I can totally see that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s anybody’s obligation to write fiction that will challenge these beliefs. If they do and people like it that’s okay, but if they don’t and instead choose to write real chauvi scifi or what have you and people like it, too - then there’s no harm done. I mean, the freedom of speech does apply to all fiction, doesn’t it?
That sounds kind of harsh, GR. Surely we appreciate our privileged societies, but…
of course it’s harsh. it was meant to be harsh in quite a matter-of-factly way, because that’s the harsh reality of it. none of us would want to voluntarily change places with, say, an Ethiopian. At least I admit that I wouldn’t. And I don’t see a need to sweep this attitude under the rug. Does that make me a worse person? I don’t know. It comes down to plain luck where you were born.
Not trying to pick on you here, thenewguy, but this kind of talk is what we could refer to as backlash against societal change. That is, preferring that everyone just settle down and accept the old status quo. I respect your right to enjoy entertainment a certain way. But, trust me, if you had always been left out of that target audience because you weren’t considered the standard tough, white, straight guy, you might appreciate art that, for once, speaks to you a little bit too. And when the people who’ve always been the ones sci-fi speaks to complain that the new stuff and the new conversation makes them uncomfortable, the role of the progressive is to say: Good. Sometimes in order to make positive change we have to suffer discomfort.
Hm, it’s just too alluring to play the devil’s advocat here:
Men and women are not identical. They were not created to be alike, male and female are the opposite ends of a spectrum. Think of them as the two poles of a magnet. Plus and minus. Therefore, attraction. Men and women will gravitate to one another because of a small genetic difference that makes all the difference. I’m not saying that any sex is inferior to the other or that they shouldn’t have equal rights, no, but they can’t be expected to work and think the same way. And once you accept that, it makes things a lot easier, I think. There are certain behavior patterns that are just rooted SO deeply in our genes that no societal change whatsoever will ever overcome them. Go ask a neurologist to tell you about how differently male and female brains work, how differently they receive neural/sensoral inputs, how differently they reacted to certain stimuli. It would be a delusion to believe that the ultimate goal could be to make men and women identical. Hell, I wouldn’t wanna live in such a world, where would all the fun be? With every piece of art and/or fiction, there will always be people who won’t like, whom it just won’t appeal to, men AND women. I’m sure there’s lots of women out there who like BSG just the way it is. What’s more, I don’t think that art can ever be a vessel for societal change. Art can be the reflection of what a society is like at a certain moment in time or what the state of one mind is like at a certain point of time. But art doesn’t shape societies, it’s the societies that create art, not vice versa.
Plus: who gets to define what is “progressive” and what is not. or what is “positive change” and what is not? maybe one person’s progressive is another person’s conservative and one person’s positive change is another person’s negative change. in the end we’re all biased in some kind and none of us is truly impartial. so we’ll have to go with what the majority wants and if the majority is willing to watch BSG the way it is, that’s fine. if the majority thought BSG sucked, for whatever reason, they wouldn’t watch it and show’d get canceled. on the other hand, maybe even more people would watch BSG if they would take a real hard-core feminist stand? but we won’t know until the writers have tried.
Edit: TheNewGuy, I’m totally with you, we shouldn’t nitpick on every little thing in BSG - and we wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the everlasting hiatus. the gender question is just one issues among a dozen other cool things that BSG has to offer and I for one feel that it’s more rewarding to talk about the mythos in general or political issues than gender roles. I’ll come right out and admit it, it’s okay to talk about that too, for a while, but it’s not like here’s a problem that we could solve by endlessly taking the show apart. literary criticism is not an end in itself. what we really is NEW EPISODES!
