An Assessment of the Development of the Female in Commercial Science Fiction Film

An Assessment of the Development of the Female in Commercial Science Fiction Film being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD in the University of Hull by Dean Turner (BA Hons) October 1998 To SJD Contents Acknowledgements iv Text Note v Introduction 1 PART ONE Chapter l 19 Gender Positioning: The Traditional Science Fiction Film Chapter 2 78 Ideology: The Commercial Science Fiction Film PART TWO Chapter 3 148 Mutation: 1970s Developments Chapter 4 195 Patriarchal Pendulum: Polarised Development of the Female Character Chapter 5 229 Patriarchal Crucible: Composite Development of the Female Character Chapter 6 265 Inverting and Subverting Patriarchy Chapter 7 311 Competition with Patriarchy Conclusion 347 Literature Cited 372 Films Cited 391 Science Fiction Films 393 Non Science Fiction Films 410 Hi Acknowledgements Support during the research and writing of this thesis has been generous and manifold, material and moral. As it would ultimately be too restrictive to aim to enumerate the specific help offered by individuals, I would like simply to offer my sincere gratitude to each of the following for their invaluable patience and assistance: My Supervisors, John Harris and Keith Peacock; and to My Family, Tim Bayliss, Jean and John Britton, A1 Childs, Anita De, Sarah-Jane Dickenson, Craig Dundas-Grant, Jacquie Hanham, Harry Harris, Tim Hatcher, Audrey Hickey, Anaick Humbert, Nike Imoru, Abigail Jackson, Irene Jackson, David Jefferies, Roy Kemp, Bob Leake, Gareth Magowan, Makiko Mikami, Zoie Miller, Barbara Newby, Isobel Nixon, Patricia Pilgrim, Paul Richards, David Sibley Ruth Stuckey, Lesley Tucker, Gail Vickers, Susan Walton, Debbie Waters, Graham Watson, and Rowlie Wymer; and to The Staff and Students of Hull High School, The British Film Institute, and The British Library. IV Text Note This text, including all Front Matter and Back Matter follows the Chicago Style as presented in Kate L. Turabian’s 1996 Manual fo r Writers o f Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. Revised by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Where clarification has been required, reference has been made to The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. A bbreviations In addition to abbreviations in standard English usage, the following have been used: COED The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 8th edition. Mt. The New Testament Gospel according to St. Mathew. v Introduction Responding to Dionysius of Halicarnassus’s assertion that “history is philosophy teaching by example” (Aristotle, Ars Rhetorica ch.ll, sect 2), Debbie Waters offers that “science fiction is philosophy teaching by conjecture” (Waters [1999]). Indeed, science fiction, with its ability to posit, amongst other elements, new sciences, new worlds, new histories, new environments, new technologies, and new species, does exhibit a clear potential to predicate futures with new societies and new ethics. This potential suggested by Waters is reflected in the optimism of Michael Moorcock, in his Sight and Sound article, ‘Trouble Ahead’: My main hope is that human beings, aided by new technology and scientific theory, will develop a system of ethics and morals on which we can base any future democracy, future business practices, and future social programmes. (Moorcock 1993, 37) However, the science fiction used by the film industry has habitually ignored the theoretical cultural potentials of the genre, and has produced magnifications of current prevailing morals and ideologies, rather than what Moorcock describes as the “sophisticated ethic” needed to “deal with the profound changes in our daily and political lives” (Moorcock 1993, 37). Science fiction film has continued to develop its ability to present ever more spectacular images to the spectator; and yet, despite this unparalleled capacity to give vent to the imagination, it has continued to confine the role of women. Whilst Waters’s words highlight the potential for the genre, and 1 Introduction - 2 Moorcock’s words highlight the capacity for the emancipation of women within that potential (a capacity which has been realised on rare occasions), it is the observations of William Hall, in his Photoplay feature on Barbarella (Vadim 1967), which perhaps best reflect the realities of female representation in science fiction film: For if all goes according to plan the (female) shape of things to come will be packaged like this: SHE will be contoured as perfectly as 400 centuries of biological refinement (Vadim’s words, not mine) can make her. and that means around 36:22:36. SHE will be 5 ft 7 ins tall, and brainy - but not too brainy. SHE will be sweet-natured, sophisticated, sexy, and above all Eager to Please. (Hall 1968, 31) This thesis examines