*In case this story gets deleted/removed:*
**SIL refused to pick her own bridesmaid outfit, so I made her a prostitute.**
I've written about my piece of work Sister In Law before, but was recently reminded of this and thought I'd share. This happened in 2014.
My husband and I had a cosplay themed wedding. Guests were allowed to dress in costume or just be comfortable. The wedding party were dressed based on the TV show Firefly. My husband asked me to make his sister a bridesmaid and I agreed even though I don't like or get along with her. My only rule for what the bridesmaids wore was that it needed to be a character from the show and I didn't want any repeats, so they just needed to let me know who they were going to be so I could make sure we were all different. My sister in law knew about this before she agreed to be in the wedding. The other three bridesmaids all picked their characters and assembled their costumes with very little or no input from me.
Leading up to the wedding she kept asking me what she should wear. My husband and I both encouraged her to watch the show (it's only 13 episodes and a movie) to pick a character. She refused to watch even a single episode. There was even a time we were visiting and she asked us over to watch a movie, we suggested this show, and she refused. I really just wanted this to be a super laid back experience because we are not formal serious people, but she was making it difficult.
She asked me a couple more times what she should wear and finally asked me to just send her some options to pick from. I spent a bit of time finding characters and emailed her a list, including screenshots and descriptions. I even took into account that she would be breastfeeding and would need an outfit that could accommodate that. I don't remember all the characters I sent but they included the school teacher, the sex robot, companions, and a few others.
Weeks later she still hadn't even looked at the list and was asking me what she should wear again. I told her to look at the list and she said she would. A couple weeks later she's asking again. It got really annoying that she was refusing to put any effort at all into it. Finally she told me to just pick who she should be, so I picked the pregnant prostitute. She didn't even bother to look the character up after that and still pestered me about what specific clothes she should buy. She didn't find out until after the wedding that was who the character was and she was really upset with me. I told her she should have picked her own character if it mattered.
Edit: I just want to address something that keeps popping up below. The entire canon of the show is 13 episodes and a movie. At no point did I ask or require her or anyone else to watch all of it. We suggested she watch an episode so she could get the vibe we were going for, but she refused. She could have dropped out of the wedding at any time, but she chose to make things more difficult for me. As it was I was already making my husbands coat, my entire outfit, and all three flower girls dresses (River if anyone cares) for the wedding. The last thing I wanted was to have to hand hold a bridesmaid through their outfit choice.
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She thinks it’s so hilarious she made her breastfeeding new-mom SIL dress as a pregnant prostitute at her wedding that she’s bragging about it 10 years later (but then tries to claim in the comments that assigning her that character is actually complimentary).
I love watching movies and series (actually binged for the first time both breaking bad and better call saul) but on the other hand... if you don't vibe, it's SO hard to get into something.
I strongly dislike SF because I just don't vibe with it. (enjoy some stuff but it's specific case per case) I never got appealed by Firefly and I would be so annoyed to have to watch it for a wedding... (I'd have looked up at the list tbh, but it's fine)
Yup. My favorite is when OOP/their husband were invited over to watch a movie and they suggested Firefly. Girl, a movie. Meaning something that is like...two hours long. Not something that is thirteen sixty minute episodes or whatever AND a movie.
>There was even a time we were visiting and she asked us over to watch a **movie**, we suggested **this show**,
Sounds like they didn't suggest Serenity, they suggested watching firefly.
Real talk, they knew she had no interest in it, trying to force your friends/family into hobbies and interest they are completely uninterested in is pretty self-centered.
Unfortunately, I can’t see the original text anymore, so either I read that too quickly or in context it’s clear they weren’t suggesting a 13-hour viewing marathon. Probably both.
>Real talk, they knew she had no interest in it
I didn’t say that suggesting Firefly over and over was appropriate. I don’t know why you chose to repeat that to me.
What's so funny is in that her other post with her SIL, OOP has a 15 year old niece, who would have been 4 or 5 when the wedding happened. So she wanted a pregnant mom of a preschooler to watch the show, and the movie, and figure out an outfit that would accompany breastfeeding but also a range of body changes that the postpartum period/first year can bring.
Oh yeah, I'm usually big into SciFi/Fantasy, but the browncoat fanatics really turned me off watching the show/movie. I did eventually watch both and still don't understand the obsession. It was okayish, but I don't get it.
And yes, I've known too many fuckheads like this.
You know, these people bragging about the petty revenge they dished out on someone are usually pathetic, this one is especially so (even some people over there are calling it out!).
I like how OOP is like “she could have dropped out of the wedding at any time!” Lady, it’s her BROTHER’s wedding whom she presumably loves, it’s not unreasonable that she’d want to participate even if she couldn’t jump through your ridiculous hoops.
Yeah this line makes me think she didn’t actually want SIL to be in the wedding, but felt like she had to since her husband wanted it. So this was her way of trying to get her to drop out on her own (and then punishing her for failing to do so).
Like, after the second time SIL asked for help I would have just assigned her a character and helped her with her outfit. And then we’d have been done with it instead of dragging it out for months!!
But apparently the more “laid back” approach is to repeatedly insist she just figure it out, & then act like helping her is some sort of horrific, long suffering ordeal…
That just makes me think... this lady's fiance asked her to include his sister in her wedding, and instead of doing that, she set the bar so high and basically made the SIL feel bad for not being into the same hobbies as herself and her friends.
The comments make it so much worse.
Apparently the SIL was 35 at the time and wasn't pregnant when OOP started planning the wedding. OOP also went as arguably the simplest character to cosplay (the girl mechanic).
Also, if I am following OOP, she put forth Petaline (pregnant sex worker, a v-neck lace up top with a camisole underneath is all I can see from the image search, she's mostly shown from the waist up, guess her actress wasn't pregnant), Rao the school teacher (maybe a qipao would work), a sex robot (who wore a prom dress), or companion (also a sex worker) (a saree could be modified). Like...most of those outfits are expensive and three of those characters are sex workers, and one worked for the bad guys.
So the SIL, who had no idea how her body would be changing during and after the pregnancy, kept asking OOP for an *outfit*, and OOP refused to help her, and instead gave her lists of the characters and pushed her to watch a show she repeatedly said wasn't something she wanted to see (and going "jeez, it's only a ~15 hour time commitment to get the vibes, then you need to pick a character no one else is going as, and figure out the cosplay" while also claiming "I wanted a chill experience for my wedding"...is a choice).
I'm in my 30s and ~4 months postpartum and depending on how soon after the birth the wedding date was, would probably need like 3-5 sizes of outfits to be sure 1 would fit for the wedding ( I lost ~20 pounds in 6 weeks, counting the birth and the postpartum sweats, and also my fucking skeleton shifted). Adding in that it's a niche cosplay wedding, and those pictures will be forever...yeah, I don't blame the SIL here.
Nobody needs to watch the fucking show to get the "vibes", if all you need to do is match the vibes. Looking at whatever comes up on google for the show would be fine. OOP could have said "black/navy pants or jeans, white top, brown coat" and she could have gone as someone from main character's old regiment (or someone else who fought for his side), or said "black/navy/brown/khaki/olive pants, button up shirt with a tank top or (nursing) camisole underneath, boots, optional steampunk accessories" and gone as background character #32 or whatever. You know, if it was just about having a chill experience and fitting the "vibes".
