Questions about Inara
POSTED BY: Wulfhawk
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 06:13
VIEWED: 8542
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Mal and Inara are an interesting couple. Mal wants Inara, but knows that she is well above his social standing. She is an honest businesswoman, he a thief and rebel, not much beloved by the jet set. And he cannot offer her the kind of world she lives in.
Oh irony of ironies.
That kind of relationship *can* work, you just gotta work at it, and when it does work, it's amazing, especially when it allows for unified problem solving on different social levels.
A good example of that is in Episode: Trash.
Zia - "Tell you what, let me negotiate and see if I can't run the price down."
Frem - "And if you can't ?"
Zia - "Then you break his legs."
Frem - "Ok."
Mal/Inara would be a very, very dangerous pair.
-frem
diefuxdie
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Gah, the quotes are from a conversation between me and my girl, not the episode... damn formatting!
-frem
diefuxdie
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Dreamgirl is right on about this one.
I also think she is a girl or at least understands the structure of romance novels.
There is a reason other than the comic that the gag reel parodies FF as the love boat. When I first started watching this way back when, I said they made a romance novel in space. All the romances on the ship represent aspects of the Mal-Inara relationship at some level.
I do a bit of illustration with DG's points.
DG - "I love the whole Mal and Inara thing because it is just plain romantic."
LC- Damn right it is! And it’s that way for a reason, so you keep watching. Any female raised in western culture is conditioned to recognize the structure of this relationship, part by the general culture (marriage, historical precedence, and fairy tales), and even more so by Disney. On any given year do you know that women's romantic fantasies account for 51% or so of all books sold? Pretty big market share, and there is a reason for that.
DG - "I think they are two people who have been through difficult times and are at a place in their lives where romance is the last thing on their minds. Then they meet and both have to fight an overwhelming attraction to each other. Neither of them are prepared for dealing with strong emotions other than the desire to survive. I think thats why the anomosity exists, but when they are faced with danger and one or other might be hurt you see their concern for each other.
LC - your recognizing the power here that each wields. Inara is the heroine of the show, and Mal is the romantic hero. Remember when Book and Inara speak about what each finds interesting about Mal?
Inara 'Why do you find him [Mal] so fascinating?'
Book 'Because he is something of a mystery. Why do you?'
Inara 'Because so few men are.'
Inara, a rare woman of power (was headed for temple priestess, I imagine leader of the companions), breaks away from everything she knows to find the man of her dreams after seeing how so many men are predictable and uninteresting. She finds that in Mal and knows it the minute she meets him.
DG - "Its not something anyone can analyse"
LC - You’re wrong here, its big business knowing the structure of just what you are feeling. Lots of people analyze this stuff all the time, to a point where you can recognize it, if only subconsciously, if you are presented with just a part of the pattern. Let me quote from a good book on the subject.
Mean, Moody, and Magnificent - The Hero in Romance Literature
"The strong, domineering hero of the romance novel has long been the subject of criticism. What critics don't realize is that it is the hero's task in the book to present a suitable challenge to the heroine. His strength is a measure of her power. For it is she who must conquer him.
"Every good romance heroine must have a hero who is worth of her. And in most cases he is a mean, moody, magnificent creature with a curling lip and mocking eyes and an arrogant air of self-assurance - until he meets the heroine.
"She is the only person who can make him forget his natural courtesy, lose his rigidly controlled temper; when he is faced with her determination to do what she feels is right for her, he reacts in ways he knows to be despicable or at the very least unworthy of his principles. The spirited, somewhat bewildered heroine senses that she is the only person who has such a powerful effect on him, just as he is the only man who can make her reassess the foundations on which she has built her life until then. She is able to read the small signals that tell her he is trustworthy, even though his hardness and antagonism may repel her at first. And the signs of his helpless response to her are intercepted by feminine intuition. He may say he dislikes her, he may even act as though she is as treacherous as he believes her to be, but arrogant and overbearing, even brutal though he may be, he never acts in a way which makes her truly fear for her physical safety. A hero is kind to animals, to children, and to little old ladies.
"But e
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