why and how commercial science fiction film evades its seeming potential. However, it is first necessary to look at the genre itself, and to discover the parameters of that potential. It is not necessary here to examine the wide and lengthy debates attending the genre’s definition; suffice it to say that an argument, concerning literary science fiction in particular, has been extant for some time, and will never be resolved to the satisfaction of all1. However, because this debate remains so open, anyone attempting 1 1 For a clear survey of definitions of science fiction, see Clute and Nicholls 1993, 311- 14. Cf. Amis 1961; Scholes and Rabkin, 1977; Aldiss and Wingrove 1986; and James 1994, esp. 2-11. Introduction - 3 a comment of substantial length on science fiction (be it film or literature) is duty bound to review definitions of the genre, or to formulate a definition, germane to that particular study. As Vivian Sobchack observes, . the very act of definition is, indeed, an academic requirement as well as a personal cathartic” (Sobchack 1988, 17). After making a somewhat incautious distinction between science fiction literature, as supporting “logic and order”, and science fiction film, as supporting “illogic and chaos” (Baxter 1970, 10), John Baxter attempts to divide the films distilled in his latter definition into two categories: “the loss of individuality, and the threat of knowledge” (Baxter 1970, 11). Whilst this further division reflects the pessimistic overview of the science fiction film described by “illogic and chaos”, it is clearly too simplistic, and disregards the essentially optimistic stance of films like The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise 1951), with its Gospel overtones, and When Worlds Collide (Mate 1951), in which knowledge is the saviour of the human race2. Baxter’s description also largely ignores space-opera, a sub-genre which uses science fiction trappings as a backdrop to (often mundane) social issues, or battles between good and evil. Furthermore, written in 1970, Baxter’s words could not hope to prescribe for the huge expansion of the genre in the wake of the commercially influential Star Wars (Lucas 1977), and the genre’s descent into the saccharine realm of alien buddy- movies like E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial (Spielberg 1982), and Alien Nation (Baker 1988). 2 Whilst it could be argued that these two films do highlight the potential “threat of knowledge”, the primary message, and therefore the defining factor, in each is one of hope. Introduction - 4 Already, then, an attempt at definition has met with difficulties. The existence of rogue examples which challenge any unifying theory, coupled with the impossibility of legislating for future developments in the medium, underscore the futility of attempting to circumscribe the genre. Nevertheless, John Brosnan, in the first chapter o f The Primal Screen, appears to have a clear definition in mind when he writes: Strictly speaking, none of the films covered in this chapter are science fiction films. In retrospect, yes, they are, but at the time many of them were made the term ‘science fiction’ didn’t exist. (Brosnan 1991, 1) However, Brosnan had already recognised the limitations of speaking “strictly” in the preface to this work: I’m sure some purists will complain about my not including King Kong in the volume . it’s a great movie but it’s definitely fantasy, not sf (well, it is in my book). (Brosnan 1991, xiii) Brosnan’s use of humour at the end of this sentence is an attempt to defuse the argument over inclusion, through an admission that this is ultimately down to personal preference. His own nebulous definition, like many, hinges upon the importance of science, an element which Vivian Sobchack attempts to pin down in Screening Space, when she states that “in the SF film, science is always related to society, and its positive and negative aspects are seen in the light of their social Introduction - 5 effect” (Sobchack 1988, 63). Science is not always the driving force behind the science fiction film, in fact some “depict social change without necessarily making much fuss over scientific development” (Clute and Nicholls 1993, 312). Furthermore, in her oft-quoted essay, The Imagination o f Disaster, Susan Sontag actually dismisses the importance of science, arguing that “science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art” (Sontag 1966b, 213). Science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein expanded the general definition beyond mere science by offering the term ‘speculative fiction’, in recognition of the genre’s ability and tendency to present conjecture about future and past events. However, science fiction is not purely speculative, as it often posits consequences

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