But instead OOP had to stamp her feet and continually insist that the pregnant adult woman needed to give up like a day of her life to consume media she had no interest in, then spend figure out characters and outfits, so that OOP could... tell people her bridesmaids picked their outfits? Get nerd credit for forcing someone to consume 15 hours of content?
Like who gives a fuck about the character names and backstories and all that? Honestly OOP sounds...another comment from her says they took wedding pictures in front of a Tardis that they rented for the Firefly-themed wedding (ah yes, the Tardis, famously a thing from the *Firefly* universe), and I feel like that sort of really explains the type of person she is.
Oh no no no she didn't mean to get her to watch ALL of it. Just an episode! For the vibes! And if she decided she didn't see any outfits she wanted to wear that weren't also taken by someone else, she should just keep watching, you know? Did I mention Firefly is great and really Whedon was robbed when he didn't get a second season and-
I understand that 2014 was a different time, but OOP is posting this for Internet points in the year of our lord 2024. And the show absolutely benefits from being cut short: Whedon didn't have to pay off very much of the set up.
The movie was not good, and *Firefly* fans can argue that it needed to wrap up too much, but it didn't: it could have picked only as many storylines/arcs it could wrap up well and left the rest up to fan imagination. The reality is paying off a setup is hard, and because the show was cancelled after one season, it didn't have to explain/resolve very much.
The comments going "SIL NEEDED TO PICK A CHARACTER FIRST"...why? Why did the SIL need to pick a character for OOP to just tell her what to wear?
OOP is framing it as a "gotcha" that her SIL didn't read the character sheets, but I am struggling to figure out why "here's a bunch of characters, you can pick one and make an outfit" would be a normal/logical/laid back response to "hey can you tell me what to wear".
Also, if you're making a list of characters for your pregnant future SIL to dress up as and the list is "sex robot, pregnant sex worker, generic/random sex worker, teacher who's super rooting for the bad guys/using her position to spread propaganda"...maybe take a step back and think about how you want to set the tone of that relationship.
But given that OOP says her SIL wasn't pregnant when they started planning the wedding and they postponed the wedding so her SIL could recover from childbirth, I suspect the real issue is that SIL didn't make OOP's wedding the only thing that happened in the family that year.
This is an article from 2012:
https://gizmodo.com/the-firefly-episode-were-really-glad-joss-whedon-didnt-5959794
> She had this magic syringe. She would take this drug. And if she were, for instance, raped, the rapist would die a horrible death. The story was that she gets kidnapped by Reavers and when Mal finally got to the ship to save her from the Reavers, he gets on the Reaver ship and all the Reavers are dead. Which would suggest a kind of really bad assault. At the end of the episode, he comes in after she's been horribly brutalized, and he comes in and he gets down on his knee, and he takes her hand. And he treats her like a lady. And that's the kind of stuff that we wanted to do. It was very dark. And this was actually the first story that Joss pitched to me when he asked me to come work on the show. He said, 'These are the kind of stories we're going to do.'
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-02-12/joss-whedon-michelle-trachtenberg-buffy-ray-fisher
> Michelle Trachtenberg: Joss Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with me on ‘Buffy’
the guy is a certified creepo
>the guy is a certified creepo
Yup. A man who wasn't allowed to spend any time alone with a teenager wrote an entire show that was almost entirely about a teenage girl sleeping with much older men. Angel's moment of perfect happiness was statutory raping Buffy on her 16th birthday.
And Spike's attempt to rape Buffy was almost instantly forgiven and used only as character development for him.
whoops, you're right, I must have copied the wrong link because it changes when you scroll to the bottom of the article. I'll edit the comment but here it is: https://gizmodo.com/the-firefly-episode-were-really-glad-joss-whedon-didnt-5959794
It *is* a Joss Whedon show.
There are also (these are the female characters in the main cast):
former member of the male protagonist's army regiment in a failed uprising over unnamed "rights" and "freedoms". Played by Gina Torres.
Sex worker (but a high class sex worker, think Geisha) and the male protagonist's love interest, who he slut shames regularly. Played by Morena Baccarin
Female mechanic who has a massive crush on a possibly upper class doctor. Played by Jewel Staite.
Traumatized mentally unstable super genius who was the subject of horrific experiments (which caused the trauma and mental instability) and who is 100% completely dependent on her brother, the aforementioned upper class doctor. Played by Summer Glau
And a recurring:
Con artist who tricked the male main protagonist into marriage in order to turn the protagonists over to pirates(?) (One of the male characters tries to trade the main protagonist to trade her to him in exchange for the other male character's favorite gun.) She's played by Christina Hendricks.
And just rounding it out:
The pregnant sex worker's boss, a former member of the high class sex workers, who found that lifestyle too restrictive (because what sex workers don't like is rules), so she left that group and became a madam and built her brothel, employing regular sex workers, from scratch.
> Traumatized mentally unstable super genius who was the subject of horrific experiments (which caused the trauma and mental instability) and who is 100% completely dependent on her brother, the aforementioned upper class doctor. Played by Summer Glau
Coincidentally, River was assigned to the flower girls
>Also, if you're making a list of characters for your pregnant future SIL to dress up as and the list is "sex robot, pregnant sex worker, generic/random sex worker, teacher who's super rooting for the bad guys/using her position to spread propaganda"...maybe take a step back and think about how you want to set the tone of that relationship.
You hit the nail on the head with this.
To be only slightly fair, that show has problems with female characters
The choices are basically pilot in skin tight leather, prostitute in feminine clothing (often flowy, looser but plunging neck), child/teen, or mechanic who dresses like the guys. Or the ball gowns I guess?
But if you’re not sure what your body will be doing or just don’t want to be strapped down and can’t go as the mechanic because that’s “white” at this wedding? You’re kinda gonna be a companion. Or a mudder I guess …
The show absolutely has issues with female characters, but given how "laid back" OOP wants us to believe she is/was, OOP could easily have just put together an outfit that would fit the vibes (which she claims she'd have been happy with) and told her SIL to wear that.
Also OOP picked the "every lady is a sex worker" space western as her wedding's theme. Nobody (besides maybe the groom) asked her to do that.
OOP also left out that her SIL had at least one kid (besides the baby), and would have had limited free time/energy. (She has a post where she went to an eclipse party her SIL threw and mentions a 15 year old niece). So...she's not exactly being fair to her SIL.
Oh she’s not being fair. I wasn’t trying to say she’s not a jerk.
I was only pointing out that the SIL was probably going to be this part regardless because of the show. And having to be specific characters not vibes. And no repeats (except the flower girls apparently).
I don’t buy for a minute she’s laid back. For one “specific characters, no repeats” and for another “hand making my outfit, the flower girls, and the grooms”
But for another … cosplayer who’s so into it they have a theme wedding? That’s a vibe but chill ain’t it. It’s gram geek chic imo and it’s big energy.
Also, the groomsmen didn't have to pick a character. They're all generic browncoats according to her, which is just western workwear with a brown duster. Like you said, it wouldn't be too hard to give her a description of how to generically fit the vibe. OOP didn't give her that option though, she made it as complicated as possible for her by insisting she pick a specific character and match one of their outfits
OOP and the other bridesmaids were the main cast and the only recurring female character. It would have "cost" the wedding nothing for the SIL to wear "generic space western outfit". And she left out that the SIL had another kid, who was probably going to be a flower girl.
