Mal and Religion

POSTED BY: Highwayman
UPDATED: Thursday, October 20, 2005 14:28
VIEWED: 3997
PAGE 1 of 1

HIGHWAYMAN

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 3:50 PM

Howdy,
I'm new. Well I been lurking for a while but thought what the hell, let's start postin'

Anyhoos, I was wondering what people thought of Mal and religion. We all know he has a slight resentment for Book's teachings. But from watching the first episode back I saw Mal kiss a cross before taking down the ship. Sooooooooooo I'm guessing that Mal lost his faith after the Battle of Serenity.

Made me think when I saw it.

BROWNCOAT1

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 4:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Highwayman:
Howdy,
I'm new. Well I been lurking for a while but thought what the hell, let's start postin'

Anyhoos, I was wondering what people thought of Mal and religion. We all know he has a slight resentment for Book's teachings. But from watching the first episode back I saw Mal kiss a cross before taking down the ship. Sooooooooooo I'm guessing that Mal lost his faith after the Battle of Serenity.

Made me think when I saw it.

Greetings Highwayman & welcome to the site! Glad to have you aboard.

Yes, in the series pilot episode "Serenity" Mal does indeed kiss a cross after saying a silent prayer. It is obvious that before the call to lay down arms went out, and the suffering that followed, Mal was a religious man. What he had to endure & saw his men endure while they lay dying waiting for extraction in Serenity Valley caused him to lose his faith. If you have the DVD set & watch the deleted scenes from "Serenity" you will see when they spot the med ships Zoe says "Thank God" & Mal replies "Whose colors is He wearing?"

I do not think he "resents" Book's teachings so much as Book's faith reminds Mal of his own faith & the loss of it. Mal found in Serenity Valley that he could only rely on himself & Zoe, feeling that God & faith let him down. Seeing the loss of the bid for independence & the cause he believed in left Mal feeling hollow inside. Seeing Book's faith can only serve as a constant reminder to Mal of all that he lost in Serenity Valley.

__________________________________________

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

SMAUG

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 5:32 PM

Highwayman,

Wow.. deep question..

In short the answer to your question is yes.

In longer more rambling answer:

I will try to be brief.. but IMHO.. I believe that Mal lost WAY more than just his Faith. We see it at the instant he is made aware that their air support is not comming.. and they are being abandoned. When he looks up and sees those alliance ships bearing down.. and wiping them all out. In that very instant.. Mal doesn't just loose his faith.. he dies. The man that he was.. the man that he would become. In that instant he dies.. his very soul dies.. and yes.. loosing his faith is a part of that.. but only a part. From that instant.. he will never be the man he was supposed to be.

From that instant on.. The anger, bitterness and pain begin to eat Mal alive. He no longer "lives" from that point on.. he only "survives". IRL this pain could eat a man alive. In Mal's case.. probably the only thing that keeps that from happening is that they live in a world where you have to stay focused to survive. They don't know where there next payday.. or next meal, etc. is going to come from. It's like having to grow your own food to survive, and sew your own shirt, and build your own house.. etc. etc. This focus needed to survive is probably what keeps the pain from eating him alive.. This is what makes the scars that Mal carries... the pain of what his soul bears. Of course in the series.. and Nathan being such a commedian.. this pain and anger and bitterness is contrasted with lightheartedness, warmth and humor so that the tone of the show doesn't go too dark.

I believe... what will bring Mal back to life.. what will saturate his soul.. and turn all the pain within his soul into pleasure... is Inara. Book may play a smaller part... but ultimatly it is Inara. Yes.. Serenity and the crew keep Mal from going over the edge.. but it is Inara that will bring him back to life. He doesn't just love her... he needs her. Weither he ever feels "alive" again rather than just "surviving" depends upon her. Thus the fate of his soul depends upon her. And it works both ways.. this is the "mystery" that Inara sees in Mal. Many a man has fallen for Inara the companion. But has Inara, in running from whatever it was that made her leave her home world, found in Mal the man who who truely loves and needs Inara... the woman? Do companions typically even believe such a thing exists? This is what impossibly draws her to Mal.. she sees glimpses of the man that she can drop everything.. let down all her guards.. and bear her soul to.. Inara the woman.. and not Inara the companion. Mal is the one she can give up all control to. Inara has left countless men breathless.. but in his true love and need of her.. Inara the woman.. Mal will be the one to leave HER breathless. Mal will not end up in her bed.. she will be in his.. which is exactly where she needs to be.

In the end.. they are both waiting.. Inara is waiting for Mal to claim her as his.. but is still sceptical.. and wants to make sure that waht she sees in Mal is pure and true... Mal is waiting for Inara to quit being a companion... they are both waiting for the other.. but in the end... they both need each other desperatly... to truely live...

So the longer answer to your question is yes... but there is so much more... deepending on how deep you want to look.

Ok.. sorry.. the Romo in me showing..

