Firefly - aside on Mal/Inara
After 'Shindig,' a commenter asked,
'Do you consider yourself a strong feminist? All the other people who've watched Firefly and reacted this way to Mal/Inara that I know are pretty big feminists and it might be something like they can't stand that sort of male/female dynamic.'
My response:
---
Don't know about 'strong,' but feminist, yes. There's a really rape-y 'don't take no for an answer, you know she wants the D' element that rubs me the wrong way, and Inara happily enables it.
I'd argue that Firefly encourages you to examine its gender dynamics. It's not an accident that the 'manliest' characters are named Jayne, Mal, and Zoe, for one thing. Inara uses her sex in exchange for capital, and it's discussed in the first episode at length. Zoe and Wash's slightly inverted gender roles are brought to light pretty freuqently.
As for its creator, the same year Firefly aired, Joss Whedon had another abusive sexual relationship with 'can't take no for an answer' on TV. That relationship showed how damaged its participants were, and there was nothing cute about it. The characters were also explicitly shown to be immature for much better reasons than 'some people just don't grow up,' which is the only excuse for Mal/Inara.
That said, there are other reasons not to like it the dynamic beyond from a feminist critque.
For one thing, these are grown-ass adults, not children, and zero reason is given why they can't be together if they're gonna have crushes on each other. Hey Inara, stop saying 'no' if you don't mean it. And Mal, if she says no, just take it.
The relationship is also the only unresolved romantic point in the main cast, and almost by default, the show really wants us to root for them to get together. The show also makes it a big point about how Inara is a STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN and how BEING A COMPANION IS NO CAUSE FOR SHAME. Except then Mal violates her space all the time and tries to shame her.
For anyone who hates 'nice guys,' you should hate Mal, too - at least in this episode. He's a jealous little bitch, he white-knights the shit out of Inara without asking if she actually wants that, and then he needs to get bailed out by her and we're expected to cheer. This episode also informs us that being a white knight works by playing into the fantasy that the guy she's with is secretly an asshole (something he showed no traits of, until Mal provoked him and suddenly he had to be the bad guy).
If you're anyone who values his own privacy, you should also be really bothered by the fact that Mal keeps using the fact that he's Inara's landlord to creep on her. She can't really make him fuck off because then she'll be homeless. Ignoring that he's a man and she's a woman, that type of abuse of power to violate personal space is just ugh.
'Do you consider yourself a strong feminist? All the other people who've watched Firefly and reacted this way to Mal/Inara that I know are pretty big feminists and it might be something like they can't stand that sort of male/female dynamic.'
My response:
---
Don't know about 'strong,' but feminist, yes. There's a really rape-y 'don't take no for an answer, you know she wants the D' element that rubs me the wrong way, and Inara happily enables it.
I'd argue that Firefly encourages you to examine its gender dynamics. It's not an accident that the 'manliest' characters are named Jayne, Mal, and Zoe, for one thing. Inara uses her sex in exchange for capital, and it's discussed in the first episode at length. Zoe and Wash's slightly inverted gender roles are brought to light pretty freuqently.
As for its creator, the same year Firefly aired, Joss Whedon had another abusive sexual relationship with 'can't take no for an answer' on TV. That relationship showed how damaged its participants were, and there was nothing cute about it. The characters were also explicitly shown to be immature for much better reasons than 'some people just don't grow up,' which is the only excuse for Mal/Inara.
That said, there are other reasons not to like it the dynamic beyond from a feminist critque.
For one thing, these are grown-ass adults, not children, and zero reason is given why they can't be together if they're gonna have crushes on each other. Hey Inara, stop saying 'no' if you don't mean it. And Mal, if she says no, just take it.
The relationship is also the only unresolved romantic point in the main cast, and almost by default, the show really wants us to root for them to get together. The show also makes it a big point about how Inara is a STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN and how BEING A COMPANION IS NO CAUSE FOR SHAME. Except then Mal violates her space all the time and tries to shame her.
For anyone who hates 'nice guys,' you should hate Mal, too - at least in this episode. He's a jealous little bitch, he white-knights the shit out of Inara without asking if she actually wants that, and then he needs to get bailed out by her and we're expected to cheer. This episode also informs us that being a white knight works by playing into the fantasy that the guy she's with is secretly an asshole (something he showed no traits of, until Mal provoked him and suddenly he had to be the bad guy).
If you're anyone who values his own privacy, you should also be really bothered by the fact that Mal keeps using the fact that he's Inara's landlord to creep on her. She can't really make him fuck off because then she'll be homeless. Ignoring that he's a man and she's a woman, that type of abuse of power to violate personal space is just ugh.
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