Mothers in space

[hazelk]

Been reflecting on rahirah’s post on mothers, or the lack thereof, in fanfic and fantasy. I don’t read enough of either to pronounce on the topic but her main point has the ring of truth. In both forms children tend to be used as symbolic devices rather than to represent motherhood as actual mothers experience it. Someone in the comments raised BSG as a possible counter example, which I’d like to explore.


I’m sure I remember articles discussing how motherhood remains unwritten in literary fiction as well as in genre’s like fantasy. Despite being a formative experience for many writers, unlike sex or violence or death it doesn’t seem to be associated with any recognisable literary category, it’s not one of the seven, twenty, thirty six or sixty nine basic plots, not a stage of the hero’s journey.

Possibly it’s not a narrative experience, not easily expressed through stuff happening in the way the usual suspects are. Failing tragically, seeking vengeance, being redeemed they each have a clear beginning, middle and end. Motherhood has a beginning but in some ways, once the birth part is over, it’s more like depression, it creeps up you. The repetition, the distraction, the sleeplessness, the constant waiting, the inexplicable joy. It’s immersive, about being not doing. Hard to convey on the page and not read like one of those interminable people at a parent’s group listing out the minutiae of their offspring’s every breath and bowel movement.

Just as it’s possible to ground a story about alienation or depression by having your protagonist turn into a giant cockroach or be ripped out of heaven motherhood may be a story that needs an overarching metaphor more than a plot. I think that’s why it seems to work on BSG. It’s a war story set in space, not the most promising of premises admittedly but space can have many meanings. The final frontier, the place where gods and star-children lie waiting to be worshipped, the skies that no-one can take from you, the black where no-one can hear you scream. Space on BSG has the look of a giant fallopian tube through which ships swim frantically in search of the big one and planets hang like ova. Together with the near genocide making reproduction an absolute necessity for the humans and a religion for the Cylons provides a backdrop that strips the baby storylines of their familiar soapy trappings. Sharon’s reaction to the loss of her daughter, her utter ruthlessness given the chance to take her back exposes mother love as a great white shark of an emotion, the dramatic equal of any.

Comments

[c-mantix.livejournal.com]

Very provocative and evocative thoughts re: motherhood as the Great Unwritten... I believe my visual brain went boldly where it had never been before went I read: "The final frontier, the place where gods and star-children lie waiting to be worshipped, the skies that no-one can take from you, the black where no-one can hear you scream. Space on BSG has the look of a giant fallopian tube through which ships swim frantically in search of the big one and planets hang like ova".

Yep. You definitely have me thinking in different terms about this unexplored territory, and also about BSG.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

It's good :-) The other image that keeps coming back to me is of the cylons (all female apart from Gaius dreaming) giving birth to themselves in those pools.

[c-mantix.livejournal.com]

Now you've got me thinking about the Hybrid and how she is in a sense endlessly giving birth in her pool. She's like a mad den mother!

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

There are no words for what we do

[ann1962]

Sharon’s reaction to the loss of her daughter, her utter ruthlessness given the chance to take her back exposes mother love as a great white shark of an emotion, the dramatic equal of any.

Completely. I think so. That is the power that becomes hidden by the sentimentalizing of mothering.

I don't follow BSG, but posts by you, Rahirah, Oursin, and Selenak all speak of mothering. Fascinating convergence today.

Re: There are no words for what we do

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Yes I think it was that link to the freebirth thing that triggered this as much as anything. I completely agree with your 'rant.'

Re: There are no words for what we do

[ann1962]

Thanks! It was just a little rant.

Now I am pondering what a woman's description, in writing, using that power would be, the experience drilled into the art. I don't think those words have been invented, so the actual experience's power can only be seen to be believed. If that was harnessed... Because so many of us do it, give birth and have children, it seems to be common, but the fact that it is unnamed really, shows its power. Which ties back to your star children god image.

[yourlibrarian]

once the birth part is over, it’s more like depression, it creeps up you.

Had to laugh at that. You're right though, I think BSG has handled it pretty well so far.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the finale yet? The future is, uh, disorientating.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I finally caught up. The know how to do cliffhangers, don't they?

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Heh, I remember last year complaining to my directing prof that Western art doesn't treat the experience of birth (not just motherhood, but birth, which after all everybody has to go through) and then the next day I saw a play called Debris, which included a long sequence of a woman miming how she came through the birth canal as a baby (actually, it was a good play and an excellent production). And then I heard a ghastly song on the radio with a man celebrating the fact that "She's having my baaaaby", so I thought maybe things were changing. And then I forgot all about it till I read your post, but it made me laugh because it reminded me of how indignant I was when I first noticed it.

Still and all, I think the absence of mothers and babies in SF is a genre thing, because the adventure aspect demands a that (a) you don't have your parents tagging along being sensible and making sure you wear wollen undies and have a clean pocket handkerchief and (b) babies are frightfully inconvenient if you're being chased or menaced (I've never forgotten that episode of MASH where a busful of passengers is hiding from the North Koreans and a baby starts to cry and the mother has to hold her hand so long over its mouth that it suffocates).

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Now you remind me of a trendy puppet show I took James to last summer, which did a version of Sleeping Beauty including a re-enacment of her birth with a bowling ball and a sheet :-)

Partly genre and also the child actor problem if it's TV. Although there's a James Tiptree story that uses the Mash device but told from the point of view of the mother, it can be done but only in small doses maybe.

[ann1962]

Thanks for that recc. I shall google now.

I remember that MASH episode as well. It was so shocking.

I think the absence of mothers and babies in SF is a genre thing

I wonder if the fantasy genre handles this differently? I read less fantasy because I prefer the harder science of SF, but this has got me wondering now.