100 sci fi women #20: Laura Roslin

Well, I once again apologise that my life has got in the way of my blogging and it has been a full week since an update. And a big update it is – no 20. This obviously has to go to a very special science fiction woman. Before I go on though, I’ll note another list: “Top 5 Science Fiction Leading Ladies“.  Two of the five included there already appear on this list, and we make it three tonight….

President Laura Roslin Battlestar Galactica

Despite being something like 34th in line for the Presidency, Laura Roslin is the highest ranking member of the government who survives the initial Cylon attack. The best part of President Roslin though is that we don’t see her full of slef doubt, unsure that she can do it – she boldly steps into the role of President of the 12 colonies and starts to rule from day one.  This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have some doubts, but like any competent politician, she keeps them largely to herself and gets on with the business of keeping her people alive. The tally she keeps of the number of those alive in her fleet is a constant moving reminder to her and to us of the toll of what the fleet faces on a day to day basis. And one has to love the fact that Laura always backs herself, whether it is airlocking a Cylon or staring down her political enemies. We also have the mystical Laura, caught up in her vision which result from her cancer-fighting drugs. I also love the fact that she readily accepts that she is the leader in the prophecy – no false modesty here. She also doesn’t give in when she loses her leadership; she is committed to the resistance on New Caprica and continues to fight for her people.  And of course, when she and Adama give in to their mutual affection, it is a relationship that must make everyone soft and squishy. If all our female politicians could be like Laura, the world would be a much better place.

I won’t compromise the success of this operation or the safety of this fleet to indulge the neediness of 12 perpetually unhappy representatives. I can’t.

100 sci fi women #19: Hermoine Granger

I have found myself watching The Prisoner of Azkaban and seeing Hermoine punch Draco immediately gave me my next entry…

Hermoine Granger Harry Potter books and films

While I have always enjoyed the Harry Potter books and films (some more than others though it must be said) many of the characters are quite annoying. Harry, in particular, often drives me bats. But Hermoine I love. While she fits the brainy girl category, she is much more than that. And her intelligence is something to be admired. I love the fact that she knows more than everyone, that she does the best in class. She is also the most practical of her friends, and utterly courageous. One also has to remember that, unlike Ron and a number of their school contemporaries, Hermoine is a newbie to the world of magic, and yet this does not stop her being unfazed and as successful as anyone (except in Divination, but really, who can blame her). She is a true friend, even when occasionally Ron and Harry probably don’t really deserve it. Finally, she is still a girl, who has crushes, meets boys and suffers her own heartbreak. But deals with it as stoically as she can.

I am pretty sure that without Hermoine I would have had trouble liking the books!

Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have!

Australia traditions of the worst kind

It is amazing how one event can cram into it so much of what we like to complain about in society. Gambling, drinking, cruelty to animals, objectification of women, class divides…the list is really quite long. I speak of course of the Melbourne Cup, yet another interesting cultural symbol we like to see as “uniting all Australians” as we listen to the race.

To be honest, we didn’t listen to it yesterday. We actually turned off the radio.

I don’t want to be a humourless wowser and I quite enjoy a spot of drinking and even a bit of a consideration of fashion from time to time. My history as a croupier makes me extremely wary about gambling. As a side note, it was fascinating amongst croupiers. You tended to find we fell into one of two very clear and distinct camps: those who did gamble at all, and those who spent every spare minute at the TAB. I am in the former camp and find it hard enough to buy lottery tickets, or even enter a sweep, let alone bet money on racing. Not that I never have, from time to time.

But what seems to be fascinating is how much one event can encapsulate so much that so many would consider either singularly or collectively to be the worst elements of our society and yet….and yet it is still purported to be one of the most important events on the Australian sporting and social calendar. Listening to someone on the radio saying what they would enjoy about the day which ended with the “and of course lots of drinking” just made me think a bit about all the values instilled in the event. Apart from the compulsory drinking and gambling, there is a lot wrong with the horse racing industry and the way that horses are virtually factory produced, and put down as foals if they don’t measure up. I was pleased to hear that the vets actually stopped a horse running because they thought it wasn’t up to it, and a little horrified by the owners carry-on about how it should be allowed to race.

