Let's Play A Game.

Where does the following. Bolt into the final draft of my Super Bowl LV coverage?

"Discussion of America's western expansion also seems to reference Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Specifically Season 4, Episode 8; "Pangs."

There's something of a tradition in US TV Shows that they do special episodes for the big winter holidays. Such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It was in Season 4 that Buffy the Vampire Slayer finally bowed to this pressure. However it decided to do a very different type of Thanksgiving episode.

It begins with the unearthing of a Christian Mission for Native Americans. This releases the spirits of the Native Americans who were horribly mistreated by the Missionaries.

Those spirits then take revenge. Killing people in the way they were mistreated. The Xander character is smited with all the diseases White Colonialists brought with them. Such as Smallpox and Syphillis. Particularly Syphillis.

The Native American tribe featured is the Chumash. A real Native American tribe. Over its course the episode looks at the real history of the tribe. Along with the way they were really mistreated by Missionaries and others.

Of course nowadays discussion of this real history of Thanksgiving is common place in America. With "Woke" mobs demanding the whole holiday be cancelled. Along with Colombus Day and any other example of; "White Supremacy."

However I think that back in 1999 this episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was rather revolutionary. Forcing that, then rarely mentioned, real history of Thanksgiving onto network TV.

Not only that it also looks at the best way to discuss that troubling history. Bringing it to view from beneath all the whitewashing.

The Willow character's mother is some sort of liberal college professor. Who is notable only by her absence. Very much part of the Woke mob there are jokes about her ranting about Critical Race and Gender theories in response to kid's TV shows. Like Charlie Brown.

As soon as the mission is unearthed the Willow character launches into one of those Woke rants about Thanksgiving. As the other characters just stare at her, she apologises for channelling her mother.

The episode then goes on to make many of those exact same points. But in a much more fun, accessible and engaging way.

The episode also muses on how to deal with the crimes of the past. 

After the Willow character discovers how the Chumash were treated she argues that they're entitled to their revenge. While the Syphillis ridden Xander is much less keen on the idea. After all he didn't actually mistreat the Chumash.

The show also looks at the "Western" genre of movies. Often centred around heroic Cowboys defeating evil Indians this isn't a genre that is particularly well loved by the Native American population.

The Pre-Game Show and Half-Time Show portions of the Super Bowl lasted for about 40 minutes in total. This Thanksgiving episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer also lasted for about 40 minutes. So disecting it is really a seperate task of its own.

However the references to Western movies were made in this context of bringing this troubling history to light. So I think the intent was to take a critical look at Western movies rather than to simply celebrate them.

In the spirit of being fun and accessible. At one point one of the characters says something along the lines of;

"This isn't a Western. This isn't the Alamo. The cavalry aren't suddenly going to ride to the rescue."

Then some of the characters leave. Only to rush back to the apartment as it comes under attack. Riding to the rescue. On bicylces rather than horses.
 
This episode also seems to be where the idea for; "Firefly" was born. Joss Whedon's next project. Which was spread out over fourteen 40 minutes episodes and a two hour movie.

Firefly is probably unique in the genre of; "Space Western." It does seem to be Whedon's further exploration of the genre.

I can't say that I'm any sort of fan of Westerns. I think the only one I've seen is; "Carry On Cowboy." Which probably doesn't count.

However they seem to have a recurring theme of teaching boys to become men.

So they have a clear moral code. The old joke being that in Westerns the bad guy is the cowboy in the black hat. While the good guy is the cowboy in the white hat.

This has long being used in computer programming. Particularly cybersecurity. Where "Black Hat" hackers are malicious. While "White Hat" hackers test systems to keep the bad guys out. Malicious code gets added to a; "Black List" which is blocked.

Amid the madness of 2020 Tech companies found themselves engulfed in this argument. Over whether they should retire such terms.

In case any non-White employees find them too traumatic to cope with. As if the Pacific North-West's long history of White Flight and Ethnic Cleansing would actually let any non-White people in to begin with.

This being the Super Bowl. With it's links to Tom Brady and the New Patriots. It's not a huge leap from there to the March 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Which I certainly remember from Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour.

That saw police search for two suspects. One in a white hat. The other in a black hat.

I've yet to recover the emotional energy to watch the 2016 movie; "Patriots Day." The livestream was exhausting enough.

I think one of the actors most synonomous with the Western genre is Clint Eastwood. He really examined the genre's theme of teaching boys to become men in the 2008 movie; "Grand Torino."

Firefly seems very focused on teaching the young to become adults in the digital age.

It really throws at the viewer every psychological trick and manipulation that filmakers can legally use on TV. There are plenty you can't even legally use in movies. As the people at Guantanamo Bay will tell you.

However it does it such a way as to reveal the trick. Sort of like an older sibling would do after they've played a prank on you.

The central premise is this Firefly class ship named; "Serenity." It's Captain and First Officers now run smuggling operations having fought alongside each other in a successionist, almost civil war.

The successionist side are known as the; "Brown Coats." Alongside the general Western theme this could be interpreted as a racist celebration of the Confederacy. It is certainly not a show that is afraid of playing tricks on your mind.

However the First Officer is played by Gina Torres. One of the few Black actresses who, in 2002, was secure enough in her career not to have to put up with this crap.

It is also very clearly not about the US Civil War. It is set in the future and in outer space for starters.

The Federation the Brown Coats rebelled against was a planet Earth. In which the US and China had united as a single, global nation. Which then went out to colonise other planets.

An evil Empire that grooms children from birth. To become telepathic weapons of mass destruction. Regardless of the psychological damage they might inflict on the test subjects.

It is a metaphor for the recurring theme within economic Globalisation. Between Libertarian Capitalism, the Brown Coats and Totalitarian Capitalism, the Federation.

Sadly this fiction seems to be coming truer every day. Particularly with the US Democrat & Republicans seeming to unite as a single party. Against President Trump and his band of rebels.

Needless to say the corporate networks shut Firefly down almost immediately. Long before I think anyone had even figured out the "Reavers/Uighurs" reference."