goners abbreviation for serenitymovie.com/org because of the 'join the browncoats!' on the main site.

cabri | August 26, 07:40 CET

Wow, it is? Who knew.

The One True b!X | August 26, 07:53 CET

Oh. I guess I joined that site at one point. Those of us from the OB didn't really pay it much mind. There was a lot of ugly on that site.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2008-08-26 08:26 ]

TamaraC | August 26, 08:21 CET

I refute that TamaraC - I am on that site, and I am feeling quite pretty!

Unless I'm confused and it's another board, too.many.boards. Interesting little article though, although, I think it's still possible to be a Browncoat/fan of Joss and not really mind too much if some of your friends (or the world), aren't.

[ edited by bubblecat on 2008-08-26 10:19 ]

bubblecat | August 26, 09:12 CET

This was a hilarious headline/summary to wake up to, Cabri!

Pointy | August 26, 12:16 CET

I don't remember any "ugly" on the old Serenitymovie site. I remember a lot of fun. Posts from Joss and Nathan, team challenges, haiku, trivia.... And lots of excitement about the movie coming out soon.
I found it very welcoming to everyone, unlike some of the other boards.

Lioness | August 26, 12:52 CET

Wow.

Sunfire | August 26, 15:18 CET

Cute piece, although I don't think the comparison works. Big difference between a group that believes in a guy that tells them things he can not prove and things that turn out to be false and a group that loves something they see and then buy and get together to ask for more.

NYPinTA | August 26, 15:48 CET

I see what he is saying though. Browncoats said "This is a great show and it should last many seasons." When that did not come to pass, we/they needed new fans to prove that even though it did not get many seasons, it was still a great show.
I don't think it works perfectly, I think that it is indeed, as he says and SNT quotes, that we simply want it clear that Joss did not make a mistake. I don't feel particularly vindicated if I hear the that Firefly is still in Amazon's top 5 or whatever, but some might.

[ edited by Lioness on 2008-08-26 18:12 ]

Lioness | August 26, 16:14 CET

bubblecat, that's the one. :) Some people seem to think it's dead, but we're still going strong!

I think for a Judaic scholar who doesn't get out much, it's a nice little article. After all, the poor boy is obviously susceptible to brainwashing; he states he goes to the Ohio State University. Silly boy! Everyone knows that OSU is Alliance and the University of Michigan is the Independents. ;)

cabri | August 26, 16:15 CET

Lies cabri! I agree about OSU but U of M is almost as bad. Michigan State is the place for Independents. :p

icallitvera | August 26, 16:33 CET

As I understand it:

1. Joss is always threatening an apocalypse;
2. The threatened apocalypse never materializes; and yet
3. We always come back for more.

No wonder they call us a cult.

:-(

(Pardon my pouticon.)

Pointy | August 26, 16:40 CET

Pointy, I think we got localized apocalypses. If there can be such a thing.

Sunfire | August 26, 16:47 CET

I remember the constant porn spam on the universal browncoat site. Constant. It was very offputting. The whole competition thing completely turned me off as well. Different strokes.

TamaraC | August 26, 17:24 CET

Once BC was transferred to gossi at the end of 2005, I saw very little spam.

cabri | August 27, 00:38 CET

I had already given up on the site long before then, cabri. By then we knew that there was no chance of a sequel.

TamaraC | August 27, 00:53 CET

I remember the constant porn spam on the universal browncoat site.

Ah, good times.

Erm, I mean, yeah, what was up with that?!

The One True b!X | August 27, 01:35 CET

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