Companions 'Gilded Cage'
POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 08:47
VIEWED: 36140
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Or maybe "Guilded Cage." http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncrediblyLamePun
With a nod to Chrisisall for his excellent discussion recently, there have been emails flying back and forth over sub topics of the issue he brought up, and he said I could split off a new thread.
Specifically, we've discussed how WE feel about the profession, that that seems incomplete without discussing how the most prominent example we have of that profession HERSELF feels about it. Does she REALLY like it? Are there parts that trouble her? Does she have other options? Does she wish she did?
AnotherSky said this about Inara:
"The character just feels so trapped--if not by the "bird in a gilded cage" cliche, then by her pulling-teeth relationship with Mal, her relationship with her "secret", her relationship with the past contacts we see, her relationship with herself. Being amazing and being happy aren't fairy-tale-style mutually exclusive, but they are not mutually inclusive either. Something, possibly many things about her are played "not happy" (I can't say I'm privy to which), and she is also doing her darndest to deny it. And that hurts to see."
Some of us have already been discussing this (emails!) but thoughts?
See the original thread here:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=41888
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A really interesting question, or set of questions, frustrated by the paucity of the evidence. An initial caveat: we know so little about the canon Inara, and are so unlikely to learn more, that the best we can do is come up with an answer that satisfies our biases about the character, and is consistent with what little we know about the her. I recognize that this is stating the obvious.
It's hard to say if she really likes her work. She obviously takes pride in it, or at least the status that accompanies it--or maybe all of the effort that it took to become a companion.
I find it difficult to believe, however, that someone who was truly 100% invested in being a companion would board Serenity in the first place. That, and the occasional off-hand comment (for example, Are these my people? in Shindig) suggset some measure of dissatisfaction with her life--and does she have a life outside of her work? For whatever reason, companion training strikes me as incompatible with a relection and an interior life--its about control, not navel gazing.
We know that she was formerly extremely ambitious, and set on becoming the next high priestess, so it seems there's been a shift in her attitude towards her job at some point. I prefer to think of her current attitude as ambivalent.
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She does tend to philosophize, doesn't she? Gillian Rose had a few things to say about that, I think I'll let her elaborate when she gets here.
If we assume that Inara's current interest in the profession (what she gets any degree of enjoyment out of) is mostly as a kind of mystic healer, then there's a lot within the profession that could be considered superfluous. There's also the suggestion that perhaps the rich people she services don't have the same troubles as people fighting for their lives day-to-day. Maybe.
It could be that while helping people gives her some fulfillment, it's the how that's the problem. It could be that the only source of pride she has in the profession is as a source of Independence (and I capitalized that for a reason). And if she feels like she doesn't have many other options, that plus not liking other aspects of the profession could be why she gets defensive.
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perhaps independence, and accomplishment? becoming a companion is no mean feat--consider how nandi washed out--let alone being a companion talented enough to be considered a serious candidate for high priestess at some point. few make it that far, and it would only be fitting to look back at all of your sacrifices and training and feel a sense of pride.
being a companion must grant inara a lot of independence, financially at least, but ultimately, she is dependent on the guild. or at least the infrastructure of the guild, and all of its rituals and conventions, licensing requirements, etc... i could imagine that becoming stiffling after a certain point.
also, i may as well address the hulking elephant in the room: sex. thinking that inara enjoys the trappings of profession, and the mystic/healer elements is one thing--and kind of my take on it--but it also evades the fact that she, not to put it delicately, humps for a living. would anybody advance a claim that she really enjoys the sexual elements of the profession? i'm not sure that would be inconsistent with her character, but would it be troubling? is that something a companion is supposed to do?
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I'm not sure Nandi washed out, she seems to be older than Inara, and I doubt she was a kid when she replaced the bastard who used to run the Heart of Gold.
Part of the reason I posted this thread is to ask if Inara DOESN'T like the sex-for-money thing. Look at the few times we see her. Very modest in the pilot, if at all, and one time in the comic books when she's actively fantasizing about something else while with a client.
The thing she seems to get most defensive about her profession is being called a whore.
I've said it before, but I think Inara is meant to be something of a mirror for Mal. I think Mal has a lot of rogue in him, and in a way he's still rebelling against the government, but ultimately I think the stealing and killing people bothers him, makes him think he's a bad man. So if I'm right, that means that Inara must in some ways find her own profession a little demeaning and that it lessens her self worth. Maybe both characters try to deny this on the surface, which is why the "petty thief" and the "whore" insults hit them so much harder than any of the others.
Is that something a companion is supposed to do? No, I don't think so. it would distract from the job.
