Inara's secret.
POSTED BY: peacekeeper
UPDATED: Saturday, June 6, 2009 20:50
VIEWED: 50550
PAGE 9 of 16
Peacekeeper,
Browncoats are a deep and insightful bunch with many points of view despite what other fandoms think of us.
BEB, many good points there (and great to see you around). and Mal and Inara both have to change a bit in order to have a successful relationship.
Unfortunately I have to go to work, but I know you'll talk amongst yourselves and I'll have lots to ponder this evening.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
And I don't think that the Guild knew about Inara's secret. Companions have to be and need to be in good health and Inara acts as if no one knows about her secret but her and her doctor, whoever that is.
I'm really impressed with your whole analysis: so when is YOUR Inara's Dying fanfic coming?! But this bit I'm quoting here in particular adds so much - can you imagine HOW sad and lonely she must be, when she has no-one to confide in at all.
WARNING: I'm really good at killing threads, hope this one goes on (I'm in a different time zone, so can only join in after it's all over... sigh...)
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I actually disagree with the Nandi take, BEB. Not too much, it's mostly I just have a slightly different view.
Nandi is strong, intelligent minded and confident business women, who left the Core to pursue a life unfamiliar to what she had known. I agree with that, and that this is something about Nandi he respects; because it's ALSO something he respects about Inara.
It could be the kinship of leadership, but ultimately, that's not how Nandi seduces Mal. Or why she can. Or why he won't let Inara.
The conversation he has with Nandi is largely one of Rim laws, values, and behaviours that Mal is comfortable with. Saffron, who also very nearly seduced Mal (and who he tried to resist, albeit weakly, because she acted like she didn't have confidence in herself), her story was one of a poor lowly girl from Triumph and marriage to him was her only way out.
I see it more being more about perceived social stations.
With Inara, there's aspects of him not knowing what about her is real and what is the companion, but that really is just exasperating an element that made him have a hard time trusting Simon at first. Like Nandi, they're from the Core elite, but unlike Nandi, they've held on to their social mannerisms and pretentions. Mal does not understand these behaviours, even a watered-down version like we observed at the Persephone Ball. Their Core manners makes it harder for him to figure out what they're about.
Unlike Simon, however, Mal is attracted to Inara, and he's put her up on a pedestal that's possibly been reinforced by his post war experiences.
Despite Mal's "screw you" attitude towards of everything Alliance, and his rebellious law breaking whenever he can get away with it, I think Mal's been institutionalized a bit. Remember the Serenity pilot, when he asks Dobson if there's a reward for Simon? Granted, Simon didn't know the whole story, and completely deserved it when Mal decked him, but he also hit a nerve when he called Mal on it. If Dobson hadn't told Mal that he considered everyone on the ship culpable for harboring fugitives, before hearing Simon's story, Mal would have turned Simon over without a second thought.
I consider it entirely reasonable that Mal probably spent some time in a POW camp after Serenity Valley, and that the time there broke him down enough that anything Alliance or Core is something to be intimidated by. And in Inara's case, I think this has influenced a perception of himself as lowly, and her as superior. And he doesn't like feeling that way, nosiree, and with Inara he's able to express his anger about it.
That deflated self worth is just another obstacle between the two of them that will have to be overcome.
However, BEB, I do think you're right about your assessment of Mal's interpersonal skills and that Mal and Inara have baggage between them. My argument is that freedom to act isn't ALL there is to it. Most of the baggage between Mal and Inara are inhibitions they've constructed to keep the other out. At the root of it all, what really keeps them from acting on their feelings is, for Inara, her secret, and for Mal, Inara's career as a companion. In Mal's case, it's not a matter of pride at all, but rather the worry that he'll ruin her.
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Quote:You and I are in the same vein as far as analysis goes. However, I have not read the companion papers. This was new to me when you wrote it. Where are they available?
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
Honestly, I've thought that way about Inara for a long time. And it seemed to gel after seeing the Companion Papers.
