Webliography
Guiding Question 4
If science fiction is a genre that imagine our future, what happens to gender and race?
· Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film
This source discusses ‘how SF cinema, in imagining new worlds and addressing a broad range of social topics, has confronted and retreated from the colour line, one of the most troubling and turbulent social issues present in American society'1. It applies to the guiding question as it is structured to talk about how race in cinematic science fiction can move from absence to tokenism, and also how it is the ‘ultimate signifier of difference, alienness and “otherness"'2. In this way it could be used to illustrate how race in the future, based on what science fiction imagines our future to be, will be much the same as it is now considering it reflects the social issues of today. Issues I can see arising from the book however, is the fact that she only talks of race as ‘black people’ and does not take into account those of other races and how they are portrayed in science fiction cinema. Due to this, race in the future cannot be fully assessed considering not all race is discussed but it is an otherwise useful discussion for the question.
· Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy
This book is a series of articles written by different authors, all discussing the idea of females in the science fiction (and fantasy) genre. The introduction briefly touches on how females are portrayed, stating ‘these later series also relied on the containment features of sexual objectification, white dominance, heteronormativity and obedience to white male authority'3. A later chapter, written by Robin Roberts titled ‘Science, Race and Gender in Star Trek: Voyager’ talks about both race and gender, stating that ‘this series emphasises how racial differences affect females and how the race and gender of the scientist affect the practice of science'4. So in this respect, this chapter is especially helpful in discussing race and gender in regards to science fiction, as the author wants the reader to be aware of the ‘triangulation of gender, race, and science'.5 This chapter is useful for discussion of the guiding question, however the rest of the book deals with vast amounts of fantasy, rather than science fiction. However, Chapter 11 (No Ramps In Space) gives an interesting look into disabilities in science fiction cinema, and this could give a new perspective for the guiding question.
· Decoding Gender in Science Fiction
This book also discusses gender in science fiction in regards to females, with the idea that science fiction creates ‘a superhuman femme fatal, the object of equal parts fear and fascination'6. He implies that women in science fiction are created as objects of desire, and thus this gives them power, however, not as much power as men have in both science fiction literature and cinema. Men will also be the ones who give the final orders, have the big roles and who have control while women play smaller roles, being the one who is the seducer of the in control males. Issues I’ve had with this source are that it can be quite dense in some respects and to get some solid points and quotes, you must sift through a bit of irrelevant material.
· Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality
This book is also an insight into gender and race in science fiction cinema, looking at how ‘the degree of power assigned to a central female character was usually matched by the identifiably horrific nature of the alien menace'7. The advantage of this source is that it discusses race in terms of a non-human race (aliens) rather than a type of human race, specifically in Chapter 6 (Alien Others: Race and the Science Fiction Film). She states that ‘…the alien, monster or robot of science fiction may provide an example of Otherness, against which a representation of “proper” human subjectivity is established…'8 making the distinction between the “normal” human race as opposed to foreign “objects” from different worlds. This source could be used to illustrate how if science fiction films such as War of the Worlds are a look into our future, the concept of race (in completely foreign terms) is one to be feared, and as a consequence, fought. This source can also be used in terms of gender, with two chapters being devoted to the masculine (Chapter 4: The Masculine Subject of Science Fiction in the 1980’s) and femininity (Chapter 5: Gender Blending and the Feminist Subject).
· Moving Science: Science, Gender and Science Fiction
This is an online article, which has an interesting discussion of females in science fiction, as robots. It pays particular attention to the female body and how it is created, drawing on examples from Metropolis and The X Files. Her analysis of Metropolis looks into how when a female robot is turned into flesh, she is made into an object of desire, or a male fantasy. The robot is one to be feared and Lammes points out how ‘the creator of all this trouble is male'9 due to him wanting to create a perfect woman, one who fulfils what his ideal woman would be. Although this film is from the 1920’s, it can still give us an insight into how women are perceived in science fiction films – even as robots/cyborgs, they are still objects of desire and because of it, the female gender is downplayed and still inferior to the male species. This source is helpful to the question when looking at gender in science fiction however much of the article is dedicated to other areas of interest, but all in all could be useful.
1 Nama, Adilifu, Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film, University of Texas Press, 2008, p4
2 Ibid, p7
3 Helford, Elyce Rae, Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Rowman & Littleford, 2000, pp 3-4
4 Ibid, p 203
5Ibid, p204
6 Attebery, Brian, Decoding Gender in Science Fiction, Routledge, 2002, p205
7 Cornea, Christine, Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality, Edinburgh University Press, 2007, p50
8 Ibid, p176
9 Lammes, Sybille, Moving Science: Science, Gender and Science Fiction, The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology, 1997, 7/9/2010, http://www.easst.net/review/march1997/lammes
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