Critical Media Studies by Ott Brian L.;Mack Robert L.; & Robert L. Mack

Author:Ott, Brian L.;Mack, Robert L.; & Robert L. Mack
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119406280
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (trade)
Published: 2020-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Logical/emotional

The association of the public, working sphere with men and the private, domestic sphere with women feeds into a third related gender binary: logic/emotion. Traditionally, media texts construct logic as a masculine trait and emotion as a feminine one. The masculine public sphere is related to politics and decision‐making, so masculinity is marked by the kinds of rational thinking associated with these processes. The private sphere is concerned with family and nurturance, so femininity is defined by irrational or emotional impulses. A classic form of this stereotypical dualism is the association of men with mental processes and women with bodily ones, and the effect on our perceptions of gender is very much the same.

A good example of the logical/emotional binary can be found on the popular syndicated television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lieutenant commander Data (Brent Spiner) and ship’s counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) are clear manifestations of these gender stereotypes. Data is an android, or a “mechanical man,” made completely of circuitry and synthetic materials. His technology is sophisticated enough that the crew of the starship Enterprise considers him to be an individual with a personality, but Data lacks the ability to feel any emotion. He approaches problems throughout the series with a cool logic and clear predilection for reasoned decision‐making. Though Data experiments with humor and special devices that give him the ability to emote throughout the series, these choices often diminish his problem‐solving skills and at times even put his crew in danger. Data never actually achieves his desire to be a “fully‐feeling” human.

Troi is largely the opposite. As the ship’s psychological counselor, she is responsible for listening to crewmembers’ problems and helping them through difficult emotional issues. Troi is part Betazoid, an alien race in the Trek universe who can empathically sense what others are feeling. This factor heightens her counseling abilities and often positions her as the ship’s moral conscience and emotional expert. A number of episodes hinge on Troi being able to discern individuals’ motivations and intentions through fluctuations in their emotional states. At the same time, Troi’s empathic abilities also backfire at certain points when she cannot stop the flood of others’ emotions from overtaking her; she actually becomes an emotional “dumping ground” for an alien political mediator in one episode. A handful of episodes in the series also concentrate on her emotionally complicated relationship with her mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett).

Data and Troi are nearly perfect examples of the logical/emotional gender binary. Despite their best efforts to resist, each character is dominated by a stereotypically gendered way of understanding the world around them. While (masculine) Data cannot experience emotion, (feminine) Troi sometimes cannot stop experiencing emotion. This duality is especially interesting in light of the original character sketches producers used while casting actors for the series. While Data should be “in perfect physical condition and … appear very intelligent,” Troi need only be “tall (5′8–6′) and slender, about 30 years old and quite beautiful.”14 Such a distinction begins to illustrate the subtle connections between stereotypes.

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