Welcome, Feminist Friday readers! Although I’ve written about the wonderful world of genderswap* before in regards to Ôoku, today I’ll be taking a look at mainstream- and fan-created genderswapped works in English-language media and what they reveal about social norms and fans.
You may have read “Bilbo Baggins is a Girl,” but for me, it’s not just reading Bilbo as a woman. I’m not sure exactly when I went from enjoying fan works about shows I like to full-tilt “I want every single male character I like to be a woman or nonbinary,” but it was probably started with Battlestar Galactica and escalated with reading Ôoku and finding the Sherlock Holmes fandom(s). Inspired by the world Yoshinaga Fumi created, I like to think up backstories about other characters regarding how their gender affects how they move in society and how/if their motivations have changed as a result of this change. (I don’t write fanfic, but I do send a lot of all-caps texts to select friends at inappropriate hours.)
I want an entirely female/nonbinary cast for The Hobbit. I want a woman to play James Bond and Doctor Who. I want Sherlock Holmes to be lost without her blogger Jane. I want Charlotte Xavier to start a school for gifted youngsters. And, in the most thought-out genderswap headcanon I’ve created, I want a version of Les Miserables where the Amis de l’ABC are anti-monarchical feminist agitators carrying on the work of Maximilenne Robespierre, champion of equal rights for all, decades later; and Inspector Javert has to grapple with her internalized misogyny and her role in enforcing a patriarchal legal system. (Don’t get me started on Enjolras and her exasperation with Maria’s mooning over Cosette when there is revolution afoot.)
I’m not the only one: showrunners and fans alike are changing the narrative about gender by reimagining classic and popular characters. I’d like to go over a few types of genderswap, look at a few genderswapped characters, and then end with a toolkit for thinking about genderswap.
Methods of Genderswap
I generally see four major types of genderswap:
- Add more (women) characters to an existing mostly (cis) male cast to create a better gender balance.
- Completely or nearly completely change all of the characters’ genders.
- Change the gender of the protagonist(s) only.
- Make all of the cast women.
For example:
Established media: Battlestar Galactica
Source unknown. Starbuck smoking a cigar: “Pilots call me Starbuck. You may refer to me as ‘God.'”
In the reboot of BSG, genderswap introduces a more accurate gender ratio into the cast while the characters’ personalities and roles remain largely same, at least in the beginning. BSG is also a useful exercise in exploring how the showrunners dealt with their gender expression. For example, Lt. Starbuck’s (as portrayed by Dirk Benedict) personality as a cocky ace pilot fond of smoking cigars and heterogamous flirting remained the same. What changed was that Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was now a woman whose gender expression ended up being fairly fluid when she was out of uniform. What I appreciated about Starbuck was that, despite being shown as exclusively attracted to men (sigh), 1. she didn’t have to fit into a set gender expression for men to be attracted to her, and 2. the men who were attracted to her did not express opinions about how she chose to present herself. (And the anecdotes I could tell you about women fans finding Planet Starbuck through that show…)
Source: Frak Yeah Kara Thrace. I just want to include about 100 pictures of Kara because I love her so much.
Starbuck wasn’t better or worse than any other women or men because she was arrogant and talented and she knew it–and she also wasn’t the only pilot, woman or otherwise, who was talented or arrogant. What was coded as masculine in Lt. Starbuck’s personality became neutralized in Thrace’s because the “masculine” aspects of her personality didn’t put her in a privileged position or make her the butt of a transphobic joke. The fact that the cast, especially the other pilots, included so many women with a variety of gender expressions, sexualities (to some extent), personalities, careers, and motivations, also removed a lot (but not all) of the gender coding from the original show.
Dealing with societal gender structures in genderswap
Hiraga Gennai (right) reimagined as a genderqueer woman and Segawa Kikunojo II (left), as an actress of men’s roles in the theatre.
Since BSG is a speculative fiction work set in the future and in space, the writers could choose how much, if any, of their contemporary gendered social structures to add. Other works with genderswap may chose to use the narrative element to explore those structures. For example, in the alternate-history manga Ôoku, creator Yoshinaga Fumi shows how ideas and laws about gender roles change over time through writing a Japan in which ⅘ of the male population dies from a plague. The challenges the women Shoguns face with politics and dealing with their male concubines (and female lovers) is a biting social commentary on contemporary gender issues in Japan, including the birth dearth, stigma against queer people, and inheritance laws. Like BSG, the manga also shows such a variety of women and men (and a couple nonbinary characters) that personalities and genders become separated entirely from contemporary ideas of gender; the characters within the work tend to conflate gender with character, thus holding up a mirror to our society.
