lydamorehouse | So, Yeah, Starbuck’s a Girl, but Does that Make BSG Feminist? (Reply)

Cross-posted from what_the_frak....

I’m very critical of the shows I love, because, after they’ve initially wowed me and won my heart, I tend to hold them to a higher standard. I LOVE BSG. Like, love it, love it, want to marry it and have its children LOVE it. Crazy love. At home, we jokingly refer to BSG as my “Battlestar Galacti-crack.” So, of course, I’m ultra-critical.

Do I think BSG is feminist? I’m not sure. There are a lot of women who play very vital roles in the show, but I’m not entirely satisfied by any of them, with the possible exception of Starbuck.

I don’t much like Starbuck as a character, personally. Part of my dislike, I think, comes from what I see as some inconsistencies in the way she’s written. Her maternal instincts over Casey seemed misplaced to me, especially given her willingness to stab Leoben in the throat repeatedly (which, I found much more in character than going back for Casey.) In fact, all of seasons three’s attempt to “soften” Starbuck annoyed me. While I’ve grown fond of Anders, I still (even with the flashback to the night spent with Apollo) can’t quite wrap my head around the idea of Starbuck going down the aisle with anyone and then playing nagging housewife. Honestly, I can’t really grok how it was she was convinced to give up flying, which seemed to be the one thing she was good at and which kept her sane. Military life might not have totally suited her personality, but I always read her as the Top Gun who put up with all the military regimentation as best she could just so she could have those moments in the stars.

All that being said, I like that she’s tough, more than a little fraked-up, unapologetic, and straight. (Although I do wish we’d see more queerness – and more color, but that’s a post for another day.) She gets naked a lot on the show, but it doesn’t seem gratuitous to me (although I’d willingly entertain arguments to the contrary.) I find her bouts of teary-eyed warbling unappealing, but that’s who she’s been since the beginning.

I realize I’m probably in a minority, but I’m not watching the show for Starbuck.

President Roslyn fascinates me and infuriates me at the same time. I love that “we” (though technically the BSG folks are all aliens, I tend to read them as humans and, thus, representative of a future us) finally have a female president. I also like some of the choices Roslyn has had to make, particularly the ones that seem to go against her nature, i.e. banning abortions, election fraud, etc., because they illustrate one of my favorite things about BSG, which is its full-on take on the complexity of politics. As a feminist, I’m horrified she would ban abortion; as a fan I’m thrilled they pushed Roslyn’s character into that corner and made her come out the dark side _and_ convinced me that for these people, at this time, maybe her choice was the right one… or at least I could see how she would think it was.

What frustrates me about Roslyn is much more basic. I wish she wasn’t an elementary teacher. It’s such a cliché role for a woman, and not a terribly progressive one, at that.

Plus, they had to give her breast cancer, the woman’s disease…. I have a complicated relationship with breast cancer personally. My partner is a carrier of the breast cancer gene and has had prophylactic mastectomies. Her mother died of it, as did many of the women in her family. Because of this we’re hyper-aware of how breast cancer gets treated in the media. We’ve noticed in a lot of mainstream TV and radio that if you want to show how strong and saintly a woman is, you give her breast cancer. In Roslyn’s case it _actually_ makes her a saint, in that her medicine gives her spiritual visions, which seem to be validated in reality. Teacher/preacher, these are acceptable power roles for women in our society, and it would be nicer, in my opinion, to just let her find her confidence in her politics instead of her woo-woo preschool teacherliness.

Then, there’s the whole affair she apparently had with the former sitting president…. And the one she’s courting with the military leader of the Colonial Fleet.

One of the things the panel at WisCON (Annalee Newitz brought it up, I believe,) got mentioned was how often people in the BSG-verse seem to have slept their way to power or who use sex as a weapon. Her examples were Rosyln, Baltar, and Caprica-Six.

Caprica-Six is, for me, a somewhat troubling female character too. She’s oversexed and underdressed. I think she probably deserves a post all her own, however.

These are just my initial ramblings (and I don’t want my first post to the group to be too long), so I look forward to ensuing discussion.