Characterization issues - Inara

POSTED BY: AgentRouka
UPDATED: Saturday, January 3, 2009 04:37
VIEWED: 9682
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My biggest problem with Inara's characterization is when people feel compelled to turn her into a wailing fish-wife (a point I'm sure has been brought up millions of times). I've seen this usually take place in fics where Mal is paired with another crew member. Inara was a strong character, IMO, and it does her a huge disservice to portray her in this way.

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"This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

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Originally posted by AgentRouka:
Oh, hi! *G*

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Hi! *waves*

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Just to that bit there: How much, do you think, does her Buddhist faith figure into that reserved, calm behavior? Does it, at all?

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Hmmm... I know nothing of Buddhism, and I'm not a religious person myself. I guess I've assumed that her faith just gives the Guild an exotic flavor and makes for pretty sets and stuff. I hadn't thought about how Inara's traits could be based in religious beliefs...

Someone should write a fic about that. It seems reasonable, and I'd like to learn something about Buddhism.

As for my take, I see her reserve as something intentionally designed to appeal to clients. I mean, the thing I like about this whole idea of the Guild and Companions is that they aren't just selling sex, and they are truly proud of what they do. (Which is why I, like others above, don't like the Inara is secretly ashamed and just waiting for Mal to love her and take her away from all this storyline.) A Companion serves as almost a sage, a guide, a therapist even. Inara brings a boy to manhood and comforts a woman who feels trapped in a man's world. (Ath doesn't really count - he was clearly a bad choice!)

So I think of Inara as someone who's always had a kind of maternal skill with people, but didn't want or couldn't have a family of her own. Joining the Guild enabled her to play the role of nurturer, to have deeply personal interactions with people in a controlled, safe way. And it comes with a pretty swank lifestyle, which I don't think she minds. She's not stupid.

Honestly, I can't divide how much of this is canon and how much I've made up for myself. Like you, AR, I've created my own image of Inara. I suppose we have to, since we know so little about her.

EDIT: Wytchcroft - I agree that there just has to be male Companions. I don't like gender un-balance in Joss's world!

Re the bland - NOW I don't think she's bland, but the first few times watching the series I did. I mean only to explain why people who aren't as obsessed as us writers might not like her. Well... I do still find her character less entertaining than the rest, but I think that would have changed when her depth was put out there for us, instead of hinted at. And I think Morena has a whole lotta range that she never got to show us.

CURSE FOX!!!

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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Originally posted by mal4prez:

...A Companion serves as almost a sage, a guide, a therapist even. Inara brings a boy to manhood and comforts a woman who feels trapped in a man's world. (Ath doesn't really count - he was clearly a bad choice!)

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I completely agree with your assessment of the Companion profession. To me, being a Companion is about art, beauty, and pleasure. Companions are not prostitutes in the sense that they fulfill sexual urges but they provide a beautiful pleasurable experience that satisfies the mind as well as the body.

The Core planets are the height of enlightenment. It seems to me that attitudes toward sex would have progressed to the point that Inara probably never even heard the word "whore" until she left Sihnon. BTW, I HATE that word and I cringe every time Mal says it. (Yet I still love him!)

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Originally posted by Charlotte:



To me, being a Companion is about art, beauty, and pleasure. Companions are not prostitutes in the sense that they fulfill sexual urges but they provide a beautiful pleasurable experience that satisfies the mind as well as the body.

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agreed in principle - certainly we have evidence of Inara's refinements but i think it would depend very much on the client as to the nature of the experience. And those we see with inara (in firefly) are poles apart from each other.

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The Core planets are the height of enlightenment.

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this can be argued against - see the 'actually - yes... where are the women in the Alliance? i could've sworn i saw some but when i looked at firefly again....' posts of a while ago!:)

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It seems to me that attitudes toward sex would have progressed to the point that Inara probably never even heard the word "whore" until she left Sihnon.

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or had been taught to reclaim it???

BTW, I HATE that word and I cringe every time Mal says it. (Yet I still love him!)

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Absofrackinglutely!:)

And coming from he who was Caleb... shudders...

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Coming back to the issue of... Is the Guild completely good or is it (potentially) an oppressive institution...

I enjoy seeing it portrayed both ways - depending on the fic.

We really don't know enough about it to say either way. Like any large, powerful institution, I think the Guild could be realistically portrayed as both.

Inara is obviously a shining example of everything good about the Guild. But the whole implied "shunning" of ex-Companions leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Also, while I understand that intensive training might be necessary, the idea of a child being put through rigorous training like that makes me sad. I wonder about all the things Inara might have missed out on.

Now onto the sex for money issue...

I should state that I believe a person's body is her own to do with what she pleases, and I am intrigued with the notion of Inara's role as a therapist. I found the Fess Higgins storyline in "Jaynestown" to be sweet and uplifting.

But in contrast, let's look at "Shindig" and Atherton Wing. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of Inara's clients are like him. Perhaps they don't resort to the violence and overt chauvenistic attitude that he does - but men are men.

Some things to discuss:

Can one pay or receive payment for something intimate like sex and not cheapen it or devalue it in the process?

Does the sex mean the same thing to Inara as it does to her clients?

If Inara continued to take clients while she was with Mal, would that devalue the intimacy that they share? Would it be a betrayal?

While I admire the ideas behind "Companioning", I keep coming back to what Mal said in "Our Mrs. Reynolds": "She's a human woman. She's not to be borrowed, nor lent, nor bartered." Or... something like that.

The issue confuzzles me. But it is fascinating.

So. Um... back to the main topic - if it's well-written, if it's plausible, if Inara sounds like a grown-up and not a moony teenager, there's room to explore. It's all about the ability of the writer to pull it off and make it believable.



"Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach one thousand years of masculine ineptitude? Why do you think there are so few women historians? I'll tell you why. Because history is not such a frolic for women as it is for men... History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. History is women following behind with a bucket and a mop." - Alan Bennett, "The History Boys"

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Originally posted by EmpireX:

Some things to discuss:

Can one pay or receive payment for something intimate like sex and not cheapen it or devalue it in the process?

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everything of value can be exchanged...
and every exchange can have value.

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