Webliography

Question 4: If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?

Website One

Things That Don’t Go Away: Race and Science Fiction (Part 1) by Sarah Zettel (2009)

Article author Sarah Zettel is a science fiction and fantasy writer from Michigan, US. She is a renowned author in the US and has won numerous awards for her novels. Part One of her article ‘Race and Science Fiction’ dives into the history of science fiction and how ‘writers of American speculative fiction should/shouldn’t, do/don’t, can/can’t present people/beings who are not white, American and male.’ She then proceeds to ask the question why, despite more than 70 years of cultural change, this still occurs today. Zettel attempts to discover this answer by exploring the history of this particular genre, focusing particularly on those figures of great importance that helped shape the genre, including ‘mother’ Mary Shelly, ‘father’ Jules Verne and ‘raiser’ H.G. Wells. Zettel concludes that despite numerous dissenting voices that attempted to steer away from standard portrayals within science fiction, the standard continued to remain ‘the norm’, and an approach that would later be supported and strengthened by Hollywood.
Zettel’s historical overview of the genre’s evolvement in the US is quite fascinating and I believe quite fundamental to the understanding of race and gender portrayal in science fiction. I believe that no matter how much writers today and in the future attempt to ‘twist the norm’, the majority of audiences will feel alienated by this and crave a return to a standard and common portrayal.

Website Two

Both/And: Science Fiction and the Question of Changing Gender by Sherryl Vint (2002)

Dr. Sherryl Vint, Associate Professor at Brock University, Canada, explores the fluidity of gendered bodies in science fiction in her article ‘Science Fiction and the Question of Changing Gender’ and how science fiction bodies can inhabit any gender – male, female, something in between or nothing at all – and switch from one to the other with ease and how this challenges the cultural construction of gender. Vint uses two texts, Samuel R. Delany’s ‘Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia’ and John Varley’s ‘Steel Beach’, to interrogate the representation of gender in each and their effectiveness as a critique of the sex/gender system.
I find this article useful in exploring the concept of gender in science fiction as I am fascinated by the idea of a ‘third gender’, that we will begin to see a breakdown of obvious ‘gendered bodies’ in film and literary works and a move towards a ‘non-gendered’ body i.e. a body that displays not specifically feminine or masculine qualities, but something in between. We have already seen this transformation in science fiction films such as ‘Terminator’, where beneath the outer male appearance the Terminator itself bears no resemblance to man or a woman, but rather is of the ‘other’ gender.

Website Three

Gender Roles in Science Fiction by Jane Harmon (Arachnae) (2010)

Sci-fi/Fantasy LoveToKnow wiki editor Jane Harmon (Arachnae) explores in her article ‘Gender Roles in Science Fiction’ the ‘unparalleled flexibility’ that authors have when writing science fiction novels, drawing in examples such as ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ by Ursula Le Guin, ‘Wraeththu’ by Storm Constantine and ‘The Gods Themselves’ by Isaac Asimov. Each literary piece experiments with the malleability of gender in science fiction, depicting various races with just one gender, that are able to take either role in sexual intercourse, to beings that have three genders, all of which are required for reproduction.
This article explores the possibilities of gender representation in future science fiction works by exposing the reader to the endless possibilities available in science fiction narratives when dealing with gender roles.

Website Four

District 9: Racism in Drama and in Science Fiction by Eric Maywar (Slight Turbulence) (2010)

Science Fiction blogger Eric Maywar (Slight Turbulence) explores in this article the move from issues regarding racism between black people and white people, to racism between white people and aliens. He suggests that discussions about race and racism within science fiction are often discouraged, that audiences when faced with this topic ‘put up walls’ to avoid it. However, despite the idea of ‘the other’ remaining constant within science fiction works, its shifting dynamic enables discussion about the matter more accessible and less difficult.
Maywar advocates the need for the protagonist to always remain a complicated figure; one that is sympathetic to ‘the other’ as well as ‘hated, indefinable and pathetic’, such as Wikus in ‘District 9’. This way, the viewer will continue to be challenged.

Website Five

The Relevance of Gender in the Cyborg Body in Science Fiction by Darren Humphries (2010)

Article explores the changing representation of gender throughout the history of screen science fiction, suggesting a marked difference in the manner in which male and female Cyborgs have been portrayed on screen.
Humphries uses artificial human examples such as the monster from Frankenstein and Der Golem to express this changing representation, comparing the violent, strong, uncontrollable, not very bright and inarticulate behaviour of these characters to the more intelligent, but still strong and violent nature of the Terminator. He suggests that perhaps this change in intelligence reflects the changing perception that men have of themselves; that they feel perhaps smarter than they used to. The author also makes a note that male Cyborgs are almost always portrayed as ‘evil’.
Moving onto the representation of female Cyborgs in film, the author distinguishes between the good and bad nature of women compared to their male counterparts, and that most of all, ‘they are all sexy’. He suggests that this is a reflection of male preoccupations; that only a female Cyborg that is desired will be created, and its primary purpose is to pleasure the man.
The author concludes with the idea that only male Cyborgs appeared to have evolved, whereas female Cyborgs have not (although he adds that they began from a more advanced starting position).
This could perhaps reflect the static nature of gender representation in real life, where over the centuries men have continued to evolve and prosper, and women have struggled in their efforts to achieve change. However, I don’t believe that the lack of progress in female Cyborg representation is an indicator of things to come. I feel that the rate of change is simply exponential, and something that will take off in future films once writers begin to experiment more with female Cyborgs in science fiction and the obsession of Cyborg women as mere sexual objects.

References:

• Zettel, Sarah (2009) ‘Things That Don’t Go Away: Race and Science Fiction (Part 1)’. http://www.bscreview.com/2009/01/race-and-science-fiction-part-i-by-sarah-zettel/ (accessed 5 September 2010)
  
  
• Vint, Sherryl (2002) ‘Both/And: Science Fiction and the Question of Changing Gender’. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020218/both_and.shtml (accessed 6 September 2010)
  
  
• Harmon, Jane (2010) ‘Gender Roles in Science Fiction’. http://slightturbulence.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/district-9-racism-and-the-stories-told-by-drama-and-by-science-fiction/ (accessed 6 September 2010)
  
  
• Maywar, Eric (2010) ‘District 9: Racism in Drama and in Science Fiction’. http://slightturbulence.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/district-9-racism-and-the-stories-told-by-drama-and-by-science-fiction/(accessed 7 September 2010)
  
  
• Humphries, Darren (2010) ‘The Relevance of Gender in the Cyborg Body in Science Fiction’. http://www.helium.com/items/513123-the-relevance-of-gender-in-the-cyborg-body-in-science-fiction (accessed 8 September 2010)