MORE ON INARA & BOOK

Some of Inara's wisdom from the episode 'Serenity' (Maybe this proves that Book isn't Jonah.)

Book: ‘I've been out of the Abbey two days. I've beaten a lawman senseless. Fallen in with criminals. I watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect. And I'm not even sure if I think he was wrong. I believe I just … I think I’m on the wrong ship.’

Inara: ‘Maybe. Or maybe you're exactly where you ought to be.’

INARA vs BOOK - MEANINGFUL OR MEANINGLESS CONVERSATION

There seem to be some similarities between the characters of Shepherd Book and Inara. Both have left behind communities; Book left the ‘Order’ of Southdown Abbey for the ‘chaos’ of Serenity, whereas Inara left the Companions’ House in Sihnon where she had at one time harboured ambitions to be the House Priestess. They are both known by their occupation/vocation/calling. Are they both running away from something/someone? Is Book looking for a ticket to Joppa even though he should be going to Nineveh?

Shepherd Book often comes out with pithy statements - as in this exchange from episode 1:

Kaylee: ‘How come you don’t care where you’re going?’

Book: ‘’Cause how you get there is the worthier part.’

As I re-watch the series I am going to look out for ways in which Inara exhibits the same sort of wisdom in what she says.

Or is it wisdom?

Cynthea Masson thinks that some of the pithy sayings used by Inara ‘verge on cliché’ and rather than being full of meaning they are actually used as a way of avoiding actual conversation - ‘an aspect of verbal etiquette in which a Companion would surely be well versed’. Masson, C, ‘But she was naked! And all articulate!’ in Wilcox, R & Cochran, TR (editors), Investigating Firefly and Serenity: Science Fiction on the Frontier, (London: I.B. Tauris,2008) p.20.

Could the same accusation (obviously without the reference to Companion training) be made against Shepherd Book – or against the Church/Emerging Conversation?

THE SPIRITUALITY OF INARA

I haven't said much about Inara yet, but she comes over as a very spiritual character, both as a result of her training and through her lifestyle.

Whedon explains that:

'Companions trained in all the arts, extremely well-schooled. They lived not unlike nuns, worked not unlike geishas, and often rose to political or social prominence when they retired,’

Whedon, J, Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, (London: Titan Books, 2005) pp.12-13.

After describing temple/sacred prostitution in ancient Middle Eastern society, Andrew Aberdein writes:

‘Inara also exhibits a strong spiritual side. She is frequently associated with religious iconography, primarily Buddhist, and both she and Nandi invoke the Buddha in Chinese imprecations. Moreover, Inara explicitly links the sacred to her practice as a Companion, referring to her shuttle as ‘a consecrated Place of Union’ (Jaynestown).’

Aberdein, A, ‘The Companions and Socrates’ in Wilcox, R & Cochran, TR (editors), Investigating Firefly and Serenity: Science Fiction on the Frontier, (London: I.B. Tauris,2008) p.67.

KAYLEE - 'THE HEART OF THE SHOW'

Kaylee (the mechanic on Serenity) also features in the notes on the Bible Study on http://blog.digitalorthodoxy.com/?p=661

' Kaylee seems to peer into Inara’s world and romanticises it, thinking that she gets some rich clients who give her things and make her feel pretty, the rest of the world seems to think this is the case too as her profession has a high status in the planets. Looking in from outside Kaylee wishes that she could have pretty things, be a normal" girl, wear pretty dresses, dance with men to nice music. Kaylee wants to live in the world beyond her own fence, the grass is always greener over there. ... And when she’s faced with the reality she meets people that want to keep her on the other side of the fence, people who look pretty on the outside but are not too pretty on the inside. These people make her feel unwelcome, unpretty. While she also meets others who seem to find her enchanting for who she really is at the same party.'

Similar comments, about the ordinariness of Kaylee's character and the way in which it is seen in the people we come into contact with every day, are made in Burns, M, ‘Mars needs Women’ in Espenson, J (ed), Serenity Found: More Unauthorized essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe, (Dallas, TX: Benbella Books, 2007) pp18-19:

' they had Kaylee's heart, that fragile fear that people were looking down on them, that they weren't good enough or smart enough. ... Kaylee can fix nearly everything, sees the good in everyone, can't handle a gun. ... Kaylee was the beating heart of the show as she tended the beating heart of Serenity. Where have you ever seen anyone like her on a spaceship before?'

MAL VS INARA

Episode 4 'Shindig' is about the differences between the lifestyles of Mal and Inara.

Inara is a companion - high class prostitute - which seems to be a legal and respectable occupation. Mal - who is a unquestionably a criminal (albeit one that the audience is urged to cheer for) - looks down on Inara's profession. The Bible Study on the Youth Ministry Blog relates this to the Biblical story of the one who said 'Friend let me remove the speck from your eye', whilst ignoring the log in his/her own eye.

Note to self - I would like to reflect further on the ease with which the audience (including me) can excuse the criminal aspects of Mal's life.

PRAYING FOR CAPTAIN REYNOLDS

There is a Study on Episode 2 'The Train Job' on http://blog.digitalorthodoxy.com/?p=646
which focuses on the way in which Mal handles the ethical dilemma that he faces once he realises that the job he has accepted involves stealing vital medical supplies.

Reading the notes for this episode in Firefly: The Official Companion Volume One, (London: Titan Books, 2006), p.54, I see that Joss Whedon felt that the act of returning the stolen goods in this episode, whilst not being against the ethos of the show, was a concession to the Network who wanted Mal to be a more likeable character. He is quoted as saying, 'In a harsher version [Mal] wouldn't [return the medicine], because his crew was starving and he needed to get them through'. He seems to have wanted the storylines to reflect the more complex nature of ethical dilemmas rather than a simple right/wrong distinction.

This leads me to ask:
What guidance can the Church/Christians give in the light of such dilemmas?
What right do we have to challenge the actions of others?
How do we remove the planks from our own eyes?

Those questions lead me to another one posed in the Youth Ministry Blog's Study Series: ' How do we approach people who have said that they are not interested in faith or, more specifically our faith?'

This comment arises out of a conversation between Mal and Book in which Mal says: 'If I'm your mission, Shepherd, best give it up. You're welcome on my boat. God ain't.'

Later Book is advised by Inara to pray that Mal returns safely from the Train Job. Book states, 'I don't think the Captain would much like me praying for him.' Inara replies, 'Don't tell him - I never do.'