ARTS & HUMANITIES

Gender Performance, Transgression and the Cyborg in Battlestar Galactica

Kati McGinnis Department of Women’s Studies

Feminist scholarship has had a contentious relationship with sci- ence fiction. As a genre sometimes marked by the hyper-sexual- ized scantily clad female other, or sometimes the site of female erasure and censure, science fiction seemingly has little positive portrayals of women. Operating within a larger context of popu- lar culture, the genre of SF undoubtedly plays out oppression; it, however, can provide spaces for resistance. In this paper, I will argue that science fiction as a genre has seemingly limitless pos- sibilities for social commentary and gender re-identification. By using Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” as well as feminist visual scholarship as a lens, I set out to demonstrate how Batte- star Galactica is able to navigate between gender transgression and technology’s impact on gender, highlighting the possibility for a new female spectator.

Gender, Science Fiction and the Spectator

Battlestar Galactica as a work of science fiction (SF), a site of what I term as super-fiction, has the potential to liberate its subject material. Whereas all other fiction places its narrative in realistic contexts making its characters subject to the rules of the hegemonic patriarchy, science fiction teeters on the edge of the unknown and hyper-reality, potentially liberating its characters from the weight of patriarchal representation. The genre of science fiction even has the possibility of occupying a space beyond fiction, with unrealistic settings like outer space and fantastic characters like cyborgs who are constructed and must therefore perform traditional notions of gender and/or transgress them. It is in this space beyond fic- tion that the female character can “imaginatively [and metaphorically] step outside the father’s house and look around” (Roberts 3), engaging the female spectator into similar resistance. The gender performance of the female characters and cyborgs presented in Battlestar Galactica resists traditional gendered scripts. Judith Butler theorizes that all of gender is performed and “is instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” (392). Traditional SF female characters in television would not deviate from this framework, often playing constructed roles of femininity and providing a site for a About the Author male gaze and fetishistic pleasure (Mulvey 46-49). Female characters in Battlestar Kati McGinnis is a senior in the Galactica, however, are able to constitute an oppositional performance of gender Women’s Studies Department roles because they can deny their origin, making the once repetitive into generative at the Ohio State University. As a women’s studies major, and imaginative instead. This element of agency, allows these characters and their Kati intently studies narrative, viewers the ability to challenge and critique socially constructed gender. culture and representations of Battlestar Galactica may also fulfill a desire for an oppositional gaze, imagin- gender, race and class within popular culture. Upon gradua- ing an empowered female spectator. In her essay on female spectatorship, Mary tion in the Spring of 2010, Kati Ann Doane speculates that “the supportive binary opposition at work is not only… hope to continue her scholar- an opposition between passivity and activity, but perhaps more importantly, an ship of popular culture and opposition between proximity and distance in relation to the image” (63). The feminism for the duration of her career. 73 ARTS & HUMANITIES cial Intelligence is the downfall of humankind, etc.), juxta etc.), humankind, of downfall the is Intelligence cial Artifi where narratives persistent or prosthesis with sons per of mistreatment our (i.e. “other” the as cyborg the of marginalization social Considering confirmation. as serves it scrutiny further upon however, present; I that SF of ity qual super-fiction the contradicts seemingly assertion this surface, the On (149). illusion” optical an is reality social Haraway writes, “the boundary between science fiction and star Galactica to and generally fiction science to relation in plore define genderinnewandliberatingways. to possibility the opens that cyborg, the of metaphor the in femininity,encompassed of conceptualization new a sions envi Manifesto Summarily,the dichotomies. male/female destroying of means a as theory cyborg femininity,urging of view “essentialist” an against argues Haraway sented. repre and articulated constructed, socially are gender and body female the which through medium the becomes also physically,it body the impacts only Technology,not then, (149). etc. prosthesis, technology, reproductive of use our with machine” and “animal