>Re Kira, and the discussion of how she's changed, I think there's really
>two things going on. On the one hand, yes she's gone through some great
>character development, I especially like the storylines which pull out the
>complexity of the war and it's aftermath, and her relationships with and
>feelings about cardassians. Fleshing her out so that she shows more
>emotions, becomes more confident etc is great. I'm all for character
>development.
>
>BUT, at the same time I can't help but see some changes in the characters
>appearance and actions as an attempt to make her more 'acceptably
>feminine' and more definitively heterosexual. Kira, like Ro Laren, was
>beloved by many lesbians as having a certain familiar feeling. Around
>here we began referring to "Bajor planet of the dykes." The episodes with
>alternatie universe evil Kira were totally sexually charged, talk about
>lesbian narcissism!! Then at the beginning of last season, all of a
>sudden, Kira starts wearing heavy makeup, having more feminine hair,
>subtle wardrobe changes, and a lot more references to her heterosexuality.
>Call me a conspiracy theorist but this
>didn't seem accidental to me.
>
>In a similar vein Dax's relationship with Worf did come not long after she
>had the best lesbian kiss on television. Doomed quick relationship with a
>woman, followed by a long serious one with a very macho main man. And
>what's with this relationship anyways? He's a total neanderthal,
>extremely sexist and emotionally a corpse. Dax in love is cool. Dax in
>love with a man, sure I can take it. But Dax dating WORF seems to run
>counter to her previous character.
>
>And now my heart belongs to B'ellana Torres...
>
>Robin Gordon
>
>--------------------------------------
>"I am the wall with the womanly swagger."
>Judy Grahn
Robin,
Okay, there are a couple of things to clear up here: first of all,
that lesbian kiss Dxs allegedly did could be intrepreted as hetero- or
homosexual because the two, as I remember, were opposite sexes when they
(Kirzon? and this woman) were together before. I think the writers were
toeing the edge of what the studio'd allow and this is as close as they
could get. Also, the story being what it was, there was the opportunity to
get all sorts of DS9 fans in a lather without really offending anyone who
paid attention to the story.
Secondly, it sounds as though you and your friends feel betrayed by
the current portrayal of Kira because of some makeup and a different
hairstyle. My question would be: so? She's the same person as she was
when she sported no makeup and the shorter hair. She's more fleshed-out,
is all. Anyway, disappointment I can see and understand, but do you feel
betrayed? If so, this is cause for concern and I'd suggest letting the
creators of DS9 know your discontentment. Star Trek has always been so run
by fans, ultimately, that I think they'd listen to you.
Finally, does it really run counter to Dax's previous character and
what was Dax's previous character? If you think about it, both Dax and
Worf are physical people in the sense that they like physical activity,
they're both mentally tough, though in different ways and they could both
feel like outsiders in that they're so unique on the station. What I mean
is, to my knowledge, Worf's still the only Klingon in Starfleet and Dax is
still the only Trill at least on DS9. It's something else they have in
common. Additionally, you have to consider where Worf's coming from before
labeling him macho and sexist and all: Look at the Klingon homeworld and
how women are treated there. Answer: the same as men. It's not that Worf
looks down on females. He'll respect anybody who's brave, honorable and
good in a fight, somebody who appreciates and can be counted on in battle.
It's his culture and I think the women of the culture would feel the same
way. The only people Worf looks down on are people who are without honor,
really, male or female. Any supposedly sexist behavior, I think, would be
performed out of concern for Dax (think of the reasons he wasn't with
anybody for most of STNG: most of the women were humans, hmans are frailer
than Klingons, generally speaking, and Klingon sex is pretty rough [see
certain episodes of DS9 for proof]), not out of a sense of superiority or a
desire for domination.
-Sean
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:24 PDT