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Female Power in Smallville
I watch the Smallville episode "Drone," for the first time last night. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
liviapenn, vesania_aeterno, rageprufrock and gryph1 got to listen to my fangirl squealing. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that "Drone" brought me down the level of the lowliest, sparkles-and-posters girl-fan.
Something about Lex and his mechanic. Lex and his skin. Lex and his voice. Lex and his less than noble career in student politics.
I'm a little puzzled though, as to why this ep doesn't seem to have been fully exploited - there are few post-eps and fewer stories that explore his obvious love of a great set of legs paired with a classic car, or even - and truthfully, this is the one that really grabbed me - Lex and student government. The potential of any one of the above is incredible. Fic, people, fic!
Sasha, AKA Bee Girl, reminded me of a story in one of the Marion Zimmer Bradley, Darkover anthologies, about a Dry Towns girl, who's laran (psychic powers) allowed her to control insects. My recollection is vague, but I think she used it to kill an attacker, either husband or father. Like many of the stories in the anthology, it had an obviously feminist bent, which worked particularly well because of the built-in power dynamics of insect relationships. Bees, ants are the like are all controlled by females - the perfect foil for the Dry Towns oppressive patriarchy. When the girl embraced her laran, she embraced her power as a female.
There are shades of this in "Drone," but as usual, the Smallville writers give us a muddled message. When Sasha embraces her power over the bees, she seems to embrace her power as a female - Queen bee, the fight with Sasha - but she isn't able to exercise it rightly. Felice and Sasha engage in a typical catfight over an office that each intends to use for personal gain. Felice opts for the more traditional goal of increasing her popularity and reigning despotically over her fellow students, while Sasha has a bigger goal in mind - career advancement.
Paul and Clark both want to Do The Right Thing and we're reassured that even though Clark came let to the race, he had the potential to exercise political power wisely - Lana, Chloe, the Kents and Lex all express confidence in him. The male candidates have the right to power, because they, unlike the female candidates, are essentially above pettiness. The males have higher goals in mind, while the females are only interested in personal gain. It’s interesting that Clark’s fitness is brought out by - though not given - by Lana, arguably the least powerful character on the show. Lana’s role is to recognize Clark’s true potential, just as Chloe’s is to question it.
Felice and Sasha are both rewarded with nasty deaths, for their efforts. Sasha is killed by the rebellious bees she once controlled - she didn’t have the right to claim that power, just as she didn’t have the right to claim political power. Clark, of all the characters on Smallville is the only one capable of properly using super powers - he’s the only one who is fit and therefore the only one with the right. Sasha’s meteor-given powers are an appropriation of Clark’s power - male power.
Female power, a la Chloe and Lana, seems to be watching and supporting the menfolk. Or something. Down with uppity women! *stomps*
liviapenn, vesania_aeterno, rageprufrock and gryph1 got to listen to my fangirl squealing. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that "Drone" brought me down the level of the lowliest, sparkles-and-posters girl-fan. Something about Lex and his mechanic. Lex and his skin. Lex and his voice. Lex and his less than noble career in student politics.
I'm a little puzzled though, as to why this ep doesn't seem to have been fully exploited - there are few post-eps and fewer stories that explore his obvious love of a great set of legs paired with a classic car, or even - and truthfully, this is the one that really grabbed me - Lex and student government. The potential of any one of the above is incredible. Fic, people, fic!
Sasha, AKA Bee Girl, reminded me of a story in one of the Marion Zimmer Bradley, Darkover anthologies, about a Dry Towns girl, who's laran (psychic powers) allowed her to control insects. My recollection is vague, but I think she used it to kill an attacker, either husband or father. Like many of the stories in the anthology, it had an obviously feminist bent, which worked particularly well because of the built-in power dynamics of insect relationships. Bees, ants are the like are all controlled by females - the perfect foil for the Dry Towns oppressive patriarchy. When the girl embraced her laran, she embraced her power as a female.
There are shades of this in "Drone," but as usual, the Smallville writers give us a muddled message. When Sasha embraces her power over the bees, she seems to embrace her power as a female - Queen bee, the fight with Sasha - but she isn't able to exercise it rightly. Felice and Sasha engage in a typical catfight over an office that each intends to use for personal gain. Felice opts for the more traditional goal of increasing her popularity and reigning despotically over her fellow students, while Sasha has a bigger goal in mind - career advancement.
Paul and Clark both want to Do The Right Thing and we're reassured that even though Clark came let to the race, he had the potential to exercise political power wisely - Lana, Chloe, the Kents and Lex all express confidence in him. The male candidates have the right to power, because they, unlike the female candidates, are essentially above pettiness. The males have higher goals in mind, while the females are only interested in personal gain. It’s interesting that Clark’s fitness is brought out by - though not given - by Lana, arguably the least powerful character on the show. Lana’s role is to recognize Clark’s true potential, just as Chloe’s is to question it.
Felice and Sasha are both rewarded with nasty deaths, for their efforts. Sasha is killed by the rebellious bees she once controlled - she didn’t have the right to claim that power, just as she didn’t have the right to claim political power. Clark, of all the characters on Smallville is the only one capable of properly using super powers - he’s the only one who is fit and therefore the only one with the right. Sasha’s meteor-given powers are an appropriation of Clark’s power - male power.
Female power, a la Chloe and Lana, seems to be watching and supporting the menfolk. Or something. Down with uppity women! *stomps*
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