On Wed, 16 Jul 1997, Tanya Wood wrote:
In terms of her
> relationships, in many senses she seemed to be a Susan Calvin figure in a
> buldingsroman where she learns that other (male) people are all that
> really matters in the end (although women may be useful for getting
> directions to a dress store). I thought Ann Hampton's comments very
> perceptive on the lack of women in Ellie's life.
>
> Tanya.
>
I pretty much agree with Tanya's and other's analysis of male-female
power relationships in Contact, but with one suggestion.
The black, female presidential assistant, played by Angela Bassett, is
considerably more than just a good source of information on where to buy
a nice dress. She has considerable power and uses it as needed, for
example when Drummond (Drumlin? whatever) is trying to completely take
over the project and she, pretty much by executive fiat, states that
Ellie will continue to have day to day control over operations.
I wonder how much of Ellie's isolation from female co-workers is simply the
usual male-authored cliche on Sagan's part and how much of it is the way
things still are (or were when Sagan wrote the book in the late 1980s)
for women working in the hard sciences. Anyone here have the kind of
background to comment on this from first hand experience?
Mike
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