Dan Wohl | The Mary Sue

Posts by dan wohl

Essay

On Female Villains, or the Lack Thereof

by Dan Wohl | 2:45 pm, June 6th, 2013

*Contains minor spoilers of Star Trek Into Darkness*

Unlike our own Zoe Chevat and Jill Pantozzi, I was actually very happy with Star Trek Into Darkness overall. Having been a Trekkie for as long as I can remember, I understand that it doesn’t have the philosophical weight of some past Trek stories, as well as the contention that it heavily recycles old characters and plot points. But personally I look at the “Abramsverse” as a complete remake, and my view of the new films is that they’re made differently but extremely well.

That’s not to say that I don’t agree with the gender issues-related criticisms of the film. The now-infamous Carol Marcus undressed scene was, to be sure, gratuitous, offensive and completely inexcusable. I was equally disappointed by the scene of a Starfleet Command roundtable which shows a 20-person group that’s between 70-75 percent male. But where equality appears even farther away, in Hollywood as a whole, is among another realm of film characters: villains.

Star Trek Needs a Gay Character and Here’s How to Do It: One Trekkie’s Proposal

by Dan Wohl | 12:28 pm, March 14th, 2013

I love Star Trek. I don’t think there’s any franchise more central to my geek life. There’s a lot of unreal universes out there that I enjoy learning about, but I’m sure there’s none that I would more like to actually live in than the optimistic idea of our future that is Star Trek.

The ’60s-produced original series included a woman of color bridge officer who was cited as an inspiration by Mae Jemison (who became the first black woman in space) and Whoopi Goldberg (who ended up a Star Trek star herself). The more recent series’ increased speculative-science focus led Stephen Hawking, on a visit to the Next Generation set, to say “I’m working on that” when passing the warp core prop.

There’s so much to feel positive about in Star Trek, and over the decades it’s generally done a fine job of showing us how we could, and should, be. But there’s one particular area of social justice that the franchise has failed to live up to its standards on, and it remains a blight on the series in my estimation. I’m talking about the fact that there has never, despite years of promises and false starts, been an openly gay or lesbian character in the canon Star Trek universe.

But I have a proposal to change that. J.J. Abrams, if you’re listening, I think you should make Sulu gay.

Eight Women-Lead Historical TV Series That Would Totally Work

by Dan Wohl | 12:31 pm, January 15th, 2013

In my last post, I argued that there’s no excuse for excluding women from historically-inspired fantasy constructs — even if it means sacrificing “historical accuracy,” which is done away with in one way or another in all fantasy works anyway.

After reading through the post’s many thought-provoking comments, I realized I hadn’t emphasized something I should have: that historically-inspired stories with female protagonists certainly need not exist only in the realm of fantasy.

With shows like The Tudors, Rome, Deadwood, The Borgias, Spartacus, etc., the past decade or so has seen the rise of a heretofore rare phenomenon: the historical TV series that is based around real historical figures. I love this trend. These shows let you see a bygone time and culture, while allowing for the deep character development you don’t always get in similarly-set films.

But like most genres, there are not nearly enough female-centered ones. So I came up with some women in history whose lives, I thought, would adapt well to the format, along with some fantasy casting choices for each.

Is “Historical Accuracy” a Good Defense of Patriarchal Societies in Fantasy Fiction?

by Dan Wohl | 12:30 pm, December 5th, 2012

Are you aware that human history is full of examples of sexist, patriarchal societies where women were discriminated against? I’m sure you are, as a reader of The Mary Sue. I’m pretty sure you are as a person alive in the 21^st Century, too. Yet so many of the historically inspired fantasy worlds we love are remarkably intent on reminding us of this.

When I raise this issue with someone, I often get some variation of this in reply. Sexism in (to pick the most obvious example) medieval fantasy is okay or even desirable, the thinking goes, because in the real European Middle Ages sexism was the status quo. There’s no denying that, but fantasy is called fantasy because it’s a fantasy. There were no dragons in the real Middle Ages either, but we don’t have a problem including them.