i saw the bsg miniseries.
short opinion: i have reservations, but i generally liked it and will be watching the rest of the show.
1. first, there is the gender politics. i was not surprised, but i was trouble by how disruptive/destructive women were uniformly presented in this world. i know that in the creator's minds that they're responding to a post-911 world, but i had a hard time seeing that interpretation because the main trouble that this world seemed to be having came in the form of women and particularly sex. from the first scene it's right there in our face, number six, a sexy blonde amazon, comes in and starts making out with the officer in the space station, which by the pictures on his desk is a nice married family man, and thus the end of human civilization begins because an otherwise nice man can't keep it in his pants. :/
does this story sound familiar to anyone? *cough*adamandeve*cough*
now, this makes sense (in crazy patriarchy land) because bsg is basically about the end of the world which leads us to thoughts of our origins which in western culture means the adam and eve myth. as we all know, the villain in adam and eve is the snake/devil which is a metaphor for sex (and the fertility goddess) and the snake's major accomplice is eve. it's women and men's sexual weakness for women that leads to our exit from paradise.
i wouldn't have such a problem with bsg using this hateful and trite cultural cliche, then calling themselves different as if this wasn't a huge trope in literature, if this was limited to number six's storyline, but all the major female characters are presented in this light (i.e. roslin clashes with com. adama repeatedly, sharon is a sleeper agent, starbuck, an otherwise rather masculine-oriented woman, got her lover killed because of her feelings for him) and it leaves me with a bad feeling for the show's future.
2. i like president roslin. i like her core of strength. i like that she was clearly overwhelmed by everything that had happened, but then rose to the occasion and proved herself a very competent leader. however, the fact that this strong woman is also a diseased woman is again ringing alarm bells for me. i can't help, due to my vast over-education, notice that common notions of cancer, a disease in which healthy cells turn malignant and begin attacking its own healthy body, have a certain thematic connection to the situation with the cylons. plus, the fact that roslin has breast cancer, a particularly feminized form of cancer, and the cylons are strongly represented by a feminine presence in number six is not good for me.
2a. not to get too down on bsg, i did like the apollo/roslin vibe. i think i may have found a ship for myself. it makes me sad to think that television would never hook up an older woman with a younger man, but the chemistry between the characters really makes me with this wasn't an unspoken hollywood rule. i think it'd be hot.
on the topic of ships, i'm not keen on starbuck/apollo. i see it going there, but i'm not, at this point, interested. mostly, this is because i don't like starbuck. she may grow on me, but there's something flat about her character. i feel like the creators thought it was interesting enough to give a woman masculine characteristics and that would make her stand out by itself, but i like shows about tough chicks and i've been watching shows all about tough chicks for over ten years so being tough and a girl isn't an OMG! experience for me. i wasn't impressed.
3. as for bsg being the anti-trek, it definitely has elements that separate it from the star trek universe. the camera work, the mise en scene, and the atmosphere of desperation. i did love that they didn't pull punches in portraying the deaths that happen in war and the shock and confusion that people go through at such times, but frankly firefly is a better example of the anti-trek. bsg is still, like trek, about Big, Important People and the Fate of Humanity. it's a less idealized look at humanity, but idealism is the damn foundation of star trek (and what i like about trek) so i can't really get too behind that critique of trek.
4. what do i like about the show? i've decided to be interested in it and keep watching, but it seems like i'm pretty down on it. lol.
i like the general concept and i find the characters likable, the world relatable. it really hooked me on a basic, human level. i like that people are being so much like people on this show.
5. i like gaius. the line, "i'm not on anybody's side." lol. i kind of admire the detachment that you would need to be so solely concerned with your self. i could never manage to be that way. i hope he's never redeemed.
i just sincerely hope that i never end up wanting to kick the tv in over this show.
1. first, there is the gender politics. i was not surprised, but i was trouble by how disruptive/destructive women were uniformly presented in this world. i know that in the creator's minds that they're responding to a post-911 world, but i had a hard time seeing that interpretation because the main trouble that this world seemed to be having came in the form of women and particularly sex. from the first scene it's right there in our face, number six, a sexy blonde amazon, comes in and starts making out with the officer in the space station, which by the pictures on his desk is a nice married family man, and thus the end of human civilization begins because an otherwise nice man can't keep it in his pants. :/
does this story sound familiar to anyone? *cough*adamandeve*cough*
now, this makes sense (in crazy patriarchy land) because bsg is basically about the end of the world which leads us to thoughts of our origins which in western culture means the adam and eve myth. as we all know, the villain in adam and eve is the snake/devil which is a metaphor for sex (and the fertility goddess) and the snake's major accomplice is eve. it's women and men's sexual weakness for women that leads to our exit from paradise.
i wouldn't have such a problem with bsg using this hateful and trite cultural cliche, then calling themselves different as if this wasn't a huge trope in literature, if this was limited to number six's storyline, but all the major female characters are presented in this light (i.e. roslin clashes with com. adama repeatedly, sharon is a sleeper agent, starbuck, an otherwise rather masculine-oriented woman, got her lover killed because of her feelings for him) and it leaves me with a bad feeling for the show's future.
2. i like president roslin. i like her core of strength. i like that she was clearly overwhelmed by everything that had happened, but then rose to the occasion and proved herself a very competent leader. however, the fact that this strong woman is also a diseased woman is again ringing alarm bells for me. i can't help, due to my vast over-education, notice that common notions of cancer, a disease in which healthy cells turn malignant and begin attacking its own healthy body, have a certain thematic connection to the situation with the cylons. plus, the fact that roslin has breast cancer, a particularly feminized form of cancer, and the cylons are strongly represented by a feminine presence in number six is not good for me.
2a. not to get too down on bsg, i did like the apollo/roslin vibe. i think i may have found a ship for myself. it makes me sad to think that television would never hook up an older woman with a younger man, but the chemistry between the characters really makes me with this wasn't an unspoken hollywood rule. i think it'd be hot.
on the topic of ships, i'm not keen on starbuck/apollo. i see it going there, but i'm not, at this point, interested. mostly, this is because i don't like starbuck. she may grow on me, but there's something flat about her character. i feel like the creators thought it was interesting enough to give a woman masculine characteristics and that would make her stand out by itself, but i like shows about tough chicks and i've been watching shows all about tough chicks for over ten years so being tough and a girl isn't an OMG! experience for me. i wasn't impressed.
3. as for bsg being the anti-trek, it definitely has elements that separate it from the star trek universe. the camera work, the mise en scene, and the atmosphere of desperation. i did love that they didn't pull punches in portraying the deaths that happen in war and the shock and confusion that people go through at such times, but frankly firefly is a better example of the anti-trek. bsg is still, like trek, about Big, Important People and the Fate of Humanity. it's a less idealized look at humanity, but idealism is the damn foundation of star trek (and what i like about trek) so i can't really get too behind that critique of trek.
4. what do i like about the show? i've decided to be interested in it and keep watching, but it seems like i'm pretty down on it. lol.
i like the general concept and i find the characters likable, the world relatable. it really hooked me on a basic, human level. i like that people are being so much like people on this show.
5. i like gaius. the line, "i'm not on anybody's side." lol. i kind of admire the detachment that you would need to be so solely concerned with your self. i could never manage to be that way. i hope he's never redeemed.
i just sincerely hope that i never end up wanting to kick the tv in over this show.