--- Natasa Tucev tucev@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu wrote: >
This is not true. We are not irrevocably trapped within our social and cultural roles. One's whole being is not contained within one's culture. A whole book by L. Trilling, 'Beyond Culture' is dedicated to this question and it proves very convincingly that there is a residue of personality, however small, over which general culture doesn't hold sway, and which provides a standpoint for resisting this culture. This may be expressed in one's interest in other cultures, other traditions, whose set of societal or moral values is different and can be used for making subversive comparisons.
I agree with this completely. I would also add that culture are neither homogenous nor hermetically sealed. Who was representative of German culture in 1942 ? Hitler, Bonhoeffer, Willy Brandt or Erich Honecker ? In understanding nationalist movements Arab world at the beginning of the century one needs some kind of grasp or both Arab/ Islamic and European culture. We are not defined by culture because we have some choice over what bits of our culture we find attractive. A great deal of the social/ political conflict in our current society (Debates over feminist issues, censorship, sexuality, the role of religion, education etc.) is about cultural issues as much as economic. The choices we make will determine the sort of culture we have in the future.
Likewise, Roj Blake is not just another alpha-grade engineer or whatever. The author uses his character to express a certain set of values and ideas - the invincibility of human spirit, humane attitudes, 'dreams worth having'. Didacticism or the author's world-view are also expressed through characters and their clashes and differences.
The classic example is the three way debate between Avon, Blake and Jenna in the Computer room in Space Fall, which you quote. In a lot of the early episodes characters are representative of tendencies in Federation society. Travis and Servalan represent the military hard-liners, Rai and Samor represent an older tendency in the military class which still believes in honour. (I think a parallel with the conflicts in the German Officer class in WWII was intended), Meanwhile the politicians - Bercol, Rontane, Joban - hover hoping to benefit from Servalan's ruthlessness whilst fearing it. A picture of the galaxy is developed through a cast of (often minor) characters.
I must say that I prefer this threefold division between Blake, Jenna and Avon mirrored by the threefold division in the Federation elite in the early stories to the "Servalan and Avon race after this weeks widget" story of s4. Blake's 7 was much better when it was about something.
Stephen.
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