It is hard
to say what exactly
causedthe shift in
the Sci-Fi genre- from an almost
exclusive male interest, to a genre that
has more and more female readers,
writers and watchers. All of a sudden,
it became OK for a girl to like the
genre, and more and more girls started
to take interest. (According to some
polls- 80% of the genre readers are
girls, but I am not sure of their
accuracy). Such a shift has to (and did)
cause a change inside the genre- there
was a whole new crowd to satisfy, but
still keep the older crowd interested.
Ripley
Probably the
most important feminist icon that
appeared at the beginning of that era
(aside from Princess Leah of course) was
Ripley,the main Character in the Alien
series. A strong warrior, a survivor,
and- in certain cases- a mother and a
protector. She was later followed by
Sarah Conner from the terminator series,
who showed growth, from the damsel in
distress from the first movie- to the
strong independent woman of the second
one.
Ripley and similar characters like her were
strong women, but they where far from being
attractive. Strong and muscular, they were
ideal for fighting the bad guys, not for
sexual fantasies. Only toward the late 90’s
sexier yet strong female characters started
to appear.
Number 6
In
part 1, I talked
about the sexy robot, at the beginning it
was the Metropolis model that was usually
used, but over the years the idea of the
Robot evolved- from Machine to Android, a
robot coated with human flesh. Wheter it
was Data from Star Trek the Next
Generation, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Terminator, to the Androids in Blade
Runner- the new Robots had a human face and
some human characteristics. When it comes
to female Androids- they where usually
perfect, beautiful but not necessarily
sexy, a perfect female. They also had a few
human qualities- in many cases there was a
almost fragile feeling about them. A
powerful machine, but one that you feel the
need to protect.
In 2004, the Sci-Fi channel lunched a
remake of the 70’s Sci-Fi show, Battlestar
Galactica. The new show was more realistic,
grittier and much more pessimistic then the
original show. The premise of the show was
about the fight between the last surviving
humans, and a robot race- the cylons. We
soon learn that the cylons managed to built
Human looking Android models.
The first
android cylone we meet is mostly known as
Number 6 (she has plenty of other names-
but she is most known as Number 6). She is
a bit of abnormality, in a series composed
of strong female characters, a character
that is basically introduce as a sex object
seems to not really fit in. A blonde
supermodel (played by underwear model) in a
tight barley there red dress- the ultimate
male fantasy- and the one that brings
humanity to it’s almost ultimate
destruction, all by using her female
“charms”. In many ways, this is her main
job- she is a male fantasy, and ultimately
an obsession (especially with regard to one
male character in the series). It is only
as the series progresses that we see other
sides to her- the ruthless leader, a
religious fanatic, a pacifist and at times
even a victim.
Xena Warrior
Princess
Xena Warrior
Princess was a spin-off series off the
television seriesHercules:
The Legendary
Journeys, and quite
quickly became much more popular then it’s
predecessor. The show was a combination of
Greek mythology and D&D adventure,
with some pop culture humor thrown in the
mix. Xena’s almost legendary outfit- a
short leather mini dress- was directly
related to the Warriors appearing in the
Dungun & Dragon artworks and designs:
Xena’s revealing outfit and strength sparked
the imagination of male fans and made her a
sexual icon. But her real popularity came
from a completely new audience to the genre-
lesbians. Xena’s Strength and masculinity
coupled with a certain feminism (she was
still an attractive woman), but especially
her ambiguous relationship with her sidekick
Gabriel- attracted the Lesbian community, and
made Xena a Lesbian Icon- maybe the first
such Icon in the Sci-Fi genre.
Hot Geeky Girls
Female Geeks were
,up until a few years ago, portrayed
stereotypically as unattractive (to say the
least). But in the last few years, with the
change in the genre itself, more and more
girls now considered themselves geeks. It’s
becoming OK to be an attractive geek.
This change is feathered in the media. This
trend is by all accounts the creation
of
Joss Whedon. In the late
90’s Whedon created the new cult series,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show’s premise
was built on the idea that the hot blond that
always dies in the beginning of the movie, is
actually the one that beats the bad guys- the
damsel in distress is really the one who is
goanna rescue you. While Sarah Michelle
Geller (the actress who played Buffy) was an
attractive girl, she wasn’t the one that
become a sex icon from the series. But rather
the other female characters- especially
Willow that embodied the rule.
Alyson
Hannigan
Maybe
the first of the Geeky Sexy Girls, she was
Buffy nerdy sidekick- Willow. And while in
the first few season she was Nerdy and
(supposedly) un attractive, but by the time
the 3rdseason rolled in
she was starting to discover her sexuality
(in her case Lesbian sexuality) . And she
quickly started to over shadow her co-stars.
While Alyson, didn’t continue to play in the
Sci-Fi genre (she now plays in “How I met
your Mother&rdquo, she is still on of the
first sexy geek in American television.
Summer
Glau
Another Actress that started her
career with Joss Whedon is Summer Glau. At
first appearing in guest roles in his
shows. She later became a cast member in
his short lived series, Firefly. Her
innocent Lolita looks, coupled with her
strength and fighting ability (Glau was a
ballet dancer before becoming an actress,
so her flexibility and strength was very
useful for the role) later helped her get
the part of Cameron, the
innocent/strong/Lolita like character in
the Sarah Conner Chronicles (and also John
Conner’s secret crush). She is now rumored
to play a guest role in Joss Whedon’s new
series, The Doll House. Her sexy geek image
was cemented in an episode of the comedy
show “The Big Bang Theory”, where the geeky
cast members of the show meet her
Felicia
Day
And yet another actress that
appeared in a guest role in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer (season 7). Felicia Day,
gained fame among the geek community, not
only because she is a geek herself, but
mainly because of her successful web
seriesThe Guildand in Joss
Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along
Blog.
Kristen Bell
Kristen Bell started her career
as the main heroine in the show “Veronica
Mars”. While not strictly a geek in the
show, she was the beautiful, clever outcast
that solved complex mysteries. She later
joined the cast of Heroes, and appeared in
a few films- including “Forgetting Sarah
Marshall”. She also stars, in the geeky
Starwars inspired movie, Fanboys, as the
hot geeky girl (of course).
Maybe a bit
of a controversial choice, since I have
the feeling she’s considered a sex
symbol more by (straight) female
audiences then males.Death is the
creation of Neil Gaiman, one of the most
popular Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers out there
(he is especially popular among female
fans). In 1986, Gaiman started writing a
comic book series called the Sandman,
which quickly became one of the biggest
master pieces in the comics book genre
(Gaiman himself is called “the
Shakespeare of
comics&rdquo, and a series that is
credited of brining many female fans to
the genre. Death was the older sister of
the story’s hero, Dream. A spunky,
attractive, Goth, female Death, she is a
different version of the Grim Reaper, we
all know and love. The comic describes
her as someone that you instantly like-
a best friend or a lover. One male
character described her as someone you
instantly fall in love with.
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, she is still on of the
first sexy geek in American television.
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