The Worlds of Farscape (22 page)

Nevertheless, while set in the future science fiction is written in the present, and that present is reflected in what is written (Green and Lefanu). Written science fiction thus puts into words what cannot be put into words (Le Guin; Shaw) and I would argue that science fiction television puts into images what cannot be imagined. Shaw writes that science fiction serves to distance the reader from her present, thereby increasing her awareness, especially her critical awareness of that present. Such a philosophy resided at the heart of Gene Roddenberry's use of
Star Trek
to illustrate problems afflicting 20th century American society (Alexander). That strategy is not less important today. Indeed, it may be more important today given the increasing hostility and polarization of contemporary society and not just in the U.S.

But, in some ways, science fiction became more sexist. As women demanded equal rights and, particularly as women gained reproductive freedom, this new found sexuality awakened terror in men. No longer menaced by the big-eyed space alien, her virginity assured by the arrival of Our Hero, women now threatened to sexually overpower the male characters. Not for nothing has society restricted female sexuality throughout the ages, sometimes in hideous ways. Unfortunately, the increasing sexual freedom of the 1960s and beyond has in some cases led to more and more violent, almost pornographic SF (Rabkin). Whereas roles for women in SF became less traditional and stereotypical, they became increasingly sexualized, particularly in film and television. But, if SF rendered its female characters in stereotypes, it did the same for the male characters as well. Male characters were expected to be macho, sexually promiscuous or asexual (depending on the decade), strong and silent, and always confident. Nevertheless, they were still the stars, even many times in stories written by women.

On the other hand, SF was accused of neglecting human relationships and emotional involvement (Ketterer), characteristics believed to be more attractive to female fans than male. Ketterer argued however that the nature of sci fi causes us to lose sight of humans as we contemplate the sheer awe and wonder of events described and depicted within the genre. I understand his point here but wonder if he expects that these events will occur in a vacuum, where people, male or female, are not found. Those of us who have lived in the nuclear age and remember the astounding scientific discoveries of the latter half of the 20th century can marvel at the pace with which science has progressed. We can only guess at what achievements will be made in the years to come and hope that these achievements do not come at the expense of the population of Planet Earth. Relationships I would argue make a fine background, or foreground, for that matter, in SF. Certainly relationships, particularly romantic ones, reflect mainstream, contemporary life in America and most Western European countries. For that reason, homosexual relationships are usually not depicted in SF television programs, although some notable exceptions can be found on
Babylon 5
,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, and
Caprica
.

Cornillon proposed that women in literature fall into one of 4 categories: heroine, invisible, hero, or feminist aesthetic. In her essay on women in science fiction, Susan Wood discussed the images of women in science fiction, which included the heroine, the alien, and the hero. The woman as heroine is a stereotypical woman and many women in science fiction fall within that category, particularly in the SF films of the 1950s and some of the television programs of the 1960s, such as
Lost in Space
. The invisible woman, or the alien, concerns the ways in which women are perceived as the Other—the thing against which Our Hero tests himself (Russ). Whereas Wood believes that all of these images are degrading, Cornillon views the woman as Hero as a new portrayal of woman. Here the woman is portrayed as a whole woman, one who is “discovering [her] wholeness, ... seeking and finding other metaphors for existence than men, or martyrdom, or selflessness, or intrinsic worthlessness” (xi). She further states that such women are

working, being political, creating, ... living in relationships with other women, ... being alive, adventuresome, self-determining, growing, making significant choices, questioning and finding viable answers and solutions—of being, in other words, human beings [xi].

Barr (
Alien
) believes that contemporary speculative fiction (which includes SF) addresses three broad themes: community, heroism, and sexuality/reproduction. These themes often overlap and I have discussed several SF TV programs which examine this triad of issues, including Gene Roddenberry's
Andromeda
and
Babylon 5
(Ginn
Space
). Furthermore Barr considers that whenever women form communities or act as heroes or take charge of their own sexuality and reproduction, they become alien, especially to the patriarchal society in which they (and we) live. Such women are behaving in ways that are alien to the concept of femininity, which limits female development and identity. Reading feminist science fiction thus allows women to unlock “patriarchy's often hidden agendas” (Barr
Lost
4), to deconstruct the patriarchal narrative that defines and confines us in narrow ways (Cranny-Francis). I believe that watching SF cinema and television allows us to do the same. Certainly, the women of
Farscape
allow us to examine women as heroic characters navigating worlds that are sometimes familiar and sometimes alien to us.

