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Meet Samantha T Anders
Jul. 12th, 2010 09:42 amThis is something I'm sure I have talked about before, but for the life of me if I've made a post about it I can't find it. One of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ivanolix 's porn battle entries (or three of them really) reminded me of a conviction that I have about Sam.
I believe that Sam/Kara would have been a better pairing and overall plotline if Samuel T Anders was replaced with Samantha T Anders.
Oh Ray, you might say, you and your femslashy ways. Seriously, hear me out on this one. I will list here my main reasons and potential problems with this scenario.
Reason #1- Oh look, some canon queer!
Let's count the queer characters guys!! Cain. Evil and dead. Gina. Cylon and dead. Gaeta. Mutinous and dead. Hoshi. Who? Also apparently there was some stuff going down between D'Anna and Caprica Six but was only expressed via Gaius Baltar.
The world of BSG is different from our own in the way they handle gender. At least that was the ideal behind the world--a world that has no gender roles, people are clearly gendered but it does not define their role in life or how they are supposed to act. Granted, occasionally the writers would frak this one up, but what can I say? The writers live, unfortunately, in our world. Our world has a system and internalized sexism that a lot of people aren't even aware of. The fact that they went for it at all is brilliant and has my undying appreciation.
This is one of the things that is brilliant about the punch between Kara and Lee in KLG, she punches him and he punches back, but it has no connotation of "Oh my god! He hit a girl! That's wrong!" I had a friend who didn't really watch the show go "It's okay because Starbuck is one of the guys." To which, all my BSG inclined friends roared a simultaneous "No!" She's not one of the guys. That implies a male standard for which women need to reach. She's his equal and he is hers.
Extrapolating from "Yes, there is gender, but it does not define one's place in the world," it is reasonable to assume that the dynamics of relationships change as well. In a world without women's roles and men's roles, one should be able to assume that there is not a prescribed "woman/man" relationship. Given the assumption that relationships are not formed along the lines of gender, a romantic and sexual relationship among two (or more!) consenting adults ought to be considered the norm.
Yet with the exception of two gay relationships in side stories, there was no queer. While the show Caprica is handling this better in my opinion, BSG really dropped the ball. Automatically, a Kara/Samantha plot line fixes the fact that within the main part of the show there are no gay relationships.
(I shall not get into how BSG's perception of gender plays into trans themes because I do not feel as though I am qualified to talk about this in depth. One gripe at a time please.)
( Four More Reasons and A Problem. )
ivanolix 's porn battle entries (or three of them really) reminded me of a conviction that I have about Sam. I believe that Sam/Kara would have been a better pairing and overall plotline if Samuel T Anders was replaced with Samantha T Anders.
Oh Ray, you might say, you and your femslashy ways. Seriously, hear me out on this one. I will list here my main reasons and potential problems with this scenario.
Reason #1- Oh look, some canon queer!
Let's count the queer characters guys!! Cain. Evil and dead. Gina. Cylon and dead. Gaeta. Mutinous and dead. Hoshi. Who? Also apparently there was some stuff going down between D'Anna and Caprica Six but was only expressed via Gaius Baltar.
The world of BSG is different from our own in the way they handle gender. At least that was the ideal behind the world--a world that has no gender roles, people are clearly gendered but it does not define their role in life or how they are supposed to act. Granted, occasionally the writers would frak this one up, but what can I say? The writers live, unfortunately, in our world. Our world has a system and internalized sexism that a lot of people aren't even aware of. The fact that they went for it at all is brilliant and has my undying appreciation.
This is one of the things that is brilliant about the punch between Kara and Lee in KLG, she punches him and he punches back, but it has no connotation of "Oh my god! He hit a girl! That's wrong!" I had a friend who didn't really watch the show go "It's okay because Starbuck is one of the guys." To which, all my BSG inclined friends roared a simultaneous "No!" She's not one of the guys. That implies a male standard for which women need to reach. She's his equal and he is hers.
Extrapolating from "Yes, there is gender, but it does not define one's place in the world," it is reasonable to assume that the dynamics of relationships change as well. In a world without women's roles and men's roles, one should be able to assume that there is not a prescribed "woman/man" relationship. Given the assumption that relationships are not formed along the lines of gender, a romantic and sexual relationship among two (or more!) consenting adults ought to be considered the norm.
Yet with the exception of two gay relationships in side stories, there was no queer. While the show Caprica is handling this better in my opinion, BSG really dropped the ball. Automatically, a Kara/Samantha plot line fixes the fact that within the main part of the show there are no gay relationships.
(I shall not get into how BSG's perception of gender plays into trans themes because I do not feel as though I am qualified to talk about this in depth. One gripe at a time please.)
( Four More Reasons and A Problem. )
