This is a tale, that starts with Malcom “Mal” Reynolds and his former Comrade-in-arms Zoë Washburne. Mal and Zoë were on the losing end of a war of unification waged in a small cluster of star systems collectively referred to as the 'verse, in the distant-but-not-to-distant future where humanity has made it's home after the “Earth that was” resources were utterly consumed, and entirely depleted by capitalistic greed.
Whether or not Mal and Zoë were on the “right” side of said war of unification is a matter of some debate. I've heard arguments that claim that the alliance was right after all, and I've also heard arguments that the independent worlds were in the right when trying to defend their sovereignty from outside aggression. As fascinating as this story is, the fact of the matter is that as active combatants from the losing side of the war, Mal and Zoë are never going to be able to integrate into polite society, even if they wanted to. They will always face employment discrimination, not because of the color of their skin, or their gender, but because of their politics, and their participation in a war as combatants. Compounding the matter is the fact that the two most likely have undiagnosed, and untreated PTSD, and again, as combatants on the losing end of a war, they have no expectation of receiving any kind of social support, or mental health treatment for their PTSD and any traumas that they suffered during their careers as front-line soldiers. They are, in effect, expected to magically be able to self-treat, and self manage all of their disorders, with exactly zero support from the powers-that-be
Luckily for Mal and Zoë, they are not without economic means, which gives them opportunities that their fellow veterans do not have. They have just enough money set aside to buy a Firefly class starship. The Firefly class starship, is a mid-sized workhorse freighter. While not particularly maneuverable, and not having exceptional cargo capacity it has several key advantages. For one, while it's an older model, it's rather durable, and most of it's replacement parts are easy enough to locate, and the repairs and maintenance costs, while significant, are not unmanageable. It also has just enough redundancies in design to make it be able to survive much more punishment than any craft it's size should reasonably expect to take. . It has a lot of odd nooks, crannies and other hidey-holes that can be used to conceal cargo from inspections. In addition to the above advantages shared by all firefly class starships, the ship purchased by Mal and Zoë, has an medical bay included, making it all the more self-sufficient.
In other words, the Serenity as far as spacecraft is ideally suited for the smuggler on the run. It has just enough cargo capacity, durability, survivability, and medical treatment capacities to make dangerous smuggling and salvaging operations for grey and black market deals alike, manageable.
While Mal has considerable leadership and combat experience, and his loyal friend & companion Zoë makes up for her relative lack in leadership with a calm, stoic demeanor, and vastly superior combat abilities, they cannot operate the ship on it's own. As such, they add Wash, perhaps the most normal, least alienated member of the crew in the pilot role. They recruit the self-taught prodigy Kaylee as their mechanic, who because of her lack of formal education, (and perhaps because of her gender and tomboy-ish nature to a degree) didn't have much going on in the way of better options. They offer Mercenary, desperado, gunman, thief, folk-hero and adorably loving momma's boy Jayne part ownership in their enterprise, in part to get him to stop pointing a gun at their heads, and in part to gain his considerable expertise. They rent out one of their shuttles to Inara, a companion (high-class sex worker who belongs to a prestigious union/trade guild). Inara being on their ship offers her greater access to new clients, and offers the crew of the Firefly access to ports that would otherwise discriminate against them, and bar them from landing due to their shady pasts. The crew is rounded out by genius surgeon Simon Tam, a fugitive from justice who is trying to protect his sister, River who he rescued from top secret government experiments. They also have a semi-permanent passenger/moral adviser, Shepard Book, a secret agent turned monk, turned iterant wandering preacher.
As such, most of the crew of the Serenity class ship Firefly is marginalized, unfairly pursued by agents of the law, fairly and justly pursued by agents of the law, or otherwise engaged in work that while valued, many would find personally distasteful. Their ship is also their home, and maintenance, while manageable is expensive. They are never not one job gone wrong, or one missed payday from running out of fuel, running out of supplies, or their ship becoming irrevocably damaged, grounding them and ending their enterprise forever.
Because of this, they are forced into a life of crime. Ranging from smuggling wealthy people's cattle as a form of tax evasion, to hauling illicit cargo, time and time again, they are forced to do shady work for dangerous organized crime bosses, corrupt bureaucrats and business owners, which includes tasks such as smuggling, train heists, second-story work, illegal salvage operations and even the occasional bit of “honest” work such as taking passengers or legit cargo as the occasion affords.
Is any of this ever going to lead the intrepid crew of the Serenity to be able to leave this life of crime?no not really. The economic and socio-political forces that forced them into it to begin with, aren't going away any time soon. The lack of legitimate opportunities, marginalization, and unjust government overreach that forced them into being criminals to begin with isn't ever going to stop being a force in their lives. As criminals living a life of crime on the fringes of space, whatever spare cash that a lucrative job might bring, is always going to be spent making sure that their next caper “goes smooth”. Whether it be distraction beacons, ship repairs, bribes for officials, hush money, food expenses, the cost of medical goods, ammo, guns, small ground-based hauling vehicles, or a fancy dress so that they can go to a ball to contact a wealthy patron, they will never have the resources needed to save so much as a dime.
Political marginalization, economic exploitation, artificial barriers to entry for legitimate work that they are overqualified for, lack of access to a formal education, unjust laws, and government secrets that need to be covered up, all conspire to keep them out of the system, and force them into a life where violence, betrayal, deception and depravation are ordinary parts of their everyday life.
The tragedy here, is that they really aren't so bad people (well mostly anyways, Jayne really isn't the best fellow, but as far as sociopathic hired-gun mercenaries who kill dozens of people go, he's not the worst). As often as the opportunity allows, Mal & crew look out for the little guy. Refuse jobs, or intentionally botch jobs that punch down instead of up. Take in people who need help, and who have done nothing wrong, and have no other options, such as Simon & River. Stick it to the man when they deserve it, all while knowing that they might have to eat their pride and work with that very same asshole later.
It's not that they want to be criminals. The 'verse they live in, and the socio-political conditions they live in, don't give them much other choice really. And truth be told, is our current society all that much better than theirs?
for another pop-culture anysis discussing the exploitation of entrepreneurs and small bussiness owners, please see my other post “Why entrepreneurship & small business ownership isn't an answer for marginalized groups in the workplace, part 1: The Intersectional Tale of Bob and Linda, of Bob's Burgers. “