A Wife Beater's View of the World: Our Mrs. Reynolds - Part 2
Projection Room Voices: You've got Part 2 ready?
ZeldaQueen: Yes I do!
Projection Room Voices: Excellent. Hand it over.
ZeldaQueen: *to viewers* Hello viewers, and welcome to Part 2 of my sporking of A Rapist's View of the World: Our Mrs. Reynolds. As I said in an earlier sporking, this was written by Allecto - previous resident of Livejournal - a feminist so insane that she has advocated lesbianism as the best form of birth control. No, I am not making that up.
Once more, I shall remind viewers that I am not anti-feminist, but insane extremism makes me bristle. Every group has its insane extremists. I am not persecuting Allecto for her beliefs, I am sporking these because she has, among other things, made cruel baseless statements including that Joss Whedon raped his wife "beyond a shadow of a doubt".
Final note, I do not own this essay or any of the other ones of Allecto's that I've sporked. Allecto does. Please do not tell her I'm doing this or link her to me, that is not very kind. She has her right to sit in her playground and say what she wants, I have the right to sit here in my playground and say what I want. Lovely.
Projection Room Voices: Playing Media in 3...2...1...
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A Wife Beater's View of the World: Our Mrs. Reynolds - Part 2
*I’ve finally finished the damn thing. I won’t be allowing comments from anyone who is not a radical feminist (or pro-radical feminist) or a lesbian feminist/separatist. Yes, I am pro-censorship. Boohoo.*
ZeldaQueen: How brave of you to admit that. Most people I know try to deny that they're blatantly ignoring the opinions of people that don't agree with them.
I mentioned in the first post that the most disturbing potential reading of this episode is as a justification and indeed glorification of male violence/terrorism in the home. I left off in the last post talking about the romance between Mal and Jayne. In the following scenes Saffron settles in to her role as a subservient and pleasing wife, with Mal being a happy consumer of her services.
ZeldaQueen: That is quiiiiiite a stretch there. For those who skipped/don't remember the first part of the episode of Our Mrs. Reynolds, we have Mal unexpectedly married to a woman named Saffron. Saffron skulks around the ship, acts all submissive and weepy, and insists on doing all of Mal's chores despite his and the crew's insistance that she doesn't have to. As we will find out (and as Allecto seems determined to ignore in connection to that part) this is all an act and Saffron is playing the crew for all that they have. Hence, she is not really a victim of any sort of abuse. I guess that doesn't matter to Allecto though; when it was pointed out to her that Saffron in all probability wasn't married to Mal, she insisted that she couldn't see how it was relevant. In any case, how she acts and her alleged past is treated as bad. That is to say, viewers are obviously not supposed to think it's good that a woman is brought up to be submissive like that. So no, it is not glorifying male violence. Fail.
And no, Mal is not happy. It is clear that Saffron makes him very unsettled to the point that it annoys him. Because he does not know how to deal with submissive women. Because none of the crew's females are like that.
MAL (cont’d)
Well, that is odd.
SAFFRON
What?
MAL
I just don’t - I’m not one talks about his past. And here you got me…
SAFFRON
Does your crew never show interest in your life?
MAL
No, they’re, they’re… They just know me well enough to… What about
you? What’s your history?
SAFFRON
Not much to say. Life like yours, I fear you’d find mine terrible dull.
MAL
Oh, I long for a little dullness. Truth to say, this whole trip is getting to be just a little too interesting.
Touching stuff here. Mal beginning to see Saffron’s resources as an emotionally supportive slave as an addition to her exquisite domestic skills. What makes me even more annoyed about this scene is the fact that Mal, as always, does all the talking, leaving Saffron’s potentially interesting history unexplored. This is typical of stories written by misogynists. They are not interested in women’s stories; women are only there to further understanding of the male characters.
ZeldaQueen: Why is it that Allecto automatically assumes that when a male and female character interact, there are always some sort of ulterior motives on the evil white man man's side? Can't she just accept that Mal is surprised and grateful that someone cares enough to ask him about something? Apparently not. Just like she apparently can't wrap her had around the idea that someone would willingly offer emotional support out of the goodness of their hearts without it being business or exploitation.
And Allecto dear? There's a reason why Saffron doesn't tell Mal anything - she is a con artist! Her entire hinted bad history is all made up. She isn't telling anything because there's nothing to be told to him! And I might add that we do start to get Saffron's real history in a later episode, and it is pretty interesting, and unfortunately is not expanded on because Fox canceled the series and not because Whedon didn't want to bother.
