The Holocaust and Contemporary Science Fiction

Contemporary science fiction, particularly television science fiction, does not often deal with the Holocaust, and when it does it does so in relatively allegorical terms. The most concrete references to it occur in "Genesis of the Daleks" and the 3rd and 4th seasons of Babylon 5, but both series ultimately shy away from the precipice. I think that for the genre to evolve, it has to be willing to take such portrayals to the hilt. For instance, a depiction of an interstellar Nazi state could be a major work of art, if done correctly, and a good cautionary tale as well. Some of the best depictions of the Holocaust have come from alternative history tales, such as The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., Boys from Brazil, After Dachau, and Iron Dream. These are truly memorable portrayals of evil that deserve and demand a second reading. More complex visions of fascism, such as those offered in movies like The Believer and books like Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. Realizing that Nazism has a perverse fascination on us that is not always salutatory will go a long way to at least partially mitigating its evils. I hope that in the future, television sci-fi can have the courage to show the Shoah, in the hopes of creating a more productive dialogue about what might have been, had the Nazis won the war.

Category: Politics

Battlestar Galactica and Mormon Population Genetics

I watched Glenn Beck today, mainly to get mad, and had to suffer through a very covert one hour infomercial for Mormon population genetics, clothed in an argument against Manifest Destiny (a doctrine, coincidentally, that Mormons very readily believed in). In case you are one of the four or five people who doesn't know this, Mormonism is considered increasingly suspect in scientific circles because the accuracy of one of its central claims - that Native Americans are really lost tribes of Jews - has been called into considerable question. I don't want to come off as a fanatic anti-Mormon. I'm hardly an expert on the church, and my main problems with it aren't factual but deal with the over-abundance of clerical power at the top of the church hierarchy, shamefully used to lessen doctrinal dissent through a very active process of excommunication. But watching Beck made me think of the BSG series, particularly the old ones. Glenn Larson was a devout Mormon and Mormon theology infuses the old Battlestar Galactica. In a very real sense, the old BSG serves as a apologia for Mormon views on the Lost Tribes. The series tries to make plausible the idea that current humans (the Lost Tribe) are really the descendants of the 12 colonies (get it - the 12 tribes of Israel). In the new series, the sacred scriptures, including the Book of Pythia (the Book of Mormon) point out that the myths of the lost tribe are true, and therefore many characters, including Laura Rosselin, put their faith in these scriptures, despite the questionable lack of evidence for God's existence in the universe. While BSG never confronts the whole genetics issue in the series - WAY TOO CONTROVERSIAL - it is interesting how BSG tended to culturally pilfer other cultures (Egypt in particular - again significant) in its quest to prove a basis for a Mormon-friendly sci-fi series. That cultural voyeurism, the willingness to steal from other cultures what is not yours to take, has been a sad byproduct of Mormon theology, from the well meaning but very offensive posthumous baptizing of Holocaust victims to the trivialization of Native American culture. That the BSG series continue that tradition does not speak well for either BSG or Mormonism.

Filed under: science fiction, Battlestar Galactica, population genetics, Mormonism, Holocaust victims