That’s DR. Victoria Frankenstein to you.
In Frankenstein, MD, contemporary graduate student Dr. Victoria Frankenstein is well aware of her minority status as a woman in STEM and actively fights against the limitations she feels her graduate program and male professors are placing on her research. Being a genius who tends to be ruthless and even unethical in pursuing a single-minded goals is coded as unfeminine by some of her peers within the work and by our contemporary society, and her character actively fights against stereotypes she encounters.
Fan Creations
“I know I’ve got a big ego. I really don’t know why it’s a big deal though.” Femlock art by Katya/against-stars. Used with permission. Permalink.
I could go on forever about every little thing I love about canonically swapped characters, but I’d like to turn now to fan creations and headcanons. With Sherlock Holmes, a character who already has many iterations as a man, the possibilities as a woman or a nonbinary person are endless. Katya/against-stars draws versions of her Rule63!Sherlock as being a high femme because, she writes, “if he can strut around london in designer outfits like it’s a catwalk, so can she.” (See original commentary here. She also has the best headcanons about “Charlotte Xavier” and “Erika Lehnsherr” [NSFW].)
In other fan art and fan fiction, Sherlock (typically based on BBC Sherlock) may be depicted as any sort of gender expression: she’s always vain, but sometimes she has long flowing hair, wears lipstick to rival Irene Adler’s, and struts around London in heels and tight blouses–then lays around the flat with her hair in a rat’s nest in old pajamas (or Jane’s sheet when she’s feeling particularly lazy). In others, she’s androgynous with close-cut curls and uses her height and figure to disguise herself as women or men; she switches between suits and dresses as she likes. Variations on FemJohn (Jane/Joan/Johnnie) might show her anywhere on the gender spectrum as long as that element of adorable-frumpy-badass exists: she might have long hair as a habit from the army; she might have bobbed it when she got out or always had it short; she might like sweater dresses or button-ups with cardigans (and even that could be interpreted along a spectrum).
My point is that there’s an infinity of interpretations, and none of them is wrong. People who identify with characters tend to want the characters to reflect them in some aspect,** but we should all respect each other’s genderswap head canons.
Why Genderswap?
The question I find myself returning to, and one I would like to open up to the commenters, is why fans and creators find genderswap so appealing: the world-building exercise? The lack of good media that passes the Bechdel test? A desire to see your favorite characters be a bit more like you?
This is the section I put off longest because it’s complicated to explain. First, I would say that I’m tired of media that are all about men and relegate women to stereotypes and side characters. Second, I like speculative fiction, and I enjoy reading fanfiction as a result; in some cases, I find myself enjoying AU fics (alternate universe). That element of changing something–a setting, a time period, a relationship–and watching the “same” story play out is endlessly fascinating to me. Finally, I love finding original characters who are like me; however, in terms of gender expression/sexuality, I am not well represented. There are lots characters whom I admire and in whom I see aspects of myself who are canonically straight cis men. He and I may share aspects of our personality, but he likely has an element of straight/cis-male privilege to him that I will never experience. I want to see them stripped of the author’s gender socialization and allowed to exist outside gender norms. I want to see them go through the same struggles I have, and I want to see them address and overcome those problems, because if they can do it, maybe there’s hope for me, too.
Tool Kit
I could tell you the rest of my extensive head canons, but I’d rather you tell me yours! Here are some tools to consider when thinking about genderswap.
-Does this change how the character may navigate the world, their relationships with the other characters, or how society views their relationships with others?
-What characteristics of the original character are socially coded as masculine/feminine, and how does the swap make you reconsider the character and their character traits and attitudes? (Also consider historical gender norms if applicable.) What kind of new motivations and back stories could you consider?
-Where does privilege fall on this axis–does the character lose privilege if they change genders, and why? How does the character interpret or deal with things like sexism in the work place, familial expectations, queer identity, being a minority in their field, navigating relationships with peers and partners? Where and how do race, class, and ability fit in?
-What gender expression(s) do you think the character would have? (while keeping in mind you can make a case for multiple ones and that there is not a wrong answer)
-What does the way the character treats their romantic partners say about gender roles? If you change the gender of the character’s love interest(s), how does that change the narrative?***
Resources and Notes
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of existing media with genderswap (feel free to add more in the comments)
- Battlestar Galactica (TV, 2003): Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (originally Lt. Starbuck), Sharon “Boomer” Valerii (Lt. Boomer)
- NBC Hannibal (TV, 2013): Alanna Bloom (Alan Bloom), Freddie Lounds (Freddy Lounds)
- Elementary (TV, 2012): Joan Watson (John Watson), Jamie Moriarty (James Moriarty).
