Guy said -
I'm a newcomer here, so I should really borrow some of Slave's humility
for my first few postings
No way - get stuck in like everyone else does. Hello by the way.
Do we really believe Servalan thinks about this stuff much ?
'Think about' and 'believe that' are ambiguous terms. A person might 'think that' something is the case without framing it in their mind in so many words. So it might be that Servalan doesn't spend much time thinking about political or historical processes, but she just instinctively feels that everything must end badly, that compassion and love will lose to greed and terror: as she says 'it's an old wall, and it waits for everyone'.
I think adding this radical pessimism to her character makes her more rounded (no pun intended) than the average SF villain of the time. Her ruthlessness isn't just an inexplicable plot device, but reflects a complete, bleak, world view.
As it happens I'd go a bit further than that, as I think Servalan probably does think in explicit terms about these things. I think she is a bit of an intellectual, though a pragmatic one rather than a lover of ideas for their own sake. But I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions.
Alison
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Following on from Alison and Guy (welcome aboard, by the way).
Do we really believe Servalan thinks about this
stuff much ?
'Think about' and 'believe that' are ambiguous terms. A person might 'think that' something is the case without framing it in their mind in so many words. So it might be that Servalan doesn't spend much time thinking about political or historical processes, but she just instinctively feels that everything must end badly, that compassion and love will lose to greed and terror: as she says 'it's an old wall, and it waits for everyone'.
I wonder whether the Federation ideology might have contributed to this belief. After all Totalitarian regimes have a habit of subscribing to perverse variants of Darwinian theory - Eugenics in Nazi Germany, Lysenko's theories in Stalinist Russia. The Federation probably justified itself through it's propaganda by suggesting that if nasty malcontents like Blake got their way and gave everyone freedom, the galaxy would descend into Chaos. Servalan's own experiences and character may have given this the romantic, quasi-Wagnerian twist that the Chaos would come in any event and that all one could do was hold it back.
I think adding this radical pessimism to her character makes her more rounded (no pun intended) than the average SF villain of the time. Her ruthlessness isn't just an inexplicable plot device, but reflects a complete, bleak, world view.
I think I'll just me too at this point.
As it happens I'd go a bit further than that, as I think Servalan probably does think in explicit terms about these things. I think she is a bit of an intellectual, though a pragmatic one rather than a lover of ideas for their own sake. But I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions.
I can't myself see this. On the rare occasions Servalan does justify herself it's in terms of her own experience and feelings. But I can imagine that she's intelligent enough to understand the appeal that ideas have for other people and to use it when she suits her.
Stephen.
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In message 21B0197931E1D211A26E0008C79F6C4AB0CAF4@BRAMLEY, Alison Page alison_page@becta.org.uk writes
I think adding this radical pessimism to her character makes her more rounded (no pun intended) than the average SF villain of the time. Her ruthlessness isn't just an inexplicable plot device, but reflects a complete, bleak, world view.
"The human face of the Federation."
Yes, she's not just an Evil Overlord, but someone who's that way for a reason. She doesn't have the bleakness as the series opens - it develops along with the series. She's always ruthless, but I think she becomes more cynical.
I think she genuinely believes the Federation is in the right, that it's a way to stave off anarchy and decline. She's quite sincere when she can't understand why Mellanby (before she realises who he is) won't pay his fine and go home.
As it happens I'd go a bit further than that, as I think Servalan probably does think in explicit terms about these things. I think she is a bit of an intellectual, though a pragmatic one rather than a lover of ideas for their own sake. But I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions.
I think she is. My "ignore the BBC world" rationalisation for the change in her characterisation in series 4 is that by now she's become very bitter and disillusioned about the Federation. She seized power in Star One because she believed that the Federation was in imminent danger of destruction and only the military were capable of dealing with the threat. She wanted the power anyway, but her reasons for taking it at that point weren't purely selfish. Her reasons for wanting it back in Series 4 *are* selfish.
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Alison Page -
Julia Jones -
Stephen Date