Battlestar GAYlactica: Teh Home of Ghey
First off, I've got a funky new layout from space_graphics. Just tweaked the colors, background, and header. Go have a look; my journal's so purty. Thanks to selvercy for prodding me to play with style sheets.
Cross-posted to bsg_femlash and mfthiefofhearts:
I remember ending Season 2 with Pegasus, feeling malevolent towards the new and shiny villain, Admiral Cain. Then I lolled about my boring life and eventually picked off from Season 3 and forgot about the rest of Season 2 altogether. I followed my characters as they were rescued by Adama off that hell-rock New Caprica. I watched as they got into fisticuffs in the boxing ring and watched in horror when that love quadrangle bloomed and made my eyes bleed. I watched my favorite pilot gallivant with all the wrong people (that being Apollo, oh Kara!), while a certain President didn't get any (poo!), except weed on a gods-forsaken planet. Oh, and no more Racetrack or Kat, which made all the pilot action even worse.
In short, I got sick of Season 3. Except of course for the episode when Roslin lit her cigarillo and screamed Baltar into Cylon heaven, but that's another entry you're gonna have to read later on. (ETA: I thought Baltar's cigarillo's were the last in the Colony? Looks like someone's been growing tobacco in a botanical garden somewhere).
Then finally, from the hand of the fan fic goddess herself, I get my Holiday request from getyourtoaster. Voila! -- deifire has a Cain/Roslin prompt for me to fill. Not that I knew anything about Cain/Roslin except hate!sex and the hotness that is Michelle Forbes. So as a good writer would, I did my research, lunged into the excesses of Battlestar Wiki, sat through a S1 marathon with selvercy and basically got my butt down with too many empty calories while doing so (because I had Doritos and cheese salsa with everything).
With invention and a great deal of beta-reading, I found myself writing an entire history of Cain (and Roslin!) that spanned the Cylon insurrection and finally, the events of Resurrection Ship. The miracle that is Azureus and illegal downloading allowed me to see these crucial episodes and I was --quite frankly --blown away by Cain' character.
First, because she is probably one of the most layered villains I've ever had the pleasure to watch on TV. Second, she's not really a villain because Cain doesn't fit into your usual stereotypes. Third, I can actually relate to this character (because I've learned to appreciate evil!Roslin so much that an evil!Cain was total and absolute pleasure), in that I probably would have done all the same things.
She was the last Admiral in the universe, she thought she had the only battlestar left and thus, was probably humanity's only hope; her home was invaded and frakkit if she didn't try but she'd kick the Cylon asses and get 'em off her rocks (there are 12 Colonies on 12 planets). And lastly, nobody had the balls to really do something about her stiff, military and tyrannical ways (except her former XO, who got himself killed by disobeying a direct order). In short, she was a biblical figure with serious attitude.
Besides those points, I think that that her character resonates on a very personal level. In conjunction with Joe Haldeman's "Forever War" and well, all other wars we have in this day and age, human beings are pushed to the limits of morality and ethics. Pushed to the limits of human-constructs. So, she opted to create a world for herself, where hope didn't quantify with making a home in a dingy planet called Earth (heck, I wouldn't!). It meant grabbing it, possessing it, fighting for it. A part of her appeal is the fact that she really didn't flinch when the ball was handed to her. She was a one-man team with the weight of the game on her shoulders, who probably didn't know she had teammates who were as smart and ruthless as she was. Or if she did, used that fully to her advantage.
In fact, she reminds me of me when all my teammates in university were bewildered about my rigid discipline for the game. I'd do just about anything humanly possible to be super-human on the soccer field, to get the ball in, to win. Because it's a war out there.
For someone who plays soccer and do-or-die is the name of the game, there's respect to be had in people who firmly believe that invaders could be fought off. I'd seriously consider following her to the bitter end (like Kara --oh, Kara!). So, she's a bitch. I love bitch!Cain, precisely because there's a frakking bitch in all of us. Sure, I probably won't shoot my mid-fielder for fuckin' up a pass, but if the fate of the known world was in that pass, perhaps I'd have screamed my head off and crossed you off my friends' list. Then put you back in again just because I could. Except that Cain didn't have that luxury.
I mean, how many people die in soccer games? For their teams? Because of other teams? (And yeah, since when was I logical?)