- Herlock (web series, upcoming 2015): Sheridan Hume (Sherlock Holmes) and Jonny Watts (John Watson)
- Vicious & Vulgar (play, 2013): Charlotte Siegersen (Sherlock Holmes) and Jane (John Watson)
- Frankenstein, MD (web series, 2014): Dr. Victoria Frankenstein (Dr. Victor Frankenstein), Eli Lavenza (Elizabeth Lavenza)
- Ôoku by Yoshinaga Fumi (manga): too many to count in this alternate history: nearly the entirety of the Tokugawa Shogunate and everyone involved with it.
(To say nothing of all the fan works that are created out of love for free.)
More on genderswap
“Gender-swappped Welcome to Night Vale” | Pixel Scribbles
“Women Behaving Badly: Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace, the Cocky, Troublemaking Pilot From ‘Battlestar Galactica'” | Indie Wire
*A note about terminology: I’m using the terms genderswap or genderbent here, but I recognize the issues with these and other terms. “Swap” seems to play into the idea that gender is binary, and while a lot of the genderswap fan tends to be from cis men to cis women, I want to float the idea of swapping for a gender that is not the character’s original. That is, not just “What if [cis male character] were a cis woman?” but considering also if the character were nonbinary, trans, or somewhere else along the gender spectrum than the original creation. Other terms that come up are rule 63 (there exists a female version of any male character) or cis-swap. Keep in mind that I am not discussing genderswap to create a heterogamous pairing of a slash pairing (female Spock and male Kirk). In mainstream media, however, characters tend to be swapped to cis women, which leaves out trans and nonbinary characters; these sorts of swaps happen more in fan creations.
**As Irene Adler notes in BBC Sherlock, a disguise is always a self portrait. For the people who cosplay, draw, or write genderswapped versions of characters, the gender expression of the target character may reflect their personal tendencies; the character becomes a reflection of the fan as much as the fan sees part of themself in the character. I tend to gravitate toward characters who I can see being nonbinary in terms of sexuality and gender because that’s how I am.
***Example: Jame Bond as a butch woman partnered with femme “Bond girls” plays into a plethora of historical and present issues with the butch/femme divide in the lesbian community, in which butch women can recreate the sexism and misogyny associated with straight men. What if Bond were genderqueer or pansexual? What if Bond were androgynous or femme? What combinations seem like stereotypes and which could break down the gender divide in this work?
Well, this is awesome. Lots to think about. Just time for reading and snagging the link right now, but back to chat this afternoon.
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I think I’m not so good an example of a genderswap fan, because what I am most interested in is the moment of loss of that gendered power–not that “it has always been this way,” but that change, and watching them having to deal with it. It’s what pulled me to Ooku, to to fics that (however necessarily fantastical) involve that sudden, at-times-violent shift in power. I don’t think I read, or watch, for the long game, in such situations. I want to see them have to deal, and I want to see it hurt. Because what can be, in everyday life, a steady drumbeat of disappointment, to those of us who went on top, can, when forced onto the people smacking the mallets, bowl them over. And I want to watch them try to pick themselves back up and to realize how goddamn hard that is.
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* who aren’t on top
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That’s something I see a lot in genderswap media where the setting is in the past (either because the work is non-contemporary or it’s an AU); of course, that’s one of the main themes in Frankenstein MD. Instead of being shunned for acting like a “mad scientist,” Victoria correctly perceives that part of her advisor’s and the department’s fear of her work is also based on her gender. I like seeing that sometimes as well– yeah, you’re a brilliant detective or scientist, and now you have to fight the patriarchy to do your work on top of that. Ôoku’s Iemitsu and Tsunayoshi are particularly interesting examples of this. Thanks for commenting!
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This whole exchange is fascinating. I must see this Frankenstein MD.
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It’s free, on YouTube, and only 24 episodes (~2 hours). I adore it, although I’m sure that’s no secret.
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Yay!
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That is interesting. I am more a long-game sorta guy myself when it comes to these things. Thanks for offering your perspective.
I’m glad you joined in the discussion this week!
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This fascinates me. It’s something, to be honest, I haven’t put a lot of thought in to, only in a limited scope in specific situations. I’ve never thought about applying it to entertainment. I’m going to ponder the questions and check back in. But before I run out for the day I want to share on Social Media.
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The whole “media representation” strain that runs through this larger conversation is indeed fascinating. And I think important.
I am finding both the post and the comments very helpful here today.
