Heroic Aesthetics and the Popularity of the Eagle Pilot Alan Carter in Space: 19991
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JPTV 3 (1) pp. 3–20 Intellect Limited 2015 Journal of Popular Television Volume 3 Number 1 © 2015 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jptv.3.1.3_1 Marie-Pierre Bussières University of Ottawa From classical Greece to science fiction: Heroic aesthetics and the popularity of the eagle pilot alan Carter in Space: 19991 aBstraCt Keywords This article analyses the success of a support character in comparison to the stars television in the 1970s television series Space: 1999 (1975–1977), in light of the permeation heroism of Greek classical aesthetic codes in on-screen representation of heroes. Although representation the name of the actor impersonating the chief Eagle pilot Alan Carter was not even body in the opening credits of the show and his character, like most support charac- Greek sculpture ters of Space: 1999, had but a few lines per episode, this series won actor Nick contrapposto Tate international attention and his character quickly became among the favour- ites of the show, especially in the realm of science fiction fandom. While he is in 1. I wish to thank Nick the frame without actually doing any action, Carter oftentimes adopts a posture Tate for the long known as contrapposto, a pose characteristic of the idealized heroic body. This conversations at the pose had been deliberately used in the early days of Hollywood to enhance the cultic Alpha: 2012 con. My gratitude also goes status of some stars, and because of its cultural identification with a heroic type to the editor and and its erotic potential, Carter was recognized as a hero more than the rest of the reviewers of the journal 3 JPTV_3.1_Bussières_3-20.indd 3 3/3/15 9:58:06 AM Marie-Pierre Bussières for their collegial support characters on the show. Moreover, Carter’s persona in the scripts is that of suggestions. an engaging, faithful, trustworthy fellow, which completes the picture of the ideal 2. For recent discussions of manliness in Greek philosophy, that of spiritual goodness (agathon) reflected in about acts of fandom, see Barton and physical beauty (kallos), placing Carter among the most popular characters with the Lampley (2014). audience of Space: 1999. 3. Burns (2011: 440–41) explains how the development of art Science fiction television programmes of the 1960s and 1970s famously photography at the end of the nineteenth and attracted faithful followers who were – and still are – prompt to commit acts in the early twentieth of fandom, such as gathering at fan conventions, dressing up as their favour- centuries popularized ite character, writing stories developing new plots or – and this is not exclu- classicizing 2 representations of the sive to science fiction – fan letters. The support character of one such science male body in the West. fiction programme, the chief Eagle pilot Alan Carter from the series Space: 1999 (1975–1977) produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, enjoyed a hand- some success. In an interview given to the fan magazine Starlog when the second season of the show was about to be screened in the United States, Nick Tate, who played Carter, admitted to receiving considerable fan mail – the extravagant myth carried in fan magazines was 5000 letters a week (Wood 2010: 250–51) – during the show’s first season, from a community of fans largely composed of young girls (Anon. 1976: 7). No other star on the show boasted such an achievement. Tate’s name, however, was not even in the opening credits of the show and his character, like most supporting charac- ters in Space: 1999, had but a few lines per episode. Very often he was simply seen standing in the frame to help build the sense of community among the staff working in Main Mission, the nerve centre of Moon Base Alpha. Despite these handicaps, the series won the actor international attention, especially in the realm of science fiction fandom. He was, for instance, the only member of the Space: 1999 cast invited to a science fiction convention in the United States at the end of the first season (Wood 2010: 250–51). The reasons for this success in comparison with the stars of the show were maybe deemed too obvious for analysis; yet considering the possible explana- tions for Carter’s status amongst the series’ fans is an illuminating exercise. It seems unlikely that Tate’s popularity derived solely from the actor’s person- able performance and the undeniable sympathy aroused by his character’s actions. Certainly he was not the only sympathetic presence among the supporting cast. Indeed, Alan Carter is distinguished from the other charac- ters by two interrelated factors that contributed to the audience’s attention to him: Tate’s classicizing postures and his character’s persona in the narrative of Space: 1999. This article argues that the heroic aesthetics inherited from