Philosophical Feminism and Popular Culture by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780739172254
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2014-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Power and Aggression: Reflections on the Women of Battlestar Galactica

Jennifer Ingle

Science fiction, the genre as a whole, is notable for its placement of strong female characters and visions of ideal, egalitarian societies. The science fiction series Battlestar Galactica is no different in this regard; it presents an idealized version of the culture that it represents, one that is seemingly egalitarian. In this paper I examine and evaluate the television series Battlestar Galactica. The series has two incarnations: while originally a project of Glen Larson’s in 1978, Ron Moore reinvented the show as a mini-series in 2003, which was then picked up by network television as a full-fledged series from 2004-2009. This television series is laden with Christian, particularly Mormon, mythology as well as contemporary social, political, and moral issues. Like all television, it reflects and represents contemporary culture ideology even as it projects a fictional, futuristic society. This paper identifies the difference in the manner that sex and gender are treated in the 2003 incarnation from the original series. Most notably and obviously, the decision to change the lead character of Starbuck from a male to a female and the introduction of a new character, the female president Laura Roslin, indicates that the new version of the series strives to represent the changes in culture that have taken place in the past thirty years. Yet, as ‘progressive’ as the show appears to be with its placement of females as key political and military figures, in the end the show clearly reflects the tension of our times: the fact of women’s political equality, and the prominence of certain females in politics and the media, obscures the power disequilibrium that affects the lives of women. An analysis of Battlestar Galactica reveals that the achievements of powerful women remain in terms of, and are only possible due to patriarchal values, systems and structures.

Analyzing a work of popular culture, particularly one that is present in two versions, allows for a glimpse at the changes, and may bring to light problems in our culture. Susanne Kappeler writes,

The history of representation is the history of the male gender representing it self to itself—the power of naming is men’s. Representation is not so much the means of representing an object through imitation (matching contents) as a means of self-representation through authorship: the expression of subjectivity. Culture, as we know it, is patriarchy’s self-image.1

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