Did the 'Companion' thing ever bug you in Firefly?

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Saturday, February 7, 2026 14:42
VIEWED: 45553
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ALIASSE

Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by kpo:
Quote:
how can it be plausible that she practices religious rituals - important - and has sex with cients - highly not important - both as part of the same work? Isn't this what chrisisall's question is about?

Joss was trying to FORCE (my caps) the idea that Companionship is inherently noble...No, the best way I have to think of the Companion service is like 'Goddess for hire'...And that's quite a service. But ultimately it's illusory isn't it? It's a mere human woman - just a very pretty one; who has undergone years of training to be refined, classy, graceful; who has learnt psychological techniques to put you at ease etc. - in short, knows everything to provide that 'goddess' experience...but it's an illusion, and money changes hands.

Wow, this has put into words so well the way I see the Companion (my editing notwithstanding, which I hope you don't mind). I get the impression that those who love Inara love her for her qualities and maybe even in spite of the fact that she is a Companion - that her being a Companion has got nothing to do with loving her.

I agree that Joss was trying to force an idea but at the same time he didn't back away from showing the hour glass in the pilot - the goddess experience is time-limited and when your time's up you're out.

http://www.swooning.net/viewstory.php?sid=36&chapter=1 This is a link to a fic I've recced a few times, not only because it is gloriously smutty but also because it's the only one I've come across that convincingly portrays the utter calculation of what a Companion does. And I don't think you have to believe that the Guild manipulated and betrayed young Companions to agree that the training could have been a lot like this.

P.S. I shall be freely plagiarising chunks of this post of yours for fanfics to come, if that's all right with you mate :)

ALIASSE

Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Aliasse: because even though sex may be part of the rituals, in Inara's mind it could be that the ritual is what's important, not the sex. For example, clearly she had sex with Fess Higgins in some sort of coming of age THING, right? And obviously, Magristrate Higgins thought the sex was what's important. But what does Inara emphasize? TEA!

Maybe there's other stuff that happened with Fess that in Inara's mind is more what made Fess a man than the sex, you know? And maybe that's how it is with her other clients and any other rituals she might be performing.

But I thought your point was that people in the Core in general, not just Inara, might have developed a 'sex is above all a recreational activity' belief. In emphasising the tea aspect of her encounter with Fess Higgins, she may be betraying HER own beliefs about the relative unimportance of sex, but that doesn't show that other people think this way too.

Also, the tea is a distancing, respectifying (yes, that's a word ahem) thing - 'I'm not just a whore, I do really good tea ritual too and that proves it.'

Could Inara have done what she did for FH without being a Companion?

BYTEMITE

Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:59 PM

Quote:
But I thought your point was that people in the Core in general, not just Inara, might have developed a 'sex is above all a recreational activity' belief. In emphasising the tea aspect of her encounter with Fess Higgins, she may be betraying HER own beliefs about the relative unimportance of sex, but that doesn't show that other people think this way too.

Well, no, but the only three people we ever see in depth from the Core are Simon, Inara, and River.

River, good luck inferring anything from her. Generally River's sexuality isn't something I'm that comfortable studying anyway. She's kind of still a child.

Simon's too proper to really get a read on whether he thinks sex is important or not; obviously he's able to recognize that Mal as big brother might be dangerous if it looked like Kaylee had been taken advantage of, and might react the same way in regards to River. His reaction to Kaylee asking Inara about her appointments might be prudishness, and that's how Kaylee takes it, leading to the subsequent conversations about what's proper. But maybe he's just surprised to hear it from Kaylee, who can seem pretty innocent. At the very most, it could possibly be argued that Simon sees sex as something vulgar. But either way, it seems to me it's not something he really cares about, or maybe even thinks about much. Which again suggests that core worlders don't really see it as anything important.

And now here's Inara, who seems to think more about the ritual and therapeutic aspect of her profession than the sex.

So 2/3 Core Worlders we've been introduced to in the Firefly verse don't seem to value sex highly. It's a small sample size, I grant you, but then my suggestion was speculative.

FEARTHEBUNNYMAN

Sunday, February 21, 2010 9:16 PM

Isn't the Core largely Buddhist (or some futuristic form of Buddhism)? So that might have an effect on the way they approach sex in a broader cultural sense - that sex for itself should take backseat to other priorities (disciplining of the self away from the *desire*, etc) which would be slightly more neutral view of sex than it being seen as "dirty" or "vulgar" or sinful.

BYTEMITE

Sunday, February 21, 2010 9:32 PM

Yep, though there's a minor branch of Buddhism that's ritualistic as opposed to meditative, and it has quite a repository of sex rituals. You've probably heard of it, it's called Vajrayana Buddhism or Tantric Buddhism.

