Jayne Cobb vs. Capt. Tightpants

My son, Will, gave me the Firefly series set and then let me watch Serenity on his Netflix. Yeah, I know, I’m behind the times. However, needless to say, I was smitten. I’m so irritated they cut the series. I can’t imagine a network being that clueless about what they had. Anyway, someone has created a bot on Twitter that responds with a Jayne quote when you say both Firefly and Serenity, which I find amusing to no end. I think I broke it though, I said it this morning. He popped back up later so I guess he was just in his bunk.

Dan Krokos and I had a discussion about Jayne versus Mal. He asked, “Why do you like Jayne. He was the least intelligent and most likely to screw things up.”

I explained to him the Jayne Cobb character has a bot and it’s just fun to screw with, but it brought up an interesting question. Why do women find this character so fascinating?

I think it goes back to some primal instinct. Subconsciously, I think women are attracted to men they think can protect them. On a more conscious level, it boils down to a man with confidence. There’s a difference between cocky and arrogant and confident.

Atherton Wing, for instance, in the Shindig episode. He’s handsome, rich, powerful and, according to Inara, he has a lot of stamina. He’s also completely wrapped up in himself, which is singularly unappealing.

Mal is good looking, full of confidence, intelligent, a real fighter and has a certain sense of honor that is a dangerous combination. If he felt bound to you, he would never leave you behind. He might even stick his neck out for someone he didn’t know. In Shindig he shows how much he dislikes the slave traders. There’s that sense of honor again. And, purely on physical aspects, he’s probably good in bed. He doesn’t have to brag about his prowess or try to impress anyone, he just knows and women will pick up on that.

His drawbacks are a certain lack of respect for women while at the same time he would be the kind to come running to their rescue. For instance in the Shindig episode when he tells Kaylee her having that dress she loves would be like a sheep walking on its hind legs. You expect that out of Jayne because he has no couth. It hurts when it comes from someone you admire as Kaylee does Mal.

Then we come to Jayne. He’s undeniably attractive. He’s powerful. The beard just adds to the dangerous look about him, but there is a certain little boy aspect about him. Seeing him in Mama Cobb’s hat is one of the best quirks in the show. Mama loves him and he’s still her little boy and he loves her. He’s thrilled to wear the cap that a lesser man would cringe about wearing. Every woman melts at that little boy hidden away in the tough guy body. On the down side, he doesn’t have much honor and he’s certainly not overly intelligent. Every now and then, though, he has some interesting insights on life.

Jayne would probably eventually fall in love and settle down, but the woman who entered into a relationship with him thinking she is going to be the one to tame him would most likely just get her heart broken. It wouldn’t happen on purpose, Jayne doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone or to build his ego up by making women fall in love with him and then dumping them. It would just be some odd happenstance meeting and the chemistry would click.
So, why on earth would a sane woman be attracted to him? One reason. Great sex. While a lot of men and women write checks with their mouths their bodies can’t cash. Jayne would be the man a woman would bed and not worry about him wanting to hang around and fall in love. Yeah, there are times women just want to enjoy a man with no strings attached.

My pirate in FAR RIDER is similar to Capt. Mal Reynolds. His main difference is he carries a very large grudge against his father and he will do anything to destroy him. I suppose maybe they aren’t so different. Mal hates the Alliance, but he hasn’t made it quite as personal as Capt. Trelaine.

Erokath, one of my villains is a demon who has regained his human form. He’s a stone-cold killer, but he doesn’t particularly enjoy physical torture. He just calmly kills people who get in his way. He’s also a predator and loves playing mind games. Other than that, he loves sex and good food and has little use for incompetent, shallow people. He values intelligence in a person if only to make the mind games more interesting.

I dated a Ranger when I was in high school. He was my best friend’s older brother and had just returned from Viet Nam when I met him. He was damned good looking, respectful, intelligent, soft-spoken and had a powerful, but quiet self confidence. There was also a little boy aspect to him that melted me. We spent a lot of time just talking. He refused to talk about the war, but we could visit about anything else and have an interesting conversation. He also had that chemistry that draws women in like bait. Basically, he had everything most women want. There aren’t a lot of men who have the whole ball of wax. He’d be an interesting character because there would be so many aspects he would open completely and yet other dark corners that would stay forever closed.

So, what about you? What attracts you to someone?