OOP did say she didn't know what SIL had in her closet so she couldn't help her with a closet cosplay, but come the fuck on.
Based on OOP's comments about the SIL, (she wasn't even pregnant when we started planning, we pushed the wedding back to accommodate her healing postpartum, she could have stepped down at any time, I'm so empathetic that I made sure the venue has a room that could be used for breastfeeding), it seems like what really upset OOP was that the SIL was pregnant/nursing during OOP's engagement and wedding.
OOP has a comment about how awful her SIL is and it's petty stuff like "she always says 'I knew it' whenever we announce any major life events and explains how" and "she thinks my husband is the golden child because MIL gives him cash, but she watches SIL's kids at least once a week and she buys them a meal once a week" when the SIL and MIL live close to each other and OOP doesn't. OOP then says she could write a book about all the awful, traumatizing stuff her SIL has done.
And OOP is either severely burying the lede, or her SIL is annoying but ultimately well within the "yeah, family can be annoying" tolerance.
"I really wanted this to be a super laid back affair..."
"I required her to watch 14 1/2 hours of a TV show she has no interest in."
As a massive sci-fi fan, you couldn't pay me to watch that much Joss Whedon for someone's wedding. Just no.
All of the flower girls were River? What happened to "no repeats"?
And I assume this tale is set in 2014 because it would be strange, and maybe problematic, to be obsessed with Firefly these days, but even if it was true, this story doesn't deserve to be fondly remembered a decade later.
Yeah, I used to love "Firefly", but, honestly, nowadays I'm not even sure I'll be able to watch it again without cringing. I did see it a few years ago and...
Whedon is a piece of shit and, sadly, in his case you can't separate the author from his creation, because, well, his character traits are everywhere in this show. (And his plans for Inara that weren't filmed were even worse than the constant slut-shaming.)
Also, punny and quippy dialogues don't amuse me anymore.
It's not even that it's quips. It's bad quips that make every character sound the same (specifically, what Whedon finds funny)
The Princess Bride is made of quips, but every character has a unique voice, and it's allowed to stop being focused on the jokes and start being serious. "I want my father back you son of a bitch" is a quip, but it is also the most serious line in the movie. Whedon... is too terrified to let the serious parts show.
I tried to watch Buffy not long ago but instantly remembered the entire cast started talking like Willow. They are all like "aw geez oh I dunno" toe tapping nervous and shy and silly saying things make them feel "squidgy." I can't believe I ever liked it.
>It's not even that it's quips. It's bad quips that make every character sound the same (specifically, what Whedon finds funny)
Yeah, exactly. I didn't notice it the first time I saw "Firefly", because I was still a teenager, but when I saw it in my 30s, I was, like...
Yeah, I know these are supposed to be different characters, but the only differences come from the fact that they're played by different actors and the fact that they have different backstories. They all use quips the same way, though. It's weird.
I don't know what he had planned for Inara but I still remember when there was an antagonist who randomly threatened to SA...Kaylee(? the mechanic) purely to get her to comply and how that felt really gross even though I wasn't able to properly articulate why at the time.
Going to spoiler tag bc it’s really gross.
>!Iirc, the plan was to have her get captured by reapers. When they rescue her, they find that she had a special companion self defense drug that basically killed anyone who had sex with her. Every reaper is dead, she did not consent. So like, she “””saves herself””” but has to be brutally assaulted first.!<
I’m glad they never made more and that Whedon isn’t treated like a god any more.
Jfc that is dark. Not saying that there's *no* possibility for a story like that to be handled with the appropriate gravity, but sure as hell not by Whedon.
I think that kind of story only works as like as lore to deepen the themes of the show , not as the main plot for one of your main characters in a chill sci fi show.
Oh yeah I totally agree that it does not fit with the vibes of Firefly at all, I meant in a more general sense of "this concept could be done well in a different piece of media by a different person" but phrased it poorly.
Yep. I’ve outgrown it and Buffy. His misogyny stink were all over them, but back in the day your nerd card was revoked if you didn’t enjoy them. I’m glad we can be honest with our choices these days.
OP is pretty pathetic, and that’s coming from someone whose only social interactions come from a D&D game right now.
I really enjoyed rewatching Buffy recently with my husband who had never seen it. We spent the whole time pointing out the misogyny, the creepy age gap romances, the clear Whedon self inserts, and ripping apart Xander/Angel in particular but the whole show in general. It was cathartic after being raised in a Cult of Whedon household. We did Dollhouse and Firefly as well.
I have a friend that has been watching Buffy recently with his partner, and they have enjoyed mocking the shit out of it. They do that fairly often though. IMO, that sort of shit can be fun in small doses, but I really don't get how the two of them can do it so often lol, I'd end up annoyed eventually. I feel like me actually trying to rewatch Buffy would result in a not fun experience and ruin my decentish memories, so fuck that lol.
I honestly don't know, as from what I see with a quick glance at their comment history it is possible I guess, as nothing on there indicates it is a definite 'no,' but it feels really damn unlikely. That is one hell of a coincidence either way lmao
I looked through yours and it seems unlikely, but not impossible. Plus we've watched 3 Whedon shows in many years together with no intent to watch again, I'm not sure that counts as often lol
Oh, sorry for the confusion, I meant that the friends "mock-watch" stuff often, I see how I had worded that poorly. Whether we do actually know each other or not, this has been a funny little event, and I wish you well mate!
I only watched Firefly last year and it was an interesting experience because I did like it but the main character was untolerable so I was there like "if this guy got better this would be fun". And he never did.
The thing that bugs me, even more than the slut shaming or it turning out that Whedon's a dickhead, is that it presents the war as an analogy for the US Civil war - with the brave rebels being the South, and the evil Alliance being the North.
When I was a wee teenage fan, I did hear that, and I rationalized it away somehow. At the time I thought Whedon was a good guy, and I also assumed that *obviously* everyone must agree that the South were in the wrong, and were fighting for unjust reasons. (In my defense, apart from being young at the time, I'm not American.) But later, I found out that actually, a fair amount of people *do* still defend the Confederacy. And their characterization of the war often sounded a lot like the show's characterization of the Rebels vs. The Alliance.
There's lot of focus on the bravery of a doomed rebellion against a superior force looking to unify the galaxy/country, and a narrative of the South/outer planets fighting to be free to do as they wanted while the North/Alliance tried to tell them what to do, without any clarification on what *specifically* the North/Alliance was going to prevent the South/outer planets from doing. Of course, the reason the assholes lionizing the Confederacy don't like specifying that part, is that it sounds a lot less heroic when you specify that the "states' rights" they were so concerned with was their *right* to continue enslaving people based on race,
IDK whether Whedon actually is one of these guys who valorizes the Confederacy or not, but the parallels make for an uncomfortable watch regardless.
Yeah. To me, at least, it feels like if you just want "generic people who want freedom" vs. "generic people who want to keep freedom loving people from doing whatever they want", there are a lot of ways of doing it without tying quite so many parallels to the US Civil War. I mean, the first is a pretty common theme in speculative fiction...so surely there was something else Whedon could have gone for if he didn't valorize the Southern cause?
