Giant Alien Robots from SPAAAAACE [part 3]
I've handled this subject so often over the phone that I don't know if I have much to say on the matter, but.
For those of you who have read my other GIANT ALIEN ROBOT stuff, this one is a little less philosophical or economic than social. This essay is about ...
Bumblebee is Buxom Brunette Chick (or Why Gender Doesn't Matter to Giant Alien Robots)
I'm not here to tackle Giant Alien Robots from SPAAAACE sex (although there will be a bit about that in this essay): rather, I'm here to talk about 'childhood', function, and life in a society where there is no 'gender' proper. Once again, this essay assumes based on the movie continuity first, with other Transformer continuities mentioned as it suits me.
Why it is totally different to be a Giant Alien Robot
Does 'gender' actually mean anything for giant alien robots?
I know there are 'femme' robots. The upcoming movie will feature Arcee, a femmebot, for instance, and there are other well-known femmebots (Black Arachnia, Chromia, Elita-1). But what does that actually mean, other than OH HAY LOOK THEIR VOICES ARE HIGHER THEY ARE CHICKS? (And also make sure that the Transformers aren't gay. Because when you have romance between Giant Alien Robots, you know it's important that they not be gay.)
We are a diametrically split species, with roughly 51% of the human population being male and 49% being female. This is important because when two members of the opposite sex get together, they can procreate, thus propogating our species across the world. Our short lifespans (relatively speaking in the fictional world where Cybertronians exist) mean we need to have children to pass on our genetic code. Our progeny requires roughly 18-20 years to mature to the point of being able to take care of themselves, and we care for them up until such time that they are capable of self-government.
Compare to Cybertronians.
(1)They are not a diametrically split species. Even if you can consider femmebots to actually be 'female', they seem to make up a much smaller percentage of the population than 'male' robots. (ooooooooooor it could just be that 8-year-old boys who buy the toys to actually play with still think girls have cooties, but hey.)
(2)They do not produce children via sex. The Allspark is their only source of life, so a female is not needed to incubate their progeny (and I don't think they lay eggs. I could be wrong?) Every piece of evidence I can find in any continuity suggests that the Allspark (or Matrix, or whatever) produces life without any external help.
(3)Cybertronians can live damn near forever. There is no physical instinctive drive to propogate their 'genetic code', whatever form it might take, because, uh, they're GIANT ROBOTS, they do not have 'instincts' as we understand them (natural impulses caused by genetic code and biological chemical rushes).
(4)Cybertronians do not 'grow up'. In several continuities that I've looked at (Armada (I think?), TF:A, and the movie), when the Allspark (or its shards) come into contact with some inanimate machine or object, they turn it into a Transformer. The Transformer is fully grown and able to take care of itself: it may be 'inexperienced', but it is not incapable of self-government or self-provision.
My point is, it's not necessarily important to robots to be 'female' or 'male' the way it is for us.
No Sex, No Gender
Let's take a moment to consider the importance of gender to us.
Humans are strongly influenced (if not actually ruled) by hormonal urges. (Not just sex, guys.) Adrenaline, endorphins, estrogen and testosterone - all of these help control our body's reactions to various stimuli. Estrogen and testosterone in particular effect us as diametrically opposed genders, and they control virility, fertility, feelings of love and hate, etc. They also control bodily functions and appearance, even. They effect how we approach the world at large (and don't tell me I'm lying when I say the genders are worlds apart in how they approach life).
There is also some truth to the whole 'gender role' thing. I know that as a society we are trying to buck that kind of thinking (men can be caretakers, too, women can have lifelong careers, etc), but in general women are more about emotions and men are more about physicality, women are more nurturers and men more protectors, blah blah blah.
But can the same be said for Giant Alien Robots(tm)? Giant Alien Robots do not have hormones. They do not have two different sets of hormonal influences that diametrically split their species. Why would a 'female' have to be any different from a 'male' mentally or physically? An excellent example is Chromia, who is usually associated with Ironhide. SHE'S A FREAKING TANK. (Ironhide's idea of the perfect chick is a girl who can BLOW SHIT UP with him. Hahaha!)
Whether or not robots have sex is immaterial to this conversation for the most part: more importantly, robots do not have sex to procreate. A female robot does not have to have different erotic zones or different reactions or anything different from a male robot. What, then, does gender properly mean?
Who Raises the Babies?
By movie canon (by which I mean, a situation where we see the Allspark create new Transformers), Cybertronians do not 'grow up'. While there are many, many fics dedicated to the idea of 'sparklings' and 'younglings', I can't find any canon that supports the idea that Cybertronians have babies of any kind. (Tell me: how would a robot grow up? Do they get repeatedly outmoded? Does being small mean you're not mature? Is Frenzy secretly a crazy toddler robot? I MEAN SERIOUSLY PEOPLE.)
