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Date Posted: 00:44:33 10/27/02 Sun
Author: TRM
Subject: Re: Companions. (A few spoilers for aired eps.)
In reply to: Rob 's message, "Re: Companions. (A few spoilers for aired eps.)" on 22:42:13 10/26/02 Sat

I had thought that the whole Companion thing was supposed to be another bit of oriental reflection, reminiscent of the Japanese geishas. Unfortunately, I really don't know anything about geishas, so this comment could be entirely flawed -- that's the trouble with making an argument that you really can't support. *reprimands self*

It's difficult to really know what culture Firefly possesses and if it even is a future representation of our reality or of some other reality (they make specific reference to Earth, certainly). So if we take the alternate culture route -- anything is possible, particularly in reference to the historical antecedents you've brought up.

We can also hypothesize about some random explanations such as a drop in the female reproductive rate, some new form of matriarchical heritage, or other some-such, but I haven't seen much to back-up theories like that. For now, it just seems like a general cultural phenomenon.

I could accept a slow cultural shift where companionship (I'll use this word rather than prostitution to refer to Inara) becomes a respectable (if not respected) occupation. After all, we know that she has had academy training, i.e., she's had a higher level education of some sorts. In this sense, we can contrast being a companion versus being a whore, and Inara's righteous indignation was equivalent to a high profile constitutional lawyer being called an ambulance chaser.

I'm not sure whether the Independants would disdain the profession, and it seems that Mal didn't treat Inara particularly rudely or politely at his first meeting with her until she mentioned that she was for unification. But in so saying, that suggests that there are possible companions that were against unification, and one might suspect that Saffron (?) had been one of them. Of course, given that the Alliance is the dominant society and thus is actually in the position to give the commanding respect that companion's possess; it makes a lot of sense that registered companions (who registers them anyway? the Alliance?) were generally pro-unification.

I wouldn't be surprised at male companions appearing later in the show. Though there are probably two problems that might prevent this from happening -- especially early in the show. Our current society seems to find female prostitution more acceptable than male prostitution. Indeed, I can't even remember seeing male prostitutes in movies or media; only porn stars (as in Boogie Nights). Because of this it's likely that (1) Fox would be unwilling to have a male prostitute on the show.

(2) Joss is not completely immune to some degree of stereotyping, and I feel that it probably didn't occur to him off the bat to have a male prostitute on the show. Specifically, when he came up with the idea for Firefly I doubt he really considered a male prostitute since he probably had established and grown attached to certain characters that were drifting about in his head back then. Inara, to some degrees is a stereotypical romantic prostitute/companion. She has dark, curly hair, and her presence suggests some degree of secrets and a dark past. Contrast this with the apparently open-book, light-haired, and bubbly Kaylee. It may take time for Joss to adjust his figurative spectacles and re-assess some of the basics in his new creation.

Furthermore, there's no need for Joss to overturn every expectation. If he were to do that, the show would be very abstract indeed.

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