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Race, gender, and science fiction

By: Dallas Lowe

A is for…Avatar!

A god or goddess in a bodily form on Earth. The movie shows our disregard for human life, the Na’vi people are being taken over and fought by the humans who think that everything belongs to them.

B is for…

Barbarella The main character of Barbarella, a

woman, is sent to find and stop an evil enemy. Her character is extremely sexualized. This is the way that we expect women to be, they are sexualized in almost every role.

C is for…Cyborg Manifesto

An essay written by Donna Haraway that criticizes current ideas about feminism. She says that we’re all like cyborgs because of all the media and technology.

D is for…Dawn

Dawn is one of Octavia Butler’s many novels. It intertwines both the idea of equal or nonexistent genders, while still having a superior race.

E is for…

Engineering genetically Genetic engineering has been

used for a while now in an effort to weed out all the bad traits in our society. This can be seen in several novels and movies, One of which is Brave New World where humans are “graded” based on what traits they ended up with and are placed into jobs that they would be best suited for.

F is for…

Frankenstein! Shelley got the inspiration

for the monster from stereotypical black features. We know that most people in the novel were scared of the monster, and this is supposed to represent Caucasian attitudes toward all non-Caucasians.

G is for…

Gattaca In the past it was thought

that whites were the superior race. In this movie, only those that have a perfect ancestry are able to do whatever they’d like, everyone is considered lesser beings. This has happened, in some way several times throughout history, one race always thinks they are better.

H is for…Harry Potter

In Harry Potter there are three main groups of people: Wizards, Muggles, and Mudbloods (a mix of the two). Mudbloods are thought to represent all mixed race people in our society. In the books they are looked down on and treated poorly.

I is for…Internet

Although the internet is not fiction now, it was at one time. The idea was first brought up in a short story in 1981, but before that the idea of “hackers” and “viruses” were brought up. The fantasy of the Internet in 1975 is what the Internet is today.

J is for…

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and Lord Of the Rings. He wrote a mainly male society, with the females being indistinguishable from men in almost every way. It is thought that he did this to create an equal society. This, of course, is something that will never happen in real life because our society will never be satisfied being equals.

K is for…

King Kong King Kong, a black beast,

falls in love with a white beauty. This eventually leads to his death. It is believed that this film is supposed to resemble what would happen to a black man if he were to have relations with a white woman in the twentieth century.

L is for…Legend!

Marie Lu’s novel, although race is never specifically mentioned, is a very important part of the book. It is implied that June is White and Day is of some Asian decent. In the novel, June is superior to Day, that speaks to how our society is set up, with the White people viewing themselves as superior.

M is for…Midnight Robber

Nalo Hopkinson writes about a female lead that takes control of her own life. The woman has the power in this novel, which is something we don’t usually see.

N is for…Nalo Hopkinson

She is a Jamaican science fiction writer that brings Caribbean folklore into her writing. She brings both race and gender into her writings.

O Is fo

r…Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler is one of the most well known African American science fiction writers.

P is for…

Planet of the Apes (the original) Only one human woman is

seen and she has a few seconds of air time before she is killed off. It is also clear that the Apes were meant to represent African Americans, and they were often referred to as dirty or ugly or other negative things. It seems the only people cast in a good light were the white males.

Q is for…Queen of Outer Space

A few men from Earth travel to Venus and discover that it is ruled by a gorgeous woman that has banned all men from that planet, despite the fat that all the women beg her to bring them back for love. We find out later that the queen wears a mask because she his horribly disfigured because of the wars fought by men. This is an extreme example of the feminists we see today.

R is for…

Red Planet

The Earth and the human race is in serious danger do to ecological disaster. A team of astronauts search on Mars to save their dying home. Is that what will become of our planet if we keep at it like this? Our home is in danger, and we’re doing nothing to save it.

S is for…Star Wars!

Star Wars falls into the category with countless of other movies that feature a male hero. Leia, one of the very few female roles, has to be rescued by a man. A hefty majority of the cast is male. Then Leia is kept by a monster and forced into wearing a bikini. She did so much more than that, but she is most widely known for her gold bikini scene.

T is for…

Tron (1982) A man is transported into

digital life where computer programs represent their creators. There is a dictatorship that the man must face once he enters this alternate world. The way this world is run is similar to the dictatorships we have seen in our world throughout history.

U is for…Ultraviolet

The film portrays a female lead. It is about female empowerment. However, even when a female is playing the hero, she is still very sexualized. There would never be a man hero that has his stomach showing while wearing tight leather pants. Here again we see how society sees women. All they’re good for is looking good.

V is for…Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is played by Sarah Michelle Geller. Although she wears impractical clothing almost all the time, she kicks ass. She can beat anyone in a fight and kills vampires for a living. This is an example of a woman that has some power in her role.

Who you gonna call…?

Ghostbusters! In the film Ghostbusters,

although it is comical, it has some gender issues that can not be overlooked. The male characters are surprised and uncomfortable in the face of female power. When Sigourney Weaver becomes the gatekeeper the men are shocked and confused as to the woman’s new found powers.

X is for…Xeogenesis

Octavia Butler wrote a series of three books that came to be known as Xeogenesis. These books, including Dawn, explored race and gender as it relates to science fiction. James Cameron also directed a short sci-fi film titled Xeogenesis.

Y is for…

Years of the Beast The world is a disaster. Four people are left to fend for themselves

and fight off corruption, natural disasters, thieves, and more in this post apocalyptic world. The people they thought were friends are now enemies, money means nothing, and food is rare. This is what our world is on its way to if we keep up with things the way we are now. This alternate reality won’t be so alternate in a few years.

Z is for…Zardoz

Zardoz is a film in which there is a giant hollow head that teaches it’s followers killing is good, and reproduction of any kind is bad. The head is taken over and taken to a community where everyone is immortal. They are this way do to artificial intelligence. The need for reproduction is gone, the men have no use. The main leaders of this community are women. When the need to have children is gone, women rise to power. Would this happen in our society today?