Inara's Shame

POSTED BY: Iremist
UPDATED: Friday, May 23, 2008 17:39
VIEWED: 7061
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IREMIST

Friday, May 16, 2008 6:15 PM

Watchin' Shindig on the Sci-Fi marathon just now, and I had a thought. Don't quite know if it's been posted, but in my defence I tried Google-ing it...

Anyway it's when Mal says "Guess I shoulda stayed out of your world"

And Inara says "MY world- If it is that..."

Well, my thought is that maybe Inara comes from the peasant class. Like maybe her Momma pulled a "Fancy" like Reba McEntire's song.
Always hiding who she was and she never said anything about her family. Could explain why she is more comfortable on a ship with other lowbrows
and why she sometimes "dresses down" a little.
And why she was friends with Nandi even though Nandi clearly wasn't high class for a Companion. Could be one thing she's runnin' from

Well, that's my thought of the day (ya, I only get one!)... And I appologize if it's been said before, but we got newbies a plenty who may have thoughts....

DAVESHAYNE

Friday, May 16, 2008 7:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Iremist:
Well, my thought is that maybe Inara comes from the peasant class. Like maybe her Momma pulled a "Fancy" like Reba McEntire's song.
Always hiding who she was and she never said anything about her family. Could explain why she is more comfortable on a ship with other lowbrows
and why she sometimes "dresses down" a little.
And why she was friends with Nandi even though Nandi clearly wasn't high class for a Companion. Could be one thing she's runnin' from

Well this is a new theory to me. I expect it's flat out wrong but it is new. Inara is a companion. That makes her defacto about the highest class there is in the 'Verse. Even so I never get the feeling that there is any shame attached to 'Nara's situation. She is certainly running from something but I get the feeling it has more to do with the mysterious vial (and all that suggests) than some embarrassment at being born in the servants quarters. I don't recall Inara ever dressing down particularly she very much brings her elegance with her wherever she goes, even to the dirtier corners of the 'Verse. Also Nandi purposefully roughed her image up to fit in on the rim. "So I trucked out to the border and learned to say ain't" One assumes that she held herself in quite the same fashion as the rest of the women in House Madrassa before she had the fatal run in with the dulcimer.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

PHYRELIGHT

Friday, May 16, 2008 8:39 PM

Morena once said that Inara became a companion because it was a family business. I believe she said it at the Serenity Con last year (the one where Nathan confronts Alan about blaming him for the Serenity 2 rumors last year).

Darksiders can keep their cookies. We have better writers.

Grrr. Argghh.

Patiently waiting to see Cap'n Hammerpants sing!

IREMIST

Friday, May 16, 2008 8:48 PM

The Lady hath many secrets, I merely suggested one....

Flat out wrong, hmmm. Well, unless you are Joss or his maker and I get told different, it's open for creative speculation.

Also, I didn't say I thought there was any shame attached to the position of Companion, I was thinking there would be stigma attached to being from a poorer class. I agree she was also running from maybe a past event that led her to carry such a vial, but I feel Inara is a lady of many mysteries...

PS- That little red and white polka dot number she wore in that bar in Shindig would hardly be High class companion attire, at least to me.
Also, there is an interview with the costume designer on the web somewhere that said something about Inara can't really turn off being a conpanion but that she does slightly "dress down" on occasion, though it's hard to tell...

PSS I think the run-in with the dulcimer and Nandi hints at a history of willful behavior, but also pure speculation...

IREMIST

Friday, May 16, 2008 8:54 PM

Interesting, PhyreLight

Do you know if they elaborated further on that?
Specifically, did they say clearly that it was a COMPANION business?

ASARIAN

Friday, May 16, 2008 9:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Iremist:

And Inara says "MY world- If it is that..."

