I see that you're passionate about this, but I think you couldn't be more wrong.
Zoe runs around calling Mal ‘sir’ and taking orders off him It becomes very clear in the show that Zoe frequently says "No" to Mal, that they will risk their lives for each other, and that he was her commanding officer in the war. She's SUCH a strong character that you have no problem believing she could well have been his instead if it had worked out that way, and that she absolutely CHOOSES to follow him. But still takes no crap from him.
As for her relationship with Wash, it is repeatedly clear that he is mystified and constantly aware of her devotion to him, and knows just how lucky he is. Zoe *is* the most 2D character in terms of only being a soldier, but that's because she is written as being on alert at all times. When she breaks that (such as relaxing in the scenes in bed with Wash) you can see that she absolutely loves him, and still runs the show in that relationship. At all times she is doing what she wants.
Does Inara stop him from calling her a whore? Nope. She just goes on smiling and being gracious. So he calls her a whore again. Lovely man this Mal is, dontcha think? He calls her it again because it clearly the only thing that hurts her, and he loves her and hates what she does. She defends it on every academic level as a respectable profession in that universe, but knows that in the end he is right and has no answer for that. Whedon does not glamourise it - he shows that you can dress it up in silks and respectability, but it still hurts the people involved. The fact that she is by far the most respectable person on the ship and the reason they can get into richer areas at all, is meant as irony.
Most of all, this edge of the universe is SUPPOSED to be backward, rough and male-dominated. It's clear that the men are often stupid or shortsighted, and there is almost no point at which the women are not empowered if not actually in charge. Whenever any of them defer responsibility to the Captain or others, it is a conscious choice and balanced by plenty of times when they don't.
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I see that you're passionate about this, but I think you couldn't be more wrong.
Zoe runs around calling Mal ‘sir’ and taking orders off him
It becomes very clear in the show that Zoe frequently says "No" to Mal, that they will risk their lives for each other, and that he was her commanding officer in the war. She's SUCH a strong character that you have no problem believing she could well have been his instead if it had worked out that way, and that she absolutely CHOOSES to follow him. But still takes no crap from him.
As for her relationship with Wash, it is repeatedly clear that he is mystified and constantly aware of her devotion to him, and knows just how lucky he is. Zoe *is* the most 2D character in terms of only being a soldier, but that's because she is written as being on alert at all times. When she breaks that (such as relaxing in the scenes in bed with Wash) you can see that she absolutely loves him, and still runs the show in that relationship. At all times she is doing what she wants.
Does Inara stop him from calling her a whore? Nope. She just goes on smiling and being gracious. So he calls her a whore again. Lovely man this Mal is, dontcha think?
He calls her it again because it clearly the only thing that hurts her, and he loves her and hates what she does. She defends it on every academic level as a respectable profession in that universe, but knows that in the end he is right and has no answer for that. Whedon does not glamourise it - he shows that you can dress it up in silks and respectability, but it still hurts the people involved. The fact that she is by far the most respectable person on the ship and the reason they can get into richer areas at all, is meant as irony.
Most of all, this edge of the universe is SUPPOSED to be backward, rough and male-dominated. It's clear that the men are often stupid or shortsighted, and there is almost no point at which the women are not empowered if not actually in charge. Whenever any of them defer responsibility to the Captain or others, it is a conscious choice and balanced by plenty of times when they don't.