After Saffron dismisses her own history as uninteresting (another tactic of misogynist writers, they create female characters that hate themselves and other women in order to disguise their own misogyny). One obvious example of this in Joss Whedon’s work is in the following scene where Zoe shows herself to be completely unsympathetic to Saffron’s slavery and blames Saffron for her own subjugation.
ZOE (V.O.)
She’s clearly out of her mind.
WASH
Well, she’s led a sheltered life.
ZOE
Did you see the way she grabbed that glass from you?
WASH
Every planet’s got its own weird customs. ‘Bout a year before we met, I spent six weeks on a moon where the principal form of recreation was juggling geese. My hand to God. Baby geese. Goslings. They were juggled.
ZOE
Of course the man rushes in to defend her…
WASH
(huh?) I’m talking about geese.
ZOE
Captain shouldn’t be baby-sitting a damn groupie. And he knows it.
WASH
Okay, when did this become not funny?
ZOE
When you didn’t turn around and put her ass back down on Triumph where it belongs.
WASH
Oh, hey, now it’s even my fault! Is there anything else on your mind I should know about? There’s all sorts of twists and cul-de-sacs, it’s wild.
ZOE
She’s trouble
WASH
I’m getting that.
ZOE
I’m going to bed.
It goes without saying that I find it highly problematic that women’s oppression is compared with the juggling of geese. What the fuck is with that even? Again, ha ha; women’s oppression = geese juggling. Tehehe.
ZeldaQueen: First of all, I repeat - Saffron's insistance that her past is uninteresting is a part of the con. She is trying to help get Mal and the crew to relax and trust her so she can fool them.
Second of all, no Allecto, Wash was not comparing female oppression to the juggling of geese. He and Zoe were talking about Saffron's behavior - that submissive domestic act that you've been screeching about for all of the previous essay and most of this one? Wash is trying to lighten the mood and is pointing out to Zoe that it is probably normal on Saffron's planet for women to be raised in such a way, thus she (Saffron) doesn't see her behavior as strange. To create a parallel example, let's say that an American meets a person from Japan and is confused by the Japanese person bowing to them instead of shaking their hand. The American's friend says "Oh, that's probably normal behavior in Japan. People in other parts of the world have different ways to say 'hello'. I have a foreign friend who kisses people as a greeting."
Sigh. Men are such dicks.
ZeldaQueen: And you are rude. And a slave to double standards. If a male writer said "Women are bitches", you'd be screaming bloody murder.
And here we have Zoe blaming women for their own oppression and hating women, presumably for not being as liberated herself. Does that even make any kind of sense? And Wash borrows Mal’s unicorn outfit to ‘defend’ Saffron and her weirdness.
ZeldaQueen: Um, no she isn't. Zoe is, and always has been, bothered by Saffron's doormat behavior. She doesn't like it. And it makes sense because Zoe and all of the other women on the ship (Inara, Kaylee, and River) aren't acting as servants to men and kissing their feet (no Allecto, I know you are convinced they are but they aren't). The crew is living in a ramshackled ship basically living off of their wits and strength and each other. Zoe sees Saffron being ridiculously weepy and submissive while everyone is giving her no reason to act that way (and indeed are encouraging her to stop) and doesn't like it.
I must also laugh at the hypocrisy of that statement. Zoe blames women from their own oppression and hating women for not being as liberated as herself. And you think it doesn't make sense. Hold on a second.
Click to viewZeldaQueen: Sorry folks. Seriously though Allecto, I've got word that you label all women that don't agree with you as "Athenas" and want all Athenas locked away. Besides that though, how are the things you say about women not belittling? You basically make out that every move a woman makes means that she is being lured in, trapped, and screwed (both figuratively and literally) by men. You keep going on about how men are dominating women and have no issues with doing so. And you're basically implying in all of this that women are too weak or spineless to prevent it. It's insulting. In your effort to sound off as Woman Warrior, you're basically being rude to your own sex, which you keep insisting is your "sisterhood".
And again, whenever a man goes and defends a woman you automatically go on with the "unicorn" thing. Because heaven forbid it be that a man actually just stand up for a woman because he thinks it's right.
Newsflash to Allecto: there are a lot of males in my life. My dad, my brother, my male cousins, my boyfriend, and my male friends. I can assure you that it's not outside of the realm of possibility that they are kind and support me just because they want to get in my pants. Men do care about their sisters and friends and daughters and girlfriends, etc.
See, that is what I just love about male supremacy.
ZeldaQueen: Hooo boy, here we go. *tightens helmet*
Men rape babies, they buy, sell and trade women (real, live, thinking, breathing human beings) as sex, they kill each other, they bash, rape, mutilate, torture us day in and day out, for not being subservient enough, for being too subservient, for being too ugly, for being too beautiful, for not conforming enough, for conforming too much, in short for being born female. And women are the ones who get called crazy and weird.
