With Buffy, we talked a lot about female roles portrayed through Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Dawn, etc. I haven't seen any Firefly outside of what we watched in class, so simply based off of what I've seen, I am noticing a huge variety in Whedon's female characters in the pilot episode. The cast is large, so there is room for a great deal of variety in the 'female spectrum' and how some characters may or may not be falling into stereotypes or challenging them.
Just to comment on a few more of Whedon's female characters, here are some ideas I've been rolling around:
Zoe: She definitely seems to be the "toughest" female character. She has earned the respect of Mal, the captain, and is like his second in command. I actually noticed that she and Mal even have a similar no-fuss style in their clothing which further aligns them--especially compared to Inara's flowy ultra-feminine outfits and Kaylee's more youthful look.
Inara: Obviously, Inara has been cast as the (Mal's word) 'whore' female stereotype. She seems to be punished for this role (although she seems to sort of be at peace with it), but there is great tension between her and Mal. Furthermore, Shepherd Book obviously views her mostly through the lens of the negative 'whore' label. Aesthetically, she is beautiful and sultry and even her heavy makeup sets her apart from the other women on the show thus far.
Patience: She is another 'tough' female character depicted in the pilot episode. She also takes on seemingly male-associated characteristics of violence/aggression and poses a challenge to Mal. She's a manipulative authority figure and has caused harm to Mal in the past (as they constantly remind him that she once shot him). I think it's really interesting that she is one of the first 'villain' characters we see. Also, her name is fascinating. I wonder what could be behind that?
River: I know this may change greatly, but within the pilot episode, River seems to be the objectifed female character. She is the commodity that is transported and hidden as "goods" until it's revealed that it's a human being Simon is storing. Also, she needs protecting since she's mentally unstable. Notably, her entrance into the show results in her being completely naked and mentally unstable--can it get any more vulnerable than that? Luckily, we get some background that she's actually a prodigy and a force to be reckoned with--I feel like this manages to keep her above the fully stereotypical damsel in distress.
Kaylee: She's another interesting mixture. As a mechanic, she's obviously challenging the 'girls who know about cars' stereotype and elevating it by knowing about complex ships. She's highly respected by Mal and he is very protective of her (I'm thinking about the dinner scene in which there is an inappropriate sexual joke made about her crush on Simon and Mal becomes furious). She's very useful to the crew and proves to 'save the day' by keeping the ship going in dire situations. However, there is a touch of damsel-in-distress when she is shot and everyone is terrified of losing her. I think it's smart that Whedon manages to pull her out of the role of helpless wounded girl, though--even after she's shot, she is still very present and helpful to the crew. As the youngest female on the ship, it's easy to think of her as mostly naive, but her savvy and strength prove otherwise.
Since I haven't seen any more Firefly yet, I'd love to hear if anyone has any other insight about the women of the show!
3 comments:
The name Patience kind of makes me think of the idea that she is basically willing to wait everything out, to sit through frontier struggles, to watch governments come and go, b/c she is the kind of person who will do whatever she has to do to survive. She will cut deals with anyone, and turn on everyone. She has patience and no allegiance.
I love names and looking up the meaning of names so this post was really fun to read. I think it is very interesting to think about the difference between character names and real person names. When parents name a child something like "Patience," there is no guarantee the kid will grow up to be patient. The kid may suffer from severe ADD or some kind of OCD. However, when a show creator names the characters, it is sometimes supposed to tell the viewers a lot about the character's character. (Does that make sense?) It just seems unrealistic when characters are named things that are supposed to match their personalities when in real life, that hardly ever happens. Just a thought. Also, I was at the park this while babysitting and heard a mother yelling at her daughters, 'River' and 'Treasure'. Yikes.
I'm very eager to see the significance of River's character in the series. To have taken part in a government experiment and be smuggled out in a cryogenic box raises a good bit of questions for me, and no doubt it will add to the worries of the Serenity's crew later down the line.
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