The Shape of Things to Come? Politics of Reproduction in the Contemporary Science Fiction Series “Battlestar Galactica”

Abstract

In this article, I discuss how the politics of survival in the science fiction TV series “Battlestar Galactica” (BSG) correspond to contemporary biopolitics in late modern Western society. BSG takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where war between artificial, non-human bodies and organic, human bodies emphasizes the importance of sustained population growth and, ultimately, survival for the human race. The BSG survival narrative accentuates the challenges that advanced reproductive technologies pose to the female body and how this is interrelated to state regulation of reproduction and population control. As a political fiction, BSG facilitates a discussion of the dynamics of choice and duty in relation to post-human reproduction: the right to choose not to reproduce as well as the right to reproduce. In light of my analysis, I suggest that the BSG survival narrative concludes with a displacement of discourses of choice onto discourses of obligation due to biotechnological advancement. I posit that BSG's endorsement of post-human reproduction, coupled with a pro-natalist approach to population control, represents post-human reproduction as an evolutionary advancement the female body cannot refuse. As such, the BSG survival narrative reinscribes gender as a category of difference and the link between the female body and reproduction as key norms for late modern societies.

“I'm not a commodity, I'm a Viper pilot”

Starbuck, BSG 205: The Farm

Acknowledgements

Several people have given me invaluable feedback in the process of writing this article. I particularly thank my supervisor Wencke Mühleisen, my colleague Fredrik Langeland at UiS, Magda Górska, Tove Solander, and Wibke Straube from the Intergender D09 group, and my anonymous reviewers. Thanks are also due to the interdisciplinary peer supervision group at the University of Stavanger.

Notes

¹ The original series called “Battlestar Galactica”, created by Glen E. Larson, was released in the USA in September 1978. Although the series was short-lived (only one season), it was screened in several European countries, including Great Britain (1980), France (1981), Italy (1981), and Finland (1981).

² http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2010/press.html (accessed 15 November 2010).

³ http://www.lovdata.no/all/nl-20031205-100.html (accessed 30 June 2010). The amendments to the Biotechnology Act were a result of amendments to the Marriage Act, granting equal marital status for heterosexual and homosexual couples. These amendments to Norwegian law on biopolitics result in a legal right to reproductive assistance for all married or cohabiting Norwegian women. Single women, single men, and gay couples, however, are exempt from these reproductive rights.

⁴ Egg donation and surrogacy are prohibited under the Biotechnology Act.

⁵ The actual identity of Starbuck is confused throughout the series. My analysis deals with events that take place before her “death” (episode 317: Maelstrom) and subsequent “resurrection” (episode 320: Crossroads, Part II). Since episode 320, the identity of Starbuck has been unclear, and the confusion surrounding her being human, Cylon, or the “harbinger of Death” has been used to fuel the narrative. However, as this confusion is not relevant to this analysis, I have chosen not to complicate Starbuck's identity as human. It is relevant, however, that, in the original series, Starbuck was a male character.

⁶ http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Fertility_statistics (accessed 19 March 2010), http://www.susps.org/overview/birthrates.html (accessed 19 March 2010).

⁷ See also the cultural imaginary (Lykke & Braidotti, 1996), the social imaginary (Braidotti, 2002), and imagined communities (Anderson, 1991).

⁸ See also note 1. The disappearance contributes to mythical interpretations of Starbuck's identity, but they are not relevant to this particular analysis.

⁹ These biopolitics are also interlinked with religious beliefs, representing a binary of religion/secularism. Although there are religious undercurrents to be found in the BSG narrative, religion does not come across as a main argument when legitimizing biopolitics.