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If I may tell you a representation story:
When I was just sorting out how I wanted to present myself and settling into my identity, I heard about a British show called Skins, which featured a character, Frankie, who was very nonbinary and possibly queer, who was being raised by two adoptive dads, in the 5th season. I was so excited at the prospect, and in this season, Frankie experimented with fashion, shut down bullies (but had a past history of being bullied), and made friends. However, in the next season, she was shown–with no explanation–as being more femme and mostly being into men. I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity to really show a bisexual character (the show has had gay and lesbian characters before) and a gender nonconformist; with a little extra dialogue or scenes, they could have shown Frankie to be like “today I am dating a boy and wearing a skirt and I do what I want so don’t you dare call me out for not doing ‘queer’ right,” but I feel like that got lost and that her fluidity was “grown out of.” We all settle into our comfortable identities after we figure out who we are, but for me, that means being in a state of flux as a baseline.
Anyway, that’s one reason why I seek out characters like Alanna of Trebond–she’s a knight who wears breeches or dresses or whatever she wants and calls out one of her lovers for femme-shaming her. She’s brilliant. But she’s also rare, so I find myself thinking up ways for other characters to be more like the way she and I are…
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I loved Frankenstein MD it was so brilliant and the character was great. I really like when people open up to the possibility of being something else. I admit I am not a huge fan fiction person but I love stories that put a new twist on an old favorite. Of course some of what I also love is when we do not have to have the romantic relationship in a story for it to be good as well.
I love Kara Thrace and think she was such an amazing character. I did not see the original BSG so don’t have the comparison but I think some did not like that they switched the gender.
This reminds me of some discussions I have seen around the all female Ghostbusters. Where there is an assumption that the story was men so it must continue to be men. It just feels like such a ridiculous argument.
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I did not really pay attention to the Ghostbusters flap. It struck me as ridiculous on the face of it, so I tuned it out. But I will tell you. I am really interested in looking at those to films as texts through a feminist lens and comparing them. Also at the reactions and how the changes are dealt with in responses/reviews.
That might make a good Feminist Friday post for some enterprising blogger at some point.
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I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE
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You doing it would not necessarily mean other people could not also do it. It strikes me as something that is amenable to many perspectives, and it might trend on the social media. You never can tell. Agent Carter spun my head right around. And does WordPress not allow us to share photos on the comment threads, or do I just not know how to do it? I had a nice Katniss salute for you to end this comment with.
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Oh, definitely! You could make it a multi-blog collection of reviews. I’m reading about Agent Carter on Lady Geek Girl; Smart Bitches, Trashy Books; AND Comparative Geeks, so I like the idea of hitting multiple blogs and angles.
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I think you mean reading Agent Carter on Sourcerer, but BY the Comparative Geeks 😉 I have been loving reviewing the show, because the show is itself so good!
As to the all-female Ghostbusters, I think two things ended up happening in the backlash/reaction. Some was that there are fans who just flat out don’t want a Ghostbusters sequel or reboot of any kind, which has been led by some of the original cast as well. And then there was the argument about the genderswap, which made Holly and I laugh – as we all know, there is something inherently masculine about busting ghosts…
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Exactly what I meant. Derp.
I am SO sick of remakes, unless the remake contributes something different. I don’t care about another Spider-Man movie unless Peter is black or queer or a woman. But remaking things to make them better and more diverse and thus tell new stories that aren’t just about white cis-het men? YES. And the casting so far sounds amazing.
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I for one am increasingly liking the idea of Miles Morales Spider-Man, and the casting I keep hearing that people want is Donald Glover! Would be perfect, and as an alternate-universe guy, it would work with the whole different studios aspect.
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I CANNOT WAIT for the new Ghostbusters! Especially Kate McKinnon (http://www.autostraddle.com/girls-aint-afraid-of-no-ghost-new-all-women-ghostbusters-lineup-announced-274395/). I haven’t read any of the whining of sad misogynists, but Jezebel hit the nail on the head with their satire: http://jezebel.com/new-all-feminist-ghostbusters-is-a-punch-in-the-dick-to-1682292125
Dirk Benedict was super pissed about “Star Doe” when the new BSG came out and argued that a woman couldn’t be a cigar-smoking sexy rogue: http://www.donotlink.com/doowC (tl;dr: FEMINISM RUINED STARBUCK MEN WERE MEN WAAAAH)
Thanks for commenting and for the FMD love!
