Characterization issues - Inara

POSTED BY: AgentRouka
UPDATED: Saturday, January 3, 2009 04:37
VIEWED: 9682
PAGE 3 of 3

PREV PAGE 1 2 3

PLATONIST

Friday, October 19, 2007 4:31 AM

I'm with you Kimber, what's not there to like about Inara. She's beautiful, smart, confident, and a complete mystery, especially about her desires and feelings that are dictated by her heart, but her actions are ruled by logic.

And my very favorite thing about Inara is that she royally mucks up the works for Mal and spins him about so his actions defy logic, because there is no right or wrong in matters of the heart.

A wrongful portrayal of Inara can turn me off to reading a fic, also. Unfortunately, Inara's character was undeveloped because of the short life of the series. Joss had to reconstruct her character for the comic book and the movie (which personally I think created some inconsistencies) because he had to rely on familiar romantic formulas, i.e. "Mal can't tell Inara how he feels" which equals, "men are inept at personal relationships", which we know as series viewers not to be the case. To his credit, Mal tried to tell her at the end of HOG. Duh, everyone knows that, except for those new to the verse, via the movie.

Lack of development, inconsistencies in behavior, and convoluted motives have lead to misinterpretations of her character. I think Joss's attempt at making Mal's and Inara's "love story" more believable to a wider audience, he had to sacrifice her complexity and individuality. The movie has no real shuttle scenes, no clients, and no Guild. They live in the DVD deletes.

Joss is not going back, he is only going forward in this story, so to me, the Inara that loved her independence, her little decorated shuttle, and her fights with Mal, dwells only in the
series. She is as lost to us as Book and Wash.

It is thoroughly understandable why you and other fic writers have a difficult time writing her. She was originally overly complex (which led to love complications) and then portrayed as predictably simple (she wants love and acceptance). Talk about a hard character to wrap your writing pen around, Geez!

CHARLOTTE

Friday, October 19, 2007 4:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:

Joss is not going back, he is only going forward in this story, so to me, the Inara that loved her independence, her little decorated shuttle, and her fights with Mal, dwells only in the
series. She is as lost to us as Book and Wash.

That is so sad. But true.

WYTCHCROFT

Friday, October 19, 2007 9:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:

Joss had to reconstruct her character for the comic book (which personally I think created some inconsistencies)

i really enjoy Those Left Behind - but agree about Inara's scene within it - they feel very hokey/pastiche-y and artifical and bug me consequently - despite some of the best artwork going into mal's reactions there.

Quote:
so to me, the Inara that loved her independence, her little decorated shuttle, and her fights with Mal, dwells only in the
series. She is as lost to us as Book and Wash.

she may feel lost to herself as well...

WYTCHCROFT

Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:11 AM

just bumping this for second thoughts and i'll link to t'other thread....

see also: http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=31075

and

http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=4&t=30044

for more Inara...

SPACEANJL

Friday, November 9, 2007 4:42 PM

As one of the people AgentRouka would like to poke with a stick I shall sidle in, fire off a few quick rounds then run away again.

Inara was a hard one for me to write, until I found my take on her world. She is all about control. A degree of self-discipline and dedication to a life of service that few people could match or understand. The only folk on Serenity who might come close are the Doctor and the Shepherd. She tries to maintain that standard for the same reason that Simon does; it is her way of carrying home with her in the chaos.

Personally, I think House Madrassa would look like the Forbidden City, with perhaps just a twist of Yoshiwara. And that Oriental vibe carries through in the culture - a great sense of dignity and calm.

So she is a woman of integrity, compassion and quiet strength. Not someone who would walk away from her career on a whim. Something made her leave. (I have my own idea on the what, but I don't want to spoil my latest fic.) I also don't think she's going to ditch a lifetime of hard work and a sense of vocation just because she fancies Mal.

Of course, I have my own take on the Guild, which is what occassions the brickbats and abuse, but I stand by my view, which is that a very large organisation made up of a great many different people, is going to have a few morally questionable types in it, particularly if it rises to a postion of power and intends to stay there.

EMPIREX

Friday, November 9, 2007 5:39 PM

ITA. Of course I'm always a bit suspicious of large organizations. It's all those years of watching The X-Files. LOL!

"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"

PLATONIST

Saturday, November 10, 2007 2:29 AM

Well, I'm always suspicious of large "service orientated" bureaucratic organizations because I work for one. And our survival rests on credibility and member dedication to preserve the illusion of accountability and efficiency.

From the series and movie I always assumed that the Guild was essentially created to promote a safer and organized answer to the lawless or shall we say taxless sex trade. Which in it's inception (Alliance created, by the way) sounds idealistic and effective, but over time, like any well intended organization, in order to preserve the public illusion of "respectability" they've had to resort to harboring secretes and weed out undesirables like Nandi, because such behavior becomes a liability to preserve the status quo and ultimately their political power. Otherwise corruption would grow unchecked (the Middle Age Church).

And I do agree that Inara, being a card carrying member (doesn't she have official papers or something?), has been, in the past and now, especially after Miranda, under careful scrutiny from the Guild's hierarchy. She does not return to Shinon when she leaves Serenity. She goes to a new Training House that Mal describes as a crap ass part of space, with no work, that he never goes to, which is hilarious because, in the movie, he is "just a few hours out", where they offer her a teaching position. Does "Siberia" ring a bell, at this point?

The writers had always planned on sending Inara to a Guild facility during the series. I think the plan was to create an avenue to explore her world and essentially flesh out her character and give the viewers insights into her changed (after being on Serenity for a year) personhood.
And it would have made a great storyline juxapointed with the crew's experiences on board Serenity because at the Training House things were planned to go from BAD to NASTY (read the 190 page script).

After, Miranda? It is my opinion that Inara will continue to be problematic. That girl has a bull’s eye velcroed on her lovely behind. She racks up enemies as fast as Mal does. She is a powder keg. Isn't it sweet they're alike in that way? If she returns to the Guild, she will have to prove allegiance by doing their biding, never really to be trusted again, and that will just suck. Nobody likes to have to pay their dues, again. They will use and or discard her ASAP. If she stays on Serenity and chooses to leave the Guild, she still has Ath, Ninska, Yosaff, the Reavers (we've all heard that storyline, Yikes!) and a probable second rebellion to navigate through. She is the perennial "Damsel in Distress", and will always need her gun hand (Mal). Similar to Lois Lane, who used brains and intuition, instead of physical impowerment (River)to get the scoop.

Loads of storylines there which I would love to read if anyone is up to writing.

WYTCHCROFT

Saturday, January 3, 2009 4:37 AM

bump

PREV PAGE 1 2 3