Firefly Wednesday: Shindig

[osprey_archer]

Firefly Wednesday! We watched "Shindig" today, for which I have a fondness because it features Kaylee in a ridiculous poufy dress, and all things that make Kaylee happy make me happy. I am only sorry that we do not get to see Kaylee showing her ridiculous poufy dress to an admiring Inara.

Otherwise "Shindig" drives me up the wall, and I'm contemplating not doing anymore write-ups, because really, there are only so many different ways to say "Mal is the WORST love interest everty-ever and what the fuck does he mean when he tells Inara, 'I don't respect your job, but Atherton doesn't respect you.'"

Seriously, what does that even mean? What does Mal do that suggests he respects Inara as a person? What does respecting Inara as a person even mean, when she as a person is so shaped by the job that he despises and denigrates at every opportunity? It would be like dating an Olympic athlete, whose entire life is shaped around perfecting their sports excellence, and saying "I not only think your sport is worthless, but think that pursuing it means you're dishonest and morally compromised. But, like, I respect you."

Respect, like love, is an action - or rather, a whole series of actions, an attitude composed of actions. If it's nothing but an unexpressed emotion, then it's worthless to the person you claim to respect and/or love.

Are we supposed to go, "OMG Mal knocked on her shuttle door at the beginning of this episode rather than just barging in! RESPECT"?

...Honestly, the vibe I got off of Mal's fight with Atherton is that he doesn't like other people playing with his toys, and he's afraid that Inara might actually like this one so of course Mal needs to pick a fight. And of course the episode colludes to make Mal absolutely right - Atherton Wing is clearly a horror - which makes Inara look foolish, because how did she not notice Atherton was a controlling jerk?

Has being around Mal already warped her understanding of acceptable behavior that much?

And then! And then! Mal stabs Atherton in the stomach while Atherton is on the ground, at his mercy. Twice. In a manner that is presented as charmingly roguish rather than, oh, I don't know, rankly bullying? After all, Inara walks off with him arm in arm afterward, and viewers never really disapprove of behavior that gets the girl.

...I'm starting to feel like I should tag these entries "why I hate Mal (and you should, too!)"

Comments

[goldjadeocean.livejournal.com]

I think one enjoys Firefly by ignoring Mal as much as possible and watching for everyone else.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

This is easier in episodes that are not all Mal all the time. But we're watching Safe next week, which has a lot of Simon & River, and I don't think I've written anything about Simon and River, so...

[goldjadeocean.livejournal.com]

I also enjoy how the story, apparently without Whedon's permission, has Inara getting sick of Mal and leaving the damn ship... and coming back less because of Mal, and more because she's an utter adrenaline junkie and staying still for too long is boring.

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

Badger?

:(

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Is this a plea for more Badger love?

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I don't have very strong Badger feelings, sadly. He...has a cockney accent? It is very cockney! And he seems to take River with surprising equanimity, given that she basically wanders up and takes apart his life before his very eyes.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I can't get past Mal and thus I have never been able to feel the Firefly love.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Butterfly key icon!

I really like some of the other characters, but Mal is a big stumbling block.

[ladyherenya]

I'm pretty sure Shindig was the episode where it first occurred to my brother and me that the show was suggesting we should be shipping Mal / Inara, and our reaction was one of "What? Really? No..."

On the whole, I thought it was rather obvious that Mal was struggling to respect Inara and that this was problematic, so I didn't feel like the episode was (convincingly) endorsing his problematic behaviour.
However, I can see how, if you read the episode as endorsing all of Mal's behaviour, it casts things in a different light...

Anyway, I am enjoying these posts and they're making me think.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the episode when the show is like "Mal! And Inara! THEY SHOULD SO BE TOGETHER, AM I RIGHT?"

And the viewer is like, "Um, I find I cannot agree with this."

I think the thing that makes it feel, to me, like the episode is at least mostly endorsing Mal's behavior is that Atherton is so very, almost cartoonishly evil. At the end he's all "I should have wrecked your face, Inara! If you aren't going to be my companion, you won't be anyone else's either!"

He sort of retroactively proves Mal right. If it's a choice between Atherton and Mal (and I think a lot of viewers see it that way, rather than a choice between Atherton, Mal, and an abstract standing of actually respecting someone), Mal is clearly more respectful, because at least he never threatens to maim Inara.

[ladyherenya]

That's true - Atherton makes Mal look good by comparison.

Now I'm wondering about the influence of the general fandom reaction of "Mal is a hero / therefore his behaviour is okay". (Admittedly I'm making generalisations about Firefly fandom here and I'm not sure how accurate those generalisations are.) Is it the series which endorses Mal's behaviour or the fans who endorse it by revering Mal as a hero? Is it even possible to separate the two? And to what extent is it Firefly which casts Mal as the hero, and to what extent is it the viewers assuming he's the hero because they expect this sort of story to have a hero?

I don't know. But when I watched Firefly I was unaware of Firefly fandom and I suspect that made it easier to see the choice as being between "Atherton, Mal, and an abstract standing of actually respecting someone", because I wasn't convinced that Mal was a hero.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think Mal is presented as an anti-hero, so we're not supposed to think that everything he does is the pinnacle of morality - like, when he kicks people into his engine or stabs Atherton, the viewer is supposed to know that's not good behavior.

But although it's not good, it's presented as being cool - part of Mal's devilish rogue persona.

I find that being cool (or witty, or clever) tends to be more important than actual goodness in a lot of Whedon's work, which wouldn't bother me so much if he didn't insist on doing story lines with Messages about good and evil.

I hated Dollhouse because it was clear to me that he had no idea why slavery (or mind-wiping) was evil, or how an institution like the Dollhouse would function. It sure wouldn't look like a high-end spa.

[silverusagi]

No, keep going! Most of my flist is very pro-Whedon and loves everything he's ever done, so it's kind of nice to see someone who thinks Mal is a jerk.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping to write a bit more about the other characters in future episodes, but Mal and his jerktasticness have a way of sucking in all my attention.