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No love for Steve Zaragoza? I guess he played a pretty standard sort of Igor, but he is Mexican…
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Much love for Steve Zaragoza, but Igor is still a man. I could have actually discussed Eli a bit more, since he was swapped. I loved that Eli was the supportive but non-genius love interest for Victoria, and I’m glad that he was her childhood friend instead of automatically her fiancé, as Elizabeth was in the book. I liked that he was average and how much he respected Victoria even if he didn’t get her work. I liked their friendship a lot, and the introduction of romantic feelings felt natural instead of forced and didn’t dominate the plot or reduce Victoria or Eli to romantic tropes. We see so many genius men characters with long-suffering attractive (but not genius) wives and lovers, so seeing this pairing made me very happy.
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So ok. A few things. First, I am re-reading and thinking about all this carefully. And second, I need to see Frankenstein MD apparently. I barely remember the original BSG, and I love Kara Thrace.
In the long, long ago. When I was an undergrad with no training in the social sciences and no political experience except voting-type stuff. A professor in one of my fiction courses gave me this advice. He said, if you have a promising story, but it is lackluster because of characters’ personality or interpersonal relationships, switch some genders. Start with the main character and work from there, or maybe swap them all and see what happens to the story.
I wish I had done that, even once, and saved the drafts. So that I could compare the two and see how aware I was of the power relationships and the privilege at the age of 20.
I have always struggled with fiction in part because I really, really want to write female protagonists of different gender identities in an epic fantasy narrative with loads and loads of characters and that one thing is all the fiction I care to write. But I have never been sure I can pull it off. This post has helped me to see where the lack of confidence lies.
I am not yet persuaded that I have a keen enough understanding of the everyday workings of power and privilege. I am hypersensitive to it at this point, but that is not the same thing as being well-educated about it. So, among other things, this journey into feminism I am on has the potential to help me grow as a writer.
Thank you for this post.
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For writing women of many gender identities, I would definitely recommend having some queer women as editors or sounding boards. Not to say that they owe you it, but I personally would be happy to answer questions from my writer friends about the space I occupy and help them create awesome characters than see well meaning but stereotypical themes. It’s a great writing exercise, though, as is writing works by women who are like the characters you want to make. And being willing to make mistakes in drafts and have help fixing those things is very important. Plus, if it’s SFF, what better time to throw off the shackles of contemporary gender norms? 🙂
Thanks for the great comment!
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You are welcome, and I am glad you appreciate the comment. If I ever get to the point where where what I am doing is self-sustaining and I can put time back into the fiction, I will take you up. That sort of critique you are talking about requires a lot of trust on all sides, but I think we are there.
I am willing to make mistakes in drafts, but not producing many drafts right now. My friends who want to read that fantasy epic are pressuring me, is how long it has been.
But I want the valuable network, and what I am doing appears to be working, so the fiction project is a sideline at this point, until i see how it plays out. I will get back to the fiction if I live long enough, which I hope to do.
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Me too — happy to answer questions and whatnot, if and when you ever get around to it. 🙂
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OK, now that I’ve had a few minutes to think about this and re-read this, I have some thoughts. I think theres two levels to this that interest me:
One: Representing those who are typically non-existent or under-represented in entertainment. I imagine this will evolve quickly, but maybe I’m an optimist. We see more diversity in LGBT on tv than we did five or ten years ago. Hopefully the representations will expand even further.
Two: I too am fascinated with the idea of changing a key part of a story and seeing the residual effects of that change. I love the idea of changing a gender of a character and seeing little difference in the world and society that character inhabits. I think that kind of representation could break through people’s notions and “types” and commonly held ideas about gender. I think that could be the kind of thing that could bring gender neutral ideals to the forefront and show that the world can in fact function without our antiquated ideas of gender.
But again, seeing the gender change and the effects of that being obvious and relevant to the world we live in today can shine a light on the inequity and the assumptions and the misogyny that is ever present.
Thank you for this, you’ve given me a lot to think about that I had only scratched the surface on prior to reading. And I will probably play a game as I’m watching my favorite shows and movies and try to play out the gender swap within those narratives.
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Lovely. I hammer on this a bit. Narrative structure. Is important. Because telling ourselves stories and internalizing other peoples’ stories is how we make sense of the world. Ever notice how everything — even a person’s life seen in hindsight — has a beginning, middle, and end along with some conflict and change? That’s because we communicate in stories. Without narratives, there is no reason as we understand it.
This: “I love the idea of changing a gender of a character and seeing little difference in the world and society that character inhabits.” is a good thing to be saying on this thread. Changing the gender should not change the world, and does not necessarily have to change the way the character sees the world (though it often does). What it changes is the way the world sees the character. And that is an important change.
And yes. Much, much to think about here. There is a lot creative and intellectual profit to be had from this discussion.