So from what we can tell Giant Alien Robots(tm) are 'born' already mature. Being that they are in fact robots there is no reason why they can't be brought online already aware of everything they need to know and every aspect of whatever function they were built for. There is only one source of life on Cybertron - the Allspark - so Giant Alien Robots(tm) do not have parents in the traditional sense.
(Now, this is not to say that robots may not somewhat 'grow up' in terms of experience and development of their personality, but they do not go through the same helpless period humans go through, during which they are nurtured and cared for until they are capable of caring for themselves.)
New Cybertronians aren't produced to propogate the species or a particular gene set, either - they are created to perform functions (or on accident when the Allspark goes explody, which happens more often than you'd think!). Since Cybertronians can virtually live forever, there's no reason to worry terribly much about making sure there are generations to come.
Since you don't need a male robot and a female robot to get together to have a sparkling - since the gender split is not necessary to produce a child, because there are no children-! - what does gender mean?
Bumblebee as a Case Study
It's a generally accepted fact that Bumblebee is 'young' by Cybertronian standards - he's usually called the 'younger Autobot' on tfwiki.net, he is usually the 'kid-appeal character' that befriends the humans, and in Transformers Animated he's once portrayed as an African-American child (in an episode where the Autobots become humans ... kind of). Yet we have no indication that he has remembered 'parents' or caretakers at any point. (Of course, he's at least 12,000 years old and has been fighting a civil war for at least that long, so what does 'young' mean exactly?)
He's also called a 'he' in every continuity. He has a masculine voice (when he has a voice!) and 'masculine' features. Human characters refer to him by the masculine pronoun (he/him).
NOW THAT BEING SAID. In a number of continuities, mainly the comics, the Transformers have 'holoforms/holomatter' that allows them to interact in enclosed spaces that cars can't go into. (Remember the hologram drivers of the Decepticons in the movie?) Bumblebee's choice of hologram? A hot brunette chick. But what does it matter to him? Does he have a reason to be a 'male' according to humans?
We tend to forget that these are, you know, beings completely alien to us. Gender doesn't have to mean anything to Giant Alien Robots(tm). So some of them have a higher voice than others - there are no apparent gender roles on Cybertron, so why not be a hot brunette? Even when everybody calls you a 'boy'.
For those of you who have read my other GIANT ALIEN ROBOT stuff, this one is a little less philosophical or economic than social. This essay is about ...
Bumblebee is Buxom Brunette Chick (or Why Gender Doesn't Matter to Giant Alien Robots)
I'm not here to tackle Giant Alien Robots from SPAAAACE sex (although there will be a bit about that in this essay): rather, I'm here to talk about 'childhood', function, and life in a society where there is no 'gender' proper. Once again, this essay assumes based on the movie continuity first, with other Transformer continuities mentioned as it suits me.
Why it is totally different to be a Giant Alien Robot
Does 'gender' actually mean anything for giant alien robots?
I know there are 'femme' robots. The upcoming movie will feature Arcee, a femmebot, for instance, and there are other well-known femmebots (Black Arachnia, Chromia, Elita-1). But what does that actually mean, other than OH HAY LOOK THEIR VOICES ARE HIGHER THEY ARE CHICKS? (And also make sure that the Transformers aren't gay. Because when you have romance between Giant Alien Robots, you know it's important that they not be gay.)
We are a diametrically split species, with roughly 51% of the human population being male and 49% being female. This is important because when two members of the opposite sex get together, they can procreate, thus propogating our species across the world. Our short lifespans (relatively speaking in the fictional world where Cybertronians exist) mean we need to have children to pass on our genetic code. Our progeny requires roughly 18-20 years to mature to the point of being able to take care of themselves, and we care for them up until such time that they are capable of self-government.
Compare to Cybertronians.
(1)They are not a diametrically split species. Even if you can consider femmebots to actually be 'female', they seem to make up a much smaller percentage of the population than 'male' robots. (ooooooooooor it could just be that 8-year-old boys who buy the toys to actually play with still think girls have cooties, but hey.)
(2)They do not produce children via sex. The Allspark is their only source of life, so a female is not needed to incubate their progeny (and I don't think they lay eggs. I could be wrong?) Every piece of evidence I can find in any continuity suggests that the Allspark (or Matrix, or whatever) produces life without any external help.
(3)Cybertronians can live damn near forever. There is no physical instinctive drive to propogate their 'genetic code', whatever form it might take, because, uh, they're GIANT ROBOTS, they do not have 'instincts' as we understand them (natural impulses caused by genetic code and biological chemical rushes).
