Not Everybody Loves Firefly?

Merciful Zeus! This woman doesn't like Firefly, nor Joss Whedon. And she has some pretty unusual views about sex.

I have to say that now that I have subjected myself to the horror that is Firefly, I really am beyond worried about how much men hate us, given that this was written by a man who calls himself a feminist.

I find much of Joss Whedon’s work to be heavily influenced by pornography, and pornographic humour. While I would argue that there are some aspects of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer that are feminist and progressive, there is much that isn’t and I find it highly problematic that there are many very woman-hating messages contained within a show that purports itself as feminism. But Firefly takes misogyny to a new level of terrifying. I am really, really worried that women can call the man who made this show a feminist.

For myself, I’m not sure that I will recover from the shock of watching the malicious way in which Joss stripped his female characters of their integrity, the pleasure he seemed to take from showing potentially powerful women bashed, the way he gleefully demonized female power and selfhood and smashed women into little bits, male fists in women’s faces, male voices drowning out our words.

There is so much hatred towards women contained within the scripts and action of the series that I doubt very much that this post will even begin to cover it.

But she tries. She is disturbed that Zoe calls a superior officer "Sir," she counts the number of times men talk vs. women, and she is, let's say, generally unaccepting of Inara's occupation: For those who don't watch, Inara is a "Companion:" a highly paid courtesan who chooses her own clients and is held in such esteem by society that her presence as a tenant on the ship opens many doors for the ship and crew. She is the only respectable member of Serenity.

It is clear from the outset that a large part of Inara’s service involves addressing issues of male inadequacy and fulfilling many other emotional needs of her clients. The ability to do this IS a resource and it is therefore a service that Inara must perform. BUT Inara services all of the male passengers and the Captain in this way. She also services Kaylee but the relationship between them is a little more reciprocal. In any case, Mal makes it pretty obvious that he expects his emotional needs to be serviced by Inara and she willingly obliges. Mal also allows the male passengers to demand her emotional services and does not tell them to stop, despite the terms of his agreement with Inara. Inara is not paid by any of these men for her time, energy and emotional support.

Hat-tip: Galley Slaves. Jonathan V. Last worries that it is a put on (as does Ace of Spades in a funny post). Maybe I have lived in Boulder County too long, but none of this lacks verisimilitude for me.

I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Posted by jk at March 28, 2008 1:29 PM