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Thanks for the comment! I definitely recommend checking out against-Stars’ commentary on her own rule63Sherlock and X-Men art, as well as the Night Vale post I linked, if you like those works. She has a lot of cool ideas. And Ôoku for all the commentary on contemporary misogyny. I wish you many beautiful headcanons that become canon someday!
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Love this post! I really like how the idea of genderswapping can highlight how we perceive male and female traits. “Victoria Frankenstein is arrogant and rude… Wait, why is that strange?” kind of thing. I feel like it works really well because it gives a “reason” for a character to act a certain way — Lady Sherlock is vain because SHERLOCK is vain — so the gender stuff kind of sneaks in. “Wait… isn’t vanity a ‘female’ thing anyway? I guess not, because Sherlock was already doing it.”
The main other example I can think of is the Master on Doctor Who. On the one hand it’s pretty awesome, because it’s not just a reboot but the exact same character, and because the Mistress acts just like the Master only with more lipstick. On the other hand, all of a sudden she’s kissing the Doctor… Like it’s fine now because she’s a woman, but it wasn’t fine when she was a man.
I do feel like we should mention how threatening the idea is, though. Like all of a sudden we don’t want any straight, male characters. Not only creating more stories that are diverse, but actually going in and tampering with beloved series. I learned to like changes and different iterations from comics, but before that it was really upsetting. I loved the original BSG, and I didn’t watch the new one for YEARS AND YEARS, in large part because I didn’t want to see such a radically changed Starbuck, and I was a feminist who wanted more female characters in stuff! (I’ve since seen a few episodes and as far as I know I adore the new Starbuck, but I haven’t seen much.) That’s not a reason NOT to do genderswapping, especially since there are new versions of things all the time and lots of things will be changed no matter what. I just think it can be done carefully, with the knowledge that it may be offputting to people for many reasons. Like how the creators behind Ms. Marvel clearly knew that a Muslim superheroine might be hard to take, so they made her AWESOME and tied her in with the previous Ms. Marvel in a respectful way. It’s unapologetic, but savvy at the same time.
(Ohmygod I forgot it was Friday yesterday even though I was sitting around on the internet doing nothing I totally could’ve been here I’m so sorry)
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Well, you made it anyway 🙂
I assure you the new Starbuck is awesome, but am unsure how you will feel about that if you really watch, because you obviously paid much more attention to the original series than me.
The kissing of the Doctor was a real problem for me, but I am torn. Because I am not really sure whether that kiss happened because of the genderswap, or whether the genderswap was done because THE MASTER HAS ALWAYS WANTED TO KISS THE DOCTOR and making the Master a woman was a way of making it socially acceptable. The Doctor-Master relationship is a twistedly beautiful thing, but either way I go on it, I see problems.
Good on the giving me of fiction advice if I ever get around to it. I will get around. Just as soon as i am done setting up a self-perpetuating social media operation that can run 24/7 even when I am off the internet writing fiction for weeks at a time whose entire purpose is to get our work seen. 🙂
(probably should not have said that last. I am sure it sounds like my delusions of grandeur talking. And possibly me procrastinating on some fiction).
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We watched a couple episodes of the new BSG in a political science class last year, and I really enjoyed it (and loved Starbuck). I just haven’t had the time to really get into the series. I’m much less attached to canon now. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to say “I’m able to allow other versions of beloved characters while maintaining my devotion to what I consider canon.” lol.
Doctor Who’s LGBT representation is just a trainwreck, honestly. When it exists, it’s extremely superficial (with the possible exception of Vastra and Jenny). My best guess is that Moffat/the writers are making a genuine effort, but have no idea how to do it right and are operating under a lot of problematic assumptions. So, it could just be that they genderswapped the Master AND decided the time had come for an onscreen kiss, which is totes fine. It seems more likely that heteronormative assumptions are involved, even if unintentionally. They could easily redeem it with some subtle exposition.
A little grandeur is good for a writer. 😉
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On both counts: Moffat needs to stop. I mean, Jack Harkness kissed the Doctor, so why the hell couldn’t the (male) Master? I just gave up on the last season. I just can’t bring myself to care about Moffat’s manchild fantasies any more. I want RTD back (or hey, A WOMAN WRITER) and I want him to write Lady Vastra and Jenny’s adventures.
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Well, I can’t stand RTD either, but I second the sentiment. 🙂
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You raised an interesting point in your comment about the need to make the characters extra awesome to smooth over fans. There are two things going on here:
1. In order to be accepted and respected as a minority in a field, you often have to be twice as good as your male competition, and even more so if your competition is a cis-het able-bodied middle-class (or above) white man and you are non-white, queer, a woman, or a person with a disability–or an intersection of any of these.