Buddhism actually speaks of two roads to enlightenment, one through wisdom and one through compassion. While self-discipline is a major part of the religion, the religion can't be said to specifically endorse complete removal from passion or feeling, since both involve connecting to other beings and thus the greater universe.

A better explanation is to look at Buddhism in the sense that it is intended to relieve suffering, and desire without reward can be considered a form of suffering. Self-discipline comes in to moderate desire, but there are other ways to alleviate suffering besides self-discipline; for example, self-discipline doesn't exactly feed a starving village (the compassion side of enlightenment). The wisdom path is internal, but to really emulate the Buddha you also have to follow the path of compassion, which is external.

FEARTHEBUNNYMAN

Sunday, February 21, 2010 9:54 PM

Tantra, baby!

Thanks for typing that out, I'm only somewhat familiar with Buddhism myself so I wasn't aware of the delineation btwn the two paths. I think approaching Inara through her spiritual beliefs (which are Buddhist) is a good way of approaching her work and how she sees it.

IMNOTHERE

Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Aliasse:
I agree that Joss was trying to force an idea but at the same time he didn't back away from showing the hour glass in the pilot - the goddess experience is time-limited and when your time's up you're out.

Yes - there is certainly an edge to some of the "companion" scenes, especially that first one. Then there's the whole plot of Shindig, with one of Inara's carefully chosen, spiritually compatible clients turning out to be a complete

with a veneer of sophistication.

I don't think Joss is saying to anybody that you have to accept "Companionship" any more than you have to agree with the rest of our BDH's lifestyle choices. Moral ambiguity always was part of the appeal of Firefly...

Its a fair bet that, had the series continued, Joss would have shown us more of the darker aspects to Companionship and the Guild. (Otherwise, someone would have had to inquire who he was and what had he done with the real Joss Wheedon...)

KPO

Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:42 PM

Quote:
P.S. I shall be freely plagiarising chunks of this post of yours for fanfics to come, if that's all right with you mate :)

Feel free, amiga :)

I'm going to check out that fanfic now - never quite know where to start myself with fanfic , but am always interested in people's faves/recommendations.

Heads should roll

ANOTHERSKY

Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Aliasse:
Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Aliasse: because even though sex may be part of the rituals, in Inara's mind it could be that the ritual is what's important, not the sex. For example, clearly she had sex with Fess Higgins in some sort of coming of age THING, right? And obviously, Magristrate Higgins thought the sex was what's important. But what does Inara emphasize? TEA!

Maybe there's other stuff that happened with Fess that in Inara's mind is more what made Fess a man than the sex, you know? And maybe that's how it is with her other clients and any other rituals she might be performing.

But I thought your point was that people in the Core in general, not just Inara, might have developed a 'sex is above all a recreational activity' belief. In emphasising the tea aspect of her encounter with Fess Higgins, she may be betraying HER own beliefs about the relative unimportance of sex, but that doesn't show that other people think this way too.

Also, the tea is a distancing, respectifying (yes, that's a word ahem) thing - 'I'm not just a whore, I do really good tea ritual too and that proves it.'

Could Inara have done what she did for FH without being a Companion?

Fess's rich daddy decided to pull the whole "you ain't a man until you've had sex" gag--thus the reason for contracting Inara. Fess' first sexual experience would be

1.)guaranteed(she is paid),
2.)minimized awkwardness (she has skillz), and
3.) Kaylee's version of "rich"--something that is high-class, glorified, and more important.

I think with the tea, Inara is serving as counterpoint to Magistrate Higgins' rather crude ideas and way of dominating everyone--she gives Fess that big speech about standing up for himself.
But still has sex with him(if I recall). Thus we actually keep both factions happy.

What would the episode have been like if she, as a Companion, hadn't had sex with him? Would he still have had the "moral invigoration and courage" to stand up to his father? Could you do that in this series? Cynical, but that's my burning question.
__

Going for a ride.

BYTEMITE

Monday, February 22, 2010 1:07 AM

You know... All we see is Inara give Fess a kiss and the next day Inara is cleaning up tea. I mean, it's assumed there was sex, maybe because we all expect it, but sex is never actually implied. Maybe we just all have really dirty minds. What if the tea ceremony took all night or they just stayed up talking about Fess's problems and his dad putting him down all the time? And the next morning, when Fess expresses his admiration for the Hero of Canton and how his dad's looking to string him up, Inara hatches a clever plan for Fess to defy his father, assert himself, and also help her.

Having sex with him would also contradict Inara telling Fess that being a virgin is nothing to be ashamed of, that it's just a state of being. Fess' problem wasn't that he was a virgin, and clearly Inara's reason for accepting him for a client was to help him with his problems. Sex necessary? Maybe not!

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