clas- sical Greece, along with the moral values that this image carried, played a key part in Carter’s consequential (for a supporting character) popularity. Throughout the first season, the on-screen depiction of Alan Carter’s character mirrors classical principles of representation, notably the idealized mise-en-scène of the heroic body posture, expressing readiness for movement. Carter’s visual representation, along with the definition of his character by the scriptwriters of the show, brought to the audience an echo of the Greek philosophical concept of kalokagathia, ‘beauty and goodness’. The example of Alan Carter/Nick Tate’s popularity with the show’s audience demonstrates how Greek heroic aesthetics came to be associated with the cinematographic and televisual codes of heroic behaviour. Working as a token of energy and good values the classical template was, at the close of the twentieth century,3 so ingrained in the western psyche that it remained influential without either 4 JPTV_3.1_Bussières_3-20.indd 4 3/3/15 9:58:06 AM From classical Greece to science fiction actor or audience being aware of where it came from or how it works its way 4. The expression ‘dynamic balance’ through the mind. is borrowed from Only the first season of the series is examined here as, by its end, Tate/ Holtzmann and Carter’s popularity was well established. Pasquier (1998: 46): ‘équilibre dynamique’. On the importance Codes oF GreeK aestHetiCs and interPretative avenues of the pose in Polykleitos’ work, see Several scholars (Borbein 1996: 71–74; Hurwit 1995: 3–18; Pollitt 1995: 19–24) Tobin (1995: 52–64). have already discussed at length the artistic innovations credited to the fifth- century Greek sculpture artist Polykleitos by posterity. Nevertheless, it is useful to point out for those more familiar with science fiction than Classics the efforts made to achieve lifelikeness in the way the human male body was represented after the sixth century BCE. Dynamism in sculpture art was achieved essentially by tilting the pelvis and shoulders in converging lines, a pose which involved an alignment of the limbs that created an impression of movement, a ‘dynamic balance’,4 known as contrapposto (Figure 1). The disruption of the horizontal lines brings out the muscles and curves, enhanc- ing the erotic appeal of the human body. The openness of expression that the stance created, the seeming availability of the subject for action, even while at rest, particularly suited mythological heroes and gods, who were endowed with seductive power and swift vigour. Figure 1: Unknown, Statue of Hercules (Lansdowne Herakles), Roman, about 125 CE, marble, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California. 5 JPTV_3.1_Bussières_3-20.indd 5 3/3/15 9:58:08 AM Marie-Pierre Bussières Emphasis on the ‘dynamic balance’ was often increased by raising one arm of a figure, resting it on a conveniently supporting prop, especially for the marble copies of the Roman era. The sometimes fragile equilibrium of an excessively dynamic balance required an accessory, such as a tree trunk, for the statue to lean on. The accessory also allowed for a more open context to interpret the pose of the statue, which suggests not an action in progress, but one that is contemplated. The Apollo Sauroctonus, ‘killing a lizard’ (Figure 2), attributed to a follower of Polykleitos, Praxiteles, is an extreme but telling example of this anticipation: the statue shows the god not in the act of kill- ing the lizard, but watching with relish the animal climb up a tree. Apollo rests his weight on his right leg, his left foot dragging behind his right. He keeps his balance by leaning on the tree with his left arm raised head-high, while his right arm is bent at the elbow. Both hands are facing each other and were most likely originally holding a weapon of some sort. The pose gives a rather exaggerated chiasmus to the torso of the statue, and the whole move- ment is further amplified by the god’s head leaning on the right while looking to the left at the lizard. Apollo, depicted here with almost adolescent traits, is delighting in the playful action to come, and the dynamic balance caused by the contrapposto stresses this projection into the future by the anticipation it is translating. This attitude adequately combines the power of physical attraction and the commitment to action proper to a hero. Figure 2: After Praxiteles, Apollo Sauroctonus, first–second century ce Roman copy of a 350–340 B ce Greek original, marble, Musée du Louvre. 6 JPTV_3.1_Bussières_3-20.indd 6 3/3/15 9:58:08 AM From classical Greece to science fiction Figure 3: Publicity for a pizza restaurant, 2013, Ottawa (Canada). Polykleitos and his followers had a decisive influence on the plastic art and representation of the human figure, as is made obvious from the innumerable surviving torsos of ancient statues displaying the characteristic unbalance of the hips and shoulders.