The Marxist Department of the Lyst established:
What we have here, then, is a pernicious piece of colonialist nostalgia, wistfully dreaming of the good old days when the sun never set on the Empire. It is glib propaganda for armchair adventurers who need to be reassured that civilisation amounts to supremacy and that technological sophistication is the only kind worth a damn. Ultimately, it endorses a self-granted mandate to invade the lives of so-called inferior peoples, prove one's superiority and promptly walk out again without care or consideration for the consequences.
Bravo! Bravo! Excellent!
Let us be fair to B7, however, and note that in general its underlying world-view is far from being imperialistic. The Federation are the imperialists, and they are the bad guys. As for the rebels, from the very beginning it is the case of 'proles of all planets unite'. Bran Foster's gang of rebels who live on Earth (cultural centre) neither resent nor despise the inhabitants of the Outer Planets (cultural periphery), but discuss the ways to help them gain independence.
Also, take 'Horizon', with its obvious allusions to India, and see how Blake encourages Ro to break away from the colonizing influence upon his mind, ask himself what his father (i.e., the past, ancestry, tradition) would do, and act accordingly.
N.
Natasa Tucev tucev@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu wrote:
The Marxist Department of the Lyst established:
What we have here, then, is a pernicious piece of colonialist nostalgia, wistfully dreaming of the good old days when the sun never set on the Empire. It is glib propaganda for armchair adventurers who need to be reassured that civilisation amounts to supremacy and that technological sophistication is the only kind worth a damn. Ultimately, it endorses a self-granted mandate to invade the lives of so-called inferior peoples, prove one's superiority and promptly walk out again without care or consideration for the consequences.
Bravo! Bravo! Excellent!
Let us be fair to B7, however, and note that in general its underlying world-view is far from being imperialistic. The Federation are the imperialists, and they are the bad guys. As for the rebels, from the very beginning it is the case of 'proles of all planets unite'. Bran Foster's gang of rebels who live on Earth (cultural centre) neither resent nor despise the inhabitants of the Outer Planets (cultural periphery), but discuss the ways to help them gain independence.
Also, take 'Horizon', with its obvious allusions to India, and see how Blake encourages Ro to break away from the colonizing influence upon his mind, ask himself what his father (i.e., the past, ancestry, tradition) would do, and act accordingly.
N.
Or take Hal Mellanby and Lauren: he knew what was likely to happen to her and how her people would regard her.
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From: Natasa Tucev tucev@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu
The Marxist Department of the Lyst established:
<snip>
Let us be fair to B7, however, and note that in general its underlying world-view is far from being imperialistic.
*That's* the word I was looking for. Damn damn damn....
The Federation are the imperialists, and they are the bad guys. As for the rebels, from the very beginning it is the case of 'proles of all planets unite'. Bran Foster's gang of rebels who live on Earth (cultural centre) neither resent nor despise the inhabitants of the Outer Planets (cultural periphery), but discuss the ways to help them gain independence.
I think that's rather simplistic. The Federation are the bad guys, yes, and they are imperialistic, yes, but as symbolic of the British Empire, no, probably not. I think another, rather shorter-lived empire (despite its thousand year ambition) should be seen as a template for the Federation.
Proles of all planets etc: In theory, maybe, but where are the proles in Blake's crew? Vila, perhaps, but he is depicted as the weakest member of the crew, as well as the butt of ridicule. Gan possibly, but there's not much to say about him. Cally is a rank outsider who might be a prole by default. But the three central members of the crew - Avon, Jenna and Blake himself - are definitely not proles. Blake's revolution isn't really the masses against the ruling elite, it's a struggle between nice and nasty factions of that elite.
Or, had Britain fallen in 1940, the revolt against the tyrant invaders by the prior 'rightful' rulers.
However, we have to take into consideration the different slants placed upon the situation by different writers and the particularities of individual episodes. There is no Federation, and the crew are dumped on a planet with a primitive society. There are several such episodes - Deliverance, The Keeper, Aftermath (and Power, to a certain extent), and it would be interesting to draw up comparisons (and dissimilarities) but I've got to go to work.
Also, take 'Horizon', with its obvious allusions to India, and see how
Blake
encourages Ro to break away from the colonizing influence upon his mind,
ask
himself what his father (i.e., the past, ancestry, tradition) would do,
and
act accordingly.
India? I thought the local culture there was modelled on South America (Aztecs or Maya or somesuch, I don't really know the differences between them all). If you mean India as a British colony, then yes, I can see the parallel (though virtually any colony would do, including the South American ones the British nabbed before India really got going).
This is not a Terry Nation script, however. I don't think we can examine the ideological particularities of an episode without bearing in mind who wrote it.
Also, the tone of Horizon might be anti-colonial, but the Federation (the Big Enemy) are there as well as the natives (who without the Federation's presence might have become just another little enemy). Remember how Darth Vader was the bad guy before the Emperor proved he was even worse.
Neil
Plodding through various texts in the library today, I took time out to read an article about masculinity in film (which happens to be written by a friend). Anyway, bits of it were interesting in the light of recent discussion about sexism, patriarchy, yadda yadda, so I thought I'd quote from it (the article is about 'Spartacus', BTW):
'From Robin Hood to Rambo, captive or outlawed men revolt because the powerful subject positions within their societies have been usurped by male oppressors who don't qualify for them... Usurpers often display characteristics not marked as signifiers of masculinity in codes of film at the time... [they may be] effete, overweight, short, foreign-accented, or disabled.'
The article then goes on to argue that the narrative trajectory often 'traces the male star protagonist's liberation from his subjugated position to effect the restoration of appropriate patriarchal authority and the removal of the male impersonator from power'.
Anyway, I thought this was all very interesting from the POV of B7. Not only do we have Travis coded as a usurper (according to these conventions) on account of being disabled, but the main oppressor is a woman. Is Blake's cause thus a disguised attempt to legitimize and restore patriarchal authority? Discuss.
Una
At 09:08 PM 2/5/01 +0000, Una McCormack wrote:
Anyway, I thought this was all very interesting from the POV of B7. Not only do we have Travis coded as a usurper (according to these conventions) on account of being disabled, but the main oppressor is a woman. Is Blake's cause thus a disguised attempt to legitimize and restore patriarchal authority? Discuss.
Hardly disguised. I can't even *imagine* a more blatant bag of pernicious patriarchal propaganda than Blake, in the bilious "Bounty", bringing studly strongman Sarkoff back to resume his rigid regime on lovely lush Lindor, which had been on the very verge of liberation by the Federation, which as you have pointed out is fiercely female-friendly and desperately desirous of disabled do-gooders.
The only episodes *I* allow as ethically acceptable are "Pressure Point" and "Blake". -- For A Dread Time, Call Penny: http://members.tripod.com/~Penny_Dreadful/
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