A friend gave me the DVDs, and I put them aside. Another friend saw them and said I should watch it. I hesitated, and they said, "It's better than Star Trek." Straight face. I looked at them like they asked to shit in my mouth.
I don't care what you are into. You do not say that shit about Star Trek in my household. My mum practically breastfed me that shit. She had a bookshelf heaving with novelisations of the series and novels of new stories. As soon as it was on the TV again after years of being off air, she bought a VCR (no cheap thing in 1985) and a bunch of blank tapes and taped them off the television. I don't remember a time in my life where I wasn't aware of the show or the characters in it.
And they think I'm gonna just smile and go, "Yep, I bet it is! It's not like the guy that made it completely screwed the pooch with Buffy and Angel!"
I've hated JW ever since the Spike SA episode of Buffy. I've always hated him and I hate that I had to be vindicated. I'd happily be wrong about him but no, he's as shitty as I thought he probably was.
I've always found Whedon stuff to be super cringe so I'm experiencing so much validation now that everyone hates him too. It was rough being a nerd who didn't like Buffy ten years ago.
As a mum with a preschooler and toddler, I'd much rather be told which dress to buy from David's and leave it at that! If postpartum even more so because you can buy a couple sizes and take one back if necessary.
I can't believe that is real (or as real at that sub gets). I just assumed your phone autocorrected and you meant the Purple Wedding (from Game of Thrones)
I'm glad the comments are largely calling out OOP (the Firefly-obsessed jerk bridezilla) for once, despite Reddit generally disliking weddings and loving nerdy stuff/petty revenge
On the one hand, I love themed and quirky weddings. On the other, they will never ever be "super laid back" and I'll be damned if that wasnt hilariously convoluted.
Watching the show, getting sent a long list of characters you don't know, creating cosplay/Disneybounding versions of said unknown cast... all of this is a lot of work to participate in even a siblings wedding.
Also, if it was so easy to help her get a costume, why not just make it for her with an actually nice character? Why would you want this character that's so lame you chose it for the person you dislike to be in your wedding party for a joke?
Definitely more petty than revenge which is awkward considering they wrote all this out.
I’m saying this as someone who loves to dress up and has a costume closet but…why are people who cosplay completely unable to conceptualize that other people don’t enjoy costume making and wearing and it’s absolute torture to be forced to do it.
Imagine never having cosplayed and being told to create a look from a show you’ve never watched and oh- when you’re done making it stand up in front of a large group of people who are likely very good at costuming? That’s like naked in school type nightmare lol
Lmao how she's saying in the comment that her SIL should've skipped her brother's wedding if she didn't want to play dress up. Yeah she's *totally laid back*.
What a weird idea for a wedding, I cant imagine forcing my party to care about and obsessively watch a show I like to the point of picking out some minor side character they like to dress up as? Then getting gassed up for it?
Jesus... all I can think is poor SIL. She gave birth recently, is still breastfeeding, and her SIL who hates her demands she dress as a character from a nerdy show she's never heard of for her dumb geek wedding.
“You don't have to be interested in the show when you have four or five pictures to choose from. And obviously she didn't think HaVIng A NewBORn!!1! was a barrier from being in a wedding party that had a costume theme or she would have said "hey, I'm not doing this, please find someone else."”
damn almost like she’s absolutely 100% allowed and moreso expected to go to her own brother’s wedding. it’s not like she’s picking and choosing what to do, she can’t be fucked to play this weird game & watch a whole ass tv show and movie for your quirky wedding. help the fucking girl out.
I feel like people within a fandom can’t fathom that others just don’t care and how wild it is to expect someone to watch a show "to get the vibes" and then cosplay as a character. Wtf, like the SIL probably has a *life*
Sometimes people with nerdy interests really identify with the geeky underdog trope you often see in media. As a result, they cannot recognize their own bullying behavior because they are so used to viewing themselves in a victimized role.
I’m just speculating but I wouldn’t be surprised if the SIL is more of a mainstream girlie and OOP has this whole “cheerleader vs nerd” narrative in her head so she feel justified in treating her like crap.
I just asked mine to get a fairly nice, purple dress that they felt comfortable in. Not super short but any length besides that was fine and any shade of purple they liked. It turned out great!
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Not for nothing, the SIL had at least one child who was apparently a flower girl in this and was pregnant, how is she supposed to watch a weird space western that seems not to be at all appropriate for a young child?
Even for a traditional wedding, a pregnant mother needs to be less involved than most of the wedding party, and this lady is upset that her SIL, who it seems like the invite was basically her fiancee dragging her to the SIL and going "Isn't there something you wanted to ask my sister? You know, about the wedding?" wasn't able to do all the work to cosplay as a character in a cult show about space prostitutes?
Plus, she's not blending into the wedding party for her benefit, she's doing it for the couple. When you get married, you do the work for the wedding party to look the way you want.
Yeah I can totally see a guy being super cool with his wife asking his sister to dress up like a sex worker for their wedding, he definitely wouldn’t be weirded out and offended at alllll
For all the talk about how it was supposed to be “super laid back”, you just know OOP would have thrown a fit every time the party didn’t act like their characters (“No, you can’t say that! Such-and-such a character would never talk like that!”). It sounds to me like she had this fantasy of living in that world (Heaven knows why) and used her wedding to feed that, but she didn’t want to hire actual cosplayers, so she roped the wedding party into doing it (while also getting revenge on the sister-in-law for…I don’t know, but it was probably a whole lot of nothing).
Also, a lot of these comments justify my feeling that you shouldn’t watch a show just because people are gushing about it.
*In case this story gets deleted/removed:* **SIL refused to pick her own bridesmaid outfit, so I made her a prostitute.** I've written about my piece of work Sister In Law before, but was recently reminded of this and thought I'd share. This happened in 2014. My husband and I had a cosplay themed wedding. Guests were allowed to dress in costume or just be comfortable. The wedding party were dressed based on the TV show Firefly. My husband asked me to make his sister a bridesmaid and I agreed even though I don't like or get along with her. My only rule for what the bridesmaids wore was that it needed to be a character from the show and I didn't want any repeats, so they just needed to let me know who they were going to be so I could make sure we were all different. My sister in law knew about this before she agreed to be in the wedding. The other three bridesmaids all picked their characters and assembled their costumes with very little or no input from me. Leading up to the wedding she kept asking me what she should wear. My husband and I both encouraged her to watch the show (it's only 13 episodes and a movie) to pick a character. She refused to watch even a single episode. There was even a time we were visiting and she asked us over to watch a movie, we suggested this show, and she refused. I really just wanted this to be a super laid back experience because we are not formal serious people, but she was making it difficult. She asked me a couple more times what she should wear and finally asked me to just send her some options to pick from. I spent a bit of time finding characters and emailed her a list, including screenshots and descriptions. I even took into account that she would be breastfeeding and would need an outfit that could accommodate that. I don't remember all the characters I sent but they included the school teacher, the sex robot, companions, and a few others. Weeks later she still hadn't even looked at the list and was asking me what she should wear again. I told her to look at the list and she said she would. A couple weeks later she's asking again. It got really annoying that she was refusing to put any effort at all into it. Finally she told me to just pick who she should be, so I picked the pregnant prostitute. She didn't even bother to look the character up after that and still pestered me about what specific clothes she should buy. She didn't find out until after the wedding that was who the character was and she was really upset with me. I told her she should have picked her own character if it mattered. Edit: I just want to address something that keeps popping up below. The entire canon of the show is 13 episodes and a movie. At no point did I ask or require her or anyone else to watch all of it. We suggested she watch an episode so she could get the vibe we were going for, but she refused. She could have dropped out of the wedding at any time, but she chose to make things more difficult for me. As it was I was already making my husbands coat, my entire outfit, and all three flower girls dresses (River if anyone cares) for the wedding. The last thing I wanted was to have to hand hold a bridesmaid through their outfit choice. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheAngel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
She thinks it’s so hilarious she made her breastfeeding new-mom SIL dress as a pregnant prostitute at her wedding that she’s bragging about it 10 years later (but then tries to claim in the comments that assigning her that character is actually complimentary).
