If Science Fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?
(1)
An important point made in Jenny Wolmark's article, Aliens and others: science fiction, feminism and postmodernism, regarding science fiction (SF) is that as our technology advances (and we become more dependent on it), SF becomes more like a realistic future than a fantasy.
The role of aliens in SF, as expressed in Wolmark’s book, is to emphasize the boundaries and limits of cultural identities within a society. He writes of Ursula Le Guin who claims that when you deny any similarity to a certain type of person (for instance, woman to men, poor to rich, Muslim to Christian), you express these people to be less than yourself as a human. Aliens generally take up this role in SF. They are always portrayed as a different race and usually the destroyer of humans. However, Wolmark emphasizes that one SF author that goes against these themes is Octavia Butler. In her most recent series, Lilith’s Brood, (formally called Xenogensis) the aliens work to save the human race after Earth is deemed uninhabitable after a holocaust.
Parallels are drawn between aliens and ethnic groups in Wolmark’s book to explain that racial fears and prejudices would be very present if SF were our future.
(2)
Brian Attebery's book, Decoding Gender in Science Fiction, gives an in depth account of the importance of gender roles within SF literature. Attebery explains gender to be “a way of assigning social and psychological meaning to sexual difference” and is so ingrained in an individual’s identity we hardly ever think consciously of it. SF on the other hand, is often expressed to defy standard concepts of culture, such as gender. Throughout history, gender roles have been expressed due to tradition – generally males are the protectors while the females nurse the family. Attebery addresses this in the book as to whether, because SF focuses on the future not the past, gender roles are expressed differently than tradition. The future is an unknown so the possibilities should only be restricted by our imagination.
However, Attebery has brought up many examples that express that gender roles are mirrored in SF and real life. Super humans (eg. Superman, Batman, Spiderman) are all masculine dominators who physically portray white male perfection and are constantly competing with other males for domination over a woman. In Slan, the protagonist, the psychic and super intelligent Jommy, must rescue a female from male villains, with his sexual “tendril” mind powers (Attebery 2002 pp.70). Therefore, you would think writers would delve into the unknown of gender roles although Attebery shows this seldom occurs.
(3)
In Alien Zone: cultural theory and contempory science fiction cinema, Annette Kuhn writes that SF stories as either “mirroring attitudes, trends, and changes in society, or expressing the collective psyche of an era" and that they can also reveal faults in a society and serve as a warning to possible future consequences.
Kuhn states that many SF films of the 1950’s (such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers) were about the Cold War, while many from the 1970s in the USA dealing with overpopulation, pollution and ecology were actually portraying “US isolationism”.
There are many examples of gender division in Kuhn’s book where SF stories are based around a white man’s adventures against events usually impossible to overcome, giving him a messiah-like status. These include:
• The Terminator: An android is sent into the past to kill a female who’s only hope of surviving is a white, masculine man sent from the future.
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The character of Kirk (the white, masculine, brave, middle aged man) as an absent father is praised by the audience because he was absent for the good of the country. This further reflects conservative American views of the typical family where no thought is given to the struggling single-parent mother as it is her role to bring up the family anyway.
Racial division is also expressed quite explicitly by Kuhn through SF for example in Blade Runner. In the film, emotional robots with built in memories have been outlawed by society. However, as the protagonist starts to question the distinctions between robot and human he starts to understand that his society has become so emotionless that the robots seem more human than the actual humans.
This implication of a division in races is reflected in societies of the real world (especially with the German extermination of the Jews), so if Blade Runner is our future, racial issues will still be blatantly prominent.
(4)
Adilifu Nama's book, Black space:imagining race in science fiction film, book expresses the marginalisation of ‘black’ people in SF film. Nama presents that SF regularly expresses current social, environmental, and moral issues, especially the racial fears and prejudices of America. He claims it can give the audience a different point of view to a critical social issue by placing it in within a different world. American SF often follows the wishes of the American public, such as white supremacy, other than using the genre to imagine opposing views of their beliefs and delve into the unknown. For example,
• 2001: A Space Odyssey: where the future is a civilised, technologically advanced world of completely white people which they contrast against the dark animalistic natives from the past (Nama 2008, pp.13).
• When Worlds Collide: When two worlds collide, only White Americans survive and find it their task to build a perfect new world.
Although these films are relatively old, many SF films (such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers) are being remade, which shows their relevance in modern society. Therefore, if science fiction is a view of the future and the absence of dark skinned humans is reality, technically we have taken a step back into the rigid racial discrimination of the past.
(5)
In Bryan Attebery's article, Aboriginality in Science Fiction, he addresses the role of Aboriginal issues and culture in SF. He notes firstly that historically most Australian SF was written by people of European descent and so seen through conquering eyes. Many writings of Australian SF involves the representation of indigenous people of Australia as inferior and animal-like. Attebery expresses evidence of this in:
• The novel, The Fallen Race: the natives are a hybrid of an aboriginal human and Australian animal which were the products of rape by kangaroos of tribal women.
• Strong Attraction: Aboriginals are seen as repulsive aliens when described as scaly snake-like creatures who live a crude, primitive way of life.An important point made in Jenny Wolmark's article, Aliens and others: science fiction, feminism and postmodernism, regarding science fiction (SF) is that as our technology advances (and we become more dependent on it), SF becomes more like a realistic future than a fantasy.
