Companions 'Gilded Cage'
POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 08:47
VIEWED: 36140
PAGE 8 of 11
Aw. We get heated, but I'm sure no one thinks your ideas are shameful. There's lots of people who like both Jayne/Kaylee and Mal/Nandi and also lots of people who really hope Joss doesn't kill off his characters, or even who wish he'll somehow bring Book and Wash back.
But you do what you have to to feel comfortable too. I have to disappear for a while myself now and then.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Aw. We get heated, but I'm sure no one thinks your ideas are shameful. There's lots of people who like both Jayne/Kaylee and Mal/Nandi...
I don't see the point of drawing up battle lines at all. I don't feel the need to bicker over fictional characters. I like all of these characters to varying degrees and can see a variety of scenarios playing out. I see these characters as essentially good people doing the best they can under trying circumstances.
Some think our Captain Mal is a selfish, lecherous hump, and use "Heart of Gold" as some kind of proof. They have every right to that opinion but I don't find anything in the dialogue or the emotions the actors portrayed to indicate this. If he were that sort of person the crew wouldn't follow him.
I don't hate either Inara or Nandi. Love triangles do happen and that doesn't mean the people in them are bad people, it means they're human. Besides, there was no words of commitment between Inara and Mal. People want to ascribe all manner of unseemly motives to these characters and I just don't see it. I take Mal and Nandi to pretty much mean what they say and if they made a mistake, I'm willing to cut them some slack. Of course, I'm just a fan not a literary critic.
Nothing I could say on this site would convince anyone of anything, so I've probably just wasted ten minutes of my life.
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I'm sorry. And you've got a point about the shipping battles. We even joke about it.
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Just want to be clear, Toadsmoothy. Dong ma?
The reason we're all on here, even MB with incisive and...scary...humor xD is that we find these characters awesome and hilarious. And we enjoy sharing our opinions and sometimes doing a little convincing to boot.
I really think nobody needs to get bothered-- either embarrassed or angry, because frankly, only the writers/actors would have the 'right' answer about interpreting the characters, and even if they did, it might come across different to viewers anyway.
A lot of this "proof" can be used in different contexts. I don't personally think Mal is a lecherous hump, but he is impulsive and it comes out in lecherous humpishness sometimes (depending on your view). Huzzah we're looking at a multifaceted character, of which there aren't many on tv.
So chill out and argue with all your geese on the table. Or sit back and watch the circus. But please, there's no need to cringe. Ain't nobody brought out the knives yet. 
---
Going for a ride.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
...Another thing that bothers me is Mal leaving the bedroom, it’s like he’s escaping, he’s not even completely dressed, and he shuts the door quietly so she doesn’t wake, like he’s had his quota of intimacy for the week.
Just to correct you on this point. In the morning Nandi awakens first and looks over at Mal while HE is still asleep. If he was rushing out while still dressing it might be because he had a big fight coming up. And I never got the impression she would be hiding in the cellar while the fight was going on. Neither did Mal order Nandi anywhere but suggested she join him in an upstairs position. And while they didn't cling on one another in the morning I feel that would have been out of character for both of them. That being said, they did exchange several meaningful glances. Of course, if you take a moralistic view of their behavior the night before you might have missed or misinterpreted these things.
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Quote:
Originally posted by AnotherSky:
...So chill out and argue with all your geese on the table. Or sit back and watch the circus. But please, there's no need to cringe. Ain't nobody brought out the knives yet.
Well, as I said up front, this is my first message board experience and I've only been here a few days, so maybe I'm just not used to this kind of thing.
I'm not convinced to your point of view re. Heart of Gold. As Inara indicated when she ran into Mal in the hallway, he and Nandi did nothing wrong. Which makes me think you have some moralistic axe to grind that even Inara herself rejected. Of course some people discount what the characters themselves say and go off on tangents totally alien to the script and the milieu of the 'Verse.
There. A goose or two on the table.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
...complicated by Nandi realizing she spent the night with her good friend’s love, cause she wanted to, completing her pattern of acting impulsively, without thinking of the consequences. I think Mal and Nandi were both walking the line of feeling shame there...
