The Flux Capacitor 3.07.08: Week 24 - Dames and Damsels

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 03.07.2008

The past, present and future of science fiction - this week we look at the leading ladies of sci-fi. Plus, all the latest from the world of SF.

Welcome to "The Flux Capacitor", the column that examines the past, present and future of the science fiction genre. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and each week I'll be taking a look at films, TV shows and a whole lot more that exemplify a particular theme within SF. We'll see how the sci-fi of yesteryear influenced what we see on our screens today, and take a look ahead to see what may be in store in the months and years to come. Later on I'll also discuss some of the latest SF news and see how it impacts on the genre. For now though, let's get the DeLorean on the road - this week's theme is:

LEADING LADIES

Yep, it's time to continue our mini-series on the character archetypes of science fiction with our third installment. After focusing in the previous two weeks on heroes and villains, all of whom tend be male in this most masculine of genres [he said, wearing his Superman pajamas while looking at a signed picture of Greedo]. This week it's the turn of the female of the species as we turn our attention to the leading ladies of sci-fi. Now, I'm not just talking about the love interest or the damsel-in-distress here - genre fiction is packed to bursting with those, and from Wilma Deering to Mary Jane Watson they each tend to be more two-dimensional than the next. No, I'm more interested in the stronger women of sci-fi, characters who can carry a narrative entirely exclusive of whether or not they happen to be female. Feminist? Hell no, I like my women in the kitchen same as every other man. But it'd certainly be a shame for science fiction as a genre to limit itself by gender, and this week we're aiming to celebrate that fact.

The 1950s, of course, lies in cinema history in part because it was the decade that saw the rise of the "scream queen", mainly in horror movies but also in science fiction to a large degree - the female characters who were there merely to fill in some background color and add a hefty lungful of screamage whenever the movie's resident monster/alien wandered into frame (my personal favorite is Steve from cult 50s B-movie Tarantula, mainly because she's a woman with a man's name and still gets treated as inconsequential). However, one 50s flick in particular bucked the trend - Don Siegel's Invasion of the Bodysnatchers is rightly heralded as an astute attack on McCarthisym - regardless of original author Jack Finney's alleged lack of motive - but also features one of the earliest strong (and, as a caveat, credible) female performances in science fiction in the shape of Dana Wynter's Becky Driscoll. A divorcee, cos she don't need no man holding her back, Becky is rarely portrayed in a subservient manner, contrary to the attitude of the times, and even more surprisingly given that her leading man is playing a doctor. The movie itself was, although I hesitate to use the term, almost revolutionary in terms of depicting contemporary views on gender and relationships, especially for an at-the-time niche genre work. Becky herself, despite her eventual fate, never seems just a run-of-the-mill chick. Compare and contrast with, say, I Married a Monster from Outer Space of the same era and you can see how far ahead of the curve Becky was. Salutations, Ms. Driscoll!

On the other end of the scale, though, the empowerment of women as leading characters can lead to one of its most unintended consequences - that of presenting a generic grunt of a leading woman whose performance and characterization is as forgettable as the many, many actors who've headline straight-to-video science fiction movies since time immemorial. In some ways, it does stand to reason - why shouldn't there be the female equivalent of a Richard Burgi as Captain Dax, or a Steven Pasquale as Dallas Howard? Could we really be so far out of touch that we wouldn't expect a woman to take on a mundane leading role in an equally unexciting picture? Well, enough with the rhetorical questions, I'm starting to sound like a hirsute, geeky Carrie Bradshaw. Of course we shouldn't - women can turn in just as poor characters as men, and Aeon Flux is perfect evidence of the fact that in the modern movie world, the genders are certainly equal when it comes to dross.

The title character is clearly victim of an attempt to lift a silhouette from the movie's source anime, without making any attempt to flesh her out or imbue her with any three-dimensional characteristics whatever. Aeon Flux (the woman) is presented as nothing more than a carbon-stamped copy of a broad, basic, pseudo-cool action hero template. There's little in Charlize Theron's performance (and there can surely be no doubt that the girl can turn out a great character when the motivation is right) to suggest that Flux should be taken with any degree of credulity. It's a monotone representation of a monotone character - think Neo but without the residual charisma Keanu still had left over from Ted Theodore Logan. Apparently contemporary science fiction cinema has sought to erase the gender divide by rendering women as interchangeable as men when it comes to these roles, and it's done so in as bland a fashion as possible by hammering out characters as flat as a pancake. Is this really how science fiction should represent the modern woman?

