Yet again with that tired and offensive old sexism trope?

[vilakins]

I generally enjoy The Orville with its classic Star Trek feel and light touch, but seriously, why do pretty much all SF series (and I'm looking at you too, Farscape; rant here) have to do the sexist society trope? You know, as if it's new and original? As if they have something new to say?

Yeah, right.

It might be slightly original if it were men being oppressed but as far as I know only C J Cherryh's Chanur novels have done that.

We had to put up with the Moclan society and Bortus's offensive mate last season, and oh joy, here we go again. Enough already; I refuse to watch.

Here's an excerpt from a review I found online,

While "Sanctuary" acts as a sequel-of-sorts to the events of "About a Girl," it is also in essence going over the same ground — and ground we will no doubt return to in Season 3. The continuing theme will undoubtedly polarize viewers, with some heralding this as a follow-up and others saying it's simply repeating what's already been said.

You may remember, we learned in "Primal Urges" (S02 E02) that the Moclan method of beginning divorce proceedings is to murder your mate. Fingers crossed, then, that Bortus plunges a dagger deep into the chest of Klyden before the end of the second season. He's got two episodes left to do it.

That last bit? Totally seconded!

One small plus: Marina Sirtis in a bit part as a teacher very early on, using her own accent. Once you've seen her scene, you can skip the rest.

Comments

[capri0mni]

American Late Night talk show host Seth Meyers has a relatively large number of black staff writers and supporting cast, and before the Oscars this year, they produced a five-minute skit: White Savior: the Movie Trailer.

In that skit they pointed out that there's always a ridiculously over-the-top bigot, who's there to make the white people in the audience feel better that they're not that bad.

...I imagine it must be something similar with sci-fi and sexist planets.

[vilakins]

I doubt it because it happens again and again. It's a trope. Besides, making bigots feel better is hardly a laudable objective - and there'll always be some who'll feel inspired to be worse.

You want an interesting new society, scriptwriters? I know: how about something that's completely different from what's on earth? Yeah, I know, too hard, and you'll have to be inventive?

[capri0mni]

I never said it wasn't a trope. The "White Savior" is also a trope -- as is "Able-bodied protagonist proves their goodness by befriending a disabled person."

It's not necessarily conscious, but these are stories that make the writers -- be they men writing about women, white people writing about blacks, abled people writing about disabilities, or what have you -- feel good about themselves, even if they never take a moment to think about why.

So the stories get told over and over and become tropes...

[vilakins]

Agreed, and it's about time they stopped and used some imagination. Those tropes just perpetuate myths, and not good myths.

[jhall1]

I think we must be a week behind you, as from the brief description in my TV guide it sounds like the episode in question is the one being broadcast this Thursday. So I can't yet comment, and have skipped your spoiler.

[vilakins]

This one is called Sanctuary, if that helps. The spoiler isn't really much more than what you'd pick up from my post: no plot points mentioned.

[jhall1]

Unfortunately British TV guides never seem to give episode titles, for some reason. But the one-sentence plot summary says something like "Mercer discovers that the Moclans are hiding a secret", which sounds as though it might fit the episode that you are talking about.

[astrogirl]

Yes, that's the one. It had the same description here.

[astrogirl]

I thought the episode was well-done. If you have to have that particular trope, it's a much better example of it than some I could name. (Including a couple of examples named Star Trek.) But I gotta say, I don't really understand why the show is so fixated on the Moclans and keeps coming back to this particular issue over and over. And, ugh, Klyden. I found him potentially kind of interesting at first, but I am now also firmly on team Stabby Divorce.

[vilakins]

The trope pisses me off so much I just gave it a miss. Why does everyone keep coming back to it? I know there'll be a hell of a lot more of it from The Orville. Because it's just so original.

What the hell does that bastard do on the ship anyway? I thought everyone had to have a function.

[astrogirl]

Klyden? He's just there because they let you bring your spouse, apparently. I think he'd almost make the Union want to reconsider that policy. :)

[jhall1]

Make that three of us for team Stabby Divorce.

[vilakins]

Yay!

[jaxomsride2]

Make that four!

[vilakins]

Thinking about tropes, The Orville did the old machines-destroying-all-sentient-life one well, but that's getting somewhat overused too, with Discovery also on that bandwagon. New ideas needed, scriptwriters!

[igenlode]

The hani take on 'all males are big clumsy honour-bound brutes with no intellectual subtlety or emotional control' is an ingenious twist because it's not that far from human stereotypes, so the reader can identify with the subtly shifted viewpoint and understand on a gut level why the hani might consider males in space a really bad idea, while credibly transferring the traditionally male 'they need to be protected and sheltered to ensure the next generation' perspective...

[vilakins]

True, and we identify with Khym having to prove he's not a bomb liable to go off.