3. 12 Characteristics of Quality TV
• Quality TV:
• tends to have a large ensemble cast
• has memory (Plots take multiple episodes to be resolved)
• makes new Genres by mixing old ones
• tends to be literary and writer based
• is self conscious
• aspires towards realism
• controversial subject matter
• attracts blue chip demographics
• has a quality pedigree
• is best defined by what it is not. It is not regular TV
• awards and critical acclaim
• contention between creative writer-producers and executives
Thompson (1996)
4. Gender – Basics
• Butler stated that “gender is a free-floating artifice where
‘man’ and ‘masculine’ could signify a female or male body
and ‘woman’ and ‘feminine’ a male or female one” (1990:
9).
• Theorists have observed that the traits associated with
each gender vary from society to society (Alsop et al,
2003: 26-7, Bradley, 2013: 19). This implies the
constructed nature of gender and disrupts the notion that
gender roles are natural in their relation to men and
women (Alsop et al, 2003: 34-5). Many gender theorists
now make the distinction between sex as being
physiological and gender as a social construct (Litosseliti,
2006: 10).
5. Masculinity – Gaius Baltar
• ‘The reason Baltar transgression with Caprica 6 has such
a uniquely negative impact seems to be the that, in
opposition to her strong, sexually aggressive femininity,
his identity as a man is consequently entangled […] in
such a way as to render him the subject of this infulence
rather than the bearer of it.’ (Jones 2010:157)
6. Masculinity – Gaius Baltar (Continued)
• ‘The programs condemnation of Baltar can thus be read
as a rejection of the particular variety of Masculinity that
he embodies in favor of more traditional gender identities,
such as those projected by Apollo and Helo.’ (Jones 2010:
160)
7. Femininity - Reproduction
• ‘Anxieties about technologies are frequently displayed
onto the figure of the women.’ (Wolmark in Jowett 2010:
65)
• ‘Battlestar Galactica has a oscillating contrast/ conflation
of Cylon and human reproduction.’ (Jowett Ibid)
• Now if we are going to survive as a species, then we
need to get the hell out of here and we need to start
having babies! (President Roslin – Miniseries part 2)
8. Starbuck
• ‘The contradictory articulation of a female body which is
masculine, a body that is simultaneously maternal and
destructive is symptomatic.’ (Tasker 1998:72)
9. Boomer- Pilot to Mother
• ‘Once they adopt human reproductive methods, they also
potentially adopt social structures of heteronormativity,
which serve to further erase difference.’ (Jowett 2010: 60)
‘The Cylons who become the most ‘human’ are those
who adopt recognizable gender and sex roles.’ (Ibid)
10. Technology – Feminine?
• ‘Female Cyborgs embody cultural contradictions which
strain the technological imagination’ (Balsamo in Jowett
2010: 68)
• ‘Cyberpunk fiction the feminine hybridizes biology and
technology’ (Nixon 2010: 67)
11. Conclusion
• Battlestar Galactica’s representation of gender is contradictory in
respects. The show both praises and demonizes strong willed
women, seen in President Roslin and Caprica Six respectively.
• A more coherent and reoccurring representation is shown in the
shows treatment of overt female sexuality, the fear of Cylons is deeply
rooted in the fear of female sexuality. Caprica Six ability to manipulate
Baltar with her feminine wiles directly lead to the destruction of the
twelve colonies.
• Female sexuality in an overt manner, should be only be present as a
means of procreation. If still present it must be subservient and
controlled (not maliciously) by males. As any other representation is
met with fear and discontentment, as if alien.
