Four Weddings and a Cylon
I mentioned in podcast #8 that at least four weddings between main characters have taken place off-screen since the fleet’s settlement on New Caprica: Starbuck and Anders, Chief Tyrol and Cally, Dee and Apollo, and…Helo and Sharon. In the Season 3 premiere episode Sharon is formally inducted into the fleet (again), given a uniform, and sworn in as Sharon Agathon.
I’m fascinated that while political strife has played such a significant role in the series (on issues such as religion, abortion, martial law, prisoner treatment, and warfare), the politics of marriage has entered into it very little. The president, the military, and the Quorum of Twelve seemed in the past to negotiate most major issues. However, unlike in our present society, the humans of BSG seem unconcerned with what could be called non-traditional marriage. Now, it’s possible that few people know of Helo and Sharon’s marriage – but assuming a fair number do know, it’s amazing that their union seems to be accepted in a world that only a year before defined the very same Sharon as a “thing” and a “machine.”
Compare this extraordinary change of thinking with a historical example: during the time of human slavery in the U.S., slaves were considered property, chattel, and subhuman. Even though they looked like many free people, they were forcibly identified and separated. Slavery became illegal in 1865, and it was arguably a good 100 years after that that marriages between black and white people became fairly accepted in our society. In BSG, it appears that this evolution of thinking took place in about a year.
Would the same people who condone Helo and Sharon’s marriage approve of other human-Cylon unions? I wonder if it will indeed become a political issue later in the season, with detractors arguing against the unions, and even more blurred lines as to whether people can be married and how people make their decisions to support or oppose the idea.
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Very interesting theory.
However I think the politics of marriage in this show haven’t been explored because it’s too early. I’m sure it might come up in later episodes. Interesting enough though the people that really gave Helo a very hard time about his relationship with Sharon are still on the Galactica: Hotdog, Kat, and RaceTrack, as you see them standing at attention during Sharon reinstation. I made it a point to look at them to see their expressions and noticed no smiles, during an occassion which surely under normal circumstances would have produced some.
As far as marriage politics go though the Union between Helo and Sharon has always been controvercial and only survived because of their love for one another. In regards of the comparison with slavery, it was illegal up until the 1960’s for Blacks and Whies to marry. Being as though the Colonials didn’t have any knowledge of the Human type Cylons this kind of union could not have been contested. And I think for the President which I’m sure would be Roslin to try to go back and make this union illegal would cause quite a stir. I’m very curious to see if there will be any Cylons leaving with them when they escape the planet and if they will be integrated into human society and be allowed to intermingle with the remaining population and how that will be accepted or challenged.
The most interesting thing to me about the Helo’s and Sharon’s relationship is frankly how hoplessly p—-y whipped Helo is over Sharon. Because she flat out dissed him in Lay Down Your Burden’s Pt. 1 by making that statement about not giving a damn about him anymore. And he still took her back and wifed her up. But he did and the bigger question is why haven’t they just tried to have another baby. I wonder if that will come up.
Makes you think
I don’t know how to post picutres, but I recall from back in the day, a comment was made about Kara having a tatoo like Anders. Well on this website, http://tv.ign.com/articles/751/751550p1.html , there is a pic of the two of them showing off that their tatoos like merge together. Just thought it would be cool to look at.
If you watch Stargate episode 200 the weddings would be as akward as that, except without Thor or an organ playing SG-1 music
This also speaks to a glaringly obvious missing component – gay people!
Most of the real relationships so far have ended in marriage (the only real character that has sex/relationships that hasn’t married is Baltar) and marriage often conjures-up images of children. And in BS were the human race is trying to survive and babies are important, I think there could be an interesting sub-story here that they haven’t explored.