Fortunately, heroic women are the new women in science fiction and embrace values reflective of the Civil Rights and Women's Movements with their demands for the inherent rightness of equality. Such women are increasingly visible in the science fiction television and cinema of the latter half of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, women such as Buffy and Willow, Xena, Starbuck, Delenn and Ivanova, Kira and Jadzia Dax (Early and Kennedy; Ginn
Space
; Stuller). That is not to say that there are no examples of sexism in the current crop of science fiction. Certainly there are as has been lamented by many a male and female fan. Sex sells and women in the SF of today may be brainy or tough, but they also have to be beautiful in order to attract the young, male viewers that advertisers believe wield vast amounts of money in America. Certainly literate print SF is centuries ahead of its cinematic counterpart (no pun intended). Thus, while cutting age SF of the 1960s and 1970s, like
Twilight Zone
and
Star Trek The Original Series
could present wonderfully written allegories on racism, sexism, the Cold War, Vietnam, social classism, etc., today's SF depends largely on special effects: the bigger the BOOM, the better the movie even if the plot is ridiculous, the actors cannot act, and the director looked like s/he was on vacation during filming.

Revising words that were originally written during the winter of 2004 I wonder if anything has changed. There were very few literate SF shows on the air then, as is true now; the majority of network fare in 2012 still revolves around so-called “reality” shows. It is easy to understand Biersdorfer's lament about how SF television has not lived up to its promise. And yet, as Pamela Sargent (“Introduction”)
³
notes, “science fiction at its best could be seen as superior to the culture around it in its attitudes toward human rights, despite the crudities which can be found in sf” (lxi). Furthermore she says, “Science fiction opens the mind. Even the worst sf, with its old-fashioned adventure and stereotypical characters can sometimes serve this purpose.... It also provides the reader with some understanding of the immensity of our universe” (lix).

Whetmore challenged us to address not only the television programs themselves, but the relationships that develop between the audience and the characters. We too often dismiss the content of the program and neglect the incredible power that television has over the viewer. After all, said Whetmore, “commercials depicting women as mindless housewives in search of a male to tell them what detergent to use may have done more to stir the collective [unconscious] of women than anything else” (160). Young people today gain much of their information from television and as much as we do not like that we must recognize that this is so. The television audience does not live in a political vacuum. Rather the audience has predetermined social and political values and, for today's young people, those values are most certainly being shaped by television. That is why it is important for us to note the content of the television programs that people in our society are watching. Science fiction programming can thus be very educational, when it is done well. Quoting Sargent (“Introduction”):

Science fiction can provide women with possible scenarios for their own future development.... Only SF and fantasy can show us women in entirely new or strange surroundings. It can explore what we might become if and when the present restrictions on our lives vanish, or show us new problems and restrictions that might arise [ix].

Attending the 2012 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, I waited in line for around three hours in order to attend a panel featuring three of the
Farscape
actors.
⁴
The room was filled to capacity with Scapers who cheered loudly when the actors appeared. Such a reception serves as evidence of the show's continued popularity with its fans who, like myself, appreciated the opportunity to engage with those who could provide us with insight into such fabulous female characters. The remainder of this chapter describes and discusses the diverse set of females illustrated on
Farscape
beginning with the characters which provided contrast with the primary ones.

Jool joined the crew during Season Three (“Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part 1: Could'a, Would'a, Should'a” 3.3) to serve the ingénue role originally portrayed by Chiana. Fan response to this character was decidedly mixed,
⁵
including in my own household: my partner hated her because of her annoying and ear-splitting screams. We learned Jool's back story fairly quickly: she had been kidnapped, along with two of her cousins, and placed in a stasis chamber where their organs awaited transplant, should anyone be willing to pay the asking price. Her cousins died, and Jool blamed Crichton for their death, even going so far as to attempt his murder. She eventually realizes that Crichton had nothing to do with the murders, and she joins Moya's crew, as did all of the creatures on board the ship, hoping to return to her home one day.