ZeldaQueen: Good God Almighty, what the freak has made you so bitter? Audience, do I even need to point out all that is stupid and wrong with this? Allecto dear, I feel I ought to point out to you THE ENTIRE SEX OF MEN DOESN'T HAVE IT OUT FOR WOMEN! Yes, there are men who do all of the things that you said and no one in their right mind would defend or wave that off. But to say that all men do that? Again, you are basically insulting my brother and dad and boyfriend and male friends and cousins and every other guy in my life. And in the lives of all of your readers and mine who are kind and decent people. Do you honestly think that all men are like that? Has your family honestly had such terrible luck with brothers and husbands that you think that there aren't men who truly care about women who are close to them? I guess not, otherwise you wouldn't have mocked the idea of a male feminist, the horror! I guess it also never made it into your head that there were white people who backed the black civil rights movement.
And Allecto, you are also merrily ignoring the fact that there are women who do all sorts of terrible things. A few days ago, I saw a program about a sixteen-year-old girl who killed her parents so that they wouldn't turn in her boyfriend. What about Pauline Parker and Juliet Hume, who killed Pauline's mother so they wouldn't be separated? What about Melodi Dushane, who punched out a drive-through window because they didn't have her Chicken McNuggets? Or Tiffany Toribio, who killed her three-year-old son twice? Or Banita Jacks, who killed her four daughters while insisting that they were demonically possessed?
Point is, there are people who do terrible things in every group, but to blame everyone in said group is idiotic and irrational. Double fail.
How the fuck are women supposed to survive what men throw at us and not go a bit crazy? And weird? Well, if hating my sisters, conforming to white male supremacy by being treated as a sex-object and possession by a white man, conforming to white male supremacy by jumping when the white man says jump and calling the white man ‘sir’ is your idea of ‘normal’ womanhood, Mr. Whedon, then I sure am glad that I am ‘weird’. But thankfully I know that your image of Black womanhood ain’t anything like the courageous, resourceful, angry, compassionate, strong, resilient, tireless, flesh and blood reality of my Black sisters.
ZeldaQueen: "Ain't"? Way to avoid stereotypes there Allecto. *snort*
And by specifying "white man" and "black woman" all of the time, you're being pretty danged racist yourself. Not to mention that you just aren't making sense. Are you suggesting that white women and black women aren't the same? That black men are somehow less offensive than white men? And considering how you feel that black women are all of those things, you certainly seem freaked out about them being taken advantage of all of the time.
And there are plenty of women who think that men are crazy and weird. But of course, you're ignoring that. So sweet of you.
The next part of the show is one of the most disgusting, heteropatriachal, rapist scenes that I've watched. So gross. Saffron shows up in Mal’s cabin completely naked. She surprises him when he comes into his room. She is in Mal’s bed, draped in his sheets, telling Mal that she has made the bed warm for him and made herself ready for him. EWWWWWWWW. I already think I need a bath. Fuck Joss has a filthy mind.
ZeldaQueen: Let it be known, viewers, that Saffron is in fact naked but given the upper back shot, that is to say her upper back is pretty much all that is seen. No butt or breasts. So already by today's standards, it's pretty conventional. And apparently Allecto is asexual, if this is enough to seem "filthy" to her.
So Mal, still wearing his unicorn suit (though by this stage it is getting a bit tatty) tells her that she has her own room. Saffron is confused believing that, as they are married, they must become ‘one flesh’. EWWWWWW Joss’s words there. So Saffron quotes her planet’s bible at Mal. Remember these words were written by the great feminist Joss Whedon.
ZeldaQueen: Are you actually complaining that Mal is trying to not give in to temptation and sleep with her, Allecto? And again, were you born without a sex drive? "One flesh" is a lot nicer than other ways to refer to sex and consumating a marriage is hardly something scandalous or unheard of.
And again, Saffron is a con artist. In all likelihood, she is making up that Bible quote.
Oh, and I'd like to remind everyone that every single thing that comes out of a character's mouth is not a tract from Whedon's Book On Life. Despite how Allecto seems to think it is. Oh wait, she only thinks that the bad stuff is coming straight from him. The good stuff she just hand waves as being an act.
SAFFRON
I do know my bible, sir. “On the night of their betrothal, the wife shall open to the man, as the furrow to the plough, and he shall work in her, in and again, ’till she bring him to his fall, and rest him then upon the sweat of her breast.”
MAL
Whoa. Good bible.