Smaug..

PYREFX

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 5:42 PM

wow... you just reduced Serenity to a chick flick... well done.

"I call her Vera."

HIGHWAYMAN

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 7:16 PM

Wow, Smaug, you say I had a deep question. Yours was a deep answer. Lol!

Very well put I must say, and I think I totally agree! But the ultimate question is, will they ever get together???????????? And the other question, what is Inaras' secret?????

Hopefully we will find out..........

SMAUG

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 7:59 PM

Quote:
But the ultimate question is, will they ever get together???????????? And the other question, what is Inaras' secret?????

There is a lot of specualtion about what Inara's secret is.. from her having a job or mission other than being a companion to her having some kind of terminal illness, to her having a child. I don't know.. all could make a very good story..

As to weither they will ever be together... I believe the answer is yes and no.

Yes.. ULTIMATLY they have to be together. Mal's soul is dieing a little more every day without Inara. To me it makes perfect sence that Mal was darker in the movie than in the series.. because Inara is gone. When Inara is there she at least keeps him from dieing more.. and it will be her that brings him back to life. So in the end, they have to be together.. because Mal will die without her. BUT.. the catch is.. Mal and Inara's story within firefly IS NOT the story of them BEING together.. it is the story of them comming together. So if they ever DO come togther.. it will either be at the very end of the story.. OR one of them will die right after they come together.. JOSS YOU BASTARD!!!

And I actually believe it might be Mal that would get killed...

The question I beleive isn't IF or WHEN they would come together.. it would be HOW?

Actually what I am about to say has to do with an email I am going to send into the new firefly podcast about what was my favorite scene in the TV show and why.

But how I could see Mal and Inara comming together is this: Do you remember in Shindig where at the very end Athertan makes a threat to Inara something to the effect that he should have butcherd her till the point of where no man would want her? I see in that.. a very tragic.. but beautiful way for Mal and Inara to come together. Because Athertan is wrong.. Inara walks away in the arms of the very man that WOULD still want and need her.. no matter what. So I could see.. at some far distant point, a very revengeful Athertan comming back and making good on that threat. Don't get me wrong.. he's not goign to turn Inara into godzilla or anything.. but let's say that he does manage to scar Inara.. a fairly nasty scar right down her face.. right before Mal is able to stop him.. and then of course in a rage he kills Athertan. But with this scar.. Inara is devistated.. although still very "pretty" (I have a very hard time using such a basic term when it comes to Morena

) her usefulness as a companion comes to an end. And in the events that follow after this attack from Atertan. Inara will finally once and for all see Mal's true colors. You see.. the scar won't effect Mal's feelings towards Inara in the slightest or how beautiful he sees her at all. If anything, if that scar would stop her from being a companion, Mal would see the scar as something impossibly beautiful.. and thus even see Inara as MORE physically beautiful. And Inara will finally see this.. beyond a doubt. That even as no other man desires her as a companion, Mal will take that physical scar from her and will make her feel a more beautiful woman than she had EVER felt as a desired compansion. And in return, Inara seeing this, will drop all her guards and finally give herself to him.. entirly.. not just her body like she does endless clients.. but her heart, mind and soul. And in doing so, she will take the emotional scars from HIS soul.. and turn them into pleasure, giving him life and true purpose to LIVE again.. not just survive...

Tragic but beautiful, No??

Smaug..

NOSADSEVEN

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 9:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by pyrefx:
wow... you just reduced Serenity to a chick flick... well done.

Everybody knows that any movie titled Serenity is a chick flick. It's just a chick flick with lots of guns and fights and space battles and such.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

NOSADSEVEN

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 10:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Smaug:
Mal will not end up in her bed.. she will be in his.. which is exactly where she needs to be.

Ooooh...I'm loving this distinction!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

DREAMTROVE

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 10:57 PM

Huh, hadn't thought about this., Guess you're right.

God musta gone and left them, battle of Serenity. Not sure he's ever coming back

SMAUG

Thursday, October 20, 2005 12:13 AM

Quote:
Everybody knows that any movie titled Serenity is a chick flick. It's just a chick flick with lots of guns and fights and space battles and such.

Well.. that's the beauty of it.. if most people just like to see Mal as this angry, bitter, yet still lovable captain who has this sort of on-again off-again sexual tension thing with Inara and nothing more.. not looking any deeper into what may be driving it.. then that is fine..

Quote:
Ooooh...I'm loving this distinction!

yes..

Small distinction.. but it means everything in the world..

Quote:
Huh, hadn't thought about this., Guess you're right.

Well.. I am not right or wrong... I mostly share possibilities that I believe drive these two characters on a very deep level. We all have deep insight into the character/s we are most like. Every character is a small piece of Joss. But to me.. I am a little to dangerously like Mal... to a point that could go deeper into him and Inara than even Joss probably could or ever would. Not that he needs to.