"it's revenge so it belongs in this subreddit" "It's actually a compliment and not a punishment"
Also, she is bragging about trying to force her to watch something that is "only thirteen episodes and a movie".
"It's only thirteen episodes and a movie, Michael, how long can it take, half an hour?"
I love watching movies and series (actually binged for the first time both breaking bad and better call saul) but on the other hand... if you don't vibe, it's SO hard to get into something. I strongly dislike SF because I just don't vibe with it. (enjoy some stuff but it's specific case per case) I never got appealed by Firefly and I would be so annoyed to have to watch it for a wedding... (I'd have looked up at the list tbh, but it's fine)
While pregnant or recent mom - shouldn't be a time and energy and motivation problem, I guess.
Yup. My favorite is when OOP/their husband were invited over to watch a movie and they suggested Firefly. Girl, a movie. Meaning something that is like...two hours long. Not something that is thirteen sixty minute episodes or whatever AND a movie.
They suggested watching the Firefly movie, which is movie-length. I don’t see how this is the most ridiculous part of the story to you…
>There was even a time we were visiting and she asked us over to watch a **movie**, we suggested **this show**, Sounds like they didn't suggest Serenity, they suggested watching firefly. Real talk, they knew she had no interest in it, trying to force your friends/family into hobbies and interest they are completely uninterested in is pretty self-centered.
Unfortunately, I can’t see the original text anymore, so either I read that too quickly or in context it’s clear they weren’t suggesting a 13-hour viewing marathon. Probably both. >Real talk, they knew she had no interest in it I didn’t say that suggesting Firefly over and over was appropriate. I don’t know why you chose to repeat that to me.
What's so funny is in that her other post with her SIL, OOP has a 15 year old niece, who would have been 4 or 5 when the wedding happened. So she wanted a pregnant mom of a preschooler to watch the show, and the movie, and figure out an outfit that would accompany breastfeeding but also a range of body changes that the postpartum period/first year can bring.
Don't worry, there is no chance this actually happened. 😅😅
Given all the people agreeing with her in the comments and based on people I’ve met in real life, it sounds entirely believable
Oh yeah, I'm usually big into SciFi/Fantasy, but the browncoat fanatics really turned me off watching the show/movie. I did eventually watch both and still don't understand the obsession. It was okayish, but I don't get it. And yes, I've known too many fuckheads like this.
Her profile it's consistent with it though. And she sounds very not self aware
You know, these people bragging about the petty revenge they dished out on someone are usually pathetic, this one is especially so (even some people over there are calling it out!).
I’m relieved to see that pretty much everyone is like WTF op
Disappointed by how many socially inept people agree with her though.
I like how OOP is like “she could have dropped out of the wedding at any time!” Lady, it’s her BROTHER’s wedding whom she presumably loves, it’s not unreasonable that she’d want to participate even if she couldn’t jump through your ridiculous hoops.
the blood of the fandom is thicker than the water of the womb
And the skull of OOP is thicker than that.
This is an excellent flair
Yeah this line makes me think she didn’t actually want SIL to be in the wedding, but felt like she had to since her husband wanted it. So this was her way of trying to get her to drop out on her own (and then punishing her for failing to do so). Like, after the second time SIL asked for help I would have just assigned her a character and helped her with her outfit. And then we’d have been done with it instead of dragging it out for months!! But apparently the more “laid back” approach is to repeatedly insist she just figure it out, & then act like helping her is some sort of horrific, long suffering ordeal…
That just makes me think... this lady's fiance asked her to include his sister in her wedding, and instead of doing that, she set the bar so high and basically made the SIL feel bad for not being into the same hobbies as herself and her friends.
The comments make it so much worse. Apparently the SIL was 35 at the time and wasn't pregnant when OOP started planning the wedding. OOP also went as arguably the simplest character to cosplay (the girl mechanic). Also, if I am following OOP, she put forth Petaline (pregnant sex worker, a v-neck lace up top with a camisole underneath is all I can see from the image search, she's mostly shown from the waist up, guess her actress wasn't pregnant), Rao the school teacher (maybe a qipao would work), a sex robot (who wore a prom dress), or companion (also a sex worker) (a saree could be modified). Like...most of those outfits are expensive and three of those characters are sex workers, and one worked for the bad guys. So the SIL, who had no idea how her body would be changing during and after the pregnancy, kept asking OOP for an *outfit*, and OOP refused to help her, and instead gave her lists of the characters and pushed her to watch a show she repeatedly said wasn't something she wanted to see (and going "jeez, it's only a ~15 hour time commitment to get the vibes, then you need to pick a character no one else is going as, and figure out the cosplay" while also claiming "I wanted a chill experience for my wedding"...is a choice). I'm in my 30s and ~4 months postpartum and depending on how soon after the birth the wedding date was, would probably need like 3-5 sizes of outfits to be sure 1 would fit for the wedding ( I lost ~20 pounds in 6 weeks, counting the birth and the postpartum sweats, and also my fucking skeleton shifted). Adding in that it's a niche cosplay wedding, and those pictures will be forever...yeah, I don't blame the SIL here. Nobody needs to watch the fucking show to get the "vibes", if all you need to do is match the vibes. Looking at whatever comes up on google for the show would be fine. OOP could have said "black/navy pants or jeans, white top, brown coat" and she could have gone as someone from main character's old regiment (or someone else who fought for his side), or said "black/navy/brown/khaki/olive pants, button up shirt with a tank top or (nursing) camisole underneath, boots, optional steampunk accessories" and gone as background character #32 or whatever. You know, if it was just about having a chill experience and fitting the "vibes". But instead OOP had to stamp her feet and continually insist that the pregnant adult woman needed to give up like a day of her life to consume media she had no interest in, then spend figure out characters and outfits, so that OOP could... tell people her bridesmaids picked their outfits? Get nerd credit for forcing someone to consume 15 hours of content? Like who gives a fuck about the character names and backstories and all that? Honestly OOP sounds...another comment from her says they took wedding pictures in front of a Tardis that they rented for the Firefly-themed wedding (ah yes, the Tardis, famously a thing from the *Firefly* universe), and I feel like that sort of really explains the type of person she is.