2. People tend to be more forgiving of badly written or unlikeable/antihero male characters than women characters. Women characters, as well as characters who are POC, PWD, sexual minorities, economically disadvantaged, are often written as stereotypes. Genderswap (or making the character another race, religion, etc.) has the potential to correct that.
To go back to Starbuck, I think the creators of the original BSG wanted a character to be a charming rogue (that anti-hero with a heart of gold, a la Han Solo), but that type is coded as masculine. (Same is true of the “leave ’em and leave ’em” butch types, like Shane on the L Word.) So, despite being IN SPAAAAAAAACE, Starbuck was going to be a man because Starbuck’s personality is coded as masculine, and when you’re deep, deep in the gender matrix, that’s all you can see.
The theoretical dangers in making Starbuck a woman, I think, are largely attributable to showrunners not knowing how to write women, as well as internalized misogyny. I hadn’t seen the original BSG prior to 2003, but, in my case, I was really nervous about Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson, precisely because the actor playing Sherlock was still going to be a man. For this, I was worried that 1. Sherlock and Joan were going to become romantically involved, because Holmes-Watson as an homogamous couple makes straight men cry “no homo” tears. 2. Joan would become Sherlock’s caretaker in the sense that caring for your irascible genius is the job of the faithful but much put-upon wife/mother. Neither of these things happened, thank goodness.
So back to Starbuck. In retrospect, there were many sci-fi tropes about women characters that she could have fallen into but didn’t (or mostly avoided). She was not punished for having All the Sex by having a pregnancy scare or some mystical alien pregnancy. (There’s some stuff in later seasons regarding a stolen ovary, but generally, we avoid the pregnancy plot line.) She was not “tamed” by any partner, and her badness at relationships was a character flaw shared with other characters (Apollo, you absolute pancake) and devoid of gendering. Nothing that happened to her and nothing that she did were attributed to gender, and that’s the benefit of having a more balanced cast: there were so many women that she was not a “bad” woman or “good” woman, just a person with issues trying to live her life.
Regarding Kamala Khan, I’m at a point in my life where I have a big middle finger pointed at any company or person who is like “but we can’t have a black Spiderman or a Muslim Ms. Marvel because you’re taking them away from meeeeeeee, a white guy!” I couldn’t care less about that falsely perceived “demographic” of fans. My nervousness with Kamala, like Joan, was more that her culture would be depicted as a stereotype for her to fight against. It seems more that Kamala is sometimes at odds with her family and culture but that there are good people and good things that help her from her background; it’s a complex and nuanced take on what it’s like to grow up as Muslim in the US. So, yes, she is awesome, and that will bring in readers, but part of it is that she’s well written.
In the end, it all comes down to that writing, I think. If creators are going to trot out the same stereotypes about any given minority, representation means less, if not nothing. Token bi characters who are fickle, “can’t choose,” make out with women for the pleasure of hetero men, are (to use an ableist term) “crazy,” and have to “choose” a monosexual identity don’t do me any good. Genderqueer characters who choose a side of the binary after they find the love of a good cis person don’t help me. The only way for us to move forward is to throw off the shackles of stereotypes by completely rethinking what it is to be (or for a character to be) someone other than a cis-het white man.
tl;dr: Characters have to be written well.
Thanks for the comment!
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Yep, I agree — I think all characters should be written well and thoughtfully. There shouldn’t be a “default” anymore. A cis-het white male character should be written with just as much care and self-awareness, as a distinct choice for a character rather than as the norm.
I think I’m just saying that since we’re talking about drastically changing existing stories, it should be done with a certain respect for the previous story. This keeps the open-minded fans. There are people who would be upset about a female Sherlock no matter what, or Johnlock no matter what, or a Muslim heroine no matter what. It doesn’t really matter for them. But there are also people going “Wait… I loved [that character]…” and it’s true for every reboot, not just one that makes those kinds of changes. So, I didn’t mean to imply that a minority character should be extra-awesome because of fan feelings. I mean that any reboot should be purposeful and (in a certain sense) respectful. Otherwise what’s the point? I love a story or a set of characters for a reason. If that’s gone, or (worse) made fun of, I’m going to recoil pretty darn fast.
For example, the Star Trek reboot felt the need to totally overwrite the old storyline. I feel like that’s a big “fuck you” to those of us who were (and are) attached to the original. On the other hand, the new Ms. Marvel is a fan of the previous Ms. Marvel and her origin story hearkens back to the Captain Marvel even before that. The series doesn’t tiptoe around the old versions or retell them exactly, that would be pointless — it just signals “We’re not telling you the old versions were bad; we just want to tell you a new story!” or “We want to ask some questions about the old story” or “make a statement about the old story” or “see how this story plays out if we change our assumptions” or whatever.
