Comments | agilebrit: On Girl Cooties in SF

agilebrit

On Girl Cooties in SF

Oct 14, 2009 13:28

You know, I'm terribly sorry for men who are threatened by the fact that the SF Clubhouse is getting bigger. I understand clinging to your guns and your religion (guilty! myownself), but to dismiss other voices out of hand simply because they're Other strikes me as being ( Read more... )

random capitalization is fun, rants

Comments 23

expectare October 14 2009, 21:09:09 UTC

Female characters means that THE WOMENS ARE TAKING OVER

agilebrit October 14 2009, 21:16:08 UTC

Female Characters That Actually Do Stuff, I guess. Instead of standing there and screaming uselessly and getting rescued, or waiting for Her Man to come back from the trenches so she can Have His Babiez and Cook Him Dinner, or whatever narrow role they're "supposed" to play.

Yeah, whatever.

mela_lyn October 14 2009, 22:37:47 UTC

Heehee... that reminds me of Jurassic Park.

"God creates dinosaur. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Women inherit the earth." Or something to that effect... :)

bojojoti October 14 2009, 22:09:40 UTC

Every time I see SyFy, my minds says "si-phee" as in syphilis instead of Sci-Fi which made sense to my brain.

As a girl, I loved sci-fi because it featured strong, capable women. It also dealt with important issues: what is right and good, can diverse people live and work together in harmony, who are we, and how do we fit in creation.

I will agree that sometimes shows seem to want to pull in a certain demographic, and by doing so can alienate a large portion of the viewers they did have. Case in point: the Stargate series. Although much beloved by their faithful viewing audience, The Powers That Be wanted to appeal to a younger, darker, edgier crowd. In doing so, they've jettisoned the premise of decent people of character working together for the common good in exchange for gratuitous sex, cruelty, and ugliness. I don't think this venture was for the purpose of infecting Stargate with Girl Cooties; it's simply crawling with maggots at this point.

agilebrit October 14 2009, 23:14:15 UTC

Really, the only decent show SyFy *barfs* had was BSG. I don't know if Caprica is any good and will wait to invest in it until my flist reacts to it first. Other than that... I'm not seeing what they have that will actually interest me. Their movies are horrible, and I don't even know what other series they're running right now. If any.

I've never seen any of the SG shows, so the SGU thing has passed me by. But, you know, I've got eight shows I watch right now. Half of them are SF. I don't need another one.

As a girl, I loved sci-fi because it featured strong, capable women. It also dealt with important issues: what is right and good, can diverse people live and work together in harmony, who are we, and how do we fit in creation.

THIS THIS SO MUCH THIS YES.

lady_moriel October 15 2009, 04:33:31 UTC

Warehouse 13 is an original SyFy show that finished just a few weeks ago, and that was quite good. Not sure what else they've got at the moment, though. Stuff like Doctor Who doesn't count, I guess.

bojojoti October 15 2009, 16:51:44 UTC

I do like Warehouse 13, but I keep forgetting to watch it. I like the older character at the warehouse, but I'm not as enthralled with the leading characters, but they could grow on me.

(The comment has been removed)

agilebrit October 14 2009, 23:04:20 UTC

I know! I've been reading and enjoying SF for the last 33 years or so (I think I was 13 when I saw "The Star Beast" on a grocery store bookshelf and went WOW COOL at the cover and grabbed it with both hands), and I want to yell at these dumb boys to get off my lawn.

mela_lyn October 14 2009, 22:35:42 UTC

I like relationships in books... but not just romantic. Yes, I definitely sometimes like romance but it doesn't have to be the focus. And if I really want that, then I pull out one of my many romantic comedies. But as to scifi (this whole 'scyfy' thing is so stupid), I want to see them blow shit up, fight battles, and yeah, hey, if it calls for it and fits... get the girl. :) But it's not necessary.

And hubby and I have been watching Battlestar Gallactica. It's AWESOME... even he's totally addicted to it. And Starbuck is feminine. You don't have to be soft to be a girl. Same with the President. She's soft on the outside but hard inside.

Oh, and a friend of mine said that BSG isn't a remake of the original, it takes place 100 years AFTER it so different characters, stories, etc.

agilebrit October 14 2009, 23:10:15 UTC

The thing that makes us human is how we "relate" to other humans around us, how we deal with the crises our loved ones have, and hard choices we have to make. This can be "boy meets girl" or it can be Simon and River, or Wash and Zoe, or Buffy and Joyce, or Willow and Giles. Our lives are made up of relationship stuff, that's what makes them interesting. If your cardboard cut-outs are blowing shit up, I might like it in a mindless, popcorn-munching sort of way, but if your three-dimensional PEOPLE are blowing shit up, I'll love you forever and buy your DVDs.

lady_moriel October 15 2009, 04:38:33 UTC

It's a remake--a lot of the character names are the same, but they're different people. Starbuck and Apollo were actually character names in the original but now they're two pilots' call signs, and Count Baltar (no, really) is Dr. Gaius Baltar, etc. Plus it's not stupid.

jordan179 October 15 2009, 01:23:24 UTC

You may have a point as regards video SF (though I can think of some major exceptions from as early as the 1980's). Written science fiction, however, has featured strong female characters since mid-century.

agilebrit October 15 2009, 01:29:09 UTC

Well, sure it has, and this is a fine and shiny thing. I just don't get why it's a bad thing for video SF to follow suit. The Girl Cooties have been there since the beginning, after all...