I wrote a full in-depth analysis of Blue Sun that took me about two weeks to work out in my mind which I then posted on my blog. I'm interested in all of the varing issues related to the verse and had planned to write more blogs about the subjects of:
1. Book's Secrets
2. Poitical Causes for the Independents
3. A philosopher's analysis of my very favorite episode, Objects in Space.
And of course Inara's secret. However, this is the one I have my mind wrapped around the least, and this thread has become, by far, the best discussion of the subject on fff.net. Morena herself has become a key part of the discussion because unlike Ron Glass, Joss actually TOLD Morena things. For a few years now I've gone to places like DragonCon and watched browncoats ask pointed and direct questions about Book to Ron who has no idea what to say in return. Ron is just an actor to whom Joss shared no information. He can't help us. And often he looks confused as if he doesn't understand what we're even asking him or where our knowledge-thirst is coming from. Morena on the other hand KNOWS THINGS. Joss told her the secret AND what was in the vial. She would get these pained expressions at each con as we relentlessly assulted her with questions: Friday Panel "What's the secret?" Saturday Panel "What's the secret?" Sunday Panel "Tell us the freaking secret!" Multiply that in your mind by several cons to see how intense the pressure on Morena has been. Sometimes I kinda feel sorry for her position, but I still wish she'd just tell us what was in the gorram vial.
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Quote:Dude, I've been peeling back the layers of this subject since 2004 and with 5 years of time still don't have it 100% worked out, so don't feel bad.
Originally posted by Beatlesfan:
Holy cow, huge discussion. I read about half of it and am still confused as heck. Is this something I'm gonna learn in one of the comic series or is this something I can learn now and not feel bad for being spoiled?
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Here's the transcription of the Companion Papers from the Blu-Ray disk, transcribed by a dedicated fan, and as reported to us by NCBrowncoat:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=37626
I must say, it's pretty interesting reading. We certainly see some of what Inara would face if she were to break guild policy and go off alone or run off with a certain freighter captain.
Oh, and as long as Morena keeps holding back with the information, I hold out hope that she still thinks a further Joss-helmed production or comic is possible! :) The actors just... all need to drive safely, not smoke, and avoid any extreme sports that could lead to untimely death. Selfish though that is of me to say. ;)
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Reads like a "non-compete" contract I myself signed in 2006.
By her very actions in the episode Trash she colluded with her ships captain to play an active role in swindling a certain priceless laser gun from a wealthy Alliance Citizen. I'd say that at least violates:
If at any time it is determined that either the above-named Ship, its crew, or the above-named Companion are engaging in activities viewed by the Alliance or the Companions Guild as extra-, sub-, or illegal, all authorizations of this trust will be made null and void.
It also demonstrates her feelings for Mal to willingly place herself at risk like that. Beyond that she was:
1. On board when the crew sold stolen food rations to Patience on Whitefall.
2. On board when the crew stole meds from the Paridso miners for a local crime lord before "returning" them.
3. Got pinched for poking around on a reaver raided ship.
4. Smuggled cattle from Persephone to Jaingyin for Lord Harrow who wished to evade taxes.
5. Got wrapped up with Tracey's human organ smuggling scheme.
And above all lets not forget that she:
6. Has been knowingly flying around the verse with 2 high profile Alliance Fugitives, one of whom is a Blue Sun sculpted psychic assassin.
At least she was elsewhere when the crew raided the hospital in Ariel City.
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AnotherSky: When does Simon give any indication at all that he can lie believably? In Jaynestown, at the beginning? The only time he even comes close is in the Serenity pilot, when he leaves out the fact that he's the one who actually went in to save River, and that's not so much a lie as it is a half-truth. He was still helped by some underground resistance, they still put her in a cryogenic chamber and shipped her to Persephone, and it still took probably a large sum of money and luck on his account. Technically, he didn't lie at all.
Or maybe the Serenity movie, when he's actually rescuing River? So long as he had the proper identification (had to, or they wouldn't let him in), and had medical expertise enough that he seemed like someone the Alliance might send to inspect progress, he wouldn't have to lie at all. He just let Dr. Mathias keep talking, asking questions he would genuinely be concerned about.
Hmm, but I'm kind of getting off topic here.
What does everyone think Inara has? It'd have to be something moderately slow progressing, that doesn't have too much effect on her physical wellbeing, because she shows no outward sign of having any problem.
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BSCM: Fun, aren't they? Also notice in those papers a complete lack of any mention of compulsory medical check-ups. Hint hint.
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Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
Peacekeeper,
Browncoats are a deep and insightful bunch with many points of view despite what other fandoms think of us.
BEB, many good points there (and great to see you around). and Mal and Inara both have to change a bit in order to have a successful relationship.
Unfortunately I have to go to work, but I know you'll talk amongst yourselves and I'll have lots to ponder this evening.NC, I never suggested otherwise.I am proud to class myself among them. Its just that a post of mine has never generated so much attention. Glad to see Ive hit a nerve is all.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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