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The following is the theoretical component I submitted along with my creative piece (Red Herring). Both were created for my Controversies in Feminism class. Both works focus on Inara Serra and her depiction as a Companion and sex-worker. * * * * The Firefly phenomenon is an interesting one. How often does a canceled television program (which didn’t even finish its first season) sell millions of DVD’s and get turned into a major motion picture? My answer to this is character. The distinct strength and qualities of Joss Whedon’s nine main cast members are the essence of true character. Nine people and the events that lead them to the tenth character Serenity, make for truly original television. Dry-wit, intensely dark at times and a recurring theme of loyalty create a specific vision, which Whedon is now infamous for. Described by some as a space-western, Firefly explored Whedon’s vision of the future. Colonized, yet dispersed in more ways then one. I decided to focus on the character of Inara Serra for several reasons. First, in the future, if you’re a registered Companion your work is legal. Whedon makes a distinction between Companion’s and “common whores” – that distinction being an official license. Second, even though Serenity is crewed by noble war veterans, a preacher and a genius surgeon, Inara’s work as a Companion is what opens the most doors for the ship, granting her the nickname of the “ambassador”. Third, throughout the first and only season of Firefly, thick tension is evident between Mal and Inara. He has obvious issue with her “whore’n.” Inara’s main rebuttal is that of: “You have no call to try to make me ashamed of my job, what I do is legal.” Lastly, the issues generally surrounding Inara and her work as a Companion echo many of the sentiments of today. Whether Mal or Book, the conversations had on Firefly divulge interesting links that can be made to contemporary discourse surrounding sex-work. It’s been suggested that Inara Serra’s character is based on courtesans and geishas. A courtesan is defined as a prostitute with a wealthy upper-class clientele, and a geisha is trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song. But as Whedon’s work often does, subtext makes for a polysemic reading of Inara. As put by Joy Davidson: As much as Inara reflects the past, she is equally a contemporary Everywoman, or, more accurately, Everywhore: liberalism’s enterprising dream-girl, radical-feminism’s oppressed victim, the conservative right’s sinful temptress. . .and let’s not forget, popular culture’s love-struck intimacy-phobic, “I-gotta-be-free” girl, too. To any viewer watching Firefly, Inara can be any one, or all of these things. All of these views are also mirrored in her relationships with the crew of Serenity. Mal see’s her as an oppressed victim, “ . . . you think following rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave.” Books initial presence was encountered by “Have you come to lecture me on the wickedness of my ways?” Which immediately integrated the reality of biblical whoredom. One relationship that is not displayed in Davidson’s work is the relationship she has with Kaylee, one of admiration and even encouragement, which is evident throughout the series. One particular example ends in Kaylee saluting Inara with the send-off: “Have good sex!” This example is one I would refer to as being sex-positive. Besides Kaylee the only other reference to a sex-positive existence is by Inara in encountering Mal after he’s had sex with Nandi—an old friend of Inara’s, “One of the virtues of not being puritanical about sex is not being embarrassed afterwards,” she says. In the episode War Stories with the Councilor, and with Fess in Jaynestown, we see part of Inara’s craft as a Companion, which seems somewhat like the work of a therapist. The Councilor voices that her stress is about all the expectations put upon her, especially as a woman in a man’s world. For Fess it’s about his fathers expectations of what makes a man. In both th

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Even though legality is a recurring theme in the banter between Inara and Mal, legality takes a back seat to issues of morality. This is made evident in their constant bickering over a Companions work being legal, and Mal’s work being illegal (smuggling). In saying this, Inara usually solicits a response indicatively revolving around issues of morality or virtue. Such as: Inara Serra: ?You have no call to try to make me ashamed of my job. What I do is legal, and how is that smuggling coming? Malcolm Reynolds: My work's illegal, but it's honest. A current theme throughout the series is Malcolm’s obvious disdain for Inara’s job, but as he makes a point of clarifying, not for Inara herself. He respects her, but not what she does. He makes this clear in Shindig, an episode revolving around Inara’s work as a Companion. In this scene Inara teaches Mal how to use a sword: Inara Serra: . . .You don't need strength as much as speed. We're fragile creatures. It takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin. Malcolm Reynolds: You know that? They teach you that at whore academy? Inara Serra: You have a strange sense of nobility, Captain. You'll lay a man out for Implying I'm a whore, but you keep calling me one to my face. Malcolm Reynolds: I might not show respect to your job, but he didn't respect you. That’s the difference. Inara, he doesn’t even see you. This is an important power dynamic, since as Robert Taylor points out, “Inara, a prostitute, has to instruct Mal, a respected war veteran, on how to properly wage battle . . .” And in this moment of dependence on Inara’s skills, Mal is quick to usurp that power by criticizing the method (or career) through which she came to hold such knowledge (and power). Whether Malcolm’s arguments hold any clout depends on whether or not his intentions towards Inara are to be taken into consideration. Throughout the series romantic tensions between Inara and Malcolm were made evident, making it seem that Mal’s attacks on Inara’s profession had less to do with the job itself and more to do with his affections for her. If Mal’s view were to be taken as objective, his arguments would ring true to a Radical Feminist such as Kathleen Barry. Where Inara says being a Companion is a profession, Mal views her as an oppressed victim unaware of her plight. As Barry would say, “prostitution with or without a woman’s consent is the institutional, economic, and sexual model for women’s oppression.” Barry’s rebuttal against the notion of choice is that what we perceive as choice is really “the form of forcing distinctions between what are essentially non-choices.” And that “appearing to choose is an element of survival,” and that this use of the word “to choose simply means to act . . .. And so women become engaged in establishing the terms of their own commodification.” Which Mal mirrors by stating, “ . . .you think following rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave.” Barry concludes that, “although often represented as sexually liberating, prostitution, fitted to male customer expectations, is a reactionary, regressive, and repressive sexual act.” Barry also makes the essentialist assumption that all clients are male. In the context of Whedon’s view of a totalitarian Alliance regime, few occupations seem to fall outside of the definition of “reactionary, regressive and repressive.” This is evident in Jaynestown, where the “mudders” are depicted as slave labor, and in Shindig where in the opening scene Mal pickpockets from an admitted slave-trader. Even workers who are not considered “slaves” are depicted to be live and work in poor conditions, such as the minors in The Train Job (who are all sick with Bowden’s – a lung disease), and the villagers in Safe, who need a Doctor so badly, they resort to kidnapping. Not to mention the numerous towns, villages, and colony’s shown to be surviving on the barest necessities. In the end Mal responds to Inara’s independence and strength. These two characteristics are most likely what drew