I don’t care about the “all characters that pass in front of my face should be cis white bros” demographic. They’ve made up their minds. I do care about how messages are received in general, though. I care about people actually seeing diverse stories, not just preaching to the choir. I don’t want people to go “WHY ARE YOU CHANGING STARBUCK I’M NOT WATCHING THIS” like I did (although presumably my age was also a factor. 😉 )
But anyway, I’ll readily agree that a well-written character is the most important thing! As far as I’m concerned, a well-created work trumps other concerns. If the Star Trek movie had been good, I would’ve loved it and just gotten over the changed-timelines issue. (More accurately: loved it despite constantly griping about the changed-timelines issue.) If something’s good, the word of mouth will bring people in (like I’ve been brought back to BSG), so how it’s presented doesn’t matter quite so much as long as it can get off the ground. And diverse, nonstereotypical characters definitely trump slavish devotion to the source material. I just don’t think good stuff has to be off-putting to people who might otherwise be fans, and it doesn’t have to shit on the reason it exists in the first place.
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Good point about the Star Trek reboot–I didn’t totally hate them, but there’s so many “in jokes” that don’t make sense if you haven’t seen/know about the original and changes to the storyline that didn’t really contribute anything to the story. (Plus, why so many sexualized semi-nude women for Kirk and no angry Khan shower scene for me? WHY?)
With the point you brought up about needing a reboot to make a point and its new characters to be treated respectfully: I’m really uncomfortable with the idea of a third live-action Spider Man with another white guy as Peter Parker/Spiderman. What’s the point of doing this all again so soon if nothing is going to change? And same with Batman! We’ve had our corny movie Batman(s) and our gritty Batman, so why do we need Affleck Batman? (Nothing in particular against him playing Batman, but it’s so soon, and we don’t have a Wonder Woman movie still!)
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Yep, totally agree — about Star Trek and about the superhero concerns.
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I have come to the discussion way late, so I will just throw in my last thought from reading the post, about your last point (genderswap Bond?!?). What about Bond as an Omnisexual. We’ll call him… Captain Jack Harkness.
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But that’s not genderswap. The representation of bi/pan/omni men in media is practically non-existent, so Jack and Ianto are incredibly important. But Bond is about espionage, Queen and country, and gadgets; Torchwood shares the undercover government aspect but involves aliens, so it’s not really the same.
In the last Bond film, Bond actually acknowledged that he might have a more fluid sexuality than previously thought. (Bi Bond for life!) But I would like to see one of the most iconic characters, one steeped in masculine fantasy, as a queer woman or nonbinary person. Since Bond is played by many actors, there’s no real reason not to hire someone new. I know Idris Elba is a fan favorite, but more has to be done to make the films less misogynistic (including that last one, which I liked, but still had a woman being fridged to advance the plot. Ew.
Like I said, Bond could still be misogynist as a woman, but there are so many possibilities to have the greatest spy have awesome adventures without being so problematic in terms of gender, sexuality, and race.
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Good point, I was off topic, and you did a nice job of bringing it back on topic 🙂
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Also I was thinking more on Doctor Who with the Doctor constantly telling him to stop flirting…
Speaking of Doctor Who, Missy! Opening the way for the idea of a female regeneration of the Doctor.
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Honest, completely unironic question: Does James Bond flirt, though? My impression is that he’s generally like “Bond, James Bond. Shaken, not stirred” and women appear from nowhere. (“Women from nowhere” spell?)
I gave up on DW before Missy’s big reveal, but if we could get new writers and the Doctor also regenerated as a woman, I’d be right on board! (I don’t mind having one of them as a woman and one as a man at any given point, but I feel like it would disrupt the gender power dynamic to have them both regenerate as as women at some point after both having been men before.)
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Bond… puns and innuendos. I guess that’s not quite flirting 😉
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Wait, I just had a thought: the Doctor getting angry whenever Jack introduces himself, because that’s flirting for Jack. So maybe that’s something they have in common, heh.
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Yeah I knew there was a reason I saw a correlation!
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Other series to consider:
Twin Peaks (BOOKHOUSE GIRLS)
Doctor Who
Moulin Rouge
Star Wars
Star Trek (various versions)
Back to the Future (avoiding the gross incest plot line, though it’s useful to consider how differently it would be treated)
Lord of the Rings
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