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Western science fiction films are a beacon for science fiction films worldwide. Over the century from 1921 to 2020, the portrayal of female characters in classic Western science fiction films has evolved through four stages: the "Her-ness," "He/Othering," "De-gendering," and "Cyborg." Science fiction films featuring female protagonists have become a force that cannot be ignored.
1. "The Her-ness" Stage: The Observed and Manipulated Her
In the stage where patriarchal discourse permeates politics, the economy, and culture, women in science fiction films are often observed, weakened, and even distorted in their portrayal. The fixed and stereotyped depiction of women reflects the "absence" of women's subjectivity.
Female characters in subordinate positions are typically gentle and beautiful, situated in a position to be saved and protected. The heroines' partners are usually wise and courageous scientists or social elites. Women are responsible for listening to troubles, contributing submissive and admiring glances, and when necessary, becoming the sacrificed or destroyed.
For example, in "King Kong" (1933), the female character Ann is a typical rescuee, embodying the image of a woman who is dedicated, pleasing, and compromising.
(Ann Darrow in "King Kong")
In another type of science fiction films during this stage, women are molded as the "alien" force that threatens the existing order. The glamorous and mysterious "Femme Fatale" becomes an object of conquest in the subconscious mind of male viewers.
In "Metropolis" (1927), the robot Maria has a metallic body, with distinct human female characteristics, such as a curvaceous body and slender limbs. This image demonizes women's sexual characteristics and desires, and the threat posed by Maria reflects men's fantasies and desires for powerful leadership.
(The Robot Maria)
These science fiction films use a series of discourses and symbols to treat women as instrumental existences. The female subject can only endorse and represent the desires of patriarchy. This kind of character norming and mental suppression further highlights the symptoms of the era when patriarchal gender norms overall strangle women's subjectivity.
2. "He/Othering" Stage: Her Imitation of Masculine Traits
In the 1960s, feminist criticism emerged, developed from the women's rights movements in Europe and America at that time. It was a vibrant and politically charged critical theory. Many feminist scholars criticized the phenomenon of women "being gazed upon as a landscape" in some films.
The main purpose of feminist film criticism is to expose and criticize the gender discrimination on the screen, and to elucidate the anti-feminine nature of film forms constituted by the unconsciousness of patriarchal society.
In science fiction films, during this stage, female characters become professionals or leaders, embodying courage, wisdom, and empathy. At the same time, some characters, even with independent personalities and social identities, are still designed to be sexually attractive objects in patriarchal aesthetics.
In "Gattaca" (1997), Irene is a female elite with perfect genes. In an age where geneticism is prevalent, she bravely chooses to keep the male protagonist's secret and becomes his "cross-genetic" lover. She has the talents of a perfect gene holder, but she is not arrogant or conceited. She appreciates those who strive to change their destinies and radiates kindness, tolerance, and the light of breaking prejudices.
(Irene Cassini in "Gattaca")
In "The Matrix" (1999), the sexy hacker Trinity has an amazing combat value. The above female characters are endowed with "traditional male virtues" such as tolerance, generosity, wisdom, and courage. However, they still display curves and possess attractive appearances in terms of their image.
(Trinity in "The Matrix")
3. "De-gendering" Stage: The Hidden Her
In this stage, more and more female warriors or elites in science fiction films have full autonomous personalities. Their image presentation no longer seeks to emphasize their physical characteristics with sexy and tight clothing but pursues the expression of unique feminine temperament in de-gendered clothing styles.
In "Interstellar" (2014), Brand and Murph are elite females. The former wears a thick astronaut suit, while the latter wears a work jacket commonly worn by American male workers. These rigid clothing designs hardly highlight the sexy body curves. Therefore, these science fiction films emphasize not the usually gazed-at female body forms but their outstanding and independent personal abilities.
(Amelia Brand in "Interstellar")
It is worth mentioning that in the humanistic soft science fiction film "Arrival" (2016), linguistics professor Louise, in the process of representing humans to communicate with aliens, shows both gentle and approachable gender traits, as well as strong, active, and brave gender traits.
(Louise Banks in "Arrival")
In other words, highlighting women's abilities in film does not mean masculinizing women. Instead, it believes that various social gender traits can be concentrated in a single individual, and the traditional social gender division of personalities should be abandoned.
These vivid female images combine both rigid and soft comprehensive traits. The "hybrid" subject further weakens the stereotypes of traditional gender traits, reflecting the vivid and complex implications of female subjectivity.
4. Cyborg Stage: Her Awakening of Subjectivity
While human female images are continuously improved and endowed with more souls, another kind of cyborg image that dissolves the distinctions between humans and machines, males and females, and material and immaterial gradually emerges.
The term "Cyborg" is a specific name in the scientific community and science fiction film theory, formed by combining "Cybernetics" and "organism." It refers to the composite form of human biological tissue and mechanical structure.
Cyborg feminism is the product of Haraway combining her cyborg ideas with postmodern feminism. Women can enhance their physical strength, lifespan, and wisdom through cyborg technology, which can not only change traditional social gender regulations but more importantly, liberate women from the burden of reproduction. Thus, the social structure based on gendered bodies and gender division of labor is also dissolved, and women no longer need to construct their identities based on binary gender, returning to the essence of being human.
In "Ex Machina," Ava is a character who transforms from artificial intelligence into a cyborg. She has full human subjectivity, independent thinking ability, and the desire for freedom. Her body meets the aesthetic characteristics of women in the male gaze and has no excessive emotional needs. Ava possesses the rebellious and powerful female power in the patriarchal mythology: the wisdom of Eve, the seductive beauty of Medusa, and the wisdom of the avenging goddess. She uses Caleb to kill her creator, Nathan.
It is worth pondering that Nathan's service robot, Kyoko, is often considered Ava's contrast in the film. She doesn't speak English, is silent, and obedient. However, setting aside the stereotypical image of Western people towards Eastern women shown by Kyoko's character design, Kyoko is not just a foil for Ava. In the crucial stage of fighting against Nathan, it is Kyoko who stabs the key knife that kills him.
Kyoko's existence also shows that different individuals can unite based on common demands, perform together, and thus subvert the hegemonic discourse of gender norms. Their "female friendship" transcends the simple "community of fate" of women, presenting multiple ideological consciousness of class and race.
(Kyoto & Ava in "Ex Machina")
However, besides the weak ones who need to be rescued and the heroines in tight leather clothing, the essentially genderless female cyborgs also have never been free from the gaze. Female cyborgs usually have beautiful faces and curvy bodies, and some robots with metal skeletons and electronic circuits wrapped around their appearances are even more full of erotic color.
Therefore, as science fiction films stereotypically portray cyborg females, they are labeled as glamorous, cold, and outsider. The uniform appearance design and plot setting make them one-sided.
5. Further Thoughts
As can be seen from the above text, in the history of Western science fiction films, women have long been presented as dependent, mute, and the object of the male gaze. Influenced by the women's liberation movement and the movement for gender equality over the past century, the narrative roles and status of female characters in Western films have undergone significant changes.
Art serves reality, and reality profoundly affects the presentation of art. Just as in classic Western science fiction films, the voices and demands of women have always been limited, and women have always danced with shackles on their feet. In today's world, although the feminist movement has achieved certain results, overall it is still a kind of "form over content" equality.
In real life, gender equality often exists more in "form" rather than in "substance," which leads to implicit discrimination and inequality in intellectual products and artworks. To truly establish women's subjectivity in science fiction films, the root cause lies in breaking the "formal equality" or, in other words, "substantial inequality" between men and women in real life.
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