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very nice point, byte--perhaps inara wouldn't be bothered so much by the captain's insistence on calling her a whore if she didn't occasionally feel like a whore? perhaps she gets frustrated with the reductivist view of her profession--no matter what she has to offer, her 'verse is probably full of jerks like me who point out that inara has sex for money. so do whores.
however we frame it, that isa t the core of her profession. but if it truly bothered her, i imagine there are other careers that would give her ample opportunity to practice her hot-looking-mystical-healer routine. But really, we don't know what kinds of options inara, or any companion, has--if its the kind of life that you can leave.
agreed that mal and inara are mirrors, and that there is something almost...debased..about them. mal makes his living with violence, and doesn't take pride in it. inara makes her living with sex, and is in my read at least, ambivalent about it. perhaps they both feel trapped by circumstances--mal's cage isn't gilded, though.
side note: nandi washed out in the sense that either she couldn't handle companion training (that damned dulcimer) or the companion lifestyle. being a dear friend of inara, that may suggest she shares some of her friend's dissatisfaction?
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Nandi: I think it might.
Quote:
but if it truly bothered her, i imagine there are other careers that would give her ample opportunity to practice her hot-looking-mystical-healer routine.
Hmm. Are there? Teacher, maybe. Or maybe her taking up vows as a buddhist monk. Neither of which I think would allow her to support herself. Which seems to be important, that whole idea of Independence. Perhaps she's still a little dependent on the guild, at least for respectability, but ultimately this allows her to earn her own living.
And in regards to options... I'm not sure she has any. Defending her profession could be less pride, and more trying to protect the last thing she has. Very similar to Mal protecting the symbol of his own Independence.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Nandi: I think it might.Quote:
but if it truly bothered her, i imagine there are other careers that would give her ample opportunity to practice her hot-looking-mystical-healer routine.
Hmm. Are there? Teacher, maybe. Or maybe her taking up vows as a buddhist monk. Neither of which I think would allow her to support herself. Which seems to be important, that whole idea of Independence. Perhaps she's still a little dependent on the guild, at least for respectability, but ultimately this allows her to earn her own living.
And in regards to options... I'm not sure she has any. Defending her profession could be less pride, and more trying to protect the last thing she has. Very similar to Mal protecting the symbol of his own Independence.
I like your last point. It maybe the only thing Inara has left.
Something (we're not sure what according to canon)made her leave the " security" of Shinon and a "respectable" life as Companion and she's ended up on a tramp spaceship roaming the Rim without the protection of the Guild.
Just like Mal.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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I don't see Inara hating her job, or shying away/prohibiting herself from enjoying sex with clients (at times, obviously some are going to be more to her liking than others). When Kaylee asks about the "romance" as Inara's preparing to meet Fess Higgins, Inara smiles, cheerfully it seems to me, and replies that she hopes so.
It's maybe a tricky thing to face squarely, that Inara is a sex worker. She's so cultured, sophisticated, highly intelligent and educated, so strongly moral - presented, all around, as an admirable character, despite being beheld by an audience that largely does not esteem sex workers. But if the show had continued I think Joss would have pushed the audience a bit, had us go through stories where Inara surprised us, where the reality of Companion work was not so comfortable, where it wouldn't be so easy to identify with Inara.
I also don't see Inara loving her job, relishing going on with her profession. Maybe at one point she did - maybe early in her training she fell deeply in love with the arts, the history, the ritual, the culture around Companions. Maybe the world of study and pursuit of excellence in these areas was very fulfilling to her, and she imagined that she would feel that way for her entire career. Perhaps that is why she was in some consideration for eventual House Mother. We know from Joss' writing that Companions can and do retire and go on to significant careers in other areas. Maybe Inara, in those early years, never imagined wanting anything more than a life inside the Guild, surrounded by its rich heritage and by her Sisters as well. But things change, people change - and nobody has to be at fault - and she has a different set of feelings and priorities now. The example I gave when I emailed Bytemite was, imagine Inara was a graduate or postgraduate student/researcher at a very prestigious university. She loves the place, has worked very hard to get there, finds it beautiful and stimulating, and at that point she dreams of becoming a full professor, department chair, dean, spending her entire career within the university. After say, 10 years, she might still love and respect her university and all it has to offer - but might not feel it offers enough for her, for the rest of her life.
I was also wondering about what we see Inara taking complete and unabashed joy in. I don't see it often - she has this core of reserve and even solemnity.
Disclaimer: this little reply window bedevils me. I find it very hard to go back and reread to see if I am being cogent. So if I am not, please forgive me.
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No, it's good. No problems.
I actually am perfectly fine with the sex worker thing, and so long as she's not getting herself hit and she's not being forced, I figure that's her business. I don't imagine she used to get many snide comments back in the core, and any case, she doesn't take any disrespect. I can admire the kind of strength that entails.
I went back and checked the Jaynestown script, no real hint of sadness underneath "hopes for glamourous (paid) romance." It could be more of a general thing, or maybe regrets come after the engagements. Not saying she should be ashamed, but if she is, it probably hits her when she doesn't have to be composed for anyone. She has remarkable control over her emotions and expressions.
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