conversations about the history of sf

[kaigou]

I've been contemplating truepenny's comments about SF ever having been, monolithically, the genre of (scientific/experiemental) ideas. I'll go into my thoughts on that later, but first, a quick repetition of conversation. I was telling CP about my ex's collection of dime novels from the 30's, 40's, and 50's -- originals, little pulp fiction works with tattered covers emblazoned with rocket ships and strange creatures! -- and segued into an observation of sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's...

Me: There's a pattern in a lot of them, that shows up over and over. The men of the small town -- always a small town, it seems -- figure out there's aliens or monsters or whatever's the bad guy -- and they immediately banish the women and children to either a bomb shelter or the basements, always somewhere away, out of sight, underground, even. And then at some point, when the going's especially tough, a young woman appears. She's fled the basement, she fears for her boyfriend or fiance (never a husband, that I can recall, come to think of it), and she wants to help. But the older (usually married/authority men) catch her, and insist she go back, getting all gruff when she cries that she has to help, she has to do something, and they say, no, we have it under control. Sometimes they'll even get rough with her, as though this soft-violence from them is for her own good, pushing her back into the basement.

CP: *nods*

Me: I wonder if that's related to the way... the drive, a backlash, maybe, to 'set things back in proper order', after world war two? When women most definitely came out of the shelters and the basements, rolled up their sleeves and went to work in the factories, went into the military... They weren't being protected; they were helping out. The culture was trying to re-establish the pre-war balance of women staying in the background, while men took care of everything.

CP: Oh, definitely... and then you get Barbarella.

Me: *snerk*

Check that out, Zoe, we have come a long way.

Comments

[windsorblue.livejournal.com]

Gratuitous icon reply. Just because I have Barbarella icons and I'm not afraid to use them. :D

[cosplayeriori.livejournal.com]

I totally see that. On a related and yet unrelated note. I read a book on pretty much the outlined lesbian culture from 1890-2000. It looked at each decade or so of time. It seemed to be a constant repeat of liberation of one kind or another then backlash and imposed conservitisim (is that even a word?). With WW2 is probably one of the most visable. Hooorray for the atomic family of the 50's.......and Barbarella = awsome in a campy kinda way!

[muse-neko.livejournal.com]

I want to be Zoe when I grow up. ^___^