Then there is the objectification of women and the overt gender roles that the day entails. “Fashions on the field” while the men drink and gamble. And the rich in their enclosures being given free booze and advertising, while the poor sit in the carpark with the VB.

And year after year, with little change or innovation, the show goes on and we are supposed to see it as part of our identity as Australians.

I quite like the fact that here in the ACT we had Family and Community Day. We spent time with our family and friends, drinking indeed, but also talking and eating and thinking and playing with children. I also like the fact that one gets away from the near-compulsory workplace Melbourne-Cupping. Of course, next year we’ll be back at work to ensure that caterers get their pre Christmas income boost through work functions. But it was nice for a couple of years to have a slightly different tradition.

 

 

100 sci fi women #18: Zoe

Zoe was always on my list for inclusion. I love the dynamic between her and Captain Mal, but also the fact that when it comes to the crunch, she’ll choose her husband over him. I had intended to write my own entry, but Tea Drinker has said it all so well below, that I figure I can get away with being lazy and publishing her entry.

Zoe Firefly

I love Gina Torres as Zoe in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. As a lesbian, I find Torres incredibly hot, but there’s a lot more to it than that, honest! There’s a serious dearth of good roles for black woman in science fiction, so it’s great to see such a strong character. Zoe is a tough, stoic, soldier; she’s certainly not a “magical black woman”, and nor is she a highly sexualised figure in the narrative. She balances out the childlike River and Kaylee and the highly feminine Inara, showing a different way of being a woman. She takes no shit whatsoever, is totally loyal to her friends and manages to maintain a happy marriage with the ship’s pilot, Wash.

Alliance Commander: “You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?”

Zoe: “Fought with a lot of people in the war.”

Alliance Commander: “And your husband?”

Zoe: “Fight with him sometimes, too.”

100 Sci Fi women #17: Chevette Washington

Chevette Washington Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow’s Parties William Gibson

The fact that Chevette launches the action of the Bridge trilogy by stealing sunglasses from a dude who pissed her off exemplifies what is so appealing in Chevette. She has a cheeky take-no-shit edginess coupled with a curiosity about the world. A victim of abuse as a child, Chevette has grown up to be tough and independent. Making her way as a bike courier, she has a visceral appreciation of machinery. She also has become part of an urban family, who she cares for and who care for her. She isn’t quick to trust, but she does trust. She is smart and wise and knows how to look after herself.

…Chevette finds herself pressed up against his back for a second, not that interrupts whatever infinitely dreary shit he’s laying down for the girl, no, though he does jam hi elbow, hard, back into Chevette’s ribs to get himself more space.

And Chevette, glancing down, sees something sticking out of a pocket in the tobacco-colored leather.

Then it’s in her hand, down the front of her bike-pants, she’s out of the door, and the asshole hasn’t even noticed.

In the sudden quiet of the corridor, party sounds receding as she heads for the elevator, she wants to run. She wants to laugh, too, but now she’s starting to feel scared.

Top 50 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Meme

Because by now we all know I love lists, here is another science fiction one, found originally at Where the Wind’s Like a Whetted Knife.

Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put asterisks beside the ones you loved (the more asterisks, the more you liked it).

The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien**
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov***
3. Dune, Frank Herbert****
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein****
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin****
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson*****
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury*
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey***
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling**
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*****
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice**
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin****
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute**
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut*****
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson*****
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner**
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein*
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

So that is only 16, which considering how much science fiction and fantasy I have read seems a bit poor. One could argue with some of the book choices, but I might leave that to another day. I must admit also that my enjoyment ratings in some cases might relate to the age at which I read most of these books – the majority was when I was 16 or under, which might have skewed my view somewhat. At least it indicates more books I should read, and perhaps some I might want to revisit. I loved the Foundation books as a teenager, and also really enjoyed A Stranger in A Strange Land when I was in my final year of school and my extension english topic was politics and religion in science fiction. And it must be said, I still love Douglas Adams.

