From: "Jenny Kaye" jennycat55@hotmail.com
Carol Hondo wrote
At 10:37 30/03/01, you wrote:
Carol wrote:
Is everyone as grateful as you, that is the point?
IMHO, in a word, YES!!!!!
Oh well, if you want to look at porn, however unethically and
hurtfully
produced, then I'm not one to stop you.
Shane
"You're pathetic!" --Blake
"I seldom comment on other people's ethics." - Avon
Sorry, couldn't resist, as soon as I read this reply to my post, this scene from Aftermath sprung to mind :-)
Considering who said that, and what happened to him, and what happened to the man he was talking to, that's ironic.
Jenny
Let's deconstruct that scene from Aftermath, in view of this remark.
In this scene, Dayna is arguing with her father. He won't let her use fatal weapons against the Sarren; she points out that they have been designing weaponry intended to kill, and asks what the point is of making such weaponry and not using it, effectively accusing her father of being a hypocrite. She appeals to Avon for support, and he says "I seldom comment on other people's ethics"-- meaning not that he has not *formed* an opinion of Mellanby's ethics, but that he is not going to comment on whether or not Mellanby's decision is hypocritical-- a wise decision, since at the moment he is dependant on Mellanby for food and shelter.
Later on, however, we learn a bit more about Mellanby's ethics. Mellanby led a revolt which took the Federation three weeks to suppress; his wife and friends died in the process. He survived, it is not clear how, other than that he had "a chance of saving Dayna" and took it-- and that Servalan asks him whether he feels guilty. Servalan would not say this had she not believed that this remark would hit home, all of which imply that there could be something ethically suspect in his having survived-- his attempt to justify this in terms of saving his daughter rings a bit hollow, considering that he was apparently well prepared to sacrifice the rest of his family in the revolt. In addition, Servalan calls him a coward; this term has a double meaning for the viewer, as it could refer not only to his sacrifice of the rest of the group, but his failure to face up to his actions later.
One might also ask, like Dayna, just what Mellanby thinks he is doing making weapons of destruction at all. Why not confine himself to nonfatal weaponry, or turn his talents to something less destructive? If Mellanby thinks he can control the release of the weaponry; he is kidding himself; he can't even stop his daughter running riot with a bow and arrow (and killing quite a number of people in the process). What is he going to do-- hand out his armoury saying "don't use this to kill anyone unless your own life is threatened," to every person who takes a gun? You can imagine what their response would be: both barrels. After all, when Mellanby it is killed, it is with one of his own guns--and due to him having turned away from his enemy. Furthermore, when he realises that he is now free to leave the place where he has been in exile for fifteen years, he can't think of any place to go--which begs the question of what he has been doing all these years. Passively sitting around raising his daughters, tinkering with guns and failing to come to terms with the past? Certainly not thinking about the future, of how to carry on what he has begun, and not even, apparently, considering the possibility that he might have another chance someday. Doesn't speak well of him as a member of the resistance, it must be said.
So when Avon remarks that he never comments on anyone's ethics, the comment is made by this very exclusion. Mellanby's ethics may seem to be pure, selfless and pacifist-- but this obscures the fact that Mellanby's actions betray his selfless and pacifist line. Later on, Avon's cold remark upon Mellanby's death--"He got away from here after all"--passes final judgement on Mellanby's actions. Avon may not directly call Mellanby a hypocrite, but through the course of the episode, his actions speak louder than Avon's words.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Running guns to the rebels at http://nyder.r67.net
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