Inara: more bad ass than she seems?

POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Saturday, August 15, 2009 18:37
VIEWED: 17936
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AGENTROUKA

Thursday, July 9, 2009 2:49 PM

Does anyone, though, think that Inara wouldn't be able to handle herself if she really needed to? Who could't really? I bet even Benning from the Shindig ball could do so, if properly motivated, and Inara has certainly had more training. We know she keeps her head in a tough situation, but so does Simon.

Being a wild child isn't necessary for that and I don't really see Inara as the tree climbing, trouble-causing sort. I see her as an exciteable child, certainly, and one who loves movement in general, but I don't really see her as rough and tumble in that she would have gotten into fights like in the fic without a fairly momnumental reason for it, or experienced them the way the fic describes.

In some ways we have a similar view of her childhood: absent father, mother who dies before Inara is an adult. But I don't see anythig street urchin-like at all. Friends, sure. Playing, sure. But nothing remotely associable with neglect or little supervision or being one among many. I don't think, basically, that entering the Guild dramatically altered her life in terms of surrounding wealth and privilege. Partly because young students are likely not buried in money right away, but also because she probably came from a comfortable-to-wealthy background. I just don't get a sense of "The Guild Rescued Inara from poverty" from her. She would probably react differently to the life she faces in the show if she had any connection to it, or maybe even mention it at some point.

BYTEMITE

Thursday, July 9, 2009 3:26 PM

She's just so accepting of it, though. And maybe it's the eight months she had on the ship before the series started, but in Out of Gas, she seems to know EXACTLY the kind of business Mal's involved in right away. Doesn't seem to bother her then, either, and she turns around and offers Mal some practical "respectability."

She doesn't say, no, wait, I have a Guild contract and can't be involved with thieves and brigands. Why's she so comfortable? Why does she decide the risk is okay?

At that point, I'm not thinking it's just Mal's allure. My thinking is, she's had some brushings with that kind of lifestyle already. Slumming with a client? Maybe, but if that's her only contact with it, why wouldn't she be more condescending about it? Inara is NOT really condescending; yes, to Mal she is, but that's a defensive mechanism. And do you really compare Inara traveling with the crew of Serenity as her slumming with them? Slumming is... there's kind of an inherent judgement about it, "let's go see how the other half lives and entertain ourselves." That's not how I see her with the crew at all.

How a person treats other people is a product of upbringing. I see social class division as very real in the Firefly 'verse. There are people in the upper class who are nice to lower classes, I grant you, great humanitarians, but how often do such individuals actually associate with the lower classes they might give money and charity to? How many would go live with them in their homes, and forsake a wealthier, more luxurious residence?

Inara's doesn't quite fit into the upper class, not just as a companion who on certain planets may not be given the respect she's entitled to, but in her mindset. For a literary example, she's acts very like (am I really going to do this? Blech, this is embarrassing...) Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. A gentleman's daughter, happy, well-adjusted, affectionate family, but their home is not rich. I put Inara as being in somewhere around that level of social class because of how she acts towards people from all other walks of life.

Even IF she supported Unification, she's flaunting guild rule and Alliance law from the get-go. She's got a bit of a rebellious streak. Definitely got a stubborn streak. Underneath that cool veneer, I suspect she's a spark plug. So as a little girl, I see her being active, getting into trouble, consorting with children and people that might not be approved of. She'd have to have had the freedom to do so.

I don't think she was abused, she's so confident for that. She was raised with a lot of affection, but not necessarily indulgence, because she's not spoiled about getting her way. And she's comfortable in a big chaotic family.

I don't consider being raised in a guild/ church orphanage as a neglectful or impoverished. I think she had a good childhood. But I don't think she was raised by an upper-class family. Simon and River were raised by upper-class families. Do you really think that if River hadn't gone to the Academy, she wouldn't have turned out differently, might react to the crew and being on Serenity differently? I think she would have.

Lastly, in Safe, when Inara makes fun of the duck/swan carving, Kaylee makes fun of it too. "It looks like it was made with longing, you know... By someone who really longed to see a real swan." Inara never comments on the China kaylee picks up, Simon does, so we'll never know what Inara thought of it.

But what is clear, is that Inara is able to see beauty in things that are old, dirty, and beat-up. Otherwise how could she think Serenity is so beautiful?

