From: Natasa Tucev tucev@tesla.rcub.bg.ac.yu
The Marxist Department of the Lyst established:
<snip>
Let us be fair to B7, however, and note that in general its underlying world-view is far from being imperialistic.
*That's* the word I was looking for. Damn damn damn....
The Federation are the imperialists, and they are the bad guys. As for the rebels, from the very beginning it is the case of 'proles of all planets unite'. Bran Foster's gang of rebels who live on Earth (cultural centre) neither resent nor despise the inhabitants of the Outer Planets (cultural periphery), but discuss the ways to help them gain independence.
I think that's rather simplistic. The Federation are the bad guys, yes, and they are imperialistic, yes, but as symbolic of the British Empire, no, probably not. I think another, rather shorter-lived empire (despite its thousand year ambition) should be seen as a template for the Federation.
Proles of all planets etc: In theory, maybe, but where are the proles in Blake's crew? Vila, perhaps, but he is depicted as the weakest member of the crew, as well as the butt of ridicule. Gan possibly, but there's not much to say about him. Cally is a rank outsider who might be a prole by default. But the three central members of the crew - Avon, Jenna and Blake himself - are definitely not proles. Blake's revolution isn't really the masses against the ruling elite, it's a struggle between nice and nasty factions of that elite.
Or, had Britain fallen in 1940, the revolt against the tyrant invaders by the prior 'rightful' rulers.
However, we have to take into consideration the different slants placed upon the situation by different writers and the particularities of individual episodes. There is no Federation, and the crew are dumped on a planet with a primitive society. There are several such episodes - Deliverance, The Keeper, Aftermath (and Power, to a certain extent), and it would be interesting to draw up comparisons (and dissimilarities) but I've got to go to work.
Also, take 'Horizon', with its obvious allusions to India, and see how
Blake
encourages Ro to break away from the colonizing influence upon his mind,
ask
himself what his father (i.e., the past, ancestry, tradition) would do,
and
act accordingly.
India? I thought the local culture there was modelled on South America (Aztecs or Maya or somesuch, I don't really know the differences between them all). If you mean India as a British colony, then yes, I can see the parallel (though virtually any colony would do, including the South American ones the British nabbed before India really got going).
This is not a Terry Nation script, however. I don't think we can examine the ideological particularities of an episode without bearing in mind who wrote it.
Also, the tone of Horizon might be anti-colonial, but the Federation (the Big Enemy) are there as well as the natives (who without the Federation's presence might have become just another little enemy). Remember how Darth Vader was the bad guy before the Emperor proved he was even worse.
Neil