Inara
There has been some speculation, what Inara's arc would have been on Firefly. I never really thought about that question, but recently a plot line popped into my brain, an idea that I'd like to share. (And if hundreds of people already speculated along the same lines without my knowledge, my aplogies - I'm a bit out of the loop these days.)
During the Serenity promotion tour, Joss was asked whether River's story in Serenity followed the arc he had planned for Firefly before the show's cancellation, and what kind of arc would have come after that. Joss said something vague to the effect that ifInara's story would have been next. I doubt that Serenity will get a sequel, in spite of the good DVD sales ( although a straight-to-DVD release is a distant possibiltiy... *crosses fingers*). So, lets speculate for a moment, where Joss might have taken us.
I have noticed certain themes that crop up around Inara: pregnancy, breeding, control. (Particularly in Heart of Gold and Objects in Space) I found it particularly noticeable in the DVD deleted scene where Inara finds out that the girls she's teaching to be companions are speculating about her romance with a "Space Pirate". Sheydra, the other companion, mentions that all the girls Inara is teaching come from the best families and have the best possible breeding. (I would have liked to quote from that scene but couldn't find a transcript for the deleted scenes.)
Companions may have been modeled after Japanese geishas, but a good lineage was never a requirement for becoming a geisha. Why should a companion have to come from the elite? And why the stress on control? Yes, part of the scene was about Inara & Mal, but that was so high profile, it almost felt like hand waving, as though Joss was trying to set up a foundation for a sequel about Inara without drawing too much attention to it.
My theory: the companions with their semi-religious superstructure are modeled after Frank Herbert's Dune books, namely after the Bene Gesserit, a mysterious guild of well-trained and powerful women from the oldest and most noble families of the galaxy. The women were trained to read body language, to control others through their voice, to plot and scheme. Unkind people called them witches. The guild moved its members around like chess pieces, positioning them as wives and concubines. The Bene Gesserit even controlled the pregnancies of these women. (The plot in Dune is set into motion when one Bene Gesserit defies the wishes of her order by giving her husband a son instead of a daughter) The Bene Gesserit's secret agenda was to control blood lines and the gene-pool of the mighty to produce a powerful prophet/psychic.
I am not saying that the Guild is trying to create a prophet, but what if companions are part of a large eugenics program? We saw in Serenity that the Alliance will stop at nothing to create a better world. And that they try to "enhance" psychics like River. What if they are trying to create better people from scratch? Companions are in a perfect position to connect genetic samples from the rich and the powerful, whererver they are. What if companions are eventually required to bear children for the Guild? What if Inara already has a child (as I've seen suggested a few times) What about the regular checkups in guild hospitals? Perfect opportunities to transfer a companion's "harvest" to the Guild's gene banks.
EARLY (cont'd)
(to Inara)
Man is stronger by far than woman.
But only woman can create a child.
That seem right to you?
(Heart of Gold)
This would tie in with the way the Council manipulates and exploits Slayers on Buffy. Remember how we found out in S7 that the Slayers were created when three male shamans violated a girl by "melding" her with a demon? The strongest girl in the world - created by men to be a powerful puppet. Wouldn't it be ironic if Inara, the symbol of sexual freedom, were a mere puppet?
What kind of story does Joss like? He likes stories in which characters lose what is dear to them. What could be dearer to Inara than her status as a companion? It's who and what she is. In order to create a powerful story for her, Joss would have to tear down the Guild and expose its rotten core, and then we'd get to see how a shaken and uprooted Inara stubbornly digs her toes in and starts to rebuild herself - without the Guild.
What do you think? Am I out on a limb here?
During the Serenity promotion tour, Joss was asked whether River's story in Serenity followed the arc he had planned for Firefly before the show's cancellation, and what kind of arc would have come after that. Joss said something vague to the effect that ifInara's story would have been next. I doubt that Serenity will get a sequel, in spite of the good DVD sales ( although a straight-to-DVD release is a distant possibiltiy... *crosses fingers*). So, lets speculate for a moment, where Joss might have taken us.
I have noticed certain themes that crop up around Inara: pregnancy, breeding, control. (Particularly in Heart of Gold and Objects in Space) I found it particularly noticeable in the DVD deleted scene where Inara finds out that the girls she's teaching to be companions are speculating about her romance with a "Space Pirate". Sheydra, the other companion, mentions that all the girls Inara is teaching come from the best families and have the best possible breeding. (I would have liked to quote from that scene but couldn't find a transcript for the deleted scenes.)
Companions may have been modeled after Japanese geishas, but a good lineage was never a requirement for becoming a geisha. Why should a companion have to come from the elite? And why the stress on control? Yes, part of the scene was about Inara & Mal, but that was so high profile, it almost felt like hand waving, as though Joss was trying to set up a foundation for a sequel about Inara without drawing too much attention to it.
My theory: the companions with their semi-religious superstructure are modeled after Frank Herbert's Dune books, namely after the Bene Gesserit, a mysterious guild of well-trained and powerful women from the oldest and most noble families of the galaxy. The women were trained to read body language, to control others through their voice, to plot and scheme. Unkind people called them witches. The guild moved its members around like chess pieces, positioning them as wives and concubines. The Bene Gesserit even controlled the pregnancies of these women. (The plot in Dune is set into motion when one Bene Gesserit defies the wishes of her order by giving her husband a son instead of a daughter) The Bene Gesserit's secret agenda was to control blood lines and the gene-pool of the mighty to produce a powerful prophet/psychic.
I am not saying that the Guild is trying to create a prophet, but what if companions are part of a large eugenics program? We saw in Serenity that the Alliance will stop at nothing to create a better world. And that they try to "enhance" psychics like River. What if they are trying to create better people from scratch? Companions are in a perfect position to connect genetic samples from the rich and the powerful, whererver they are. What if companions are eventually required to bear children for the Guild? What if Inara already has a child (as I've seen suggested a few times) What about the regular checkups in guild hospitals? Perfect opportunities to transfer a companion's "harvest" to the Guild's gene banks.
EARLY (cont'd)
(to Inara)
Man is stronger by far than woman.
But only woman can create a child.
That seem right to you?
(Heart of Gold)
This would tie in with the way the Council manipulates and exploits Slayers on Buffy. Remember how we found out in S7 that the Slayers were created when three male shamans violated a girl by "melding" her with a demon? The strongest girl in the world - created by men to be a powerful puppet. Wouldn't it be ironic if Inara, the symbol of sexual freedom, were a mere puppet?
What kind of story does Joss like? He likes stories in which characters lose what is dear to them. What could be dearer to Inara than her status as a companion? It's who and what she is. In order to create a powerful story for her, Joss would have to tear down the Guild and expose its rotten core, and then we'd get to see how a shaken and uprooted Inara stubbornly digs her toes in and starts to rebuild herself - without the Guild.
What do you think? Am I out on a limb here?