BYTEMITE

Thursday, July 9, 2009 3:48 PM

Also, why does everyone think Saffron owns Inara in that little scuffle? She doesn't, it's a stalemate.

From the shooting script:

Quote:
Saffron punches, hard but Inara blocks - a spinning kick from Saffron and Inara rolls out of the way, Saffron moving to the shuttle and slamming the door behind her.

Inara is on her feet in a heartbeat, racing toward the foredeck hall...

She had a different priority than stopping Saffron. Saffron doesn't take Inara down, doesn't beat her in hand-to-hand combat. Inara lets Saffron go, and Saffron lets Inara go. They just had to fight a little on principle.

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
She's just so accepting of it, though. And maybe it's the eight months she had on the ship before the series started, but in Out of Gas, she seems to know EXACTLY the kind of business Mal's involved in right away. Doesn't seem to bother her then, either, and she turns around and offers Mal some practical "respectability."

But even Simon was able to tell that Serenity looked "disreputable" and a smart person with an active interest in the world around her wouldn't need to have personal experience of their world to guess what Mal gets up to. I really think it's partly an open-minded hope for adventure and the 8 months she spent getting used to the ship.

Quote:

She doesn't say, no, wait, I have a Guild contract and can't be involved with thieves and brigands. Why's she so comfortable? Why does she decide the risk is okay?

But what about a slightly rough and tumble life before the age of 12 would have made her think so, either? It's not like she spent her childhood living on a smuggling vessel with criminals. There is no reason a poor childhood should necessarily make her more comfortable with criminals, and no reason why more regular or wealthy childhood would make her much less so, considering she has the same things to lose either way.

Quote:

Slumming with a client? Maybe, but if that's her only contact with it, why wouldn't she be more condescending about it? Inara is NOT really condescending; yes, to Mal she is, but that's a defensive mechanism. And do you really compare Inara traveling with the crew of Serenity as her slumming with them? Slumming is... there's kind of an inherent judgement about it, "let's go see how the other half lives and entertain ourselves." That's not how I see her with the crew at all.

But why would Inara necessarily be judgmental of them? I wouldn't be condescending to people with a terribly poor lifestyle if I had chosen to live with them for a time. And Inara certainly never shows herself to be narrow-minded or arrogant. Neither does Simon, except toward Jayne.

I think Inara is looking for adventure and feels secure enough in her charatcer judgment and knowledge of the world to make herself semi-at home with the crew of Serenity, without needing to have previous connection to their world.

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Inara's doesn't quite fit into the upper class, not just as a companion who on certain planets may not be given the respect she's entitled to, but in her mindset.

Well, we have never seen the society Inara is truly from. We've seen a slice of Persephone, which is hardly Sihnon, but there is nothing to suggest that downright arrogance and sneering are acceptable practice there. I don't say there isn't classism, but I doubt Inara is that much of an exception simply because she considers poor people to be human beings of equal worth to herself. Simon is never arrogant, after all, and I think many are raised with that sort of attitude.

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Even IF she supported Unification, she's flaunting guild rule and Alliance law from the get-go. She's got a bit of a rebellious streak. Definitely got a stubborn streak. Underneath that cool veneer, I suspect she's a spark plug. So as a little girl, I see her being active, getting into trouble, consorting with children and people that might not be approved of.

She has her own code of ethics and a sense of adventure, granted, but I do not see her as rebellious at all. She's not contrary, not stubborn for the sake of pride and she doesn't have an abnormal temper, either. I don't think there is any perceived spite in her choices. I think she tolerates a lot because it doesn't go against her sense of ethics, or because she recognizes morally grey areas. I do NOT think that flaunting Alliance law - in a society SO controlled that even Simon's father is more afraid than self-assured - is that unusual. I think people from all tiers have an official and a private face about the Alliance and its many many rules

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:32 PM

Quote:
But what is clear, is that Inara is able to see beauty in things that are old, dirty, and beat-up. Otherwise how could she think Serenity is so beautiful?

Many rich people love antiques, you know? This doesn't really imply anyhting.