And this is partly the reason why we like to slash our dear admiral. She's a powerful figure, subversive, too, especially of the status quo and the general belief that everyone should be like Moses. You slash her with Gina, and you've got something violently controllable, like an experiment on mini-tornadoes. A lot of hate!sex here and too much hotness that your brain would explode. There's a special dynamic: master/slave, prisoner/warden, et cetera. And don't let me even get into the queer here, or the Cylon wankery with wanting to really die, now that the Resurrection Ship is dead.
Then there's Kara/Cain, because frakkin' your protege is hot. I remember petronelle writing a story about these two and how Cain comes across as a 'mother' figure, and yet also as an object of desire. I mean, who hasn't fantasized about their teachers/professors one way or the other? The thing also about Kara/Cain, is that these two both know they want their planets back, they want their home back --they've got an entire leg in the past.
You slash Cain with Roslin and you've got a potent brew of clashing ideals, except that the personalities aren't all that different. Roslin knows how to second-guess; she's done it with the Olympic Carrier and maybe that's what makes her such a good leader. That, and a tad of bloody-mindedness that allows her to play Goddess, especially when she wants Cain killed by no less than man-pain-softy-Adama (no, I really like Adama, actually). That's where Cain starts and Roslin slightly ends, at least in my mind. And this is why it's such a virulent and appealing mix. Teh Ghey in Cain/Roslin is intense in terms of power play, in terms of mutual sharing: one taking from the other what she doesn't possess and vise versa.
So all we really have to do is gush...
Well, since this post is rambling as it is, we'll end it on a stranger note and in something that I suppose the lot of you are used to.
Oh, my Pride! Six and Cain are frakkin' gay and it's confirmed. We have the last scene on Resurrection Ship Pt. 2 to prove it. The conversation went something like this...
[Gina pulls a gun at Cain; Cain looks at her with a stolid expression.]
Cain: Frak you.
Gina: You're not my type. [She pulls the trigger]
I mean, hello?! How much more subtext do you need?! So the lesson is, watch more BSG and keep looking at the sub-text because if the Cylons are queer, then the entire show is queer, and I'm a frakkin' Cylon. And thank the gods Cain is, too.
Don't you just love Froggy-Logic?
ETA: thingie wrote a few thoughts on the Gina/Cain pairing, Cain's unique way of looking at the world, and why if Cain slept with anyone, it'd be a Cylon. Also, a whole discussion with me on why Cain did/did not know about Kara's mission to assassinate her.
Cross-posted to bsg_femlash and mfthiefofhearts:
I remember ending Season 2 with Pegasus, feeling malevolent towards the new and shiny villain, Admiral Cain. Then I lolled about my boring life and eventually picked off from Season 3 and forgot about the rest of Season 2 altogether. I followed my characters as they were rescued by Adama off that hell-rock New Caprica. I watched as they got into fisticuffs in the boxing ring and watched in horror when that love quadrangle bloomed and made my eyes bleed. I watched my favorite pilot gallivant with all the wrong people (that being Apollo, oh Kara!), while a certain President didn't get any (poo!), except weed on a gods-forsaken planet. Oh, and no more Racetrack or Kat, which made all the pilot action even worse.
In short, I got sick of Season 3. Except of course for the episode when Roslin lit her cigarillo and screamed Baltar into Cylon heaven, but that's another entry you're gonna have to read later on. (ETA: I thought Baltar's cigarillo's were the last in the Colony? Looks like someone's been growing tobacco in a botanical garden somewhere).
Then finally, from the hand of the fan fic goddess herself, I get my Holiday request from getyourtoaster. Voila! -- deifire has a Cain/Roslin prompt for me to fill. Not that I knew anything about Cain/Roslin except hate!sex and the hotness that is Michelle Forbes. So as a good writer would, I did my research, lunged into the excesses of Battlestar Wiki, sat through a S1 marathon with selvercy and basically got my butt down with too many empty calories while doing so (because I had Doritos and cheese salsa with everything).
With invention and a great deal of beta-reading, I found myself writing an entire history of Cain (and Roslin!) that spanned the Cylon insurrection and finally, the events of Resurrection Ship. The miracle that is Azureus and illegal downloading allowed me to see these crucial episodes and I was --quite frankly --blown away by Cain' character.
First, because she is probably one of the most layered villains I've ever had the pleasure to watch on TV. Second, she's not really a villain because Cain doesn't fit into your usual stereotypes. Third, I can actually relate to this character (because I've learned to appreciate evil!Roslin so much that an evil!Cain was total and absolute pleasure), in that I probably would have done all the same things.