Well, no, actually. And I'm quite sure none of us would ever have answered anything other than the affirmative to that particular rhetorical Q. Sarah Connor is one of the finest heroines in latter-day science fiction, and despite the (perhaps necessary) transition of some aspects of her character between the original Terminator films and the more recent Sarah Connor Chronicles, still a shining example of how women can be represented as we head forward into a (hopefully) more enlightened age - resilient, forthright, powerful; I won't go any further lest I be confused for some kind of annoying neo-feminist. For all the bullshit of political correctness, the fact is the genre needs characters like these in order to be taken seriously in this day and age. The chances of a Linda Hamilton or a Lena Headey portraying a character like this in a genre piece from even thirty years ago are almost negligible, although that pretty much goes without saying.

For all that some might claim science fiction as the great equalizer when it comes to matters of gender (how many "utopias" have been depicted on the big screen showing unity and harmony between all races, men and women alike?), the fact remains that we as a viewing audience are still relatively unused to seeing women occupy the same roles as men in visual sci-fi media. To make a great science fiction character, all it takes is a bit of chutzpah, a decent scribe to fashion a strong character and the right actor, or actress, to inhabit the role - the process is the same whether you've got balls literally or only figuratively. For every green-skinned alien seductress that flirts with starship captains there needs to be a tough ass-kicking heroine ready to lead the charge.


Oh, and incidentally before I wrap up, no look at women in sci-fi should be complete without this young lady:

Note: apparently Photobucket are prudes.
This was the chick from Total Recall -
you know the one I mean.

Reactions and interactions

Posted by: Cheryl

"Cool column. As far as villains go I've always thought Cigarette Smoking Man from the X Files was creepy and personally I've always prefered a collective menance like the Borg or Cylon rather than one villain. The key to a great villain, I think is that they at least believe they are good and right be it because of madness, self delusion or simply ego mania. Evil or not I always found the villains of books, movies etc. far more interesting than the heros."

Yeah, CSM is definitely up there as modern-day villains go. You're totally right though that the bad guy must think that he's the good guy; probably the best example is Magneto, who I deliberately left out last week precisely because I know many people who claim that he's not really all that villainous in the X-Men movies - he just believes firmly that he is doing the right thing. I'd have always liked to see the character of Legion from Red Dwarf fleshed out a bit in some form, as I think he/they had a lot of potential as a gestalt entity.

Posted by: JLAJRC

"I think an interesting way to revamp the Terminator cyborgs would be to use the chameleon/stealth abilities it had in T2 (the scene where he briefly protrayed Edwards Furlong's mother before revealing that his entire adopted family was dead,and the scene where he impersonated and killed that security guard) but just go into overdrive with it being everybody. It could be a human, animal, an inanimate object, etc. You would never know where he would be. The downside though is that they would have to hire alot of actors to play that one character. But I think they could do it."

Great idea. After all, what better way to infiltrate a human resistance that is facing a world overrun with machines? Although I think I'd have actually preferred to see this implemented in a Terminator movie set in the present day, it could certainly open up some intriguing possibilities for Salvation.


The Infosphere

A new trailer for Iron Man has been released.

It still looks awesome, but the trailer isn't quite as well made as the previous one (although I'm partly saying that simply because it uses less Black Sabbath). Still no glimpse of the Mandarin, though, which is pleasing given how many trailers these days ruin the best bits of a movie.

Speed Racer will be released on IMAX theaters on its release date of May 9th.

This sounds like a perfect candidate for IMAX to be honest, and the Wachowskis do seem fond of that technology. I've never been to see an IMAX film myself though. Are they worth the hassle?

TrekMovie.com, citing blogs, reported rumors that Paramount may be mulling new DVD releases of the 10 Star Trek movies. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

Provided they deliver with some new extras, as seems to be the rumor, then I'm all for this. I'm not normally to anal about getting hold of "special edition" DVDs myself but I know plenty of people enjoy them, and with a fanbase as rabid as Star Trek you know they'd be snapped up. Plus, great publicity for the new movie.

20th Century Fox announced today that Dragonball will be delayed from August 15th, 2008 to April 3rd, 2009. The likely reason for the delay is to avoid competing with Fox's own Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder, which are released the same week.

As long as it gives them some time for fine-tuning. The only thing that really bothers me about all this, though, is that The Clone Wars isn't being released in the traditional Star Wars month of May. A bad omen, maybe?

Watchmen director Zack Snyder has posted the first look at the five main cast members in costume on his production blog. (courtesy of Sci Fi Wire)

Take a look via the link. Frankly, I think these shots look stunning. Watchmen seems to be turning into something of an antithesis to Justice League inasmuch as production seems to be going pretty darn smoothly. Fingers remain firmly crossed, but I'm a bit more optimistic after seeing these pics.


And finally…

As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line or leave a comment. You can also check out my column "The Wonder Years" over at 411 Games. Next week in "The Flux Capacitor" - we wrap up our mini-series with a look at sci-fi sidekicks. Until then - keep watching the skies.