Jool is very young and inexperienced, and of all of the female crew members, she is the most traditionally feminine (Bassom “Scream”). Jool's make-up was feminine as were her sexy costumes (Ginn “Exploring”). Her hair, and she had a lot of it, was blonde, unless she was angry or frightened and then it turned bright red. Her name was a play on the word “joule,” a unit of energy, hence the change in hair color when she was angry or frightened. She has never been in the type of dangerous situations encountered by Moya's crew; she has no idea of what to do or how to act. For this reason, her experiences aboard Moya challenge her to grow in ways that she never believed possible. Jool is extremely well educated and when Zhaan died, Jool became the crew's medic. After about one cycle, the crew learns that Jool is wanted for stealing artifacts from archeological digs (“What Was Lost Part 1: Sacrifice,” 4.2); she claims she only wanted to study them further and had not planned to sell them for profit. In the beginning the crew treats her unkindly, primarily because of her youth and inexperience (and that awful scream); she also acts like a spoiled brat. As she spends more time on the ship, acting like a brat, she becomes increasingly isolated and admits she is lonely (“Revenging Angel” 3.16). The writers established a certain amount of sexual chemistry between Jool and D'Argo, especially given that D'Argo and Chiana were no longer lovers by this time.

Despite the closeness in their ages, Jool thinks that Chiana is a “little whore who's easily manipulated and says really cheap, lousy, unintelligible things.”
⁶
However, as time passes, Chiana saves Jool's life, cementing their friendship. Since the others are so much older than Chi and Jool, the “girls” are often left to themselves (where they usually but unwittingly get into trouble). Jool's character grows over the course of her year on Moya as she comes to realize how much she owes the crew for her very survival. Given the way that the disparate members of Moya's crew bond and form a family during their first cycles together, a family where each member is recognized for their strengths
and
weaknesses, Jool is allowed to grow into a new person, one capable to taking care of herself. Jool leaves Moya to resume her archaeological work (“What Was Lost, Part II: Resurrection” 4.3) during Season Four, with everyone's blessings, although her encounters with the crew continue in several graphic novels (e.g.,
D'Argo's Lament
).

The Old Woman, whom we eventually learn is named Noranti, is a refugee, rescued by Moya after the destruction of Scorpius' command carrier at the end of Season Three (“Dog with Two Bones” 3.22). Much as was Zhaan, Noranti is a very spiritual being. She thinks in cosmic terms: given the choice between killing millions and killing any member of the crew, including Crichton, she will not hesitate to kill those she loves (“What Was Lost Parts I & II” 4.2 & 4.3). Because she possesses a third eye, she can see things of which other people are unaware. It is she who tells Crichton of Aeryn's pregnancy, albeit too late for Crichton to stop Aeryn from leaving Moya at the end of Season Three. Noranti is a healer and becomes the ship's “medic” after Jool leaves. Since she is very old, she knows a great deal about medicine, herbs, and drugs. She is unsure of exactly how old she is, since she is uncertain about how to translate her age into Earth years in a way that Crichton can understand. She says she is 293, but really feels about 18 (Simpson). She also sees herself quite differently than the rest of the crew. We see evidence of this when Noranti concocts one of her own special powders to save the crew from Tarkan freedom fighters (“Lava's a Many Splendored Thing” 4.4). The Tarkans not only believe that she is a beautiful dancer, but so does she. D'Argo and Crichton watch in horror, eventually running away from the sight of Noranti doing a strip tease. When Aeryn returns to Moya early in Season Four, Noranti gives Crichton Laka beetle juice that dulls the pain he feels because Aeryn will not admit her feelings for him or tell him the truth (he thinks) about her baby (“Promises” 4.5). While the crew generally is leery of Noranti's concoctions, she does provide Crichton with the means, via this drug, to counter Grayza's mental and physical rape.