between boundary the blurred have who cyborgs, already are humans believes Haraway 149). (Haraway fiction” of creature a as well as reality cial so of creature a organism, and machine of hybrid a ism, organ cybernetic “a as cyborg this describes She cyborg. a of form the in gender of interpretation future a of bility possi the theorizes author the Century,” Twentieth Late the in Socialist-Feminism Technology,Science, and festo: Science Fiction and Technology Feminism, Theory, Cyborg distance fromtheimage. the binary opposition of active/passive and of proximity to/ transcend even or challenge can who one as spectator male fe the re-imagining in aid can BSG of space super-fiction gaze. masculine masqueraded liberated, a This of vestitism trans the without identification of narcissism in indulge possibly can spectator female SF the Thus, representation. their in of critical be and with identify simultaneously can women that images/characters provides though, television, tation of women. The possibility of a liberated subject in SF television’srepresen in empowerment of female spaces spectator the affords masquerade, of possibility This (66). image” one’s and “oneself between distance feigning and identification denying masquerade, to or subject the with masochistically identify to image: the to closeness her of because spectatorship for choices specta two these the only that has tor imagines creates Doane that paradigm McGinnis /GenderPerformance... The Manifesto presents two ideas I would like to ex to like would I ideas two presents Manifesto The Mani Cyborg “A entitled work Haraway’s Donna In specifically. First, in regard to science fiction, Battle ------borg, Surkan writes the cyborg as a passing figure, one that in science fiction. In his work on science fiction and the cy ditional genderandtransgress,sometimessimultaneously. ined, cylons can be seen as characters that both perform tra larger framework of SF, a space contextually a real Withinand imag reject. and accept both can spectator female the that characters are cylons These characters. dominant are Galactica star of true is assertion This (149). natural” and crafted ambiguously worlds populate who machine, and animal science fiction is full of cyborgs—creatures simultaneously “Contemporary writes, Haraway cyborg, the of use tion’s tinct socialcommentary.Secondly, science fic regard to in dis provide to ability the has SF that assertion earlier the affirming reality, social represents SF that suggests ment state Haraway’s Furthermore, looking. of modes Doane’s of both employ can then, spectator, female SF The reject. and accept both can spectator a that identity an becomes posed with Haraway’s vision of the cyborg, the cyborg then dooiig ad oa cmimn-oeult” (384). commitment-to-equality” moral and ideologizing, meta- signs, of deconstruction reading, “semiotic as listed are methodologies These (377). oppressed” the of ologies method the of enactment the difference…through across community possible making coalition, for “grounds erates gen that “love” of representations hegemonic of sioning re-envi a as feminism, cyborg interprets Sandoval color. of women by margins the in utilized skills or oppressed, away’s feminist modes along side the methodologies of the Har positioning by Feminism World Third US and nism femi cyborg between alliance an creates Sandoval festo, Haraway’sMani of reading her In discourse. subaltern or Sandoval discusses the hybrid cyborg within this racialized into racialized discourses. In her essay on cyborg feminism, itself machine, lends and human of hybridism of site the as body.body,cyborg This the of identity ethnic and cialized cillates betweenidentifyingandrejectingthenarrative. os that spectatorship highlighting further identity,cyborg the of parts both sees viewer omnipresent The normative. gender the perform and transgress simultaneously can that characters are they again, Once identity. constructed and lactica in and television, fiction science Cyborgsin society. into assimilate to order in stereotypes gender out plays and identity true its masks that character a is then, cyborg, the of character The (114). embodiment” of view binary a transcending of incapable society a by disavowed which one’s own interior sense of identity is fundamentally exiled by society. This exile is termed as the inner exile “in and marginalized is that human, appear surface the on can The cyborg often represents the marginalized “other” marginalized the represents often cyborg The Surkan’s “other” status of the cyborg exposes the ra the exposes cyborg the of status “other” Surkan’s , can be portrayed as characters that embody actual embody that characters as portrayed be can , in that cyborgs, called cylons in the show, the in cylons called cyborgs, that in Battlestar