Spag

Like, aquiring a headache during the day? Fair, understandable, many things to cause that

you are a clone. you have all the memories of the original, and think the same way as they do. you are, essentially, a perfect copy of them. now then, if you were to murder the original…

now, lets say you were to chop off your arm. completely severed. if you were to make a perfect copy of that arm, and then eat said perfect copy…

1. Inara services both women, and men, but usually men

2. Nandi asks Mal if he's sly, and his response is that "I lean towards womenfolk".

Now, full disclosure, I personally think Simon is gay, Kaylee is a lesbian, Book and River are aroace, and everyone else is bi, so I tend to interpret the canon of Simon/Kaylee as a sort of comphet, and part of Simon's uptightness and need to be "appropriate" is a way of repressing his own sexuality (see also Mal's reasoning for the crew largely not hiring Nandi's workers being marriage, priesthood, and Simon's uptightness, before Nandi asks whether Mal is sly). As such, this interpretation doesn't necessarily gel with the intended canon of the show and I very much understand if that isn't your thing!!

Onto the actual analysis.

1. Inara servicing women, and the scene of her and the councillor in War Stories, comes off as quite fetish-y from Whedon, particularly considering what we now know of his behaviour towards women, but also because of Jayne's reaction to it. With that being said, Inara says that being a Companion isn't solely about sex, it's also an emotional experience, and a Companion chooses their own clients, so I think it's safe to extrapolate this as her being bi. I haven't quite decided if I think her mainly servicing men is a preference or just a larger selection pool, like how many bi people irl end up in straight-presenting relationships because there's a larger dating pool. But I am a staunch believer in Inara/Kaylee, and I think both of them are also demisexual (once Kaylee gets past her comphet of course), with how Inara emphasises the emotional components of her job. The main question for me here is what language they would use to describe themselves, which leads into number 2.

2. The only label used in Firefly to refer to queerness is "sly", and we're never given a precise definition for it, which implies it's fairly commonly used, at least on the Rim. It could refer to men who are exclusively attracted to men, men who are at all attracted to men, anyone who's exclusively attracted to the same gender, or anyone who's at all attracted to the same gender. It could also be a mix, like how we use gay as an umbrella term for same-gender attraction, but also to refer to gay men exclusively, and sometimes to refer to gay men and lesbians. Mal's response of "no, I lean towards womenfolk" leads me to believe that it refers to exclusively same-gender attraction, because "are you gay? "No, I have a preference for women" kind of implies that men are in the mix. That being said, I'm not sure how lesbians would be referred to, because irl there's somewhat of a distinction between "gay" and "lesbian", but this ties into a broader pattern of queer representation (especially in the 2000s) being largely bi women and gay men. It's also entirely possible that the more precise labels we have today still exist on the more urban planets, while "sly" is a slang and/or euphemistic term for being gay on the Rim.

i mean yeah i want you to expand on this (and anything else on Firefly) forever and ever; queerness in firefly is fascinating to me both re: headcanons and the actual show, because there's so much room for interpretation

i think Simon and Kaylee in a comphet “why isn't this working 😟” relationship is a really interesting interpretation I'd love to see more headcanon bits on (and also a really fun fanfic premise btw.....)

I really like that demisexual Inara interpretation. She does sort of consistently talk about emotional connections and making careful choices, doesn't she!

absolutely agree on ‘sly’ being specific terminology and not just a personal nandi euphemism the way it’s used in context. it does have me wondering about the cultural context of queerness in the rim vs. the core and whether it’s considered more ‘acceptable’ in one vs. the other, how that manifests etc. nandi for instance seems perfectly comfortable, but she is from the core and also is just generally willing (and in fact insistent on) bucking against tradition. my read would maybe be that on the rim there is a sorta “do what you want but don’t talk about it” mentality, except for places like her’s. whereas on the core it might be a little more (in some places) surface-level accepting, but there is very much like, a Right and Wrong way to be queer in those circles, and i do wonder if traditional/“old money” families (like i think we could logically read the tams as being) would carry the same prejudices they (often) do today. unsure on that.

‘sly’ as a word does seem to possibly imply some level of concealment since the standard definitions are “clever or cunning, especially in the practice of deceit”, “stealthy”, or “playfully mischievous,” which does make me think it might not be as broadly accepted as we’d hope? which admittedly tracks — one of the core tenets of firefly as a narrative was more or less that we have all the same problems 500 years into the future. it’s also possible it’s been far removed from original meaning and recontextualized.

agreed on the grossness of war stories. if there was one ‘iconic’ quote i would erase from the broader fandom’s lexicon it would be the whole “i’ll be in my bunk” thing. it’s just blatantly fetishistic and while that tracks for jayne, the narrative quite clearly plays it for laughs (multiple times). this is a recurring problem with the JW’s works - particularly in buffy, which is his other body of work i’m most familiar with. i definitely wouldn’t have trusted him to handle it in firefly; it was not well-handled there, by and large.

tbh, i’ve always thought the intended readimg (which is not to say it’s the one i agree with) of mal’s “i lean towards womenfolk” was just to be mal’s being like, cool and chill about it but also distancing himself from the “sly” label in a ~no homo~ sort of way, but the WAY they chose to word his nonchalant response was! interesting! bc lean does inherently imply a preference but not an outright denial of same gender attraction. bi mal rights

also while there are ways in which mal is a very traditionally masculine character, he has no problem wearing a dress for a job a la mrs. reynolds and (jokingly? unclear) implies to inara’s it’s not the first time he’s worn women’s clothing. while wearing dresses and skirts and what have you doesn’t make a man inherently clear, his willingness to do so is an interest aspect of the conversation.

jayne calls simon a “big city dandy” in the pilot and while the insult has a lot more to do with class and simon’s presentation (as a ‘dandy’ is a man who takes great care in his appearance) (there is more historical context that i am way oversimplifying but sh), there is also a definite association between the term and being queer - particularly (to my understanding), it’s a term that’s often been levied against gay men. i don’t really think that’s how jayne was using it, but i do wonder if that same association exists here.

admittedly i have a huge soft spot for simon x kaylee lol, BUT i am always willing to entertain other readings and if we’re looking at firefly through a queer lens (hell yeah), i definitely think the comp het idea makes a lot of sense, particularly given that kaylee’s initial draw to him seems to come from a perceived desirability (young handsome doctor etc), and simon can definitely be read as just like, responding to that energy. and some of simon’s fumbles with her can be read as (largely subconscious?) self-sabotage. there are multiple readings of Where that self-sabotage could stem from, but his being gay would definitely make sense on that front! and like realistically regardless the specifics of the actual dynamic between simon and kaylee, the idea of the dynamic is fully rooted in compulsory heterosexuality, bc whedon and co saw they had a female and male character in roughly the same age-group and decided they were a Ship and she’s having feelings right away, even though we don’t even see them meet to get some indication of Why.

my personal character headcanon philosophy is that they are whatever gender and orientation feels right to me on a given day. i am playing with them like barbies lol.