100 Sci Fi Women #16: Susan Ivanova

Today I present you with our first contribution. From Tea Drinker, who is also creating her own list of sci fi women,  here it is…

Commander Susan Ivanova Babylon 5

 

I’m starting with Ivanova because she stands for a lot of things I like to see in female characters: she’s complex, has integrity, principles, and is excellent at what she does, which in this case is being a professional soldier and pilot.  She’s not on gratuitous display as a sexual object, either for a male audience or the male characters in the show.  In fact, although she has a black sense of humour, she’s a pretty intense, serious character most of the time, but I think it’s refreshing to see a woman being represented as deadly serious.  She has her demons: everyone in her family is dead, she’s secretly a latent telepath in a world in which telepaths are forced to join the sinister Psi-Core, and she finds intimate relationships very difficult to maintain.

My main problem with the representation of Ivanova is related to sexuality. Ivanova’s character was (apparently) written and was definitely played by the actress as presumptively bisexual, but this is never stated, or dealt with directly in the show.  Then, on the one occasion that she does open up enough to begin a close relationship with a female telepath called Talia Winters, the narrative immediately takes the classic lesbaphobic turn in which the first hint of female same-sex sexuality leads to at least one character going EVIL and/or dying .

Oh well.

However, Ivanova is still a great character and the show never recovers from Claudia Christian’s decision to leave at the end of Season 4.

“I am the right hand of vengeance and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth.  I am death incarnate and the last living thing that you are ever going to see.”

100 Sci Fi women #15: Dana Scully

Before we get to today’s entry, I wanted to mention two new lists which are quite entertaining is the Buffy-Joss Whedon space. We have the Top Ten Buffy episodes which is quite entertaining and then the Top 5 Reasons It Sucks Being a Joss Fan, which can make one a bit squirmy. Although I do love the first entry – He Will Slaughter Everything That Makes You Happy Inside. Please Joss, just stop that!

Dana Scully X-Files

 

I always loved Scully. Mulder I found annoying, even though the logic of the show was that you really did have to “believe.” But sensible, practical, logical Scully always appealed to me a lot more. She was both a crack investigator and a medical doctor who didn’t flinch in the face of mangled bodies and horrible autopsies. What she did flinch at was Mulder’s weird theories, and even though he was often proved right, let’s face it, who wouldn’t have been with her? Her cool intelligence and sensible approach meant that she would accept the bizarre when proven, but she trusted to facts and reason.  She was also a positive depiction of a single mother and a professional woman, who was both attractive and, more importantly, highly intelligence. It was also Scully’s intelligence that was most important, not her looks.

The problem with the Shrew

On Saturday night I went and saw the current Bell Shakespeare production of The Taming of the Shrew. It reminded me what a difficult play it is to like.

Of course, I am not without my own Shrew related dramas. When I was in first year at university, I was working as stage manager and lighting assistant on a production by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild of Charles Marowitz’s play, The Shrew. Can’t say I thought a great deal of the play. And neither did the reviewers. Which led to the very awkward situation that, one of the two lead females in this four hand play decided, after the final performance on the first week, that she wasn’t going to appear for week two. I mean, it should really have come as no surprise to us, it was a crap play, she was a crap actress who got a really bad review, she had to kiss a rather unattractive man and she had to appear on stage in her underwear. Everyone pleaded with her, including her much more talented older sister who was, oddly enough, playing her older sister in the play. All to no avail. But, the show must go on, and guess which foolish stage manager had, the previous week, grumbled in the face of the poor acting that it would be better if she just took over because at least she could act – and knew all the lines….Ah yes, the ultimate case of be-careful-what-you-wish-for. As our run was Monday to Friday, I had to spend the weekend rehearsing then got up on stage on the Monday night including for scenes in my underwear and others in my mother’s wedding dress. That night, I will never forget, was of course the night that all those who were appearing downstairs in the Little Theatre in the Footlights production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead came to see the play, including, naturally, a boy upon who I had a massive crush at the time. And there was little 19 year old me ON STAGE IN MY UNDERWEAR and KISSING THE UGLY BLOKE.  To top off the day, my grandfather died.

