BSG

[timepiececlock]

in the middle of Battlestar Galactica 2x05

I think it's funny that the psuedo-Marxist terrorist leader's ship is the one acting as a ferry for Roslin's quest, considering Marx called religion "the opium of the masses."


I'm not sure how I feel about this show yet. I'll undoutebdly watch more and the new episodes when they eventually air, but I'm not in love with it as a show. It's like House was for me in all of the second season: something I watch, not something I fangirl. It's certainly interesting, but... I dunno. It's hard-core science fiction when I'm really more into fantasy sci-fi like Farscape, fantasy-horror like Buffy or XF, and epic sci-fi like Babylon 5. Actually, this show is very similar to B5, though with robots instead of aliens and a lot more militaristic, it still aims for that "epic" label. I can't quite pin down the difference, but I'm not sure I'll enjoy this show as much as I remember enjoying B5.

I like some of the stuff they aim for, but some of it falls a little short with me. A lot of the stuff with the humanoid cylons makes me roll my eyes-- they don't seem to be used very efficiently (by the cylon war effort, I mean), though that may change as more is revealed. On the other hand, I really love the fact that there's as many women in this show as men, in all the roles. In previous shows like this when you have "4 random characters on the shuttlebus with 1 main character doing a technical job", there will be a token female character, or no female character at all. In this there's multiple women not just in lead roles but in backdrop roles too. I like that. I don't particularly like the sexualized she-devil characterization of the cylon women, though. Where's the sexualized male cylon?


Oh well. I like it for now. Some day I may come to love it.

Comments

[flamingly-fey.livejournal.com]

When new-Battlestar does things well, it does them brilliantly. When they're even slightly off, though, they flop worse than the original did at its lowest points. Then again, I'm still bitter about Farscape getting canceled, so I'm probably not the best person to ask.

As it is, it's an okay series. However, I agree with you about the glaring question of "Why the heck isn't there a sexy cylon MAN?" The implication that only women can be simultaneously evil and sexy makes me cold in a way not even the wonderful background music, and actual equality of the sexes in a show from a genre known for token damsels in distress, can fix.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

That really bugs me too. It's almost *more* disappointing, because in all other aspects it really looks like they got the equality thing *right*. Their world seems to be totally gender-blind when it comes to proffesional carreers and positions of power. It's seemlessly integrated. And that works nicely with the polytheistic nature of their religion, even, which seem to be the Greeky myths. A society driven by a religion with a warrior-goddess doesn't seem to shy away from female warriors.

I'd suggest that the characterization of woman=evil temptress being utilized by the monotheistic cylons is some kind of subtle commentary on Christianity, but that's REALLY giving the writers too much credit, I think. What's undoubtedly happened is that they wanted Blondie as the kickass evil robot for pure fanservice reasons. Marketing, "coolness" factor among the perceived male-dominated sci-fi fandom. Blegh.

If you ignore Blondie, then Boomer's role as a double-agent who's also romantically involved with a "good" human is not as offensive... there's nothing overtly sinister or temptation-heavy about their sexual relationship. But when Boomer's role is put on screen next to Blondie, who EMBODIES that role, it makes Boomer's character look like the stereotype too. I've thought about it and I wouldn't change Boomer's gender or role because I like her story quite a bit, better than some of the other subplots. And if you change Blondie's story you change the Doctor's story pretty heavily too. But you don't really need to change either, you just need a balancing factor. A cylon manslut. After all, it's pretty crappy of the cylons not to be gender-equal, you know? They don't have the emotional excuses used by human men.

[flamingly-fey.livejournal.com]

There's actually a format for quoting LJ entries now, and citing them in a bibliography... so would you mind terribly if I quoted you in an essay on modern science fiction? (Yes, I'm a teenager who writes essays for fun. Scary, no?)

I don't know if it's a comment on monotheism, but perhaps the point you raised about the cylons' inequality is the point the writers are trying to make. Perhaps they're subtly saying that an unequal society is just as bad as one run by machines? (This is pretty unlikely. I'll readily admit that. But... it'd be cool if they really were trying for that message, no?)

The emotional excuses of human men are what made me leave the few science fiction forums I visited without posting once. Grown men, who admit to having jobs and lives far outside of their parents' basement, should not be so terribly traumatised by the sight of a female fighter pilot as to bitch and moan about it for pages on end. (Having seen that, and reactions elsewhere that were much the same, I think I can almost understand why Scifi canned Farscape. There were too many empowered women for the fanboys' brains to wrap around!) And what made it worse was the fact that the most misogynistic type of slash fans came out of nowhere to voice agreement!

It's funny, but seeing those kinds of reactions just makes me love the Avatar fandom even more. The fans of the future are being shown heroes of both genders (heroes who aren't above making mistakes!) at a young age, and while there will always be scary misogynist slash fannits (I swear, they'll be left with the cockroaches after a nuclear war), they're comparatively few in a fandom dominated by kids. There's nothing that makes me grin involuntarily like riding my bicycle past a playground and hearing a group of kids arguing over who gets to play Katara this time, because she's "the best character." (Especially when a BOY is complaining about never being able to... but from the look of things as I rode back from the coffeeshop later that day, he finally got to play as her that day. Yay for gender roles being thrown out the window!)

Who knows, maybe when we're old and wrinkled we'll look at the science fiction and fantasy communities and be able to see places where characters are finally on equal footing with each other, because of what today's children are seeing.

Or maybe I'm just a sentimental idealist at heart. Could be that, too.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Sure, you can quote me. Just shoot a link over when you finish so I can check out the essay.

Farscape was great with female empowerment. I loved that Aeryn was *such* a soldier and that for a long time John so *wasn't*. Eventually they moved toward the middle and became equals-- John learning to embrace his gun-toting and leatherpants side, and Aeryn learning to use her intelligence and insight for things beyond fighting. But there was never any pressure for Aeryn not to be kick-ass solely so that John could. John loved that she was kickass and trusted her strength implicitly. Hell, he often *expected* her to save everyone's asses with a big explosive gunfight at some point in the episode. And other characters like Chiana and Jool and Zhaan were portrayed as competent and strong, in different but still very physical ways. And actually, Chiana's role as the love-em-and-leave-em/seductive female character didn't bother me, because that wasn't her whole personality, you know? It was just an aspect, and she was fiercely unashamed of it.

I don't really hold the Avatar series up as a paragon of sexual equality, if only for the fact that the two main characters are boys, and the world they live in is a patriarchal one. But it's nice that there's plenty of strong female characters, and those characters (like Katara and probably Azula too) are aware of the patriarchal nature of their society and rebel against it. Even if Azula's motivated by ambition more than higher morals or civil rights.

There's nothing that makes me grin involuntarily like riding my bicycle past a playground and hearing a group of kids arguing over who gets to play Katara this time, because she's "the best character." (Especially when a BOY is complaining about never being able to... but from the look of things as I rode back from the coffeeshop later that day, he finally got to play as her that day. Yay for gender roles being thrown out the window!)

Seriously? That's AWESOME. That just totally brightens my evening. Thank you.