SAFFRON
I’m not skilled, sir, nor a pleasure to look upon, but -
MAL
Saffron. You’re pleasing. You’re… hell, you’re all kinds of pleasing and it’s been a while… a long damn while since anybody but me took a hold a’my plough so don’t think for a second that I ain’t interested. But you and me, we ain’t married. Just ’cause you got handed to me by some couldn’t pay his debts, don’t make you beholden to me. I keep trying to explain -
Interlude: Joss Whedon’s Guide for Beginners on how to make female submissiveness sexxxxay.
ZeldaQueen: More like awkward and uncomfortable to me.
Take one naked, skinny, shortish prone woman. Add one clothed, built, tallish standing man. Insert suggestive, heteropatriarchal, religious reference. Stir.
ZeldaQueen: Again, it's hardly like the idea of a man and woman having sex after marriage is some groundbreaking idea.
You know, something similar to this happened to me once. A vulnerable, screwed up (it almost goes without saying that she had been repeatedly raped and otherwise abused by her boyfriend, who dumped her when she stop acquiescing to her own rape), Catholic girl threw herself at me, desperate for self-validation, desperate for someone to love her a cherish her. She was in my bedroom. She pushed me onto the bed and tried to kiss me. How did I respond? I stood up and left the room. Simple.
We were flatmates. I never stopped being there for her emotionally but taking advantage of her vulnerability was NEVER an option. It was not something I could even begin to consider for one very simple reason. I DO NOT FIND FEMALE SUBMISSION AND VULNERABILITY SEXY. It is not sexy, not funny, not feminist, absolutely not ok to ever show female submission and vulnerability as being sexy. It is really, truly awful to see, love and care for women who have had their selfhood all but destroyed and royally screwed with by men. It is really, truly awful to recognise yourself in the pieces of them.
ZeldaQueen: And you were totally right to do so. I agree, no one should be taken advantage of in a fragile emotional state. But you're ignoring the fact that Mal isn't. He's a man in his prime who, by his own admission, hasn't been laid in a while and has a pretty naked woman practically begging him to take her and he still is holding back. And I might add that in your case, I would assume that you are not a lesbian (forgive me if you are, but you don't seem very interested in sex in general) so there would not be the temptation factor, plus your roommate was obviously upset and not thinking straight. Saffron goes at Mal quietly and calmly, insisting that by all rights they should be sleeping together.
But Joss, the feminist, has his male character hang about pretending that he wants Saffron to leave, clearly hoping that she won’t. The scene culminates with Saffron dropping the sheet, walking over to Mal and kissing him. A kiss that Mal not only allows but quite happily engages in, joking that he will be going to the special hell. Ha. ha.
ZeldaQueen: You seem to be ignoring a good bit of dialogue m'dear. Before Saffron kisses him and Mal goes on with it, Saffron moves from talking about how it's expected of a woman to sleep with her husband to telling him that she thinks that he's a wonderful, kind man who she is lucky to be wed to and how she wants to sleep with him because she likes him and not because it's expected of her. In other words, there is absolutely no reason at all for Mal to think that he is taking advantage of her. She has made it clear that she is happy to sleep with him. In fact, dear viewers, I have the script right here:
MAL
Saffron. You're pleasing. You're...
hell, you're all kinds of pleasing
and it's been a while... a long damn
while since anybody but me took a
hold a'my plough so don't think for
a second that I ain't interested.
But you and me, we ain't married.
Just 'cause you got handed to me by
some < bastard > couldn't pay his
debts, don't make you beholden to me.
I keep trying to explain -
SAFFRON
Let me explain.
(he waits, surprised at the grown up tone)
I lived my life in the maiden house,
waiting to be married off for trade.
I seen my sisteren paired off with
ugly men, vicious or blubberous, men
with appetites too unseemly to speak
on. And I've cried for those girls,
but not half so hard as I cried the
night they gave me to you.
MAL
(suddenly insecure)
Well, what - you - is there blubber?
SAFFRON
I cried for I'd not dreamed to have
a man so sweet, so kind and
beautiful. Had I date to choose,
I'd choose you from all the men on
all the planets the night sky could
show me.
She stands getting close to him.
SAFFRON (cont'd)
If I'm wed, I'm a woman and I'll take
your leave to be bold. I want this.
I swell to think of you in me, and I
see you do too.
Mal looks down, embarrassed.
MAL
Well, that's just...
SAFFRON
Leave me at the nearest port, never
look on me again, I'll make my way
with the strength you've taught me...
only let me have my wedding night.
They're inches apart. He's dying.
MAL
(looking up at the door)
I'm gonna go to the special hell...
But then huh? What? Mal falls down unconscious after Saffron kisses him!!!! OH NOES!!!! SAFFRON IS AN EEEEEEEVIL KILLER WOMAN!!!! ARGH!
Who would have thought? A feminist writes a show depicting a victimized, vulnerable woman, who is just pretending and turns out to be an evil killer woman! Ho hum, another woman-hater at work.
ZeldaQueen: I - she - what? WTF Allecto? You befuddle me. You have spent the entirety of your previous essay and most of this one complainging about how Saffron has been submitting to men and being doormattish and how everyone is taking advantage of her. Now we find out that it was all an act, Saffron is not a dominated woman but had a plan and was playing the crew all along and you still are not happy? Good God woman, what will please you? First you shriek about every single good female character that's been put up here on the grounds that they listen to the Evil White Mal and now you're complaining when there's a female character who is antagonistic and fighting against the Evil White Mal. What will make you happy?
I really am starting to think you're an elaborate troll. I really am.
Interlude: Feminism: The Joss Whedon Way.
Rote learn the following:
- Women lie. About everything really, but mostly they lie about rape, child abuse, sexual assault and harassment, male violence in the home, male violence in the street etc. Women lie and lie and lie. They can’t help it. They don’t even have a reason for lying, they just do it. It’s biological… and pathological… but still very wrong.
ZeldaQueen: *rubs head* Allecto? Darling? When was it ever suggested in this episode - or in the entire series for that matter - that women are pathological liars? When did any women besides Saffron lie about those things (most of which you assumed about her, my dear)? And no, Saffron didn't lie about those things for no reason. She is a con artist and was lying to gain the crew's trust. You seem to be under the impression that Saffron was a doormat and suddenly snapped and became a wily woman. She wasn't. The doormat was an act. Please get this through your head. Thank you.
So Saffron wanders off, gets dressed and heads to the bridge where she encounters Wash. She closes the door, and evilly turns Wash on with her wily, feminine pretending.
She turns to him, eyes nearly moist with pleading.
SAFFRON
My whole life, I saw nothing but roofs and steeples and the cellar door. Few days I’ll be back to that life and gone from yours. Make this night what it should be. Please…
Her face is inches from his.
SAFFRON (cont’d)
Show me the stars.
They’re practically touching and she moves to kiss him, but he pulls away at the last minute.
WASH
do I wish I was somebody else right now. Somebody not married, not madly in love with a beautiful woman who can kill me with her pinky.
Reason number 9623 of why I find the whole Wash/Zoe relationship unconvincing. Wash openly admits that he wishes he could sleep with Saffron a woman who he has just met. He simultaneously believes that he loves Zoe despite the fact that he openly admits to wanting to fuck Saffron. And the primary motivation for him refusing to fuck Saffron does not seem to be because he loves Zoe, it is more because of his life may be in danger if he does. Wow, I really do just love these nice, white husbands. Whatever would women do without all these nice, white men?
ZeldaQueen: Allecto's kind of reminding me of Jack Chick right now. He did a comic where a married man only looked at another woman because a demon made him. Apparently Allecto and Chick are unfamiliar with the idea that people, even married people, have sex drives and are still tempted by others. So no, that is not unconvincing. A perfect marriage doesn't miraculously fulfill every sexual desire so that a person doesn't get the least bit tempted by other people.
...Good lord I just realized - Allecto sounds a bit like a Harmonian there, doesn't she?
Anyway, I think the fact that Wash is tempted to sleep with Saffron and doesn't ought to count for something, but apparently not to good old Allecto, who evidently has no sense of humor in addition to no sex drive. Because the thought that Wash's comment about Zoe hurting him if he cheated on her being a joke has sailed merrily over her head. Allecto dear, Wash is in a very uncomfortable possition. He has a pretty woman more or less tossing herself at him and he is trying to laugh it off to defuse the situation. And again, let's see what happens after Allecto cuts off:
SAFFRON
I've been too forward.
WASH
No. Well, yes. But I actually like
that in a woman. That's part of why
Zoe and I are, as previously
mentioned, married.
SAFFRON
I thought... she didn't seem to
respect you.
WASH
Not everybody gets me and Zoe at
first glance. Did it get very hot in
here? I need airflow.
He moves to the door. She stops him with...
SAFFRON
You love her very much.
WASH
Yeah.
He turns to open the door. Saffron rolls her eyes with bored exasperation as he continues heading for the door -
WASH (cont'd)
I never did meet a woman quite like
her. The first time we -
And Saffron sidekicks him in the back of the head, slamming his face into the door. He slides down, unconscious.
ZeldaQueen: Doesn't love Zoe, eh?
Anyway, Joss writes his first remotely feminist bit thus far and Saffron kicks Wash in the head after rolling her eyes at his stupidity. WOOHOO!!!! That’s more like it sister! Now this Saffron IS sexy. Not that sexy is a word I’d use but hey. This Saffron is a woman who kicks fuckwit men in the head and that makes her pretty darn attractive in my book.
ZeldaQueen: Really Allecto? You don't think a female character is feminist until she's kicked a man in the head for no good reason? Can I ask you a question then? If that's what it took for you to gain Saffron's approval, then why did you complain about her knocking out Mal with that kiss? Why don't you praise Zoe when she kicks male butt? Why don't you praise Inara for stunning the Operative with a flashbomb? Why don't you praise River for knocking out an entire bar of men and later killing an entire horde of Reavers? Why aren't you talking about River at all, for that matter? She's a character who was subjected to something analoguous to rape and is doing her best to overcome it. No note of that, I see.
And Saffron rolled her eyes at Wash talking about how much he loves his wife. So basically you complain that Wash doesn't show any signs of loving Zoe and then when he starts rhapsodizing about how much he loves her, you call it "stupidity". I can't help but wonder at your standards.
And Allecto also only thinks that Saffron is "sexy" when she is kicking a defenseless man in the head (seriously, Wash is not a fighter). And again, why don't you say this about the other female characters when they knock out male characters? Oh wait, it's because they have the gall to interact positively with male characters as well. Never mind, carry on.
Saffron stuffs up the ship’s navigation before heading to one of the shuttles. She encounters Inara along the way. Can’t really be bothered to detail the scene. Suffice to say that Joss chucks in a bit of lesbian pornography for his wanker fans. Ho hum moment number 3948.
ZeldaQueen: For the viewers, what happens is that Saffron tries her sexy routine on Inara (which she has done on Mal and Wash) and Inara basically tries to seduce her as well. Playing a player, you could say. When that doesn't work, Saffron attacks Inara.
Although for the life of me, I don't know why Allecto is bothered by lesbian subtext. Isn't that what she thinks is the best relationships in the world are?
Saffron escapes. Inara reveals the hideous truth about Saffron to the others. She acts as though she has had training at the Academy for Companions. Shock, horror. A Companion that uses her ‘skills’ in servility for evil??? Oh noes. She must be stopped.
ZeldaQueen: You're ignoring the fact that Inara kissed Mal and was knocked out as well. Not quite sure why, seems like something you'd love to yell about, a woman having the gall to kiss a man she had affections for. Ah well.
And she's also skipping the fact that Mal is basically viewed with suspicion for falling to a drugged kiss. And that Kaylee and Wash blame his kissing her for getting them in the mess to begin with.
Not quite sure what Allecto is trying to say about Saffron's Companion training. Duh they could be used for cons, a Companion is trained to be able to manipulate people and - it is implied - fight.
Jayne brings out Vera, his nice big phallic gun, which turns out to be far better, safer, and more useful than Saffron. Vera saves the day, preventing the crew from dying at the hands of the thieves working with Saffron to steal the Firefly from Mal.
ZeldaQueen: Now that bit about Jayne's gun is a bit of symbolism that I agree with. Jayne is the manly man and his love of guns, whether intended or not, does make sense in that regard. Though again I point out that Saffron was the criminal. Of course she wasn't useful to the crew, that's like saying that Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak was more useful than Malfoy was in Sorceror's Stone.
Predictably, Mal hunts Saffron down. The pictures below are screen captured from the show.
MAL
Honey… I’m home…
A beat. She knocks his gun aside, it fires as she draws hers but he is in close, they tussle - he wrenches her gun from her hand as they collapse on bed, him on top.
MAL (cont’d)
Looks like you get your wedding night after all.
She pushes him, they go tumbling to the floor but he’s still on top and this time he’s got his gun to her chin. (In the show he holds the gun to her head rather than her chin).
MAL (cont’d)
It’s the first time, darlin’. I think you should be gentle with me.
She lets out a breath, smiles at him unfathomably.
SAFFRON
You gonna kill me?
MAL
Can you conjure up a terribly compelling reason for me not to?
SAFFRON
I didn’t kill you…
…
MAL
Why the act? All the seduction games, the dancing about folk - there has to be an easier way to steal.
SAFFRON
You’re assuming the payoff is the point.
MAL
I’m not assuming anything at this juncture.
He sits, gun still well on her. She gets up on her elbows, below but facing him.
SAFFRON
(smiling sexily) You’re quite a man, Malcolm Reynolds. I’ve waited a long while for someone good enough to take me down.
MAL
(also smiles) Saffron… you even think about playing me again I will riddle you
with holes.
Her smile goes. This is the closest we’re gonna get to seeing what’s inside her, and there ain’t much to warm your hands by.
…
MAL
I got one question for you. Just one thing I’d like to know straight up.
SAFFRON
Ask me.
MAL
What’s your real name?
She looks at him… looks away, considering the question… - and he slams the butt of his gun into her chin, knocking her out cold. He stands, regards her genuinely vulnerable form. Says with a kind of sadness:
MAL (cont’d)
You’d only’ve lied anyhow.
What a way to make violence against women sexy. The scripted description of Saffron in this scene make it abundantly clear that this scene is supposed to titillate. Saffron sits on the bed, pulling on her boots. She is nothing like the girl we’ve seen, much more modern and cool (though she still wears a skirt). Joss making even more porn for his wanker fans.
ZeldaQueen: The scene used sex and marriage as a theme because that's what Saffron used. She used her sexuality to seduce and hurt Mal, Wash, and Inara.
But perhaps most disturbingly this scene can be read as a justification for male violence in the home. Joss frequently references marriage in the scene, to bring on the funnies of course, having Mal acting like a spurned husband and Saffron the wayward wife. If we read the entire episode using this framework of reference we can see that Joss has constructed a vicious argument in favour of male violence in the domestic sphere.
ZeldaQueen: Yes Allecto. Mal confronts and knocks out the woman who he trusted and who tricked him and his entire crew, sold them out, and left them for dead. And that's of course Whedon justifying male domestic violence. Nevermind the fact that they never really considered themselves married or the fact that I'm sure you'd be just fine if the sex roles were reversed.
First up we have the innocent virgin wife. Mal romances the innocent virgin wife, teaching her to be strong and independent, but still ultimately subservient to him, and obedient to his authority. They come to the marital bed and it turns out that she isn’t quite so innocent after all. She transforms from an innocent country girl into a manipulative, callous woman, who is strong, capable and independent. She works for herself and bows to no one, not even Mal, her husband. In fact, she willfully betrays him and uses his faults and weaknesses to get her own way. It is clear that such a woman must be brought down. By any means necessary.
ZeldaQueen: *holds head* Allecto, if I didn't know any better I'd think you're making things up. First of all, Saffron was never innocent nor, as later episodes imply, was she ever a virgin in this episode. Mal did teach her to be strong and independant but never wanted her to be obedient to him besides regarding him as the ship's captain (which he held everyone on Serenity to, male and female). Saffron never "transformed", she dropped her masquerade. What she did there was planned the entire time. Her "innocent country girl" routine was a part of her being strong, capable, and independant (which I will not doubt that she is). Nor will I deny that she bows to no one (though I will argue that Mal is her husband since neither of them seem to regard themselves as such). And Mal does want to bring her down, but because she tricked his crew and tried to leave them for dead. You're the one who was fine with the statement "if someone kills you, you should kill them right back". Saffron, beyond all certainty, tried to kill the crew of Serenity, the crew who had been nothing but nice to her when she showed up. For money. So how, may I ask, does that translate to unwarranted domestic abuse? Answer - it doesn't!
Saffron leaves Mal and Mal tracks her down, invading her home by force as a husband, pushing her to the bed, using his body to pin her down while he lectures her for not conforming to proper feminine womanhood, before slamming his gun in her face. Really very disturbing stuff, all from the mind of a feminist.
ZeldaQueen: Um, no he doesn't you liar. He lectures her for trying to kill him and his crew and asking her why she did so. He didn't say "you need to sleep with me woman!" (the "honey I'm home" and the "you'll get your wedding night after all" lines were jokes, in case no one else can tell).
And because Allecto conveniently skips them, I'll show all of you viewers what happens in the pieces of dialogue that are carefully left out. First:
SAFFRON
You gonna kill me?
MAL
Can you conjure up a terribly
compelling reason for me not to?
SAFFRON
I didn't kill you...
MAL
You turned me and my crew over to
those that would kill us, that buys
you nothing.
SAFFRON
I made you dinner...
MAL
Why the act? All the seduction
games, the dancing about folk --
there has to be an easier way to
steal.
Second:
Her smile goes. This is the closest we're gonna get to seeing what's inside her, and there ain't much to warm your hands by.
SAFFRON
Everybody plays each other. That's
all anybody ever does. We play parts.
MAL
You got all kinds a' learnin' and you
made me look the fool without trying,
yet here I am with a gun to your
head. That's 'cause I got people
with me, people who trust each other,
who do for each other and ain't
always looking for the advantage.
There's good people in the 'verse.
Not many, lord knows, but you only
need a few.
SAFFRON
Promise me you're gonna kill me soon.
MAL
You already know I ain't gonna.
SAFFRON
You know, you did pretty well. Most
men, hell, they're on me inside of
ten minutes. Not trying to teach me
to be strong and the like.
MAL
I got one question for you. Just one
thing I'd like to know straight up.
SAFFRON
Ask me.
MAL
What's your real name?
ZeldaQueen: In the first bit, we see that Mal is going after Saffron to avenge his crew. He also tells her that there is no real reason why he shouldn't kill her for what she's done, yet still finds it in his heart to leave her alive. Keep in mind that most of the other villains who've threatened his crew have wound up dead. In the second bit, we see that Mal acknoweldges that Saffron is intelligent and outwitted him, but tells her that he has the advantage at the end because he trusts his crew and they trust him - a person can't make it through the world without friends who will help without trying to screw you over. He also tells Saffron that they both know he won't kill her and she tells Mal that most other men she conned more or less took advantage of her during her innocent girl routine while Mal didn't.
Yes Allecto, truly Mal is a shining example of evil male dominance to the womenfolk.
The final scene we have an affirmation of proper feminine womanhood, as Mal goes back to the woman he ‘loves’.
INARA
… does the vixen live?
MAL
If you can call it that. All’s well, I suppose.
INARA
Yes.
This is the typical discourse of misogynists, women fit neatly into the wife/whore dichotomy. Inara is a good woman. Her sexuality is neatly controlled by patriarchal institutions, the Academy, the Guild, her respect for Mal as Captain of the ship. She is comfortably subservient, she services men both sexually and emotionally without complaint and conforms to all the patriarchal rules of her role as both a Companion and a woman. Inara is the good whore: the wife.
ZeldaQueen: Inara is a good woman because she never attacked an innocent crew, tried to hijack their ship, and leave everyone for dead. And yes she respects Mal as captain, along with everyone else on the ship. And yes, Inara services men (and women) as they like, but it's made pretty clear that to her, it's all business. She picks who she wants, says and does what she has to, and gets paid. If a client in any way makes her unhappy, she gets his or her butt blacklisted so no other Companion ever has to put up with him.
Saffron on the other hand uses her ‘skills’ as a woman and as a Companion, for her own gain. She refuses to conform to patriarchal femininity by submitting gracefully to being used as a sexual and domestic slave. She turns men’s weaknesses to her own advantage. And ultimately she mast pay the price for refusing to bow to men. Saffron is the bad wife: the whore.
ZeldaQueen: Saffron is the "bad" one because she tried to kill people. Why are you ignoring that? I agree that she was strong and independant, but she was also the antagonist. No one expected her to completely get away with what she did. In fact, she lucked out much better than most of the villains in the series. She gets a second appearance, more backstory, and is strongly implied to have been slated for more.
Inara, as a good wife must, joins with Mal in her condemnation of Saffron, and in doing so, pledges her allegiance to men and male supremacy. Inara is a model for good womanhood, she must view what happened to Saffron as a lesson in the fate afforded to women who attempt to step outside of male controlled strictures of femininity. Inara must turn away from her sisters and towards men, seeking company only with those women, like Kaylee, who also conform to male-approved, male-supremacist notions of femininity.
ZeldaQueen: Inara condemns Saffron because Saffron tried to kill the crew of Serenity. That includes Mal (who she loves), Kaylee (who she sees as a friend), the nice preacher who didn't give her a fire and brimestone lecture for her occupation, the nice doctor who is doing his best to protect his sister, said sister who has had her brain hacked up, the strong and loyal second mate, and said second mate's sweet and devoted husband. Who have stood by her and stood up for her and who she in turn stands by and supports.
Allecto, if a woman tried to kill your friends and family, would you consider condemning her actions to be out of line? If so, then you are a twisted lady.
Blah. I’ll take sisterhood any day. But honestly, if Joss Whedon is a feminist then violence against women is sexy and empowering. Me? I’m taking a stand against Joss Whedon and his wanker fans in pursuit of true liberation for womenkind.
ZeldaQueen: Take sisterhood if you want, but do you really support attempted murder, no matter which sex the offender is? You totally missed the point of the episode, on par for you.
Final part of this series on Firefly:Objects in Space: Black masculinity through the paradigm of whitemale lust.
ZeldaQueen: What? Oh boy, I just might have to see to this. Later though.
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ZeldaQueen: *takes off helmet* To the showers!
Return to the Sporking Chamber