Ga Battlestar Battle ------ARTS & HUMANITIES 74 ------, Vol. I , Vol. Oculus portrays two human female char Upon further investigation of Starbuck, it is apparent Battlestar Battlestar Galactica In many ways, the character of Kara Thrace overtly ing her heroic escape. This episode addresses feminist con feminist addresses episode This escape. heroic her ing cerns about The gender women and victims technology. of the farm are victims of disembodiment, as their bodies are This reduced fear to of reproductive reduction functions. is neutralized when Starbuck destroys the facility. The epi technology, reproductive for metaphor a as serves also sode a process sometimes argued as the co-optation of watch to female empowering is it spectator, female the For agency. Starbuck reject the construction and fight back. In short, Starbuck has the qualities traditionally only given to television’s leading men. In fact, in the original series Starbuck was a man. By making the new Starbuck a wom of construction the flip series remade the of creators the an, gender in new and exciting ways. that her character questions technology’s impact on gen the by captured is Starbuck Farm,” “The episode the In der. cylon enemy and held captive to a hospital bed. Between moments of drug-induced consciousness, the doctor (a cy lon imposter) gives Starbuck a pelvic exam and expresses concern for an ovarian cyst. He then tells Starbuck that her most valuable commodity is her reproductive capability. Later, Starbuck wakes up to discover a scar on her abdo men. We later find that one of her ovaries was surgically removed. Starbuck, of course, escapes. In her to efforts get she where room horror-filled a enters she facility, the of out finds women attached by their wombs to “harvesting” ma chines. She recognizes one of the women, who wakes and begs Starbuck to end her life, as she can’t live as a “baby After Starbuck complies, machine.” she destroys the entire fram her behind explosion huge a with escapes and facility take on gender stereotypes and to develop female charac ters, both human and cylon, which both play out and trans the gender normative. gress from acters as women who transgress patriarchal gender: Lieutenant constructed Kara “Starbuck” Thrace and President of notions traditional disrupt characters Both Roslin. Laura femininity in their actions, functions, representations, and portrayal in the SF These setting, characters’ liber agency. characters the allows and stereotypes from subjects the ates formerly “masculine” identity traits. to be imbued with disrupts many traditional stereotypes and gendered dichot omies. Starbuck is a warrior who is the best fighter pilot on the She Battlestar. is a loud, obnoxious, cigar-smoking, (not-sexual sexual ambitious, hostile, drunk, card-playing, gender- a wears She woman. butt-kicking ized/objectified), neutral uniform and is rarely pictured out of androgynous attire. She is not a character without fault and she makes mistakes, but without losing her agency or her hero status. . ------. The cylon/ , a remake of Battlestar Galactica Battlestar Galactica Battlestar Galactica Battlestar Galactica The television series Although super-fiction creates an alluring space for to resemble humans, in essence becoming Surkan’s passing Surkan’s becoming essence in humans, resemble to settingsuper-fiction allows the show to The series’ cyborg. stand and even reconcile their relationship to the cylons. Later derogatorily called “skin-jobs,” a racialized these cylons term, are exposed as characters that have evolved the series focuses on the attempt for the surviving humans to find a habitable planet, at the same time trying to under machines created by humans. This old and common narra tive, artificial intelligence as the downfall of human kind, of remainder The “other.” cylon the of fear for stage the sets occurring on the space war ship, the 12 when occurs action series’ the for moment catalytic The of race a enemy, cylon the by destroyed are colonies human an older series, is an example of super-fiction that challeng that super-fiction of example an is series, older an es gender construction, and plays with the cyborg identity. The show is set in outer space, with the bulk of the scenes and transgression from the gender normative. Reading of about the actual visual representation of the cyborg points read be to visual the in representation cyborg for need the to against the grain, with particular attention to spectatorship provide a few examples of transgression and actual cyborg representation. The transgressions depictions are of artist’s real women within a cyborg context. Devoss’ revelation images as “cyber” bodies and not cyborgs, noting the im portance of this distinction (845). Devoss does, however, reveals the co-opting of