What song would Inara sing ?

POSTED BY: Albio
UPDATED: Sunday, June 21, 2009 05:28
VIEWED: 17196
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NCBROWNCOAT

Thursday, June 18, 2009 10:46 PM

This is the AU I've thought of; Mal as the WWI veteran captain of a disreputable, junky cargo ship, plowing the South Pacific in the 1930's. The Japanese are lurking but haven't attacked Pearl Harbor, yet.

Inara runs a classy French restaurant on a French island and sings sultry jazz occasionally. It's rumored that she has a few girls for hire but she is very picky for her own relationships.

Kaylee is a midwestern farm girl with a knack for machines that somehow ended up on the SS Serenity after getting stuck in the East with out a way to get back home, so she uses her trade to earn money and hopefully one day return to the farm.

Jayne is a mercenary of course but he can't or doesn't want to go back to the good ole US of A.

Wash sails the ship and Zoe of course is part of the package.

Simon is a rich doctor who lost his money in the Depression and decided to ply his trade among the natives of the islands. He's accompanied by his seriously crazy sister.

Or you could change things to a seriously dinged up DC-3 and fly between the islands a la Tales of the Gold Monkey.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

ALBIO

Friday, June 19, 2009 1:45 AM

Ya srry about the alternate/alternative thing it was late. lol. And thanks for all the feed back Im with the jazz tune Autumn Leaves.

Story that’s in my head is Mal wakes up in Alternate universe where Serenity is an earth-that-was bar (still think about what point in time) he owns with Zoe. Wash is the bartender; Kaylee runs the distillery in the basement, Inara is big time singer that sneaks away to Serenity to sing one in a while. Jayne is the bouncer at the bar; Book and Simon are still a preacher N doctor respectively. Time frame is after BDM, that’s all I have right know hope it ends well.

Hell is other people

REGINAROADIE

Friday, June 19, 2009 3:24 AM

Roy Orbison's "Crying" sung in the style of Rebekah Del Rio from MULHOLLAND DRIVE. Spanish or English is up to you.

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"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

KATESFRIEND

Friday, June 19, 2009 3:44 AM

There's always And I think I'm going to love him for a long, long time sung by Linda Rondstadt. A good song about UST should do!

GILLIANROSE

Friday, June 19, 2009 10:56 AM

I see what Rouka means, about how reserved Inara is, but I don't think it would entirely preclude her from any kind of performance. That might be part of the duality of her. After all, the Inara we know practices a profession in which she has very intimate contact with her audience, and at the very same time retains her distance and privacy. It might be very intriguing to see on stage. I've been thinking about this, imagining her as a very low-key, restrained presence, perhaps at a piano, but with a voice that communicates so much emotion it's almost mesmerizing...and then offstage she's as buttoned up and reserved as the Inara we know and love. Hearing that voice, wondering at the heart behind it, but never being able to touch it...that's where I'd see our Mal in this AU.

Song choices? Dream a Little Dream, by Cass Eliot; Walking After Midnight or several others by Patsy Cline; Lush Life (I don't know who the original artist was); Gracias a la Vida (Mercedes Sosa); Scarlet Tide, the song Elvis Costello wrote and Alison Krauss sang for Cold Mountain (is that the name of the Civil War movie?); Almost Blue, another Elvis C. song; Sarah McLaughlin's In the Arms of the Angels; Little Sparrow by Dolly Parton; Emmylou Harris' All that You Have is Your Soul; Keep Me in Your Heart for Awhile or Please Stay, both from Warren Zevon's last album.

All very personal and introspective, I can see her sharing so much with her voice but then insisting on the distance and almost keeping aloof (through diffidence) offstage.

VETERAN

Friday, June 19, 2009 1:38 PM

Someone said Moon River that's not bad. How about My Funny Valentine?

MAL4PREZ

Friday, June 19, 2009 5:08 PM

WARNING: the following post is thoroughly unromantic, takes this thread way too seriously, and shouldn't be read by anyone out to enjoy regular ole fun fluffy fanfic.

Seriously! Stop reading now!

Quote:
Originally posted by GillianRose:
Hearing that voice, wondering at the heart behind it, but never being able to touch it...that's where I'd see our Mal in this AU.

I find that a fundamental restructuring and simplification of Inara. It reduces her to a female *object* right out of the age of American Idol pop culture. ie: girl innocently practices her art, completely unaware of how her amazing talent makes her inner lovable goddess shine out, and she unwittingly reduces the hero of the tale to a gooey puddle of starry-eyed puppy love...

Sorry. It's just too Disney TV movie for me! (ETA: Wow, wasn't meaning that to be as bitchy as it sounds! Sorry about that.)

And anyway, I really don't see Inara as a performer. She certainly lives in a spotlight, but she very knowingly and intentionally makes use of it to do her job. See, here's the thing: what she does in the public eye does not reveal her true self; it is an act designed to attract and service her clients. In the series, she does calligraphy in private. She doesn't rent out a studio and show her finished work. Similarly, I could see her singing in private, but I don't see her singing with true, heartfelt passion in front an audience. She'd sing publicly only as part of her act, part of her job as a Companion.

Speaking of which: I find it interesting that the AUs discussed in this thread have the Firefly characters finding their way to their usual jobs - except Inara. Kaylee is still a mechanic, Mal and Zoe are still the leaders, but Inara is no longer a whore.

Sure, we can argue the semantics of "whore" vs "Companion", but the fact remains that canon Inara has sex for money. Changing her to a steamy lounge singer or ivory tower opera diva ignores her most defining characteristic: she's a gold-hearted whore. She's a deeply caring woman who lives to make intimate connections with people, but does it in a way that leaves her completely isolated. I find this fascinating, and I'm sad to see this part of her character lopped off as if it doesn't matter.

What? Are you still reading? Well, don't reply to tell me what a grumpy old pooh I am, because I did warn you LOL!

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

BYTEMITE

Friday, June 19, 2009 7:37 PM

Is it lopped off? Or is it redirected?

Could Mal dislike Inara sharing herself with fans just as much as he might with clients? Wouldn't Inara be isolated this way, even as her singing tricks her fans into thinking they know her?

I understand WHAT you're driving at, though. You don't like that the sex part of it has been taken out of the equation, because the sex is what makes for a whole lot of fun jealous friction.

and you also see this as Inara being... Sanitized, maybe. And taking away her feminine power.

I don't disagree. In fact I've said that I LIKE her in her job.

But people are going to write fanfiction, and people are going to dislike Inara's whoring and want to make her into something they find more acceptable. I don't think you can fight the tide.

I'm just going with the flow here, and making suggestions that will help keep up the dynamic that I like about Inara still interesting.

CRUITHNE3753

Friday, June 19, 2009 7:57 PM

"Hey Big Spender"

GILLIANROSE

Friday, June 19, 2009 9:16 PM

Mal4Prez, I feel compelled to answer, since I find myself the only one quoted in your post.

girl innocently practices her art, completely unaware of how her amazing talent makes her inner lovable goddess shine out, and she unwittingly reduces the hero of the tale to a gooey puddle of starry-eyed puppy love...

I agree that this particular iteration of the story would make the female character into someone other than the Inara of Firefly, and into a less powerful and interesting character. But that's only one possibility for the story, and not the one I was musing on, or intending to contribute. If my words suggested I wanted Inara to be girlish, innocent, and unaware of the effect of her craft, I apologize too :).

There are performers who, no matter the intensity of what they share with their audience, are quite introverted and contemplative off-stage, and not comfortable with sharing themselves personally.

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