QT's First Firefly Shamelessly Gushing Review: Shindig
POSTED BY: QueenTiye
UPDATED: Friday, November 8, 2002 16:37
VIEWED: 8004
PAGE 2 of 3
Quote:
Originally posted by Sensou:
So, along those lines, every time Mal calls Inara a whore would it be as if he was calling a SWAT team member "a guy with a gun?" And she hasn't slapped him yet?
Of coursse she could just be too lady-like
Sensou
Sweet is love when all is sane
Sweet is death to end the pain
Cruel is death when all is well
Cruel is love when all is hell
LOL! Yeah... kinda... but I was going more for an analogy I mentioned in another thread - that of the barber and the surgeon - at one time they were one and the same people - hence the red and white flagpole tradition... clearly they are not now.
And while the companion is clearly not as differentiated from it's origins as the surgeon is from his, I'd like to think that the analogy is more similar...
QT
QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006
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QT, I can definitely see how you would get interested in the Companions the way you did in Nietzschean matriarchy. Both concepts attempt to take patriarchal practices and recreate them as under female control. Yet, onscreen, mostly what we see portrayed is nothing that will not nicely fulfill male expectations and male fantasies. For all the complexities it might entail, what we saw on Andromeda of matriarchy was pretty much polygamy, even if it was a polygamy that only the strong, clever, cool guys could get a shot at. In Firefly we're still seeing male resistance to a woman treating her sexual labor as simply part of a highly compensated profession. As in so many popular narratives about prostitution, the man wants to cast off the Companion only when he chooses and conversely becomes aggrieved if he cannot purchase exclusive rights to her. Meanwhile, it's strongly suggested that what she really wants is a romantic relationship with the caring and soulful guy who coverts her heart rather than her services--which is what happens between Ringo and Dallas in "Stagecoach," which Joss says is a model for Firefly.
So I think we're going to see this play out fairly traditionally, with just a few feminist notions thrown in for contemporary interest.
Cardie
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cardie:
Yet, onscreen, mostly what we see portrayed is nothing that will not nicely fulfill male expectations and male fantasies. For all the complexities it might entail, what we saw on Andromeda of matriarchy was pretty much polygamy, even if it was a polygamy that only the strong, clever, cool guys could get a shot at.
Well, you know, Cardie that we have a difference of opinion on this one - the existence of polygamy does not necessarily negate matriarchy.
Quote:
In Firefly we're still seeing male resistance to a woman treating her sexual labor as simply part of a highly compensated profession.
Right. I'm not feeling as positive about this concept as I did about the Neitzschean Matriarchy. As it stands, though, we still haven't heard yet if there are male companions - so I don't know if its fair to indict the companions as a "woman's" profession, consisting only of sexual labor... I for one would not need her services... ;)
(Meanwhile, a male companion might be interesting!) Anyway, I came back to edit to say that the profession, as I'm seeing it, is not limited to or even mostly sexual labor.
Quote:
As in so many popular narratives about prostitution, the man wants to cast off the Companion only when he chooses and conversely becomes aggrieved if he cannot purchase exclusive rights to her.
Going back to Delvo's thoughts on the subject - it strikes me as possible that the Companion Academy and the new interpretation of the profession might be brand new - an Alliance invention, if you will. Which would mean that MOST people don't quite "get it" yet... But that's a real stretch of my imagination - nothing on screen has denied that possibility, but nothing strongly suggests it either. Although - if we are talking about a client/customer relationship - then there is no problem with a customer casting off a companion when he chooses, nor expecting that while she is in his employ, he has her undivided attention, unless he violates terms of contract...
Quote:
Meanwhile, it's strongly suggested that what she really wants is a romantic relationship with the caring and soulful guy who coverts her heart rather than her services--which is what happens between Ringo and Dallas in "Stagecoach," which Joss says is a model for Firefly.
And EVEN here, I wouldn't have a problem, if it didn't mean that she then gave up her profession. But if that caring and soulful guy then gets to convince her that her profession is "wrong" then the story is saying that it was wrong all along. And that would be disappointing.
Quote:
So I think we're going to see this play out fairly traditionally, with just a few feminist notions thrown in for contemporary interest.
Cardie
This is my fear as well...
QT
QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006
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^QT, I don't think Companions ARE an invention of the Alliance.
Inara specifically refers to a tradition going back hundreds of years, so it probably predates the Alliance.
Although, to be fair, we don't know enough about companions OR the history of the Alliance yet for anything but supposition anyway. I'm hoping FF will be around long enough for us to find out.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rhea:
^QT, I don't think Companions ARE an invention of the Alliance.
Inara specifically refers to a tradition going back hundreds of years, so it probably predates the Alliance.
Although, to be fair, we don't know enough about companions OR the history of the Alliance yet for anything but supposition anyway. I'm hoping FF will be around long enough for us to find out.
Thanks for that reference.
What year is Firefly set in, btw?
QT
QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006
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Quote:
Originally posted by QueenTiye:
What year is Firefly set in, btw?
2517 A.D.
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QT My post did not concern any possible social theories about a polygamous matriarchy or a highly-respected "Companion" profession and how they might be implemented in a real society. What bothered me about the Niets and is starting to worry me about the Companions is that though there are hints that all this female empowerment is going on offscreen in the fictional cultures, what we see is well within male fantasies about having lots of wives because you're the alpha or male fears of a female sexuality that is part of a complex profession that empowers women financially and gives them status.
I agree that Inara has to stay bound by her contractual agreements and enters into them freely, but "Shindig" emphasized Wing's jealousy and feeling that if he wanted to "buy" her for his exclusive use, she had no right to refuse him. Whereas Mal is clearly uncomfortable that sex is a part of the package she sells to her clients. I don't see any real change in attitude from the nineteenth-century, frankly.
Cardie
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D&mned good point....
QT
QueenTiye, Companion Academy, class of 2006
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Good point indeed, Cardie.
OTOH we have seen in several episodes that people seem to be in awe of Companions (like Train Job and Jaynestown). So it may be a mixed bag - Companions have become highly respectable in general, obviously, but like everything else, that depends on where you come from.
Mal doesn't seem unliberated, generally speaking, so maybe he just comes from a backwater planet with different mores. Book doesn't seem to have a problem with what Inara does for a living, and in fact, Mal is the only one on the crew that seems to.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rhea:
Book doesn't seem to have a problem with what Inara does for a living, and in fact, Mal is the only one on the crew that seems to.
That's in fact the reverse of what happens in "Stagecoach," in which everyone in the coach looks down on Dallas (except for the equally disreputable Doc Boone.) Then Ringo comes on board and treats her like a lady--because he doesn't know what she does for a living. But when he finds out, and she thinks he'll rescind his marriage proposal, he tells her to wait for him.
In a slight thread hijack, I'd like to urge all FF fans who haven't seen the 1939 Stagecoach to give it a look. Besides being one of Joss's inspirations, it is a spectacular film!
Cardie, shamelessly gushing about John Ford and Monument Valley
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