the cyborg to reaffirm the gender normative and misogyny of the patriarchy (838). This co- opting of the cyborg, prompts Devoss to re-define these representation, actual appearance of Haraway’s cyborg in a visual text is difficult to find. Devoss’ work with cyber- bodies and cyborg representation on the world wide web gendered and racial an binaries, egali and ultimately forge with the remaining humans. tarian, integrated future racialized “other” This to binary the ini human characters. tially presented is systematically broken apart as the series progresses as the cylon characters identify and deconstruct cyborg cyborg characters on the series, most definitely represent Sandoval’s subaltern, as they are initially presented as the these methodologies. Placing Sandoval’s vision of “affin ity-through-difference” (380), into a science fiction visu al context is palpable in not only the “other,” but also as a space for new feminist representation and spectatorship. In fact, the cyborg body within the SF visual is a site for the motion/enactment of Aligning Aligning the cyborg body to these methodologies provides fascinating space in the visual for cyborg representation as 75 ARTS & HUMANITIES leave humanity vulnerable to a cylon nuclear attack. No. 6 No. attack. nuclear cylon a to vulnerable that humanity leave secrets government the precisely are These service. ego- and sex with him from secrets defense government onies, she seduces a scientist named Gaius Baltar, coercing col original the of one On doll. Barbie walking sexualized over- an is She blue-eyed. and blonde, tan, tall, knockout: Hollywood perfect picture the is 6 No. fatale. femme the Sharon Agathon knownas“Athena.” and Six” “Caprica as known No.6 ed. Twoare cylons such operate as symbols of how bodies and gender are construct show the on cylons female the of identities oscillating The or possible sites of gender performance and transgressions. slates blank are they sense a In them. transgressing and often norms gender patriarchal performing often identity, with grapple females cylon The unresolved. and complex are cylons these series, this on humans the Like erness.” enable them to pass as human, concealing their racial “oth that components biological with made are that machines are characters cylons. These away’sfemale the cyborg,are the biologicaloffspring ofhumanandmachine. and especially the future possibility of gender expression in body,female the on advance technological of possibilities other,the female disabled the gender: about theories many with plays scene whole The “future.” the as Hera to fers re often Roslin Hera. hybrid-child female the as born later cylon, female a and male human a of product the to Roslin endears act This remission. into go would cancer her that she is injected with the blood of a human/cylon hybrid fetus retain her agency. Later in the series, it is discovered that if to order in herself of part hides Roslin exile, inner borgian Surkan’scy un-like Not disease. disabling her of because marginalization or weakness of stereotyping negative any something that she initially conceals, in order to circumvent is body her of cancer.aspect breast This with diagnosed is nology on the female body. At the onset of the series, Roslin and later becomes a metaphor for the positive effect of tech normative. gender the transgresses surface, the on character,Roslin’s marginalized. therefore and “masculine” or emotional, and disempowered are traditionally who television, on leaders female of typical not definitely most nine. is portrayal This sive because she is intelligent, powerful, rational and femi rationally,emotionally.trangres act of is to instead Roslin character her require that decisions unpopular sometimes dent when the colonies are destroyed. She makes tough and Presi becomes Roslin series, the possibly in figure powerful and most rational most The Roslin. Laura President McGinnis /GenderPerformance... No. 6 both plays out and deconstructs the identity of identity the deconstructs and out plays both 6 No. Har represent literally that characters female Other Under the surface, Roslin’s body is the site of disability is series the in female human empowering Another ------in f oe Te hrce bgn t bcm incredibly become to begins character The love. of tion emo human the experience to ability new her is change consciousness, and has agency. a Caprica Six’s displays reason for the thought, independent has choice, a makes Six realizes that something has changed in Caprica Six. Caprica audience the that time, this Baltar.during of is seduction It her to homage heroic as Six” “Caprica name the given is 6 loaded into another identical body. After this transition, No. down is consciousness her and dies 6 No. attack, nuclear the During must. cyborg a what precisely