Boo hoo, poor Inara! I'm sorry but I ain't buyin' it. If Inara had wanted Mal she could have had him long before. It's obvious Mal has a weakness for Companions (Saffron and Nandi). Surely the quintessential Companion could have worn down his defenses in short order. But all she could find to do is repeatedly insult him and hold him at arms length. So he boinked Nandi. What's the big deal? When she met Mal in the hallway the morning after Inara herself said she didn't have a problem with it, that sex for her didn't carry moralistic overtones. So why do you and others here have such a problem? So, they had sex, who gives a shit? So, Inara was bawling afterwards. Who knows why? Maybe the ship's surgery ran out of Midol. I like Mal. I like Nandi. I like Inara. If Inara was sorry that Nandi beat her to the punch with Mal she only has herself to blame for that. She's a big girl. She can handle it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by mincingbeast:
...I am delighted. In fact, this adds new dimensions to the fact that Inara cried and left...
Yeah, well. I'm happy you're delighted. Whatever trips your trigger chief.
As far as Hoss' mouth, I would imagine it tastes like long since rotted flesh seeing as how Dan Blocker has been dead quite a few years now. Perhaps necrophilia also delights you. I will pass however.
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Quote:
Yeah, well. I'm happy you're delighted. Whatever trips your trigger chief.
As far as Hoss' mouth, I would imagine it tastes like long since rotted flesh seeing as how Dan Blocker has been dead quite a few years now. Perhaps necrophilia also delights you. I will pass however.
XD We have another good one! MBs humour is just as sharp though, keep on your toes!
As for me, I like all three of the characters myself, which you kinda saw when I suggested the relationship might go in a three-way direction more than anything else.
For me, it's not a moralistic thing, it's just the thought that Nandi was repaying Mal for helping her seems inescapable to me. This kind of thing happens, of course, so what they did doesn't bother me so much as I'm not sure Mal realized, which makes the exchange somewhat false.
Of course, it's not Nandi's fault if Mal is dense, either, so I don't hold any of them at fault. I just don't see the night of passion they had as any more than what it is: just one night.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
For me, it's not a moralistic thing, it's just the thought that Nandi was repaying Mal for helping her seems inescapable to me. This kind of thing happens, of course, so what they did doesn't bother me so much as I'm not sure Mal realized, which makes the exchange somewhat false...
I suppose one could read that into it. I think they are saying and doing what they mean.
Nandi tells Inara: "Payment won't be a problem." Of course the type pf payment isn't specified. But, CASH payment (as opposed to sex payment) seems to be an option when she says to Mal:"I expected a whole lot more of you to be taking payment in our trade"...which seems to mean cash payment was an option for those who would choose it. And Mal explains to her why everyone but Jayne isn't taking sex as payment.
Inara also promises Mal (cash) payment: "You'll be compensated...I've put a little (money) aside...you will be paid. I feel it's important we keep OUR'S strictly a business arrangement." Of course we see here Inara once again holding Mal at arm's length. But, Mal rejects this:"You can keep your money, we won't be needin' no payment." Does he mean here that he intends to do the job entirely pro bono?
I guess there is room for differing opinions all over the place here.
But, I don't think Nandi had sex with Mal as payment for services about to be rendered. I don't think she is just telling Mal what he might want to hear when she says to him:
"I've been waiting for you to kiss me since I showed you my guns...I WANT you to bed me."
I assume that she means what she is saying. I also believe she was being truthful when, in the morning, she tells Inara that she didn't realize that she (Inara) was in love with him. Therefore Nandi can hardly be held culpable for hurting Inara's feelings. "I have shot mine arrow o'er the house and hurt my brother."
Now Nandi is displeased that Mal didn't tell her how Inara felt about him. But, how can Mal be certain that Inara loves him? She repeatedly pushes him away and treats him like dirt. What, is Mal suppose to never have sex for the rest of his life but just wait around for Inara to thaw out?! My opinion is that Inara is responsible for this whole debacle. If she wants a relationship with Mal, it's time for her to shit or get off the pot.
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