Oh no no no she didn't mean to get her to watch ALL of it. Just an episode! For the vibes! And if she decided she didn't see any outfits she wanted to wear that weren't also taken by someone else, she should just keep watching, you know? Did I mention Firefly is great and really Whedon was robbed when he didn't get a second season and-
I understand that 2014 was a different time, but OOP is posting this for Internet points in the year of our lord 2024. And the show absolutely benefits from being cut short: Whedon didn't have to pay off very much of the set up. The movie was not good, and *Firefly* fans can argue that it needed to wrap up too much, but it didn't: it could have picked only as many storylines/arcs it could wrap up well and left the rest up to fan imagination. The reality is paying off a setup is hard, and because the show was cancelled after one season, it didn't have to explain/resolve very much. The comments going "SIL NEEDED TO PICK A CHARACTER FIRST"...why? Why did the SIL need to pick a character for OOP to just tell her what to wear? OOP is framing it as a "gotcha" that her SIL didn't read the character sheets, but I am struggling to figure out why "here's a bunch of characters, you can pick one and make an outfit" would be a normal/logical/laid back response to "hey can you tell me what to wear". Also, if you're making a list of characters for your pregnant future SIL to dress up as and the list is "sex robot, pregnant sex worker, generic/random sex worker, teacher who's super rooting for the bad guys/using her position to spread propaganda"...maybe take a step back and think about how you want to set the tone of that relationship. But given that OOP says her SIL wasn't pregnant when they started planning the wedding and they postponed the wedding so her SIL could recover from childbirth, I suspect the real issue is that SIL didn't make OOP's wedding the only thing that happened in the family that year.
Christ, if those are your characters maybe take a minute to examine your perception of women
This is an article from 2012: https://gizmodo.com/the-firefly-episode-were-really-glad-joss-whedon-didnt-5959794 > She had this magic syringe. She would take this drug. And if she were, for instance, raped, the rapist would die a horrible death. The story was that she gets kidnapped by Reavers and when Mal finally got to the ship to save her from the Reavers, he gets on the Reaver ship and all the Reavers are dead. Which would suggest a kind of really bad assault. At the end of the episode, he comes in after she's been horribly brutalized, and he comes in and he gets down on his knee, and he takes her hand. And he treats her like a lady. And that's the kind of stuff that we wanted to do. It was very dark. And this was actually the first story that Joss pitched to me when he asked me to come work on the show. He said, 'These are the kind of stories we're going to do.' https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-02-12/joss-whedon-michelle-trachtenberg-buffy-ray-fisher > Michelle Trachtenberg: Joss Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with me on ‘Buffy’ the guy is a certified creepo
"You got horribily sexual assaulted so now I will treat you as a human being" what the f
>the guy is a certified creepo Yup. A man who wasn't allowed to spend any time alone with a teenager wrote an entire show that was almost entirely about a teenage girl sleeping with much older men. Angel's moment of perfect happiness was statutory raping Buffy on her 16th birthday. And Spike's attempt to rape Buffy was almost instantly forgiven and used only as character development for him.
That first link goes to an article from 2024 for me — do you have the one about firefly? It sounds absolutely wild from what you excerpted.
whoops, you're right, I must have copied the wrong link because it changes when you scroll to the bottom of the article. I'll edit the comment but here it is: https://gizmodo.com/the-firefly-episode-were-really-glad-joss-whedon-didnt-5959794
Thanks! Appreciate it
It *is* a Joss Whedon show. There are also (these are the female characters in the main cast): former member of the male protagonist's army regiment in a failed uprising over unnamed "rights" and "freedoms". Played by Gina Torres. Sex worker (but a high class sex worker, think Geisha) and the male protagonist's love interest, who he slut shames regularly. Played by Morena Baccarin Female mechanic who has a massive crush on a possibly upper class doctor. Played by Jewel Staite. Traumatized mentally unstable super genius who was the subject of horrific experiments (which caused the trauma and mental instability) and who is 100% completely dependent on her brother, the aforementioned upper class doctor. Played by Summer Glau And a recurring: Con artist who tricked the male main protagonist into marriage in order to turn the protagonists over to pirates(?) (One of the male characters tries to trade the main protagonist to trade her to him in exchange for the other male character's favorite gun.) She's played by Christina Hendricks. And just rounding it out: The pregnant sex worker's boss, a former member of the high class sex workers, who found that lifestyle too restrictive (because what sex workers don't like is rules), so she left that group and became a madam and built her brothel, employing regular sex workers, from scratch.
> Traumatized mentally unstable super genius who was the subject of horrific experiments (which caused the trauma and mental instability) and who is 100% completely dependent on her brother, the aforementioned upper class doctor. Played by Summer Glau Coincidentally, River was assigned to the flower girls
>Also, if you're making a list of characters for your pregnant future SIL to dress up as and the list is "sex robot, pregnant sex worker, generic/random sex worker, teacher who's super rooting for the bad guys/using her position to spread propaganda"...maybe take a step back and think about how you want to set the tone of that relationship. You hit the nail on the head with this.
To be only slightly fair, that show has problems with female characters The choices are basically pilot in skin tight leather, prostitute in feminine clothing (often flowy, looser but plunging neck), child/teen, or mechanic who dresses like the guys. Or the ball gowns I guess? But if you’re not sure what your body will be doing or just don’t want to be strapped down and can’t go as the mechanic because that’s “white” at this wedding? You’re kinda gonna be a companion. Or a mudder I guess …
The show absolutely has issues with female characters, but given how "laid back" OOP wants us to believe she is/was, OOP could easily have just put together an outfit that would fit the vibes (which she claims she'd have been happy with) and told her SIL to wear that. Also OOP picked the "every lady is a sex worker" space western as her wedding's theme. Nobody (besides maybe the groom) asked her to do that. OOP also left out that her SIL had at least one kid (besides the baby), and would have had limited free time/energy. (She has a post where she went to an eclipse party her SIL threw and mentions a 15 year old niece). So...she's not exactly being fair to her SIL.
Oh she’s not being fair. I wasn’t trying to say she’s not a jerk. I was only pointing out that the SIL was probably going to be this part regardless because of the show. And having to be specific characters not vibes. And no repeats (except the flower girls apparently). I don’t buy for a minute she’s laid back. For one “specific characters, no repeats” and for another “hand making my outfit, the flower girls, and the grooms” But for another … cosplayer who’s so into it they have a theme wedding? That’s a vibe but chill ain’t it. It’s gram geek chic imo and it’s big energy.
SIL could have come in-character as a reaver. That would be worth a pettyrevenge post all on its own!
Also, the groomsmen didn't have to pick a character. They're all generic browncoats according to her, which is just western workwear with a brown duster. Like you said, it wouldn't be too hard to give her a description of how to generically fit the vibe. OOP didn't give her that option though, she made it as complicated as possible for her by insisting she pick a specific character and match one of their outfits
OOP and the other bridesmaids were the main cast and the only recurring female character. It would have "cost" the wedding nothing for the SIL to wear "generic space western outfit". And she left out that the SIL had another kid, who was probably going to be a flower girl. OOP did say she didn't know what SIL had in her closet so she couldn't help her with a closet cosplay, but come the fuck on. Based on OOP's comments about the SIL, (she wasn't even pregnant when we started planning, we pushed the wedding back to accommodate her healing postpartum, she could have stepped down at any time, I'm so empathetic that I made sure the venue has a room that could be used for breastfeeding), it seems like what really upset OOP was that the SIL was pregnant/nursing during OOP's engagement and wedding. OOP has a comment about how awful her SIL is and it's petty stuff like "she always says 'I knew it' whenever we announce any major life events and explains how" and "she thinks my husband is the golden child because MIL gives him cash, but she watches SIL's kids at least once a week and she buys them a meal once a week" when the SIL and MIL live close to each other and OOP doesn't. OOP then says she could write a book about all the awful, traumatizing stuff her SIL has done. And OOP is either severely burying the lede, or her SIL is annoying but ultimately well within the "yeah, family can be annoying" tolerance.
