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Science fiction, or at least proper science fiction, has always opened a window on the present through the future. A literary giant like Robert Anson Heinlein wrote extensive treatises on liberty, the place of the military in our society, and even humor and polyamory, all under the guise of visions on the future. Yet in more recent times, science fiction often seems to have fallen prey to the same nihilism that pervades much of Western culture. Films like 'The Day after Tomorrow' and 'I, Robot' are neo-Frankensteinian flicks which are postmodernist in the sense that they brim with nihilism, denial and self-hate. Battlestar Galactica, currently airing on Sky Channel, changes all that.
(Click 'Lees verder' to read the rest.)
Most science fiction nowaday fails in its basis mission: to offer a new perspective on the present. Rather, it tells the same Luddite story we've been hearing since Mary Shelley: the 19th century Romanticist view of the world which overemphasizes the power of human emotion and goes on to bestow our passions with self-destructive powers. Man in such stories is an irredeemable beast which for its own good should be restrained, or restrain itself (apparently, the latter is possible and doesn't conflict with our beastly nature).
Battlestar Galactica 2004 (BSG), a remake of the late 70's series, avoids this pitfall. BSG doesn't fall for the nihilistic approach which seeks to solve problems through the aforementioned self-denial, avoidance and retreat.
The back story of BSG is the great tale of our time: the global war on terror (GWOT). When the Cylons strike (machines that are made by man), over 99 percent of all humans perish in the attack. What's left of civilization goes looking for the mysterious planet Earth under the leadership of commander William Adama and president Laura Roslin.
But in what seems to be yet another man-against-his-evil-creations story, director Ronald D. Moore weaves a complex political tale without resorting to cheap partisanship. The parallels with the GWOT are obvious. The Cylons have religious zeal as their primary motivation why humanity should be eradicated. Their catch phrase 'By your command' takes on a whole new meaning in this respect.
All issues that are important to the GWOT are taken to task. I've just finished watching episode 8 of the first season, which revolves around the lawfulness of torture, or lack thereof, and the rights of those who reject our society as a whole. Moore presents all points of view, not just those that suit him. In a slightly older episode, BSG explored the issue of security in the GWOT. Since the Cylons look like humans, they can blend into the crowd in the same way that terrorists can these days. The paranoia this creates obviously makes for interesting television, but yet again, Moore doesn't go for the easy fix.
Instead, he even makes some references to George W. Bush which cannot be immediately explained away as knee-jerk Hollywood leftism. President Laura Roslin gets her job after all other members of the cabinet have been killed by the Cylons. She is the 43rd in line of succession. George W. Bush, of course, is the 43rd president of the United States. After Roslin orders a civilian ship destroyed, she later confesses her doubts about her decision to a trustee. She says she cannot publicly acknowledge a mistake, and therefore carries around a slip of paper with the name of the civilian ship around, so she won't forget. Bush similarly has been accused many times of not being willing to acknowledge his mistakes.
‘We comfort ourselves in the knowledge that it was the Cylons that were flawed. But the truth is: we are the flawed creation,’ Adama says in the trailer you can download here. While it again sounds like Shelleyism, this is not the case. For if the things we create contain our flaws, they also contain our qualities. The strife between the Cylons and humanity is not that of man against his pride, as it would have been with Shelley, but the battle within and between ourselves. With that comes the threat of death, as well as the possibility of growth. The same might be the case for the GWOT.
(Oh, and the fact that the one Cylon who may become a bridge between humanity and the religious machines, is a tall blonde, reinforces the justness of my preferences in female companionship.)
© 2004. Arjan Dasselaar.
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