I wasn’t quite sure about Adama’s threat to have Cally shot at the end. Too much too soon and also unnerving realworldwise because of the history of governments bringing in the army against strikers – Churchill allegedly talked about turning machine guns on the General Strikers in 1926. Adama does go in for theatrics to make a point as with the Kara/Tigh showdown earlier in the season and given how he immediately told Tyrol he could see Roslin once he’s backed down they must have planned that but I think it was ill judged all the same.
However, unlike the anti-Sagitarionism of The Woman King, I thought this situation had set-up up the wazoo. Pilots/deckhand class differentials have been apparent since Tyroll/Boomer’s illicitness, and the time of Kobol with the unspoken conflict between the out-of-his-depth officer who wanted them to mount a suicide attack on the cylon post and Tyrol. The memories Roslin had of her last meeting with Adar were all about turning the troops on striking teachers ‘pour decourager les autres,’ which suggests an pretty uneasy relationship between the government and labour. This is a society that until 40 years ago had robots to do it (or the richer part of it)’s dirty work and that work wouldn’t have gone away when the robots rebelled. You have to wonder who got drafted in to do and where they came from. Then there was the Union Tyrol was urging to throw themselves on the gears of the machines on New Caprica before the Cylons came, the way no-one seems to blink when Adama promotes his own son, Kat needing to steal another identity to become a pilot, the ragging on Tyrol for giving the deckhands a night off to see the boxing…
The pilot deckhand conflict is indicative of class issues but the workers grievances are not so much with the pilots but the political and officer classes. Cally specifically pointed out that poor colonists didn’t get to be *officers*. And the issue isn’t one of who works the hardest, it who has the power to choose to do so. Last episode Roslin could decide to take a day off, Cally couldn’t. If the pilots feel overstressed they can talk to Adama and he can talk to Roslin, the tilium workers explicitly didn’t have that. Not through malice or prejudice, through just not being there where the politicians can see them.
Strikes were illegal in wartime I’m pretty sure but all the industries were nationalised, rationing was in place and the army was something of a social leveller compared with the segragation of 1930s Britain. I think that was a big part of why Churchill was rejected, people didn’t want to go back to a status quo not fit for heroes whoever told them otherwise.
A good point about the re-education and I did think it might prove more problematic than it sounded given the initial resistance of architect boy to the whole idea. I took that more as a sort of roundabout metaphor for levelling things through taxation and socialised medical services, less coercive methods of ensuring the middle classes have a real stake in community provision.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-03-04 10:51 pm (UTC)However, unlike the anti-Sagitarionism of The Woman King, I thought this situation had set-up up the wazoo. Pilots/deckhand class differentials have been apparent since Tyroll/Boomer’s illicitness, and the time of Kobol with the unspoken conflict between the out-of-his-depth officer who wanted them to mount a suicide attack on the cylon post and Tyrol. The memories Roslin had of her last meeting with Adar were all about turning the troops on striking teachers ‘pour decourager les autres,’ which suggests an pretty uneasy relationship between the government and labour. This is a society that until 40 years ago had robots to do it (or the richer part of it)’s dirty work and that work wouldn’t have gone away when the robots rebelled. You have to wonder who got drafted in to do and where they came from. Then there was the Union Tyrol was urging to throw themselves on the gears of the machines on New Caprica before the Cylons came, the way no-one seems to blink when Adama promotes his own son, Kat needing to steal another identity to become a pilot, the ragging on Tyrol for giving the deckhands a night off to see the boxing…
The pilot deckhand conflict is indicative of class issues but the workers grievances are not so much with the pilots but the political and officer classes. Cally specifically pointed out that poor colonists didn’t get to be *officers*. And the issue isn’t one of who works the hardest, it who has the power to choose to do so. Last episode Roslin could decide to take a day off, Cally couldn’t. If the pilots feel overstressed they can talk to Adama and he can talk to Roslin, the tilium workers explicitly didn’t have that. Not through malice or prejudice, through just not being there where the politicians can see them.
Strikes were illegal in wartime I’m pretty sure but all the industries were nationalised, rationing was in place and the army was something of a social leveller compared with the segragation of 1930s Britain. I think that was a big part of why Churchill was rejected, people didn’t want to go back to a status quo not fit for heroes whoever told them otherwise.
A good point about the re-education and I did think it might prove more problematic than it sounded given the initial resistance of architect boy to the whole idea. I took that more as a sort of roundabout metaphor for levelling things through taxation and socialised medical services, less coercive methods of ensuring the middle classes have a real stake in community provision.