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If Inara were the “oppressed victim” both Kathleen Barry and Malcolm Reynolds make her out to be, her realization of his feelings for her could be seen as a possible “out”. And as an “out” she could end her career as a Companion and join the crew of Serenity (as she had in Trash). But, instead Inara sees her relationship with Mal as detrimental to her career, and chooses to leave him behind in order to move forward with work. Her leaving makes for an interesting cut to Malcolm Reynolds ego, in that he assumed his feeling for her would be reason enough to leave her career (and life long training) behind. Whether or not she is truly free is another question. Then again, whether or not any character on Firefly is free is an equally valid question. As put by Mercedes Lackey “she is clearly someone who is near the top rank of that profession. She can go where she chooses and select her clients herself. She is only with Serenity because she wishes to be. Surely of all the crew, she is the one with most real freedom, is she not?” Lackey makes a distinction on the importance of the legality of Inara’s work, and how important it is to said freedom: Her freedom is as thin as the piece of paper her license is printed on. Without it, she’s no longer respected or respectable; she goes from being a sought-after professional to nothing but a lovely and exquisitely trained whore. In Heart of Gold Inara makes that distinction herself when discussing an old friend Nandi who’s in need of assistance: Inara Serra: ?They're not companions. They're whores, Mal. Malcolm Reynolds:?Thought you didn't much care for that word? Inara Serra:?It applies. None who work for Nandi?are registered with the Guild .?. . They're – Malcolm Reynolds: --independent? So it seems Inara herself places the value of her license and the training and certification it represents. In this same example, we see that Malcolm puts the emphasis on the notion of independence. Nandi explains the previous state of the Heart Of Gold ranch and why she left the security of the Guild: Nandi: . . . it occurred to me that a companion's life might just be a little too constricting. So I trucked out to the border, learned to say "ain't" and came to find work. Found this place. Malcolm Reynolds: It's a nice place. Nandi: It was a dung heap. Run by a pig who had half the girls strung out on drops. There's no Guild out here; they let men run the houses, and they don’t ask for references. We didn’t get along. The general consensus of Wendy Chapkis’ article was that “the fewer options you have, the more control you lose.” But in Inara’s case, her access to Serenity and its crew, to her own shuttle, to her client registry and to the protection and guidance of The Guild give her many choices. In Nandi’s case, as an independent navigating the law of her specific planet, as well as the social relations and economic realities—not to mention the added threats of pimps and drug abuse—made for a riskier acquisition of power. Unfortunately, the real questions are those that will most likely go unanswered. What was in the syringe Inara had in the pilot, Serenity? Why did she leave Sihnon (her home planet)? Overall, Inara is portrayed throughout the Firefly series as strong, intelligent and independent, regardless of her work as a sex-worker. Throughout the series the major highlighting of her career and issues of morality and legality were in the context of conversations with Malcolm Reynolds. As such, these conversations were also highly loaded with romantic tension and jealousy. When Inara’s role as “ambassador” is viewed without considering Malcolm Reynolds, her job is seen in a completely different light. Oddly enough in subtracting Malcolm Reynolds from the equation Inara’s work seems considerably less problematic. Then again, Inara thought so too.

LIMINALOSITY

What can you say about someone who chooses to walk through fire with you? There are all sorts of ways to be heroic, and all sorts of heros; reluctant, arrogant, accidental, professional or terrified, but the most amazing kind of hero is the one for whom courage comes so naturally he doesn’t even really notice he’s heroic, he’s just doing what he thinks of as the regular old right thing that starts at the beginning of the day.

MRSMAL1

new person here, saying hi to eveyone nothing much to talk about yet..

JOSSISAGOD

I found a Browncoat in my, The Information Age: Emerging Technologies class a few days ago, and I didn't even have to convert them:biggrin:! Now I have some one close to home I can talk Firefly/Serenity with!