Images Of Women In Mass Media (Star

Trek/Id4) Essay, Research Paper

Images of Women in Mainstream Culture Reflected inStar Trek: First Contact and Independence Day The most successful box office hits in history are Science-Fiction films. This indicates that the audience, society, likes what they see in these movies. Science-Fiction has long been viewed as a male dominated genre. Although there have been notable exceptions in such films as Alien (and its sequels) and the original Terminator, for the most part, Science-Fiction films have been laden with male heroes in powerful positions. Females, in most of these films, have been subjected to three roles: reasoner/comforter, sex object, and victim. While the male characters are allowed to make the difficult decisions and handle the demanding physical tasks, the female characters are often forced to stand behind them and console or reason with their man when things don t go according to plan. By employing a textual analysis of two recent Science-Fiction box office successes, Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan Frakes, 1996) and Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996), one can clearly see the above pattern of male/female power relationships in full effect . Both films present female characters as victims, reasoner/comforter, and sex objects. Furthermore, the pattern demonstrated in these two films can be further examined by observing its absorption into the dominant mainstream culture through the overwhelming audience responses to the two films. Media images help shape our view of the world and our deepest values according to Douglas Kellner and these two films were major media images during their time of theatrical release. When the textual analysis and observation of audience response to the films are combined with the theories of some of today s cultural studies writers, one can develop a clear view of how societies view of women in relation to men becomes clearly defined in the products of the societies culture. In the articles Oppression by Marilyn Frye and Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and Media Culture the arguments on the position of woman are clearly presented and can be used to further the analysis of the transfer of these values from the society to the screen. (Kellner, 1995. p.5) Star Trek: First Contact presents a fine example of how dominant views of women in society are apparent in today s science fiction films. The roles of women as victims and comforters/ reasoners can be best examined by reviewing the relationship between Jean-Luc Picard and his new found ally, Lilly. At various points in the film, Lilly comes to represent all three of the dominant views mentioned above. Initially, Lilly serves as a victim in need of rescue. After being injured in an attack by the evil alien Borg, Lilly is transported to the Enterprise. Once there, she escapes and hides out in passage ways, unaware that she is in grave danger. Through her first encounter with Jean-Luc Picard, she discovers the grave danger that she is in. At that same moment it becomes clear that Lilly has been rescued because she is now under the protection of the films most dominant male character. After being rescued, Lilly is able to fulfill the role of comforter and reasoner to Picard. In two key sequences she can be found to be the voice of reason and comfort that counter Picard s powerful rage. The first sequence involves Picard and Lilly s encounter with the Borg in the hollodeck. As Picard relentlessly riddles two Borg with a barrage of bullets, Lilly calms his rage by saying, I think you got him. Although the line is delivered as comic relief in a rather intense sequence, it also demonstrates the woman s role as a reasoner and comforter to the physically and socially powerful male. Picard is the captain of the fleets most prestigious and advanced ship, a position of considerable power, yet he needs to be comforted in his physical dominance by Lilly telling him its all right to stop. Lilly s role as comforter is displayed most clearly in one of the films most important sequences. The sequence involves Picard, who because of his rage and power, is determined not to let the Borg capture the ship, refuses to give an evacuation order. To counter Picard s rage, Lilly, having already begun to fulfill her expected role on the hollodeck earlier, confronts Picard and reasons with him to give the evacuation order. The scene is the most clear demonstration in the film of the role women are assumed to fulfill in the male dominated world. Lilly has no physical power or political position at her disposal to stop Picard s order, thus she must use her subservience and assumed role as comforter and nurturer to make Picard see the error in his ways. Where Picard uses rage and physical violence (he smashes a cabinet with his gun) to further his point, Lilly uses comforting words and reason to put forth hers. However, in the end it is still up to Picard to make the call; Lilly can only make him see the wisdom in the other option. Although Lilly is used to a degree as a sex object in the film (there is sexual tension hinted at between her and Picard and between her and Zefram Cochran), the most obvious example of the female role as that of sex object is displayed in the relationship between Data and the Borg Queen. The Borg Queen, in command of a powerful army of drone like soldiers, ultimately has to succumb to the use of feminine wiles in order to get what she wants from Data. In one scene, the Borg Queen, hav