Did we watch a relationship?

[blacknblue]

You are talking about mutually incompatible moral codes. I get it. One partner is a swinger, the other is a fundamentalist. One partner is a pacifist, the other partner is a career marine.

But unless a man is emotionally capable of accepting serial polyandry, the idea of permitting his wife to engage in sex with multiple other men is not an option. Aside from polyandry, the only other type of man who would do that is a pimp.

[leslina]

You are talking about mutually incompatible moral codes. I get it. One partner is a swinger, the other is a fundamentalist. One partner is a pacifist, the other partner is a career marine.

But unless a man is emotionally capable of accepting serial polyandry, the idea of permitting his wife to engage in sex with multiple other men is not an option. Aside from polyandry, the only other type of man who would do that is a pimp.

That's what makes the whole Mal/Inara thing frustrating for a lot of Firefly/Serenity fans. Like Dis said, Joss wrote himself into a corner with that one. But who knows, he's currently working on his second comic series bridging events between the final episode of the TV series with the Film sequel for Dark Horse Comics. I'm hoping there's a decent follow up to the film when he's through with that project.

Dis if you haven't read Serenity: Those Left Behind, I recommend it. The art is gorgeous and Joss does a decent job delving more into the Mal/Inara conundrum. I'm currently waiting for the hard back version of Serenity: Better Days.

[blacknblue]

As a matter of strict fact,. the whole concept of 'companion' would make it difficult for a person of wither gender to commit to one individual. If you are a paid companion, how could you commit to spending the bulk of your lifespan dedicating yourself to being the lifetime companion of one individual? Whenever you took time to spend on 'work' you would by definition be robbing your partner of the very thing that your marriage is supposed to be designed to provide.

It looks to me like a 'companion' would be inherently incapable of making a lifetime commitment to anyone at all. Just by virtue of the fact that their career involves dedicating themselves to becoming the temporary paid spouse of an ongoing series of clients.

[Distracted]

I agree. That's exactly what she's supposed to be. Not just a whore. She's a temporary spouse. And not just with men. I distinctly remember one episode where she had a female client.

Mal/Inara's just inherently impossible unless she retires, and she won't as long as she's not independently wealthy. If I were writing fanfic, I'd have Mal and the gang end up obscenely wealthy after a huge score and give Inara her cut. They split up. Inara goes off to invest her money in her own school for companions. Mal locates her and finds out she's stopped working as a companion and has become the full time headmistress of the school. THEN he builds a huge house on the same planet, starts a shipping business, hires his own captains, buys several ships, stays home to run the business, and is just so rich that he joins the upper crust of society without even trying, so he's her financial and social equal. A couple of years down the road, when they're both established, he comes to call and courts her formally. Then they marry. Yeah. I know. Kinda boring, huh?

[blacknblue]

What would be the point in that case? If neither of them is willing to sacrifice anything to be with the other one, and neither of them is flexible enough to consider adapting to meet the other one's needs, then they obviously don't have what it takes to make it work anyway. Friends, yes. marriage, not likely.

Sounds like both of them have a need for a re-evaluation of their life priorities.

[dialee]

Distracted:

Talk about being prescient! Have you ever read Mal and Inara's Sushi fic series over at LiveJournal? Guess what happens? Nearly everything except for Mal becoming a shipping tycoon.

I'm sorry I can't add a link. I've deleted since they stopped updating.

[Alelou]

I agree. That's exactly what she's supposed to be. Not just a whore. She's a temporary spouse. And not just with men. I distinctly remember one episode where she had a female client.

Mal/Inara's just inherently impossible unless she retires, and she won't as long as she's not independently wealthy. If I were writing fanfic, I'd have Mal and the gang end up obscenely wealthy after a huge score and give Inara her cut. They split up. Inara goes off to invest her money in her own school for companions. Mal locates her and finds out she's stopped working as a companion and has become the full time headmistress of the school. THEN he builds a huge house on the same planet, starts a shipping business, hires his own captains, buys several ships, stays home to run the business, and is just so rich that he joins the upper crust of society without even trying, so he's her financial and social equal. A couple of years down the road, when they're both established, he comes to call and courts her formally. Then they marry. Yeah. I know. Kinda boring, huh?

This kind of sounds like Gone With the Wind to me for some reason.

Really, if two people aren't willing to be with each other unless their need for extreme financial security and status is met first, I think they deserve each other.

[Distracted]

Ah... but you don't get it. They ARE giving up something for the other.

Mal's a rebel. He enjoys freedom, not being tied down to one place or person. He's giving that up to settle down and change himself into someone stable, cultured, and trustworthy FOR HER.

Inara enjoys being with clients. She's really good at what she does. Doing her job well makes her feel worthwhile. She's giving up direct contact with clients and limiting herself to administration and teaching FOR HIM.

[Alelou]

Mm. Well, I don't know the show anyway, so I'm just wildly throwing around opinions based on what I've read here. Knowing my tendencies, if I watched the show I'd probably be shipping for them as hard as anybody could...

Somebody whose writing I enjoy did a pretty long Firefly/Enterprise crossover. Of course I don't remember the name.... (Probably lots of people have, for all I know. Maybe it was YOU, Distracted.) I read it just to get the Ent fic, though I confess to skimming a fair amount of the Firefly stuff.

[Distracted]

T'weren't me. I waste too gorram much time on TnT as it is.

Sigh.

I just spent all afternoon reading Firefly fanfic. Can you tell?

Back to Lerteiran now.

[leslina]

Mm. Well, I don't know the show anyway, so I'm just wildly throwing around opinions based on what I've read here. Knowing my tendencies, if I watched the show I'd probably be shipping for them as hard as anybody could...

Somebody whose writing I enjoy did a pretty long Firefly/Enterprise crossover. Of course I don't remember the name.... (Probably lots of people have, for all I know. Maybe it was YOU, Distracted.) I read it just to get the Ent fic, though I confess to skimming a fair amount of the Firefly stuff.

I think you might be referring to Alison M. Dobell's No Dominion. It's the only Firefly/ENT crossover I'm aware of.

T'weren't me. I waste too gorram much time on TnT as it is.

Sigh.

I just spent all afternoon reading Firefly fanfic. Can you tell?

Back to Lerteiran now.

Hot damn! And didn't even mean it as a bribe.

[Alelou]

I think you're right. I went on a major Dobell tear not long ago, and that would have been around the same time.

[blacknblue]

Threads like this remind me of my own limits. I read the debate about the rogue and the whore, and I mentally recoiled. "Say what?"

It brings to mind forcefully how tight minded and middle aged I have become. There are some things, people, and situations that I am inherently incapable of sympathizing with. Cultural relativity and situational ethics just don't work for me anymore, if they ever did. I really am a reactionary caveman these days.

*sigh*

I will never be able to write a truly free spirited character.

[Distracted]

Ah, but you're really good at mean and nasty. I can't do that to save my life. Even my villains end up sympathetic.

[blacknblue]

Ah, but you're really good at mean and nasty. I can't do that to save my life. Even my villains end up sympathetic.

Um... thanks?