She was the last Admiral in the universe, she thought she had the only battlestar left and thus, was probably humanity's only hope; her home was invaded and frakkit if she didn't try but she'd kick the Cylon asses and get 'em off her rocks (there are 12 Colonies on 12 planets). And lastly, nobody had the balls to really do something about her stiff, military and tyrannical ways (except her former XO, who got himself killed by disobeying a direct order). In short, she was a biblical figure with serious attitude.
Besides those points, I think that that her character resonates on a very personal level. In conjunction with Joe Haldeman's "Forever War" and well, all other wars we have in this day and age, human beings are pushed to the limits of morality and ethics. Pushed to the limits of human-constructs. So, she opted to create a world for herself, where hope didn't quantify with making a home in a dingy planet called Earth (heck, I wouldn't!). It meant grabbing it, possessing it, fighting for it. A part of her appeal is the fact that she really didn't flinch when the ball was handed to her. She was a one-man team with the weight of the game on her shoulders, who probably didn't know she had teammates who were as smart and ruthless as she was. Or if she did, used that fully to her advantage.
In fact, she reminds me of me when all my teammates in university were bewildered about my rigid discipline for the game. I'd do just about anything humanly possible to be super-human on the soccer field, to get the ball in, to win. Because it's a war out there.
For someone who plays soccer and do-or-die is the name of the game, there's respect to be had in people who firmly believe that invaders could be fought off. I'd seriously consider following her to the bitter end (like Kara --oh, Kara!). So, she's a bitch. I love bitch!Cain, precisely because there's a frakking bitch in all of us. Sure, I probably won't shoot my mid-fielder for fuckin' up a pass, but if the fate of the known world was in that pass, perhaps I'd have screamed my head off and crossed you off my friends' list. Then put you back in again just because I could. Except that Cain didn't have that luxury.
I mean, how many people die in soccer games? For their teams? Because of other teams? (And yeah, since when was I logical?)
And this is partly the reason why we like to slash our dear admiral. She's a powerful figure, subversive, too, especially of the status quo and the general belief that everyone should be like Moses. You slash her with Gina, and you've got something violently controllable, like an experiment on mini-tornadoes. A lot of hate!sex here and too much hotness that your brain would explode. There's a special dynamic: master/slave, prisoner/warden, et cetera. And don't let me even get into the queer here, or the Cylon wankery with wanting to really die, now that the Resurrection Ship is dead.
Then there's Kara/Cain, because frakkin' your protege is hot. I remember petronelle writing a story about these two and how Cain comes across as a 'mother' figure, and yet also as an object of desire. I mean, who hasn't fantasized about their teachers/professors one way or the other? The thing also about Kara/Cain, is that these two both know they want their planets back, they want their home back --they've got an entire leg in the past.
You slash Cain with Roslin and you've got a potent brew of clashing ideals, except that the personalities aren't all that different. Roslin knows how to second-guess; she's done it with the Olympic Carrier and maybe that's what makes her such a good leader. That, and a tad of bloody-mindedness that allows her to play Goddess, especially when she wants Cain killed by no less than man-pain-softy-Adama (no, I really like Adama, actually). That's where Cain starts and Roslin slightly ends, at least in my mind. And this is why it's such a virulent and appealing mix. Teh Ghey in Cain/Roslin is intense in terms of power play, in terms of mutual sharing: one taking from the other what she doesn't possess and vise versa.
So all we really have to do is gush...
Well, since this post is rambling as it is, we'll end it on a stranger note and in something that I suppose the lot of you are used to.
Oh, my Pride! Six and Cain are frakkin' gay and it's confirmed. We have the last scene on Resurrection Ship Pt. 2 to prove it. The conversation went something like this...
[Gina pulls a gun at Cain; Cain looks at her with a stolid expression.]
Cain: Frak you.
Gina: You're not my type. [She pulls the trigger]
I mean, hello?! How much more subtext do you need?! So the lesson is, watch more BSG and keep looking at the sub-text because if the Cylons are queer, then the entire show is queer, and I'm a frakkin' Cylon. And thank the gods Cain is, too.
Don't you just love Froggy-Logic?
ETA: thingie wrote a few thoughts on the Gina/Cain pairing, Cain's unique way of looking at the world, and why if Cain slept with anyone, it'd be a Cylon. Also, a whole discussion with me on why Cain did/did not know about Kara's mission to assassinate her.