Sunday, September 12, 2010

Annotated Webliography

Webliography

If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?

(Cinematic SF)

Beyond Black and White: Race and Postmodernism in The Lord of the Rings Films by Sue Kim

This article focuses on the racial coding within the science fiction film The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) (the trilogy). Kim keeps is entertaining as well as informative even referring to LOTR as “the only contemporary fantasy/sci-fi blockbuster film series as immediately cringe-inducing as the new Star Wars films”. We can see that she is drawing our attention to what she deems an obvious appearance of racism within this film. Kim explains that although the film attempts to include heterogeneous mix of European (mostly British and Scandinavian) cultural references, all of the “good” characters (good-guys, heroes etc) are racially white. One of the most interesting points she makes, I find, is that “goodness correlates to whiteness, both racially and as color scheme, and is associated with Europe, particularly England and the Scandinavian countries, the West, and the North. Evil is invariably black, savage, Southern (or "Southron"), and Eastern”. So not only do we have racial profiling in terms of characters and storyline, but even within the scenery – and this can be found in most movies (light/white = good, dark/black = evil). Kim also points out that the film, like postmodernism itself tends to simultaneously reinforce and contest contemporary politics and discourses of race.

Frankenstein's daughters: women writing science fiction> by Jane Donawerth

This book identifies that the presence of sexism within science fiction – even though it has the ability to erase all “present” problems in our imagined future – is a problem at the root of science fiction, that is, the writers. Donawerth explains that since science fiction is enjoyed not only for its reading pleasure, but also for it’s incite into scientific problem solving, it has become an area of literature largely dominated by men – since science is a “masculine endeavor” (page 1). Thus, for females to be able to write science fiction, they must in fact create completely utopian or dystopian worlds in which science is in fact different. She claims that “rather than extrapolating from contemporary science, a strategy male writers can adopt, women writers must thus imagine a major rupture with science” (page 2). This book is very helpful in explaining why sexism still exists in science fiction, in worlds where we can eliminate all social problems; sexist people are still writing it. Drawing on feminist theories, the book is able to not only give examples of sexism within science fiction, but give an essay a good theoretical foundation on which to base it’s conclusions as to why sexism exists in the “future”.

“There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park”: Gender and the Uses of Genetics> by Laura Briggs & Jodi I. Kelber-Kaye

This article is one of the most interesting I read, and is based on idea from Jurassic Park (book and film) and Gattaca (film). The authors point out the “horror” created by the un-naturalness of the procreation within these films – they both tend to reinforce the traditional role of women are procreators, and the traditional method of procreation, even whilst presenting a scientifically advanced method. The article touches on the Alien film and how it in turn reinforces sexist views of women – it present a woman as the main character of an action movie, yet makes her out to be part of the problem (the alien is born out of her). This can be seen to be to be undermining her role as the main action hero, by implying that she is actually part of the problem. Thus, it reflects a belief that women are not meant to be heroes/courageous or to work with technology. You can use this article to validate the argument that without even realizing it, we are being fed the ‘ideal’ or ‘traditional’ view of the family – in procreation, and towards a ‘woman’s place’. We also see the fears of men (and society generally) towards a heroic woman protagonist surface.

Black space: imagining race in science fiction film> by Adilifu Nama

“They had a movie of the future called Logan’s Run. Ain’t no niggers in it. I said, “Well, white folks ain’t planning for us to be here” – Richard Pryor, Bicentennial Nigger.

This is the opening line of the first chapter of this book, and really sums up the chapter that follows (chapter entitled: Structured Absence and Token Presence, pp. 10). This chapter of the book envelops the essay question perfectly, summing up that within science fiction we have been able to imagine “alternative worlds, sleek rocket ships, cyborgs, deadly ray guns, time machines…” (page 10), yet there are no black people. It goes to say that this is possibly the dreams of all ‘white-supremacy’ advocates coming true. The “token presence” referred to in the title is meant to include the irrelevant, unimportant black characters that do appear in SF films – those that have no real role, or are killed off early in the movie. For an essay, you would explain that including a “token” black character for the sake of saying you’re not racist, is in fact still racist. You are not including all cultures by having one black character that is completely irrelevant to the whole film. Thus, racism is also present not only in the form of black people being the ‘other’ or the ‘enemy’, but by not being there at all.

*Side note; people often refer to black characters in movies as ‘the token black guy’ as well as having a ‘token fat guy’, ‘token slut’ etc. – reinforces that we know these characters have no real role in the film (and are generally the first to die/disappear).

Horses in Blackface: Visualizing Race as Species Difference in Planet of the Apes> by Susan Bridget McHugh

This article focuses on the film Planet of the Apes and how we are faced with racial differences in terms of a completely different species – and the threat it poses. The article explains how the film shows a sort of role-reversal of the apes and ‘man’, as we see the apes have become ‘as advanced’ as we have, and mankind has been belittled to being “their pets” at best or “their subject-research vermin at worst”. It also places emphasis on the main character’s (Captain George Taylor) features marking him the inferior outcast – the same features that once secured his superiority and privilege. This article would aid the essay in shaping just how obvious race differences can be presented within science fiction films – they are a completely different species. Also, an important point to note is the outrage and confusion the audience feels when witnessing the superior white male become the lower class citizen during this radical reordering of sociality – by those who are ‘suppose’ to be inferior to him.


  1. Kim, Sue. Beyond Black and White: Race and Postmodernism in The Lord of the Rings Films MFS Modern Fiction Studies - Volume 50, Number 4, Winter 2004, pp. 875-907

Available from: [3 September, 2010] http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v050/50.4kim.pdf.

2. Donawerth, Jane. (1997) Frankenstein's daughters: women writing science fiction. Syracuse University Press. Pp. 1-42.

Available from: Google Books [3 September, 2010]

3. Briggs, L. & Kelber-Kaye, J.I. (2000). “There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park””: Gender and the Uses of Genetics”, National Women’s Studies Association Journal, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 92-113.

Available from: Project Muse [9 September, 2010]

4. Nama, Adilifu. (2008). “Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film”. University of Texas Press, pp. 10-42.

Available from: Google Books [3 September, 2010]

  1. McHugh, S. B. (2000) “Horses in Blackface: Visualizing Race as Species Difference in Planet of the Apes”. South Atlantic Review, South Atlantic Modern Language Association.

Available from: JSTOR [3 September, 2010]

*These are not article, but are a good read:

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)