Oh, and since you added the Elizabeth Bennet thing... that would actually work for me. They are hardly poor. They're just the poorer of the rich, not having to work and able to keep a few servants on their working farm/mini-estate. They have horses. They're part of a club that the comparable likes of Mal would never have access to, even if they're on the lowest end of it. Elizabeth doesn't really interact much with truly disapprovable types, either, and her open-mindedness is not out of nowhere, it's instilled by her father and not really stifled by her environment. Neither is she extremely rough-and-tumble aside from enjoying a muddy walk in the early morning. Eye-brow raising, not jaw-dropping.

That's a different picture than I originally got from your descriptions.

BYTEMITE

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:45 PM

I got a bit of work to do now, bit worried about getting in trouble, but I've got some quick responses. I'll give a longer response later.

Simon is very arrogant at times. He doesn't mean to be, but when he describes the plates Kaylee was looking at in safe as "crap", that isn't even spawned by his annoyance at the Captain or his inability to really see Serenity as much more than run down garbage.

Also, my impression of Kaylee in that scene is that she's joking around with Inara. She knows that the store isn't well supplied or very rich, even describes it as "dusty." Both she and Inara are commenting on it. I seem to recall after Kaylee's comment that they both laugh a little bit.

NCBROWNCOAT

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:49 PM

Didn't Moreana say that being a Companion was a "family businnes"? I see her as a daughter of a Companion, raised by a loving foster family in high middle to upper class (her mother made sure she went to the best preschools and elementary schools). And her mother would breeze in for tea every once and while.

She does posses some martial skills and her hand to hand especially seems for "school oriented" and not a all like the dirty fighting of Mal and Jayne.

She does seem that with some training she could be a very good marksman and able to handle weapons bigger than a bow or a hand held laser.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

BYTEMITE

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:50 PM

A guild orphanage is going to be somewhat more towards the low-end of the gentleman/woman class than other orphanages.

The only real difference I would imagine between the two situations (besides the obvious) is that Inara is going to be in a big city, and is going to have more contact with the lower/rougher classes simply by proximity than Elizabeth ever did.

I said that she probably ran around LIKE a street urchin. Not that she was one. Didn't mean to give that impression. :)

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, July 9, 2009 4:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
I got a bit of work to do now, bit worried about getting in trouble, but I've got some quick responses. I'll give a longer response later.

Simon is very arrogant at times. He doesn't mean to be, but when he describes the plates Kaylee was looking at in safe as "crap", that isn't even spawned by his annoyance at the Captain or his inability to really see Serenity as much more than run down garbage.

I dare you to find one more example. That's the only scene where we see Simon lash out in an unfair way and I think it is entirely due to the stress he's been under and Mal's condescending/domineering treatment. Kaylee's naive but good-natured suggestion that he enjoy himself sets him off on a rant - and yes, I think he considers the plate crap. Inara probably considers is crap, too, but doesn't say so. oesn't mean it reflects his genuine attitude toward lower classes or the Rim, as much as it reflects his frustation with his impossible situation.

Quote:

Also, my impression of Kaylee in that scene is that she's joking around with Inara. She knows that the store isn't well supplied or very rich, even describes it as "dusty." Both she and Inara are commenting on it.

She doesn't say the shop is dusty. Where do you find that? She does, however say that she likes the plate, prompting Inara to say "You do?" in a slightly incredulous way, which prompts that explanation about longing. Heck, she thinks that plate would make a good gift for Simon and looks "rich"... until Simon enters, causing Kaylee to mold her entire behavior to what he says.

AGENTROUKA

Thursday, July 9, 2009 5:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
A guild orphanage is going to be somewhat more towards the low-end of the gentleman/woman class than other orphanages.

The only real difference I would imagine between the two situations (besides the obvious) is that Inara is going to be in a big city, and is going to have more contact with the lower/rougher classes simply by proximity than Elizabeth ever did.

I said that she probably ran around LIKE a street urchin. Not that she was one. Didn't mean to give that impression. :)

But why would a Guild orphanage (for a Companion's child, no less, not some random poor child in need) be located in a part of town where kids would have easy and regular access to rougher classes? Inara starts Guild training at 12 and I doubt they let them just roam the entire city unsupervised while they were much younger than that.

Considering that the Bennets had farming and house-keeping staff from lower classes, Elizabeth might have had easier contact there than Inara would in a well-tended care facility.

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