women and reimaged science fiction

[spiderstars]

So I've been thinking about sci-fi, and what happens with fans when directors redo old series, and decide that maybe the chicks should have a bigger role than standing off in the corner with a headset.

Comments

[aeirol]

HAHAHAHA oh god Richard Hatch? Zarek wanted Starbuck to stay a dude? I know it makes sense since he was Apollo on TOS, but still, it cracks me up that that character's actor specifically would bitch about this. (in both character's cases I guess)

Yeah, this argument is one I'm guessing we'll (unfortunately) be seeing a lot more of in the next few years. I really wish you could make this into a newspaper article, or an article for a SciFi journal, or somewhere it would get a bunch of the audience that needs to see it actually seeing it; honestly, I'd just sit back and watch the shitstorm descend after this hit, but hopefully it would make an impact and make people think.

Also, every time you write TOS, all I think is "The Abridged Series?" and yes I know the acronym's not the same.

[tommyrotter]

But how could you expect ~ladies~ to do a man's job? I am tired of all this PC BS! Naturally ladies don't really have a place blowing things up--we already have one gender for that!

[koemiko]

This comment made me laugh!

[eibheall]

I can't say much about BSG, but being born of a Trekkie, I'll comment on that. I know a lot of old fans were pretty shocked about Uhura/Spock, and I expected a few to be unhappy about it, but I assumed they'd get angry because he's Spock, not because of her. Nichelle Nichols (the original Uhura) actually considered leaving the show because she was getting so little face time, but MLK told her to stay because of the importance of a show suggesting that in the future, black women will have a place on the bridge - not as servants, not as low-ranking help, but as officers. Don't get me wrong, TOS didn't do great by any standards of women's rights (Yeoman Rand comes to mind, and especially how the male officers handle her near-rape in one episode), but the presence of Uhura was, in a sense, already path-breaking back then. It's quite sad that now, in the very future that Star Trek was trying to show, fans of all people would be upset that MLK was right - a black woman has a right to be on the bridge, on screen, and not just to scream

[spiderstars]

This was a good point, and thanks for your insight! Of course, I do think my point still does stand: having Uhura talk and do things and maybe be badass sometimes is an even better step, but I do think it's fair to acknowledge that in TOS having Uhura as a bridge officer at all was a pretty big deal.

=)

[eibheall]

Oh, I agree entirely with your point. I just find it interesting that people would complain about the new Uhura doing essentially what the old Uhura did - being where you wouldn't expect her. Although, really, at this point, if people don't expect her there (by which I'm also referring to any minority character in an important position who gets meaningful screen time), then I don't even know where to start with them.

[dharma_slut]

Here from metafandom...

and the comment about Leia Made I Larf.

And sort of not laugh too, because Leia was feisty and plucky as a girl, but can you imagine what a whimp those very same actions would imply in a man?