We gender-bend TOS, asking how would it have been different if the creators had cast women in the men’s roles and vice versa? Would Captain Kirk have behaved differently? Would Mudd have existed? And what 1960s actors would have been best in each role?
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Hosts: Jarrah, Grace, Sue
Editor: Andi
Transcription: Rebecca – @carolinalady
Download transcript: PDF or Word
Notes and References:
- Big thanks to the-dreaming-grass for letting us use their amazing fan art for our cover photo!
This episode made alot of interesting points. It made me realise just how much steriotypes affect how male and female characters are written. Although things have improved recently with discovery, it is still true that the behaviour, personalities and careers of women on screen are very much restricted by what society deems acceptable when compared with their male counterparts. I don’t think you could get away with writing a female version of spock back then. (After all Rodenberry himself tried it with number 1 and failed) And even now I don’t think there are any female characters around that are quite the same. Although i do think Julie Andrews would have been the best spock! You said that tos is one of the hardest series to genderbend given when it was made so I’d really love to see how tng and ds9 would fare in a later episode.
This genderbend AOS comic you talked about… where can I read it?
Hi Clara – the series is called Parallel Lives and came out from IDW in January 2014. You might be able to find it through your local comic book shop or online.
I don’t think you lot appreciate how very very different things were 50 years ago. This was the state of gender politics: Men had authority over women. Men had a duty and a responsibility to protect women. Women who had too much sex were insane, or broken, or been raped too much, so they were put in asylums. Butch women, or women who rejected the housewife role, were lesbians so they also were put in asylums. Women who tried to out-smart men, drank too much, danced too much, or wore short skirts in the wrong situation were being disrespectful to themselves, men, society, church, and their families, and deserved a good smack until they stopped.
I study history, and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up, and I watched a lot of old tv, and I grew up in the kind of house that still upholds the above. I’m just saying, the ideas you have about a gender swapped TOS cast just only barely scratch the surface of what they’d go up against.