(4)Cybertronians do not 'grow up'. In several continuities that I've looked at (Armada (I think?), TF:A, and the movie), when the Allspark (or its shards) come into contact with some inanimate machine or object, they turn it into a Transformer. The Transformer is fully grown and able to take care of itself: it may be 'inexperienced', but it is not incapable of self-government or self-provision.
My point is, it's not necessarily important to robots to be 'female' or 'male' the way it is for us.
No Sex, No Gender
Let's take a moment to consider the importance of gender to us.
Humans are strongly influenced (if not actually ruled) by hormonal urges. (Not just sex, guys.) Adrenaline, endorphins, estrogen and testosterone - all of these help control our body's reactions to various stimuli. Estrogen and testosterone in particular effect us as diametrically opposed genders, and they control virility, fertility, feelings of love and hate, etc. They also control bodily functions and appearance, even. They effect how we approach the world at large (and don't tell me I'm lying when I say the genders are worlds apart in how they approach life).
There is also some truth to the whole 'gender role' thing. I know that as a society we are trying to buck that kind of thinking (men can be caretakers, too, women can have lifelong careers, etc), but in general women are more about emotions and men are more about physicality, women are more nurturers and men more protectors, blah blah blah.
But can the same be said for Giant Alien Robots(tm)? Giant Alien Robots do not have hormones. They do not have two different sets of hormonal influences that diametrically split their species. Why would a 'female' have to be any different from a 'male' mentally or physically? An excellent example is Chromia, who is usually associated with Ironhide. SHE'S A FREAKING TANK. (Ironhide's idea of the perfect chick is a girl who can BLOW SHIT UP with him. Hahaha!)
Whether or not robots have sex is immaterial to this conversation for the most part: more importantly, robots do not have sex to procreate. A female robot does not have to have different erotic zones or different reactions or anything different from a male robot. What, then, does gender properly mean?
Who Raises the Babies?
By movie canon (by which I mean, a situation where we see the Allspark create new Transformers), Cybertronians do not 'grow up'. While there are many, many fics dedicated to the idea of 'sparklings' and 'younglings', I can't find any canon that supports the idea that Cybertronians have babies of any kind. (Tell me: how would a robot grow up? Do they get repeatedly outmoded? Does being small mean you're not mature? Is Frenzy secretly a crazy toddler robot? I MEAN SERIOUSLY PEOPLE.)
So from what we can tell Giant Alien Robots(tm) are 'born' already mature. Being that they are in fact robots there is no reason why they can't be brought online already aware of everything they need to know and every aspect of whatever function they were built for. There is only one source of life on Cybertron - the Allspark - so Giant Alien Robots(tm) do not have parents in the traditional sense.
(Now, this is not to say that robots may not somewhat 'grow up' in terms of experience and development of their personality, but they do not go through the same helpless period humans go through, during which they are nurtured and cared for until they are capable of caring for themselves.)
New Cybertronians aren't produced to propogate the species or a particular gene set, either - they are created to perform functions (or on accident when the Allspark goes explody, which happens more often than you'd think!). Since Cybertronians can virtually live forever, there's no reason to worry terribly much about making sure there are generations to come.
Since you don't need a male robot and a female robot to get together to have a sparkling - since the gender split is not necessary to produce a child, because there are no children-! - what does gender mean?
Bumblebee as a Case Study
It's a generally accepted fact that Bumblebee is 'young' by Cybertronian standards - he's usually called the 'younger Autobot' on tfwiki.net, he is usually the 'kid-appeal character' that befriends the humans, and in Transformers Animated he's once portrayed as an African-American child (in an episode where the Autobots become humans ... kind of). Yet we have no indication that he has remembered 'parents' or caretakers at any point. (Of course, he's at least 12,000 years old and has been fighting a civil war for at least that long, so what does 'young' mean exactly?)
He's also called a 'he' in every continuity. He has a masculine voice (when he has a voice!) and 'masculine' features. Human characters refer to him by the masculine pronoun (he/him).
NOW THAT BEING SAID. In a number of continuities, mainly the comics, the Transformers have 'holoforms/holomatter' that allows them to interact in enclosed spaces that cars can't go into. (Remember the hologram drivers of the Decepticons in the movie?) Bumblebee's choice of hologram? A hot brunette chick. But what does it matter to him? Does he have a reason to be a 'male' according to humans?
We tend to forget that these are, you know, beings completely alien to us. Gender doesn't have to mean anything to Giant Alien Robots(tm). So some of them have a higher voice than others - there are no apparent gender roles on Cybertron, so why not be a hot brunette? Even when everybody calls you a 'boy'.