Battlestar Galactica

I just watched the 9th segment of Mary McDonnell’s Q&A, where she answers questions posted on SciFi’s online forum. Some of them are inane, and some of them are kind of fascinating, like this one:

“Do you wish that Laura had more interaction with other women on the show? It always seems that Laura is only with Adama and Lee.”

The short answer is yes. Mary McDonnell makes some interesting points in discussing her answer. She points out that the only strong female relationships on the show are between Cylons, something I’d never considered before. It’s true: there are no strong female relationships, human ones at least, on Battlestar Galactica, despite the existence of plenty of strong female characters. The three main female characters - Sharon Agathon, Starbuck, and Laura Roslin - are all highly isolated, Sharon because she is a Cylon, Starbuck because she is an angry loner, and Laura because…perhaps just because it’s lonely at the top.

Indeed, Laura seems to have few friends of either gender aside from Adama. She’s become more ruthless and authoritarian over the last three seasons; maybe she feels that only Adama, the one person in the fleet who has to shoulder her level of responsibility, can truly understand her. It’s a recipe for the abuse of power and irrationality, I predict. Why is Laura more comfortable with the boys? It might be some old-school Jungian symbolism: by consorting only with men, Laura is denying her female self, her anima, and subordinating it to her animus, her interior male self. She’s certainly radically reversed directions: once the Minister of Education and a teacher, a role traditionally reserved for women, she’s now the President, the leader of what is left of humanity, a traditionally male role. In addition, she’s lost Billy and spends almost no time with Lee, both men who use to serve to some extent as surrogate sons and provided her with the role of a mother.

Laura Roslin seems to have created a male role for herself. I don’t think that this is a strike against Battlestar’s highly touted inclusion of strong female characters and roles. I think Laura’s situation is a reality for her character. The events of the past three seasons have convinced her that she needs to maintain tight control over the fleet. After all, look what happens when she doesn’t: Baltar gets elected President, Zarek sets up secret tribunals for airlocking people behind her back (and you know Laura wants to be in if there’s any airlocking to be done)…

Lastly, I’ll just note that the clip they played in the Q&A of Laura slapping the shit out of Col. Tigh was awesome. What a mensch, that Laura.