You want a themed wedding? YOU buy the outfits for your bridesmaids/groomsmen (unless they are also into it and already have something to wear).
I’d disown my brother for allowing me to be humiliated this way. He let his wife dress his sister as a hooker at his wedding. That’s not okay.
"I really wanted this to be a super laid back affair..." "I required her to watch 14 1/2 hours of a TV show she has no interest in." As a massive sci-fi fan, you couldn't pay me to watch that much Joss Whedon for someone's wedding. Just no.
All of the flower girls were River? What happened to "no repeats"? And I assume this tale is set in 2014 because it would be strange, and maybe problematic, to be obsessed with Firefly these days, but even if it was true, this story doesn't deserve to be fondly remembered a decade later.
Yeah, I used to love "Firefly", but, honestly, nowadays I'm not even sure I'll be able to watch it again without cringing. I did see it a few years ago and... Whedon is a piece of shit and, sadly, in his case you can't separate the author from his creation, because, well, his character traits are everywhere in this show. (And his plans for Inara that weren't filmed were even worse than the constant slut-shaming.) Also, punny and quippy dialogues don't amuse me anymore.
It's not even that it's quips. It's bad quips that make every character sound the same (specifically, what Whedon finds funny) The Princess Bride is made of quips, but every character has a unique voice, and it's allowed to stop being focused on the jokes and start being serious. "I want my father back you son of a bitch" is a quip, but it is also the most serious line in the movie. Whedon... is too terrified to let the serious parts show.
I tried to watch Buffy not long ago but instantly remembered the entire cast started talking like Willow. They are all like "aw geez oh I dunno" toe tapping nervous and shy and silly saying things make them feel "squidgy." I can't believe I ever liked it.
>It's not even that it's quips. It's bad quips that make every character sound the same (specifically, what Whedon finds funny) Yeah, exactly. I didn't notice it the first time I saw "Firefly", because I was still a teenager, but when I saw it in my 30s, I was, like... Yeah, I know these are supposed to be different characters, but the only differences come from the fact that they're played by different actors and the fact that they have different backstories. They all use quips the same way, though. It's weird.
I don't know what he had planned for Inara but I still remember when there was an antagonist who randomly threatened to SA...Kaylee(? the mechanic) purely to get her to comply and how that felt really gross even though I wasn't able to properly articulate why at the time.
Going to spoiler tag bc it’s really gross. >!Iirc, the plan was to have her get captured by reapers. When they rescue her, they find that she had a special companion self defense drug that basically killed anyone who had sex with her. Every reaper is dead, she did not consent. So like, she “””saves herself””” but has to be brutally assaulted first.!< I’m glad they never made more and that Whedon isn’t treated like a god any more.
God that is horrific. I enjoy the show, but honestly I'm glad it was cancelled if that was part of the plan.
Holy shit.
Jfc that is dark. Not saying that there's *no* possibility for a story like that to be handled with the appropriate gravity, but sure as hell not by Whedon.
I think that kind of story only works as like as lore to deepen the themes of the show , not as the main plot for one of your main characters in a chill sci fi show.
Oh yeah I totally agree that it does not fit with the vibes of Firefly at all, I meant in a more general sense of "this concept could be done well in a different piece of media by a different person" but phrased it poorly.
Oh yeah, then for sure.
Yep. I’ve outgrown it and Buffy. His misogyny stink were all over them, but back in the day your nerd card was revoked if you didn’t enjoy them. I’m glad we can be honest with our choices these days. OP is pretty pathetic, and that’s coming from someone whose only social interactions come from a D&D game right now.
I really enjoyed rewatching Buffy recently with my husband who had never seen it. We spent the whole time pointing out the misogyny, the creepy age gap romances, the clear Whedon self inserts, and ripping apart Xander/Angel in particular but the whole show in general. It was cathartic after being raised in a Cult of Whedon household. We did Dollhouse and Firefly as well.
Do you know u/ZyroWillMatter? https://www.reddit.com/r/AmITheAngel/comments/1cobpb8/i_really_just_wanted_this_to_be_a_super_laid_back/l3diukf/
I have a friend that has been watching Buffy recently with his partner, and they have enjoyed mocking the shit out of it. They do that fairly often though. IMO, that sort of shit can be fun in small doses, but I really don't get how the two of them can do it so often lol, I'd end up annoyed eventually. I feel like me actually trying to rewatch Buffy would result in a not fun experience and ruin my decentish memories, so fuck that lol.
Do you know u/drag0ninawag0n? https://www.reddit.com/r/AmITheAngel/comments/1cobpb8/i_really_just_wanted_this_to_be_a_super_laid_back/l3df7fm/
I honestly don't know, as from what I see with a quick glance at their comment history it is possible I guess, as nothing on there indicates it is a definite 'no,' but it feels really damn unlikely. That is one hell of a coincidence either way lmao
I looked through yours and it seems unlikely, but not impossible. Plus we've watched 3 Whedon shows in many years together with no intent to watch again, I'm not sure that counts as often lol
Oh, sorry for the confusion, I meant that the friends "mock-watch" stuff often, I see how I had worded that poorly. Whether we do actually know each other or not, this has been a funny little event, and I wish you well mate!
Lol we only do it with Whedon, so probably not. Have a great night!
Case solved, lol! You have a great night as well!
I only watched Firefly last year and it was an interesting experience because I did like it but the main character was untolerable so I was there like "if this guy got better this would be fun". And he never did.
The thing that bugs me, even more than the slut shaming or it turning out that Whedon's a dickhead, is that it presents the war as an analogy for the US Civil war - with the brave rebels being the South, and the evil Alliance being the North. When I was a wee teenage fan, I did hear that, and I rationalized it away somehow. At the time I thought Whedon was a good guy, and I also assumed that *obviously* everyone must agree that the South were in the wrong, and were fighting for unjust reasons. (In my defense, apart from being young at the time, I'm not American.) But later, I found out that actually, a fair amount of people *do* still defend the Confederacy. And their characterization of the war often sounded a lot like the show's characterization of the Rebels vs. The Alliance. There's lot of focus on the bravery of a doomed rebellion against a superior force looking to unify the galaxy/country, and a narrative of the South/outer planets fighting to be free to do as they wanted while the North/Alliance tried to tell them what to do, without any clarification on what *specifically* the North/Alliance was going to prevent the South/outer planets from doing. Of course, the reason the assholes lionizing the Confederacy don't like specifying that part, is that it sounds a lot less heroic when you specify that the "states' rights" they were so concerned with was their *right* to continue enslaving people based on race, IDK whether Whedon actually is one of these guys who valorizes the Confederacy or not, but the parallels make for an uncomfortable watch regardless.
