Firefly and Capital-based Class

Firefly is a TV series created by Joss Whedon that mixes a futuristic society with old-western archetypes and themes. Earth’s resources were depleted and humans were forced to terraform, or create new Earths, and the two remaining superpowers, China and the United States, have fused into a centralized super-power called the Alliance. The classes of the nine main characters within the ship and in relationship to the galactic situation influences how each character sees his or her world and how they interact with others.

The Alliance, and those living on the Allied planets are universally educated and protected through a rigid socialist system that gives the appearance of individualism, such as teaching a strict, government regulated curriculum that erases parts of history to sway the public. The classes that exist within the allied planets are those of middle, upper middle, and elite. Poverty is reserved for the outer-rim planets.

These outer-rim planets are beyond Alliance control, despite the fact that it was the Alliance that dropped small groups of colonizers on these desolate planets. Beyond rigid structure and privilege, it is the wild-west complete with tyrannical Barons, whose status is based solely on economic and, often, cultural capital, running townships and large-scale organized space crime that is based on money and goods.

This is the world that the main characters live on the fringe of. Thus, they are all outcasts to the norm. Despite their similar class in the eyes of the Alliance, that the nine characters can be seen to act and respond distinctly based on their class within the ship. Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of the crew, possesses prowess with aspects of social capital, such as linguistic and political, elevating him to this position of power. He is able to “adapt” (lie) his way into, and out of, situations that are profitable to him; these often have to do with the higher Allied class such as the episode when he attended a black-tie ball acting as an aristocratic business man. As the captain, he is constantly establishing bonds with other crime-leaders and checking up on the connections that provide him, and his crew, with jobs. One could argue that, in addition to his social capital, it is due to Malcolm’s possession of “wealth of experience”, or educational/cultural capitals, as a retired general elevate his status within the ship.

In this world, women can pursue the career of a “Companion”, which is reminiscent of Japanese Geishas, or artisans, who base their career on art, dance, conversation, and only occasional sexual experiences. Inara Serra is one of these high-status women. To the Alliance, she is a high-class individual due, most basically, to body capital and cultural capital, who serves the wealthy as a living example of social human perfection. On the ship, however, she serves another purpose: allowing the illicit actives perpetuated by the other crew members to go vastly unnoticed by the Alliance due to her respected class. Thus, she often uses this political capital to negotiate plans and to influence the Captain’s decisions.

The fugitive-surgeon, Simon Tam, has no economic capital or even particular social or cultural capital despite his previous adherence to the habitus (how the Alliance, in this case, deems he should act and the biases that accompany that). Instead, his importance within the crew is based on his educational capital as a doctor. The crew is often engaged in shoot-outs and it is almost every episode that someone is injured. Thus, the Captain and the rest of the crew place large value on Simon’s ability and prowess as a surgeon.

Each of the other characters possesses some form of capital. Zoe, the second-in-command, and Wash, the pilot, have educational/political; Kaylee, the mechanic, has educational; Book, a preacher, has cultural, linguistic, and educational; Jayne, “the muscle”, has body. However, the ninth character, River Tam, is notably and most interestingly enough, either void of capital, or entirely encompassing all, save for economic, types of capital. A psychic girl of 17, who has no control over her emotions and is mentally damaged, River swings between being a mute, far-off character, to a rambling philosopher, to a frightened, hateful child, to an assassin, as such it is difficult to classify her importance and class, yet she does present evidence of all capital. However, her assassin training provides her with educational, body, and political capital, and her mental issues often manifest in social, cultural and linguistic capital – such as when she impersonates a British captor and convinces him that she is from the same colony as he, complete with accent and manner.