The role of aliens in SF, as expressed in Wolmark’s book, is to emphasize the boundaries and limits of cultural identities within a society. He writes of Ursula Le Guin who claims that when you deny any similarity to a certain type of person (for instance, woman to men, poor to rich, Muslim to Christian), you express these people to be less than yourself as a human. Aliens generally take up this role in SF. They are always portrayed as a different race and usually the destroyer of humans. However, Wolmark emphasizes that one SF author that goes against these themes is Octavia Butler. In her most recent series, Lilith’s Brood, (formally called Xenogensis) the aliens work to save the human race after Earth is deemed uninhabitable after a holocaust.
Parallels are drawn between aliens and ethnic groups in Wolmark’s book to explain that racial fears and prejudices would be very present if SF were our future.
(2)
Brian Attebery's book, Decoding Gender in Science Fiction, gives an in depth account of the importance of gender roles within SF literature. Attebery explains gender to be “a way of assigning social and psychological meaning to sexual difference” and is so ingrained in an individual’s identity we hardly ever think consciously of it. SF on the other hand, is often expressed to defy standard concepts of culture, such as gender. Throughout history, gender roles have been expressed due to tradition – generally males are the protectors while the females nurse the family. Attebery addresses this in the book as to whether, because SF focuses on the future not the past, gender roles are expressed differently than tradition. The future is an unknown so the possibilities should only be restricted by our imagination.
However, Attebery has brought up many examples that express that gender roles are mirrored in SF and real life. Super humans (eg. Superman, Batman, Spiderman) are all masculine dominators who physically portray white male perfection and are constantly competing with other males for domination over a woman. In Slan, the protagonist, the psychic and super intelligent Jommy, must rescue a female from male villains, with his sexual “tendril” mind powers (Attebery 2002 pp.70). Therefore, you would think writers would delve into the unknown of gender roles although Attebery shows this seldom occurs.
(3)
In Alien Zone: cultural theory and contempory science fiction cinema, Annette Kuhn writes that SF stories as either “mirroring attitudes, trends, and changes in society, or expressing the collective psyche of an era" and that they can also reveal faults in a society and serve as a warning to possible future consequences.
Kuhn states that many SF films of the 1950’s (such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers) were about the Cold War, while many from the 1970s in the USA dealing with overpopulation, pollution and ecology were actually portraying “US isolationism”.
There are many examples of gender division in Kuhn’s book where SF stories are based around a white man’s adventures against events usually impossible to overcome, giving him a messiah-like status. These include:
• The Terminator: An android is sent into the past to kill a female who’s only hope of surviving is a white, masculine man sent from the future.
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The character of Kirk (the white, masculine, brave, middle aged man) as an absent father is praised by the audience because he was absent for the good of the country. This further reflects conservative American views of the typical family where no thought is given to the struggling single-parent mother as it is her role to bring up the family anyway.
Racial division is also expressed quite explicitly by Kuhn through SF for example in Blade Runner. In the film, emotional robots with built in memories have been outlawed by society. However, as the protagonist starts to question the distinctions between robot and human he starts to understand that his society has become so emotionless that the robots seem more human than the actual humans.
This implication of a division in races is reflected in societies of the real world (especially with the German extermination of the Jews), so if Blade Runner is our future, racial issues will still be blatantly prominent.
(4)
Adilifu Nama's book, Black space:imagining race in science fiction film, book expresses the marginalisation of ‘black’ people in SF film. Nama presents that SF regularly expresses current social, environmental, and moral issues, especially the racial fears and prejudices of America. He claims it can give the audience a different point of view to a critical social issue by placing it in within a different world. American SF often follows the wishes of the American public, such as white supremacy, other than using the genre to imagine opposing views of their beliefs and delve into the unknown. For example,
• 2001: A Space Odyssey: where the future is a civilised, technologically advanced world of completely white people which they contrast against the dark animalistic natives from the past (Nama 2008, pp.13).
• When Worlds Collide: When two worlds collide, only White Americans survive and find it their task to build a perfect new world.
Although these films are relatively old, many SF films (such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers) are being remade, which shows their relevance in modern society. Therefore, if science fiction is a view of the future and the absence of dark skinned humans is reality, technically we have taken a step back into the rigid racial discrimination of the past.
(5)
In Bryan Attebery's article, Aboriginality in Science Fiction, he addresses the role of Aboriginal issues and culture in SF. He notes firstly that historically most Australian SF was written by people of European descent and so seen through conquering eyes. Many writings of Australian SF involves the representation of indigenous people of Australia as inferior and animal-like. Attebery expresses evidence of this in:
• The novel, The Fallen Race: the natives are a hybrid of an aboriginal human and Australian animal which were the products of rape by kangaroos of tribal women.
As Aboriginal writers emerged, they wrote of myths and legends of Aboriginal culture. Although these stories had been around for centuries, white European writers often changed the stories into their own fantasy which involve a white hero with no mention to Aboriginal spiritual significance. Therefore, as SF stories are what their author makes them, the future is also crafted by each individual. To say it will be as racially discriminate and as sexist as many SF stories have expressed, is to say that every person’s dream will be their future.
By Isabelle Stacey
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