So, as you can imagine, despite how many years in the past this all was, some trauma still attaches even to the idea of anything Shrew related. The Bell Shakespeare production took an interesting approach by casting all women in the roles. But somehow this didn’t cut through the misogyny for me.it was quite well performed and staged, although there was definitely and element of the “I’m acting in Shakespeare” ness about the actors at times, a level of stagey-ness that sometimes mars the Shakespeare. And it must be said that the play has some wonderful lines and clever humour. But I didn’t love it.  To me, the over-the-top cruelty of Petruchio made the harshness of the misogyny within the play even harsher. while there was a comical aspect to his portrayal, he was depicted as a man without many genuine feelings, interested in money, in prizes and getting the better of others. If anything, the play is a demonstration of the operation of torture – I just felt sorry for Kate as she was repeatedly tortured to the point where her personality was broken down. As she says, she’ll say the sun is the moon if it will make the torture stop. Perhaps Jack Bauer (and the CIA) should pay attention to that point. The portrayal of Kate wasn’t strong enough to give you a sense of why she switches from seemingly giving in to stop the torture to where she appears to whole-heartedly embrace the change in the final speech. That final speech – it really is like listening to fingernails on chalkboard for me. I just wanted some sense of irony to creep in. But it really didn’t.

The closest I can come to redeeming the play is by the fact that it shows the male characters to be such unappealing characters who treat women like possessions they can bet on and horse-trade over, it clarifies the hideousness of the patriarchy. But the delivery of Kate’s soliloquy did not seem to underscore this idea at all, unfortunately.

In all, use of an all-female cast didn’t really achieve much for me in changing the nature of the play. It seemed to be more of a gimmick than a clearly thought through approach to addressing or undermining the gender issues within the play. In discussions with others after the play we wondered whether a more radical approach might be to totally reverse the genders – have the female roles played by men and the male roles played by women, as their own gender. While the text could continue to refer to them in their original gender, the role reversal would place the misogyny in sharp relief.

Or perhaps there is no redeeming of the play, no matter what Zeffirelli might think. Give me Ten Things I Hate About You any time.

100 sci fi women #14: Tenar

First, let me give my apologies for failing to update this week, but work and children have kind of absorbed all my time. For that reason I am always happy to receive your contributions to the 100 Sci Fi women list at godardsletterboxes@gmail.com.

Tenar The Tombs of Atuan, Tehanu and The Other Wind Ursula K Le Guin

Tenar grows from a young girl who has been dedicated to the service of the gods, to a mature woman, who cares for others and comes to understand the nature of women’s oppression. When she first meets Ged, she is very young and he helps her to learn that her service to the Nameless Ones is ultimately an unrewarding one for her. She is brave enough and strong enough to accept this, and to help Ged escape and, in so doing, gains her own freedom.  She then chooses to live an ordinary kind of life, the wife of a farmer, the mother of children. While still and outsider due to her different colour skin, she finds a place for herself until the death of her husband. While she is sure of her own abilities, she is faced with judgement by her own son. Her compassion leads her to take in Therru, a child who has been abused and burnt. It also leads her to care for Ged when he returns with his powers diminished. She is a woman who finds her own place in the world, despite the struggles imposed by her gender and her age, when both young and old.  her strength is her intelligence and her compassion, and yet she is willing to fight physically to protect herself and those for whom she cares. As Susan Bernardo and Graham Murphy note “Tenar especially confronts the victimization of women and girls, the terrible power of traditional views of the proper spheres of men and women, and the realization she must actively resist those two evils.”

“Oh yes. We’re precious. So long as we’re powerless….I remember when I first learned that! Kossil threatened me–me, the One Priestess of the Tombs. And I realized that I was helpless. I had the honor; but she had the power, from the God-king, the man. Oh, it made me angry! And frightened me….lark and I talked about this once. She said, ‘Why are men afraid of women?”

“If your strength is only the other’s weakness, you live in fear, ” Ged said.

“Yes, but women seem to fear their own strength, to be afraid of themselves.”