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scifi musings, past my bedtime
Oct. 29th, 2006 01:34 amRegarding the new BSG: it just occurred to me that Gaius Baltar is the ultimate antihero. Not in the dashing romantic badboy sense, but in that he's the antithesis of a hero. The conflict of a hero is always Whether He Will Do the Right Thing. What makes a hero a hero is that ultimately, when faced with these conflicts, the hero always does the Right Thing.
Gaius is always being tested with such trials. And time and time again, he fails. He might not do the wrong thing - but never the Right Thing. What makes him a fascinating character is that with most villains, you always know this. There's no dramatic tension; the villain of course is going to do the Wrong Thing or else they wouldn't be the villain. With Baltar - you're never totally sure. Maybe this time, this one instant will cross whatever faded and faintly sketched line exists in him...and then he goes and surrenders one more fragment of his shredded soul. But maybe next time...
I've been watching BSG since its first season and still haven't decided if I like it. Ask me when I've figured out whether I can honestly enjoy something so terrifically, disturbingly dark (not to mention, hello, politics! Fanning is trickier for me when depressing reality starts intervening, even if metaphorically.) (So preferably don't ask me right after reading Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest, which is fantastic but a singularly depressing study of human nature, a stomach-churning depiction of racism and xenophobia and the tragedy of what can be lost when the other is not recognized as a brother as well. Anyone got any happy scifi recs? I think I need to pick up some more Timothy Zahn. A bit of rambunctious space opera to cleanse the palate. Just started Crais's Elvis Cole series instead, which technically is not scifi but Hollywood is synonymous with surreality such as to make little noticeable difference.)
Gaius is always being tested with such trials. And time and time again, he fails. He might not do the wrong thing - but never the Right Thing. What makes him a fascinating character is that with most villains, you always know this. There's no dramatic tension; the villain of course is going to do the Wrong Thing or else they wouldn't be the villain. With Baltar - you're never totally sure. Maybe this time, this one instant will cross whatever faded and faintly sketched line exists in him...and then he goes and surrenders one more fragment of his shredded soul. But maybe next time...
I've been watching BSG since its first season and still haven't decided if I like it. Ask me when I've figured out whether I can honestly enjoy something so terrifically, disturbingly dark (not to mention, hello, politics! Fanning is trickier for me when depressing reality starts intervening, even if metaphorically.) (So preferably don't ask me right after reading Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest, which is fantastic but a singularly depressing study of human nature, a stomach-churning depiction of racism and xenophobia and the tragedy of what can be lost when the other is not recognized as a brother as well. Anyone got any happy scifi recs? I think I need to pick up some more Timothy Zahn. A bit of rambunctious space opera to cleanse the palate. Just started Crais's Elvis Cole series instead, which technically is not scifi but Hollywood is synonymous with surreality such as to make little noticeable difference.)
