Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Topic Discussion: Madam President

I've been asked to host some topic discussions, which sounds like fun to me. So here's one ...

Science fiction has some interesting tropes for tagging things as "historic" or "futuristic." One is the year 2000. During the 1900s you could put 2XXX in a story and have it seem inherently futuristic. It gave a flavor of "yet to be." Now, putting 1XXX in a story makes it seem historic. It gives a flavor of "long ago."

Another trope is Madam President. Science fiction writers have long used a female President of the United States (or analog thereof) to make their stories seem futuristic. (I've done it myself, in "Clean Sweep," which -- sorry -- isn't published yet.) This also lets the author explore issues of gender dynamics, power, and expectations. Here we are in an election with a very credible candidate for becoming the first real-world Madam President.

So here are the discussion questions:

1) Do you think America is ready for Madam President in real life?

2) Do you think that science fiction representations of Madam President have contributed to or detracted from that preparation, and if so, how?

3) What effect do you think it would have on science fiction to have a female president? How would it affect written-but-not-yet published stories featuring Madam President? Would it increase or decrease the frequency of writers using Madam President in new stories?

4) With a female president in office, how would that color interpretations of previously written stories featuring Madam President?

5) What are some of your favorite examples of Madam President in books/movies/other SF?

6) Do you think that portrayals of Madam President paint her as stronger or weaker than Mr. President? How does she play out as a character archetype? Do authors tend to handle her well or poorly? Is she interchangable with Mr. President? Why or why not? What does she "mean" in a story?

Over to you...
Tags: gender studies, politics, reading, science fiction, topic discussion, writing
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  • 7 comments
newroticgirl

newroticgirl

January 30 2008, 00:09:27 UTC 13 years ago

Re Question 6: I think portrayals of "Madam President" seem to make her a tough woman. Looking at Roslin from the new BSG (as haikujaguar mentioned), she has become one cold woman (I was gonna say one "tough ass bitch" but that wasn't very nice...). Does that mean a female president has to be "tougher" than a male one? Or that she can't be what can traditionally be considered "feminine" (i.e. nurturing, gentle, etc). I wonder if a female president who wasn't a tough-ass bitch would be seen as "too soft" for the job of "leader of the free world".

I dunno... guess I'm just making more questions! :)
haikujaguar

haikujaguar

January 30 2008, 00:11:29 UTC 13 years ago

As much as I disliked Star Trek: Voyager, I did like how they made Janeway's style of captaincy more of a Mother Lioness feel than a Tough Guy feel.
newroticgirl

newroticgirl

January 30 2008, 02:02:56 UTC 13 years ago

Yeah, good point.

Roslin seems to just get colder and colder and colder...
haikujaguar

haikujaguar

January 30 2008, 02:06:19 UTC 13 years ago

Yeah, I'm disappointed with how they're writing her. :P But then, I'm kind of disappointed with just... how... weird the show's gotten. In the beginning it was... wow. Some of the best SF on TV. Ever.

Now I don't know what it is. o_O
beckyzoole

beckyzoole

January 31 2008, 03:20:34 UTC 13 years ago

I did like how they made Janeway's style of captaincy more of a Mother Lioness feel than a Tough Guy feel.

Agreed -- Janeway was a very realistic female captain. Too frequently female leaders in popular entertainment are portrayed as tough and cold.

As an aside, the finest portrayal of a female starship captain I have ever encountered was in the final episode of the original Star Trek series, Turnabout Intruder. In this episode insane genius Dr. Janice Lester takes over Captain Kirk's body, imprisoning Kirk's mind in her body. Shatner had a field day overacting. But Sandra Smith's portrayal of Captain Kirk was a very believable female leader, a person who felt the shock of being in a strange body but was able to set that aside in order to concentrate on the immediate crisis, someone who didn't feel the need to act overly tough or cold because s/he never had before...