is it possess, not should machine a something is agency Although gresses. femme fatale. This femmefataleisentirelyunnatural. rative. No. 6 has little to no agency, and is programmed the nar the in point this at gender perform must cylon the that doubt no is there constructed, is body cylon ally.the Since opposition read be can result the cylon a is fatale femme however,construction; the dangerous when a potentially is portrayals other in fatale femme the of representation male humanity.of fall the for reason fe the stereotypical is This der re-identification is possible. This space beyond fiction beyond space This possible. is re-identification der gen constructed, and real both are created worlds the and non-existent) imagines, Haraway as (or blurred sometimes because the line between science fiction and social reality is characters to both perform and transgress. At the same time, subjects in a super-fiction context allows a space for female liberated for potential The ways. liberated in body female the represents that genre a be can fiction science erasure, Conclusion have historicallyconstructedgenderontelevision. that binaries many of destruction the represents character Like Caprica Six, Athena in essence becomes a cyborg. Her Battlestar.the on warrior and pilot a becomes and Adama), (General critic toughest her of trust the gains humans, the to ally an becomes She figure. mother the as end not does Athena’sidentity,roles. however, these to fully commit to order in society cylon betraying mother, and wife of ties du gendered the performs Sharon Hera. daughter, human Karl “Helo” Agathon, giving birth soon after to their cylon/ Galactica tlestar by Athena, take on new meanings when represented in performed roles, gender traditional These series. the in ure cyborg. recognizable a now but “other”, sexualized the longer no is She on. so and rational/emotional, logical/mechanical, bio active/passive, human/machine, masculine/feminine, complex. She is a contradictory mish-mash of dichotomies: Interestingly, No. 6 develops agency as the series pro series the as agency develops 6 Interestingly,No. ept a uutos at ih edr otaa and portrayal gender with past tumultuous a Despite Sharon “Athena” Agathon is the mother and spouse fig . Sharon is a cylon who falls in love with love in falls who cylon a is Sharon . Bat ------ARTS & HUMANITIES 76 - - - - , Vol. I , Vol. Oculus Film.” Femspec 5.1 (2004): 114. Film.” Femspec 5.1 (2004): 114. der and Science in Science Fiction. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. borg Feminism and the Methodology of the The Oppressed.” Cybercultures Routledge, 2000. York: New Reader. A.I. Robots, Cyborgs, and Mutants as Passing Figures in Science Fiction [6] Roberts, Robin. A New Species: Gen [7] Sandoval, Chela. “New Sciences; Cy [8] Surkan, Kl. “I Want to be a Real Boy: - in which both bodies and gender are performed and con structed. The series even portrays the intersection of gen der, race, and disability on the cyborg Perhaps body. most exciting of all, are the ways in which the female characters of the series challenge and even deconstruct long-standing possible. all it makes fiction science This binaries. gendered - - Feminism in the Late Twentieth Cen Women: and Cyborgs, Simians, tury.” York: New Nature. of Reinvention The Routledge, 1991. Narrative Cinema.” Amelia Ed. Reader. The Culture Visual and Feminism Jones. New York: Routledge, 2003. 44-53. Spectator.” The Spectator.” Feminism and Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Amelia Jones. 2003. 60-72. Routledge, York; New Science, Technology, and Socialist- [5] Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and [4] Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Manifesto: Cyborg “A Donna. Haraway, [4] , the science fiction - - - - Battlestar Battlestar Galactica querade: Theorizing the Female Psychology and Behavior 3.5 (2000): 835-845. (?) Women: The Visual Rhetoric Images of of Cyborg (and Cyber) Bod ies on the World Wide Web.” Cyber Reader. Ed. Amelia Jones. New York: York: New Jones. Amelia Ed. Reader. Routledge, 2003. 392-402. Gender Constitution; As Phenomenology and Essay Feminist Theo in The Feminism and Visual Culture ry.” In the case of [3] Doane, Mary Ann. “Film and the Mas [2] Devoss, Danielle. “Rereading Cyborg References [1] Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and gressing females. The show also gives the viewer represen viewer the gives also show The females. gressing ways the imagining cyborg, the of complexity the of tations constructed. constructed. space provides great opportunity to view powerful, trans gives the female spectator the freedom to both identify with with identify both to freedom the spectator female the gives are they which in ways the critique to and characters female