Except that Inarra is not a stuck-up princess born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She is a career woman who worked very hard to get where she is. It's clear throughout the series that the academy only takes the most talented, and that Companions work very hard in their training.

barboo | April 05, 19:51 CET

What barboo said.

zeitgeist | April 05, 19:55 CET

And technically Leia was only a member of the Alderaani Royal House of Organa due to adoption, so her inclusion is technically invalid as well.

Plus Buttercup was gonna MARRY a prince after Westley disappeared, becoming royalty due to marraige but at best? She was the daughter of a land-owner whose liege-lord was Humperdink or his father, not a minor noble or foreign royalty...

;D

BlueEyedBrigadier | April 05, 20:24 CET

At this rate it's quite possible that they were focusing more on the relationship aspect than on the genealogies.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | April 06, 02:31 CET

Yep, makes sense, ManEnoughtoAdmit.

;D

Really, my point was that, while Inara is not a princess by birth or adoption or marriage, she gets to be the princess in the princess-scoundrel relationship between her and Mal. Just as Leia and Buttercup got to be in their relationships.

BlueEyedBrigadier | April 06, 14:42 CET

One might then wonder why so many women characters who are presented as hard-working, resourceful, and brave are then defined as "spoiled princesses".

barboo | April 06, 15:42 CET

Yeah, what barboo said. I was going to write something similar yesterday but couldn't figure out how to word it. I think you have to put on your wilful naievety glasses to not thing being a spoiled princess is an insult.

digupherbones | April 06, 16:05 CET

It's definitely more about the dynamic than the specific labels applied to the roles but the "spoiled princess" label's a bit unfortunate (and in most cases, for one reason or another, unearned). Maybe "the lady and the tramp" fits better ? 'Lady's less derogatory at least though tramp's not quite right for Mal/Westley/etc. either.

Willie wasn't a princess by any stretch for instance (she was a singer in a nightclub) but she was spoiled and (as the article says itself) a liability and damsel device more than a character in her own right (presumably her flapping ineptitude was meant to contrast with the braver, more capable though still damselised Marion from Raiders but it just winds up being annoying).

(can't remember if there's corroboration in the actual show/film but Inara seems to me to have been born on a core world, like Simon and River, so in the Sereniverse she actually did have advantages from birth. Not like royalty and she certainly worked/trained hard but she's higher born than Mal i'd say. Or maybe not, it'd actually be pretty interesting if they turned out to have similar backgrounds)

Saje | April 06, 16:32 CET

"Lady and the Scamp"?

barboo | April 06, 16:37 CET

Yep, that's definitely closer barboo.

Saje | April 06, 16:42 CET

Inara is certainly more accustomed to the core than Mal, but I don't remember anything about her pre-academy backstory being given in the series. It wouldn't surprise me if her ambition was born out of early poverty, with Companion training one of the only avenues open to women.

Or not.

barboo | April 06, 16:43 CET