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Tim Hunter looks at the queering of science fiction.
Out actor John Barrowman plays the bisexual hero, Captain Jack Harkness, in TV series Torchwood
What exactly is the connection between science fiction (SF) and being
queer? Is it the allure of imagined futures where sexuality and gender
are much more fluid; is it the kinship that many queer people feel with
alien outsiders; or is it simply the enjoyment of escaping reality into
fantastic worlds?
Alan Duncan, the social secretary for gay and lesbian SF fan club
Spaced Out, posits that an attraction to the genre is inherent among
queers.
“Gay people, growing up…tend to have to transcend the surroundings they
are in, whether it be from subconciously attained ‘baggage’, or overt
homophobia, until such time as they can ‘escape’,” he says.
“I really think sci-fi taps into this need to remove yourself from the
everyday and to retreat into a better life, sometimes a fantasy life,
where you can play the hero and be loved…instead of being the one who’s
an outcast, or last to be picked for the PE team.”
What
we now know as science fiction first emerged in the early 19th century
with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; while the spaceships and time travel
kicked in with the writings of H.G Wells and Jules Verne in the late
19th century. It wasn’t until the 1960s that queer themes made their
way into science-fiction literature.
Writers such as Ursula Le Guin wrote about a species without gender in
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969); Robert A. Heinlein’s Time Enough For
Love (1973) saw the freedom to be gay positively argued; and more
recently, Julian May’s Galactic Milieu Trilogy (1992-1996) featured two
gay characters who married each other.
Indeed, queer SF has become so prolific that a number of literary
awards now recognise the best examples in the field. The Lambda
Literary Award is given to published works which celebrate or explore
LGBT themes, while the James Tiptree, Jr. Award recognises works of
science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore our understanding of
gender.
Roland Thomson from gay and lesbian bookshop Hares and Hyenas has a
whole bay dedicated to queer speculative fiction, and says that it’s
vampires that are more popular in gay male books, while lesbian SF has
more feminist, Utopian themes. And while literary awards do offer a
signpost of what’s good, Thomson finds it’s basically niche market.
“The fans know what they want and come in and pick up the latest
releases, and sometimes we get someone wandering in, asking for gay SF.
But it is very fan-based,” Thomson says.
Queer themes or characters in science fiction films are harder to pin
down, which hasn’t stopped Austin, Texas hosting OUTer, the Gay and
Lesbian Science Fiction/Fantasy Film Festival annually since 2004.
Among the films shown in last year’s festival was Outland, a 25-minute
short by Melbourne filmmaker John Richards, which is now in development
as a TV series. Richards is also making a documentary about the
connection between queer culture and science fiction.
In researching his documentary, Richard’s says he’s found that the
attraction of science fiction for queers, “goes back to being the
outsider, and [not] belonging.”
“It’s also about shiny things and skin-tight leotards,” he adds, laughing.
Television such as Star Trek have been the biggest breeding ground for
queer-themed SF and characters, such as Star Trek Next Generation’s
Will Riker falling in love with a member of an androgynous alien
race, the J’naii (which received heavy criticism from gay groups at the
time); the fan favourite character of Willow coming out as a lesbian on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer; and most recently, Captain Jack Harkness
(played by out actor John Barrowman) in Doctor Who and Torchwood.
“Well, he’s bisexual; he’s not actually gay,” Richards observes.
“Bisexuality is still more acceptable than being gay. Everyone’s still
a bit nervous about it, even in this day and age. It’s that whole thing
about it being hard enough to be gay in the present, but then no one’s
gay in the future; which I would have thought would have been the
obvious place [where] you can be.”
It’s still hard to be gay and a sci-fi fan at the same time too, as Richards explored in Outland.
“You don’t want to out yourself as a geek in the gay world. In
Australia, it’s acceptable to know everything about footy, or Kylie,
but being a science fiction fan is seen as freaky,” the film-maker says.
But times are changing. Groups like Spaced Out have operated since
1999, and the internet has made it easier to connect with other
SF-loving queers. And with people like Doctor Who and Torchwood’s
Executive Producer, Russell T Davies, spearheading queer SF, the future
of GLBT characters in the genre is looking very bright.
“Doctor Who has done remarkably well,” Richard observes. “Captain Jack
is… astonishing…an openly bisexual leading man. There are action
figures of him! There are children playing with Captain Jack figures!
That is an amazing breakthrough, and no one has any problems with it.”
www.spacedoutinc.org
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