Firefly Feminism. 'Pedestalled?'
POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Thursday, January 21, 2010 15:24
VIEWED: 9131
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I would suggest everyone interested in this subject watch this clip of Joss making a speech at Equality Now, in which he gives a few answers as to why he writes strong female characters.
Then, in an interview after he made this speech he gave another answer: because he identifies with them.
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Quote:
I still think she over-reacts, and does wrong to Simon (after his clumsy wronging of her), and this is never commented upon, as if it is perfectly normal and ok. And not just in this one example, a few times throughout the series I think Kaylee over-reacts but the in-story commentary (a different female character swooping by and delivering a glare) is very one-sided against Simon.
Jumping in late, but I feel this way as well. Kaylee and Simon both make mistakes in their relationship, but the reaction towards those mistakes is not equal. When Simon tells Kaylee she's the "only girl in the 'verse," he's trying to say something romantic, only it comes off terribly wrong and she ends up walking away in a huff. Later, in OiS, Kaylee says that River "isn't human". She's not doing it to purposefully hurt River or Simon, but it does and Simon ends up walking away upset. The mood of the piece, however, is entirely different. The scene that follows in "The Message" has Inara offering her report, Kaylee being heart broken (enough to ditch Simon for the next boy who comes alive), and River calling him an idiot - it's pretty clear we're suppose to feel sorry for Kaylee, or at least laugh at Simon for being so bad at flirting. However, when Kaylee catches up to Simon after implying, pretty much, that his little sister, the one he has done everything to protect, is "not human", what is the point of that scene? What is the viewer suppose to want? Well, we want them to kiss and make up, of course which, again, seems to sympathize more with Kaylee's emotions and needs than with Simon's.
I don't think the problem is necessarily that the female characters are less fleshed out, I think it's that the show tends to direct the audience towards identifying more heavily with the female characters whenever conflict arises. It doesn't help that Mal is the main character and the captain, and so of course most of the decisions (including the stupid ones) are left up to him. The end result is going to skew what we know and feel about the characters.
There is also a no win factor in some of the characters. If Zoe is a woman, she is "The Amazon", strong but silent just to show that women are equal to men with no real characterization. If she's a guy than we ask why are all the fighters on the ship men, why can't women be that strong? If Kaylee's a woman who is good with engines, she's being made too perfect. If you have a guy who is good with engines than no one questions his skill, but they do ask why a women can't be good with technical work, why it's always the men who are shown to be good with engines. You can even see where Joss tried to fix this: Have Kaylee be a sweet, naive young woman whose innocence is not compromised by her sexuality. Have her like engines and frilly dresses. Have Zoe by strong and amazon like, but have her also be a loving wife who wants a child. Personally, I enjoy those little touches. I'm tired of seeing "strong" female characters who are only considered "strong" because they act in exactly the way a man does, only they're BETTER at it. That's not feminism. That's just further playing into the patriarch, conforming that for a person to be strong they must act in a way that is perceived as being predominately masculine, and just to prove that the writers really are feminist they of course have to give the female the edge. Place them on a pedestal, as you put it, only instead of saying "as a woman you should be pure and virginal and kind and beautiful" the message is "as a woman you should be all of that, plus be perfect at everything." At no point is the message "as a woman, you're just a person, just yourself, made of all the flaws and strengths that effect everyone in this world."
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That's a good point. Wherever the women have abilities that might be considered traditionally male roles, the show balances them with their characters. River can do EVERYTHING, but it's balanced by how fragile she is (not that fragile is feminine, but you know what I mean). Inara is perhaps the closest character to a traditional female role on the ship (dresses, perfume, "angel of the house" like when it comes to enduring Mal being a bastard and looking after the girls), but she isn't pure and virginal, even while at the same time she can be innocent or naive when it comes to life out on the Rim.
With Simon, I think he ends up being the butt of a lot of jokes simply because he's the fish out of water. It's not that we're supposed to not respect Simon, there's a lot to respect, or that we're supposed to side against him. I think that his problems with Kaylee are intended to be more of that "fish out of water" stuff, but it comes across another way for some people simply because of their would-be relationship. I guess I feel like the crew's reaction is "wow, you are just REALLY bad at this" as opposed to "you upset Kaylee, you jerk!"
That's what Mal's reaction in Jaynestown seems like to me, and Zoe and River's reaction in The Message. The only one were there might be a little bit of judgment is in the episode Safe, when Inara shoots Simon kind of an inscrutable look/possible unfriendly stare, but in the shooting script, she merely walks away with Kaylee and comments "you're getting better at hiding it." Meaning Kaylee's crush. All of the crew come across neutral as to who is right when Kaylee and Simon are fighting.
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