I came across an article titled “Is Battlestar Galactica the Most Feminist Show on Television?” recently and found the perspective interesting. thought I’d toss it out here to see what others think.
It’s an interesting roundup but I don’t think it has contributed any new analysis to what feminist Battlestar fans have been talking about all along. But it’s a good summary, I think.
It’s easy to fail to notice that the women on the show don’t speak to each other very often, with the exception of the Cylons.
And the Gina/Cain thing was unfortunate, but at the same time, I think we have to give more credit in that it was portrayed at all (the annoying Quiznos sponsorship being ignored in this), and it wasn’t sensationalized or pornified. Kind of like Gaeta and Hoshi, which just gives me warm fuzzies. 
I can’t ignore that. It provided one of my best lines ever.
“Homosexuals, the new red shirt.”
Feministing also had a BSG post in the last couple weeks, about rape portrayals in BSG. I was not a big fan of the post, but I loved seeing it discussed.
I spent some time thinking of BSG and the Bechdel test after you posted this. I instinctively felt like it did pass but then had to justify it… The first rule, that there must be at least two women characters, is obviously satisfied. In terms of rules 2 and 3, that the women must have a conversation and the convo must be about something other than men, I came up with these examples:
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Starbuck and Kat: they had some conversations, though they were mainly fights. That said, their competition was definitely not about men.
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Boomer and Caprica Six: on Caprica, their talks were all about adjusting to their new lives and new bodies. They didn’t really discuss the Chief or Baltar, even though they did talk about the importance of love in their relationships with humans.
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Laura and Elosha: they talked religion, philosophy, morals, and the afterlife.
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Laura and Tory: they have occasionally chatted about political strategy on screen.
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Starbuck and Athena: when Kara visits Sharon in her cell after Helo brings her back from Caprica, Starbuck asks her strategy questions and tells her how hard it is to look at her and not see Boomer. I guess the Chief gets mentioned once, so this might not 100% count.
I am sure there are other examples, but these leapt to mind quickly. One thing that strikes me as unusual in a different way is that BSG has tended to feature many more non-sexual male/female friendships than most shows- especially most shows with a military bent. Starbuck and Helo (especially in Season 2), Starbuck and Hot Dog, Laura and Adama (ok, ok, it’s been moving that way, but still), Racetrack and Skulls (less evidence here, but they seem to be close), and Laura and Doc Cottle, who seems to have warmed up to her more than he intended.
Anywhoo…
ooh, thanks for those examples. I instinctively felt that the show passes the test better than the article indicated but haven’t rewatched the show through the Bechdel lens.
there’s also Starbuck and Laura’s conversations about the arrow and the way to Earth.
the male/female friendships is a very interesting point too.
going to read the feministing article now…
How about Cain and Kendra, and Cain and Starbuck? Both were fairly fraught relationships, but still some interesting bonds there. Kendra and Starbuck was similar to the relationship between Starbuck and Kat, too, I guess.
Hmm, what else…Racetrack and Sharon took the Raider to the baseship in “Kobol’s Last Gleaming”–otherwise, the Raptor pilot/ECO pairs seem to be pretty predominantly male/female, although there’s a good mix of who is the pilot and who is the ECO.
The only thing that feels lacking on the female relationships side is there’s no Adama-Tigh-strength equivalent. In part, that’s probably because nobody alive has known each other for as long as those two have. I always wished Roslin and Starbuck and/or Caprica Six had had more scenes together, because even though no combination of that trifecta would’ve had the same closeness as Adama and Tigh, the characters all have strong enough points of view that it would’ve made for great television.
Both excellent posts. I think the Starbuck/Laura relationship is especially interesting, Kappa. They became allies over the Arrow and the Tomb of Athena, and in certain ways their destinies and belief systems should have pushed them more in line with each other than they actually are. Of course, Laura’s authoritarian streak and Starbuck’s drinking problem probably prevent them from getting along too well, and with Starbuck’s return, there was a deep fault line between them. And probably having Kara break out of Marine-oversight to try a stealth execution didn’t endear her to Laura, either. But it is a complex and deep relationship that has nothing to do with men or sex. Good call.
Have you all read any Bechdel? I haven’t read tons of Dykes to Watch Out For but my bookclub read Fun Home last year and it was great. In a sad way.
very interesting points, especially about the belief systems. I remember that I had half-expected Roslin to be more receptive of Kara’s “feeling” about Earth just because of her own visions but I hadn’t thought about it much.
Have you all read any Bechdel? I haven’t read tons of Dykes to Watch Out For but my bookclub read Fun Home last year and it was great. In a sad way.
I haven’t read any Bechdel except for that one comic with the test. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Fun Home.
have you listened to the enhanced versions of the webisodes? on the third one, Jane Espenson talks about one version of the script that had included a whole webisode that was a conversation between Six and Eight about the murders they’ve commited. I thought that was very interesting.