As far as your theory goes, I err on the side of "flat out wrong", too. But it's an interesting observation you make nonetheless. I think it attests to Inara's ambivalent feelings as to where she wants to be: yes, she wants the high life, the luxury, the respect and high social status; but part of her just as soon live on Serenity. I think the comment was just her way of expressing the latter. She'll never come out and say she'd rather be with Mal and his rogue crew.... for one, because it's not true -- not entirely, at least. She truly does love aspects of her 'high' life; but, at the same time, cannot escape realizing "the lie of it" (or, at least, knows it ultimately to be empty). And when hearing it referred to so expressly as HER world, part of her, almost instinctively, recoils a bit from the thought.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

DAVESHAYNE

Friday, May 16, 2008 11:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Iremist:
Also, I didn't say I thought there was any shame attached to the position of Companion, I was thinking there would be stigma attached to being from a poorer class.

Right, I got that. I'm arguing A) that once she became a companion (beginning her training at 12 so rather early on) her class was high regardless of where she started out and B) There is no evidence that I can see that Inara shows any particular shame about any aspect of her life. Regret a few times but no shame. Also C) no evidence to suggest she was born to a low class family.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

http://xkcd.com/386/

I has myspace - http://www.myspace.com/daveshayneforpresident

TRAVELER

Friday, May 16, 2008 11:45 PM

Inara may not be part of Atherton's world, but that does not mean she is of a lower class or from more modest means. There are politicians, high finance business people, prominent clergy, and other sociaties that may work with each other, but are from different worlds.

There must be instances where Companions are from poorer families who give up their child knowing they will have a better life as a Companion. An attractive child may be accepted if the Companion Order feels there is promise in the child to meet their standards.

There are alot of Catholic families that want one of their children to be a priest or nun. This could hold for some families who live near and are influenced by a Companion household.

The way Inara practices Buddism and that there was a Buddist shrine at the Companion Order that Inara was teaching at, in the movie, suggests a stong influence to the spirtual beliefs of Budda. So maybe Buddist families are drawn to the Companion Order. Of course I don't see Buddists getting involved in this lifestyle, in our time, but this is happening 500 years in the future, so who knows what changes may occur in the Buddist thinking.

So if Inara comes from a Buddist background she would be from a different world then the people at the party, or let say Atherton's world. She is trained to entertain so she is trained to fit in. From what I saw in a couple of the episodes she also helps young men make the passage into maturity. Well sexual maturity, although she passes on a lot of wisdom while she has their attention. Did you notice that in the first episode when we first see her she is with a very young man and again with another young man in Jaynestown. Even in the episode brought up here, "Shindig", before she responds to Atherton's wave she is seriously listening to the the invitation of a very young man, to qoute "You do me the honor of.....". So it seems she performs a type civil service to the communty by popping young men's cherrys. This is quoting the father and Jayne's arch enemy in Jaynetown.

So Inara is not just a high class "whore". She performs a service and from what I gather she does a very good job of it.

So Inara could come from modest means and the vile she keeps in the box may contain anything. She may be suffering from an addiction. We could be looking at heroin or another drug when she opens that box. After all one last heroin trip, before you die by Reavers, seems a probable answer to what she was contemplating. So this may be what she is running from. Maybe heroin is to easy to get at the Companion House she was living at.

This is just my ponderings. Nothing set in stone. I leave that to Joss. It is his verse and he may do with it what he will. After all, I hear no one at this forum complaining much.

Thank you for the thread. I enjoy thinking about these happenings in the verse. Opens the mind to a lot of ideas.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

PHYRELIGHT

Saturday, May 17, 2008 1:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Iremist:
Interesting, PhyreLight

Do you know if they elaborated further on that?
Specifically, did they say clearly that it was a COMPANION business?

Yeah. Someone asked Morena how Inara became a companion, and she said, "It was the family business." Fallowed by laughter and a funny look from Nathan (of course). She didn't say much more than that.

Darksiders can keep their cookies. We have better writers.

Grrr. Argghh.

Patiently waiting to see Cap'n Hammerpants sing!

IREMIST

Saturday, May 17, 2008 3:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhyreLight:
"It was the family business." Fallowed by laughter and a funny look from Nathan (of course). She didn't say much more than that.

So could it have been a joke? Or was she serious?

(Playing Devils Advocate) even if it was a family business doesn't definitively mean parent's, could be rich aunt, uncle, cousin ect.

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