At 00:51 12-11-97 -0800, Peggy Hamilton wrote:
>Enoch's Vision wrote:
>> social and other behavioral terms. Jazdia Dax is wonderfully archetypal in
>> a sense because she illustrates that we all contain elements of both
>> genders. It would be really interesting to write a Jungian-type essay about
>> her.
>
>If she is an illustration that we all contain elements of both genders,
>then why did you say her "mental sex" was male? What about her behavior
>or attitudes are you defining as male?
>
I feel that the portrayal of Dax's character is skewed more toward a
stereotypical male character. Ideally, there is no reason why a female
character cannot indulge in swashbuckling, martial arts, playing poker,
partying all night, drinking bouts with Klingons (if that turns them on),
or possess fierce strength, be the Science Officer etc. Those behaviors are
gender-loaded in popular entertainment, not in my head.
The description of the wedding episode in this week's TVGuide tends to
support this idea. My son has already lost the issue so this is just from
memory. The expanded description of the Dax/Worf wedding episode pointedly
described Dax as acting stereotypically male. It mentioned a wild bachelor
party and "mother-in-law" problems as examples. Major Cliche Alert! It went
on to contrast her with Worf who was portrayed as a caricature of a bride.
The entire blurb was smarmy and demeaning to everybody (in my view).
So I think that DS9 portrays her as "male" and I feel that the show does it
in a clownish way. Rather than see any deep message in that, I just ascribe
it to shallow entertainment values. To me, she is as cartoonishly
two-dimensional as Quark. I don't see any deep messages in DS:9, just
catering to a low common denominator of pop entertainment. I see missed
opportunities. But face it, this isn't Shakespeare, it's Hollywood.
Cary
~~~~~~~~
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