But I say dangeriously like Mal, because.. such pain and lonliness is a terrible thing to bear. They don't go that deep in the show.. because it would get to dark.. but IRL.. Mal probably wouldn't be so funny. And some may think what I share is crazy as a reaver..

but if it gives insight into what drives Mal and Inara that someone maybe hasn't thought about or could have seen.. even if their ideas that stem from that are different that what I said.. that's all I could hope for. I know I enjoy reading other's insights into the other characters that I am not so much like...

Smaug..

THEREALME

Thursday, October 20, 2005 12:45 AM

Smaug,

I really like your ideas. I have one point to add, though.

At the end of Heart Of Gold, Mal is about to confess his love for Inara. If I could see that, then certainly the ultra-psychologist companion Inara could. Note that companion wash-out Nandi could tell at a glance that Mal was in love with Inara and (more importantly) Inara was in love with Mal.

But Inara shut Mal up. Right before he could confess his love to her, she interrupted him and dropped the bomb that she was departing.

If all she was waiting for was him to say something, then she blew it for herself.

No, there is something else going on with her, that keeps her from making attachments to others. It is probably that same mystery that drove her away from the Core planets.

TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree

HIGHWAYMAN

Thursday, October 20, 2005 9:41 AM

Wo De Ma, you are really good Smaug. I think they should get you to write some episodes man! If they ever do episodes again.

I think that as TheRealMe said, there is definately something going on with Inara that is keeping her from attatchments. Maybe we'll find out and Mal will put an end to whatever it is, and maybe die in the process. So by freeing Inara to be able to be with him, he dies. That's very Shakespearian don't ya think.

SMAUG

Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:28 PM

Quote:
At the end of Heart Of Gold, Mal is about to confess his love for Inara. If I could see that, then certainly the ultra-psychologist companion Inara could. Note that companion wash-out Nandi could tell at a glance that Mal was in love with Inara and (more importantly) Inara was in love with Mal.

Let me preface this by saying that I have not seen HoG yet. But I can speculate based upon what I do know.

A short answer is that we all know that love is blind. It doesn't take this other companion to figure out they are in love with each other.. I think everyone on the ship knows this. Well.. except for maybe Jayne

I DO believe Inara has a secret.. I don't beleive that it is anything that would keep her from making attachments.. except maybe compansions arn't supposed to? In a just a its-not-good-for-buisness-kind-of-way.

But not that they can't. I haven't seen HoG.. but I can speculate upon what is to happen.

When you are talking about a love this deep.. that goes beyond just being attracted to each other, having some things in common, enjoying each others company, etc.. but beyond all that to a very deep emotional need of the other person where you feel like you are holding your breath underwater, and you can't breath again until you feel the other. It doesn't matter how well Inara may be able to read other people when it comes to herself. She may be feeling things she has never felt before, and maybe even feeling things she never thought were truely possible. This has a way of making yourself blind to the obvious. Especially when I am not talking about just love here.. but a deep seeded emotional need from your very soul where there is no one else in the 'verse that could possibly fill. Nobody ever said love was easy... especially not one this deep.

I will further speculate.. I could be wrong because I haven't seen that episode, but I beleive I accidently read that Mal sleeps with Nandi.. if not her.. then someone. If that is true.. then this is what I can speculate on. When Inara learns of this, it will cut her to the core of her soul. She will feel in an instant, a pain of which she has never imagined possible. I have seen a clip of Inara crying.. I am guessing this is when she finds out. Let me put a little weight upon what Inara.. and Mal.. feels because of this (the other sleeping with someone else).

We all know it eats at Mal when Inara goes off to see clients. He tries to play cool like it doesn't bother him and focus on his own job at hand.. but inside.. it eats him alive. To imagine what it is like, imagine this: here is a woman, and not just any woman, and not just a woman you think is beautiful, not just a woman that you love, but the woman that you NEED. Now imagine this woman, standing before you.. the one woman you truely love with all your soul where no other woman could ever take her place. Now imagine there is a glass wall spererating you from her. So you can see her, but you can't touch her or feel her or speak to her or do anything but see her. Now suddenly she isn't standing before you on the other side of the glass but suddenly being f*cked by some man. And she seems to be throughly enjoying it. And then you suddenly find yourself bound with your eyes pried open where you can't turn away or close your eyes and are forced for all eternity to watch this man (or it could be an endless array of men) take the woman you love over and over and over and over again right before your very eyes. Now that would be my own worst hell I could ever imagine, there is no physical pain that could ever come close. That's a little extreme and of course not exactly what Mal is going through, but not too far off. Actualy in one mannor, it’s actually worse, because Mal doesn’t “see” what Inara does with her clients, he only imagines it. And what he is imagining.. is probably 100 times worse than anything Inara is actually doing. What we see Inara doing with her clients is very flowerly and calm and romantic. Not exactly lustful and pass