Monday, August 16, 2010
The Man They Called Jayne...Or, in This Case, Steven Slater
But, for the one or two of you that aren't familiar, he's the flight attendant that went all crazy on a passenger and decided to be all dramatic about it. Emergency-exit-slide-and-a-cold-one style.
And now he's got a Facebook page, a cult following, and probably a book/movie deal in the works.
Oh, and he apparently wants to keep his job.
I would SO fly Jet Blue just for the chance of a run in with this guy. I am not kidding.
Anyway, the other day I heard someone on the "news" refer to Steven Slater as a folk hero. Which got me to thinking of another "folk hero."
Jayne Cobb.
Woah. What? You don't know Jayne Cobb?
In that case, I demand that you finish reading this post, leave a comment, and then immediately head over to Netflix, add Firefly to your queue and bump it right up to the top.
And if you don't know about Firefly...well...that's probably because it was cancelled before its time in the most egregious of bad Fox network decisions. Followed closely by the very possibility that they would consider putting Jennifer Lopez anywhere near my television screen.
Another reason to watch? You'll finally understand those "Space Cowboy" jokes on Castle.
But that's totally beside the point.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah. Jayne.
Basically, Jayne is this tough brute with a sordid past and a love of guns and violence. Which is only part of why he's completely awesome. And why he is so useful on a cargo ship that happens to dabble in questionable freight.
In my very favorite of the only 14 episodes, "Jaynestown," our beloved crew of smugglers has business on a small planet where Jayne was once involved in a heist-gone-awry. To make a long and confusing story short-ish, he and his friends end up having business there and he tries to disguise himself so that he won't get arrested or killed.
Only, when they arrive at the settlement, something really strange happens.
There's a statue in the middle of town. Of Jayne Cobb.
And when they head over to the local tavern to wait for their contact, a folk singer with a guitar starts singing a song and is immediately joined in by a rowdy crowd of bar patrons as they belt out a chorus about "the Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne."
Which prompts one of my favorite lines in the history of television: "This is what going mad feels like."
Anywho. It turns out that Jayne, fresh off a lucrative heist, was making his daring getaway with a crate of loot and his partner, but his aircraft started losing altitude and first he dumped his partner. And then the loot.
Only, the townsfolk think he's Robin Hood and that he robbed from the rich to give to the poor.
And thus, a folk hero was born.
Eventually, the townspeople learn what really happened, but that doesn't stop them from deciding they prefer their version of history.
And so it is with our newest "folk hero," Steven Slater.
When I first heard the story, I thought two things:
a) I SO wish I was on that plane because oh my gosh how hilarious is that?
2) I used to DREAM of quitting a job in such a spectacular way. (Not my CURRENT job, of course.) And this guy went and did it.
I'll admit. I joined in the craze. And by "craze" I mean "facebook fan page." And I spent all week talking about it. And found myself plotting with co-workers about ways we could totally quit our job but never would because, hello, we actually like our jobs.
And then something really bizarre happened.
The "truth" started to come out.
Like, as in, maybe some of that hero stuff was a little bit...premature. Maybe.
I know. Gasp! Shock! The horror!
It seems that our Steven Slater is a bit of a drama queen. That whole luggage-dropped-on-his-head bit? Happened at the beginning of the flight and then he allegedly walked around with a bloody head wound.
Um. Gross.
And, of course, there are lots more questions, too. Like whether the woman was actually rude during the whole flight. He says yes. All the other passengers around say notsomuch.
I dunno.
Personally, I liked the whole story a lot better when he was a friendly flight attendant who'd just plain had enough of rude passengers and getting hit with baggage from the overhead bin and people not following instructions and finally snapped and decided to quit his job in the coolest way he could think of.
Yeah. I like that story way better.
But, just to be clear on one thing. Jayne Cobb is way more awesome and would beat up Steven Slater any day.
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"You know what they say. If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me."
~Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias