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hazelkIf, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing LJ entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your Live Journal. Ooops, rumbled.
For me this episode of Firefly is rather a guilty pleasure. A cream cake except I don’t like cream cakes. More it’s like sneaking off to the fashion department of Liberty’s to scan through the rails and check out the feel of the fabrics. Maybe try on a couple of pieces and snatch a quick twirl in front of the mirror. And segue completely uncontrivedly into the thesis that this is a story about costumes and dressing up.
Jane Espenson says in the commentary that it’s all about how Mal and Inara don’t fit into each others world or even, when you look closely, into their own. That Inara is alien to Mal’s world is evident from the initial bar scene and the reverse is made equally clear when Mal crashes Inara’s society ball. But Inara talking to Atherton on the videophone is the consummate actress and Mal gets called out for his pretensions by that insult to the psychotic lowlife community, Badger. In contrast to both of them, however, is Kaylee who’s wonderfully comfortable in her own skin. Sure she likes to dress up on occasion but she knows it’s just a game, it doesn’t change who she is and she’s happy with that.
A costume society holds a costume ball. River divests the cans of their wrappers, later she’ll take off Badger’s brain and wear his sordid little secrets on the outside. Meanwhile Zoe and Walsh devise their own undress code. Back to the ball and the mystery of Inara’s gown. The first time I saw this I was impressed at how it managed to look just a little off. Like something genuinely new and alien to modern eyes. However, according to the commentary the real reason for the offness is that the measurements were misjudged and in order to make the dress fit the actress, the bodice had to be inverted. Well there you go. Another enjoyable snippet from the commentary was Espenson’s glee at the concept of the hovering chandelier. In motion it somewhat resembles Kaylee’s store bought dress. And speaking of motion I really loved the dance sequence even though Mal shouldn’t have been so competent. The camera swooping around conveying the movement beautifully was in stark contrast to the later staging of the duel where the quick cuts and excess mist quite failed to cover up how incredibly slow it all was.
Finally, on to more serious concerns. In the flesh Atherton and Inara’s acting gentleman and lady turns very nasty indeed. Would any member of a truly respected profession put up with this sort of treatment from clients? Later in the series it’s suggested that Inara has her own reasons for slumming it out on the Rim but there’s no indication that it’s unusual for a companion to be plying her trade out there. Possibly things are not really much better on the more sophisticated Core planets. ‘Respect’ to their faces masking a residual contempt/envy/distrust, which wouldn’t be dissimilar to the way actresses used to be treated in old Hollywood or our own attitudes to current celebrities. For me the most incongruous thing about the way people relate to Inara is the almost universal respect/approval given her by other women. The men seem to show a much wider range of attitudes.
For me this episode of Firefly is rather a guilty pleasure. A cream cake except I don’t like cream cakes. More it’s like sneaking off to the fashion department of Liberty’s to scan through the rails and check out the feel of the fabrics. Maybe try on a couple of pieces and snatch a quick twirl in front of the mirror. And segue completely uncontrivedly into the thesis that this is a story about costumes and dressing up.
Jane Espenson says in the commentary that it’s all about how Mal and Inara don’t fit into each others world or even, when you look closely, into their own. That Inara is alien to Mal’s world is evident from the initial bar scene and the reverse is made equally clear when Mal crashes Inara’s society ball. But Inara talking to Atherton on the videophone is the consummate actress and Mal gets called out for his pretensions by that insult to the psychotic lowlife community, Badger. In contrast to both of them, however, is Kaylee who’s wonderfully comfortable in her own skin. Sure she likes to dress up on occasion but she knows it’s just a game, it doesn’t change who she is and she’s happy with that.
A costume society holds a costume ball. River divests the cans of their wrappers, later she’ll take off Badger’s brain and wear his sordid little secrets on the outside. Meanwhile Zoe and Walsh devise their own undress code. Back to the ball and the mystery of Inara’s gown. The first time I saw this I was impressed at how it managed to look just a little off. Like something genuinely new and alien to modern eyes. However, according to the commentary the real reason for the offness is that the measurements were misjudged and in order to make the dress fit the actress, the bodice had to be inverted. Well there you go. Another enjoyable snippet from the commentary was Espenson’s glee at the concept of the hovering chandelier. In motion it somewhat resembles Kaylee’s store bought dress. And speaking of motion I really loved the dance sequence even though Mal shouldn’t have been so competent. The camera swooping around conveying the movement beautifully was in stark contrast to the later staging of the duel where the quick cuts and excess mist quite failed to cover up how incredibly slow it all was.
Finally, on to more serious concerns. In the flesh Atherton and Inara’s acting gentleman and lady turns very nasty indeed. Would any member of a truly respected profession put up with this sort of treatment from clients? Later in the series it’s suggested that Inara has her own reasons for slumming it out on the Rim but there’s no indication that it’s unusual for a companion to be plying her trade out there. Possibly things are not really much better on the more sophisticated Core planets. ‘Respect’ to their faces masking a residual contempt/envy/distrust, which wouldn’t be dissimilar to the way actresses used to be treated in old Hollywood or our own attitudes to current celebrities. For me the most incongruous thing about the way people relate to Inara is the almost universal respect/approval given her by other women. The men seem to show a much wider range of attitudes.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 07:12 pm (UTC)dance sequence even though Mal shouldn’t have been so competent
Agree wholeheartedly with that, especially given that he's a man and therefore leading. It's easier for an inexperienced woman to dance competently.
Some nice stuff to muse over in your review. Thanks for posting it.
If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing LJ entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your Live Journal.
Funny, just this morning I was thinking about this very thing given that I have been reduced to discussing geese and cigarette butts in my LJ!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 09:50 pm (UTC)Funny, just this morning I was thinking about this very thing given that I have been reduced to discussing geese and cigarette butts in my LJ!
But geese are really interesting. Who doesn't love a post about goose stalking butts?