--- "Ellynne G." rilliara@juno.com wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jan 2001 15:14:47 -0800 (PST) "Penberriss Wendy S." penberriss@yahoo.com writes:
No, sorry Neil but Deliverance is far more misogynistic than Power. In Deliverance Meegat is totally subservient to Lord Avon.
Er, yes, but (sorry, multiple points follow)
- We have no evidence that Meegat's priestess
position _had_ to be filled by a woman. It could have just as well have been a man doing the groveling bit.
But the part *is* played by a woman, so there's not much point in saying that it could have been played by a man. It *wasn't*, that's the point.
- Given some of the historical cases Meegat's
worship was probably based on (Montezuma and Cortez, Hawaiians and Cook [sort of]) her behavior is based on male precedents.
So then it's more excusable to say that primitive people are stupid than to say that women are stupid?
- Meegat, being presented with three men, picks a
man. We don't know that she wouldn't have picked Jenna (who, with her piloting experience, may have been more qualified to get the rocket launched).
But she didn't, she picked Avon, and that was obviously the author's intention.
- Meegat's use of what are male nouns and pronouns
do not necessarily argue against this since arguments could be made about what constitutes a neuter form in her language/dialect and how that would translate in general or in this case specifically.
That is reading far too much into it. I am sure "what constitutes a neuter form in her language/dialect" was not something that was going through Terry Nation's mind when he wrote this pile of crap.
She's incapable of
launching the rocket herself
Because she is a helpless woman, looking for a man to do the proper work.
It seems safe to assume Meegat's people had some males among them, none of whom were rocket scientists.
Is there any evidence of this? Anyway I don't see that this changes anything. That's like saying that the *Story of O* isn't misogynistic because there were plenty of men in French society who weren't going around beating up women and raping them.
No, she requires a rocket scientist - or pilot, or engineer, or whizzo computer freak.
Yes but in the end the author didn't chose Jenna, he chose Avon to perform the act. And not necessarily Avon either. In the original draft it was Blake. But whoever you chose, it's always a man in the story who helps the useless female.
The rocket is nothing more than a crude metaphor
Er, it's just possible the rocket looked like a rocket because that's what rockets look like, isn't it? I don't recall Freud being hired as a consultant for NASA.
No. The author used a rocket because it looked like a giant phallus. You're are confusing fiction with real live again. The ship didn't have to be a rocket at all.
and once the gene bank is launched Avon leaves
her, to
die presumably.
I grant you that Avon is suffering radiation poisoning and that quickly leaving and getting the needed medicine must rank pretty high so, no, I don't think he hung around too long after.
Interestingly misremembered here. Avon doesn't know he's got radiation poisoning until the next episode.
I also
admit that I like to think the Liberator came back later and offered to take her and her people to another planet (if the Mayflower could handle that many people for months, I'm sure the Liberator could handle it for a few days). Since the Liberator had faster than light capacity, it could conceivably have dropped them off on the planet the rocket was heading for, giving Meegat and her people a new prophecy to await the fulfillment of and filling that void in her life.
There is not the slightest piece of evidence in this story or the one's that follow it that the Liberator retuned for Meegat. She is never mentioned again. At no point does Avon say, "I've got radiation poisoning, oh no what about poor Meega and her people." Once he's launched his rocket, he couldn't care less. Meegat is nothing more than a docile victim looking for a man to fill "that void in her life." This story is so awful, isn't it?
As for Cally and Ensor Jr, I love the look on her face when he holds the gun to her head, a sort of, "Not another one of _these_ idiots" look. Although, it would have been fun to have Blake being held at gunpoint and Ensor having to negotiate with someone with that attitude.
I don't have a problem with this scene. Ensor's motive isn't sexual. And Cally doesn't fall on the floor grovelling and say "Please don't hurt me." The way this is scripted it may as well have been Blake at gun point.
Wendy
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