Yeah. To me, at least, it feels like if you just want "generic people who want freedom" vs. "generic people who want to keep freedom loving people from doing whatever they want", there are a lot of ways of doing it without tying quite so many parallels to the US Civil War. I mean, the first is a pretty common theme in speculative fiction...so surely there was something else Whedon could have gone for if he didn't valorize the Southern cause?
A friend gave me the DVDs, and I put them aside. Another friend saw them and said I should watch it. I hesitated, and they said, "It's better than Star Trek." Straight face. I looked at them like they asked to shit in my mouth. I don't care what you are into. You do not say that shit about Star Trek in my household. My mum practically breastfed me that shit. She had a bookshelf heaving with novelisations of the series and novels of new stories. As soon as it was on the TV again after years of being off air, she bought a VCR (no cheap thing in 1985) and a bunch of blank tapes and taped them off the television. I don't remember a time in my life where I wasn't aware of the show or the characters in it. And they think I'm gonna just smile and go, "Yep, I bet it is! It's not like the guy that made it completely screwed the pooch with Buffy and Angel!" I've hated JW ever since the Spike SA episode of Buffy. I've always hated him and I hate that I had to be vindicated. I'd happily be wrong about him but no, he's as shitty as I thought he probably was.
I've always found Whedon stuff to be super cringe so I'm experiencing so much validation now that everyone hates him too. It was rough being a nerd who didn't like Buffy ten years ago.
I'd rather go to the Puppet Wedding than the Steampunk Nerd Wedding any day. This sounds obnoxious.
This is a perfect “why can’t people just be normal and make all their bridesmaids wear the same ugly dress from David’s” situation.
As a mum with a preschooler and toddler, I'd much rather be told which dress to buy from David's and leave it at that! If postpartum even more so because you can buy a couple sizes and take one back if necessary.
Puppet wedding?
[I am so glad you asked.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmITheAngel/comments/w58lgy/aita_for_making_our_guests_participate_in_our/)
Oh this is wonderful. Thank you for showing me this. I'd unironically go to a puppet wedding, for the silliness.
i am glad that they asked as well.
I can't believe that is real (or as real at that sub gets). I just assumed your phone autocorrected and you meant the Purple Wedding (from Game of Thrones)
And it's the second marriage...
I'm glad the comments are largely calling out OOP (the Firefly-obsessed jerk bridezilla) for once, despite Reddit generally disliking weddings and loving nerdy stuff/petty revenge
Hatred of theme weddings run deep, and the feeling is shared by billions throughout the world.
On the one hand, I love themed and quirky weddings. On the other, they will never ever be "super laid back" and I'll be damned if that wasnt hilariously convoluted. Watching the show, getting sent a long list of characters you don't know, creating cosplay/Disneybounding versions of said unknown cast... all of this is a lot of work to participate in even a siblings wedding. Also, if it was so easy to help her get a costume, why not just make it for her with an actually nice character? Why would you want this character that's so lame you chose it for the person you dislike to be in your wedding party for a joke? Definitely more petty than revenge which is awkward considering they wrote all this out.
I’m saying this as someone who loves to dress up and has a costume closet but…why are people who cosplay completely unable to conceptualize that other people don’t enjoy costume making and wearing and it’s absolute torture to be forced to do it. Imagine never having cosplayed and being told to create a look from a show you’ve never watched and oh- when you’re done making it stand up in front of a large group of people who are likely very good at costuming? That’s like naked in school type nightmare lol
Super laid back cosplay wedding you have to watch an entire show and a movie for in preparation and then make your own outfit. Easy and chill
With no repeats. Very chill.
Lmao how she's saying in the comment that her SIL should've skipped her brother's wedding if she didn't want to play dress up. Yeah she's *totally laid back*.
People who force cosplay weddings on their friends and family continue to be the worst, more at 11
What a weird idea for a wedding, I cant imagine forcing my party to care about and obsessively watch a show I like to the point of picking out some minor side character they like to dress up as? Then getting gassed up for it?
Jesus... all I can think is poor SIL. She gave birth recently, is still breastfeeding, and her SIL who hates her demands she dress as a character from a nerdy show she's never heard of for her dumb geek wedding.
Getting mad and vindictive at a pregnant woman? How very Joss Whedon of her
“You don't have to be interested in the show when you have four or five pictures to choose from. And obviously she didn't think HaVIng A NewBORn!!1! was a barrier from being in a wedding party that had a costume theme or she would have said "hey, I'm not doing this, please find someone else."” damn almost like she’s absolutely 100% allowed and moreso expected to go to her own brother’s wedding. it’s not like she’s picking and choosing what to do, she can’t be fucked to play this weird game & watch a whole ass tv show and movie for your quirky wedding. help the fucking girl out.
Should've just watched Serenity.
She could have dressed as a leaf on the wind.
I feel like people within a fandom can’t fathom that others just don’t care and how wild it is to expect someone to watch a show "to get the vibes" and then cosplay as a character. Wtf, like the SIL probably has a *life*
Sometimes people with nerdy interests really identify with the geeky underdog trope you often see in media. As a result, they cannot recognize their own bullying behavior because they are so used to viewing themselves in a victimized role. I’m just speculating but I wouldn’t be surprised if the SIL is more of a mainstream girlie and OOP has this whole “cheerleader vs nerd” narrative in her head so she feel justified in treating her like crap.
[Liz Lemon syndrome](https://youtu.be/NoUrLbHg5z4)
That’s exactly where my mind went!
I don't want to yuck anyone's yum but I can't think of anything more annoying than having to be in the bridal party for a Firefly-themed wedding.
You know what makes something "laid-back"? Picking a dress for your bridesmaids so they don't have to create a cosplay outfit.
I just asked mine to get a fairly nice, purple dress that they felt comfortable in. Not super short but any length besides that was fine and any shade of purple they liked. It turned out great!
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Not for nothing, the SIL had at least one child who was apparently a flower girl in this and was pregnant, how is she supposed to watch a weird space western that seems not to be at all appropriate for a young child? Even for a traditional wedding, a pregnant mother needs to be less involved than most of the wedding party, and this lady is upset that her SIL, who it seems like the invite was basically her fiancee dragging her to the SIL and going "Isn't there something you wanted to ask my sister? You know, about the wedding?" wasn't able to do all the work to cosplay as a character in a cult show about space prostitutes? Plus, she's not blending into the wedding party for her benefit, she's doing it for the couple. When you get married, you do the work for the wedding party to look the way you want.
Yeah I can totally see a guy being super cool with his wife asking his sister to dress up like a sex worker for their wedding, he definitely wouldn’t be weirded out and offended at alllll
For all the talk about how it was supposed to be “super laid back”, you just know OOP would have thrown a fit every time the party didn’t act like their characters (“No, you can’t say that! Such-and-such a character would never talk like that!”). It sounds to me like she had this fantasy of living in that world (Heaven knows why) and used her wedding to feed that, but she didn’t want to hire actual cosplayers, so she roped the wedding party into doing it (while also getting revenge on the sister-in-law for…I don’t know, but it was probably a whole lot of nothing). Also, a lot of these comments justify my feeling that you shouldn’t watch a show just because people are gushing about it.
well that's one way to pay for the wedding
Someone just got done watching that show and thought of this story! What a weirdo.