Gender Roomours II

by Stefan Brandt, University of Siegen, Germany

Introduction: Gender and the Space Age

1     Space has always posed both a temptation and a threat to Western cultural imagination. It entails notions of infinite possibility and boundary transcendence, nevertheless also creates an openness of experience that can be perceived as irritating and frightening. The image of limitless space leaves us speechless, but it also evokes a desire in us to position ourselves in relation to this new terrain. Setting out from this observation, my essay will deal with the embodiment, or more precisely, the gendering of space since the 1950s. My focus will be on the figure of the astronaut, which I interpret as a continuation of the cowboy and pioneer character in the context of Western, and more specifically, American culture. In the postmodern age, the astronaut is endowed with an important cultural function: Through the image of the spacewalker, gender can be simultaneously negotiated as a fragile construct - given the fact that the 1950s also marked the establishment of new gender roles and new ideas about sexual identity - and restored as an affirmative category in which issues of national and masculine identity are symbolically merged.

2     The starting point for this essay is Rosi Braidotti's model of the "nomadic subject," by which she characterizes female subjectivity as a provisional and transitory concept designed to resist power structures. I want to carry this approach one step further to include a hegemonic discourse in postmodernity that can be both emancipatory and stabilizing as far as normative codes of behavior are concerned. The "astronautic subject," I will suggest, is different from the "nomadic subject" in that it extends the radius of its actions even further, evoking a notion of limitless possibilities and unrestrained self-empowerment, yet also encompasses components of a manifestation of gender hierarchies. Being both a construct of hegemonic culture (e.g., in images of relentless space cowboys pursuing a politics of 'regeneration through violence') and an empowering field of continual becoming and performative agency (e.g., in the case of gendernauts), the "astronautic subject" offers a deeply ambiguous image, full of paradoxes and inconsistencies. It is both less gendered than the "nomadic subject" in its transgressiveness and detachment from existing value systems and more gendered in its connection to ideological discourses such as space technology and masculinity. The fact that the astronaut has become a key figure in the dominant imagery of Hollywood fiction as well as in the counter discourse of minority groups such as transsexuals, gays and lesbians (who, interestingly enough, utilize dominant texts such as Star Trek to create a form of fan fiction that stresses the liberating subtext of that imagery), illustrates the extraordinary potential of the concept. In a Deleuzian sense, the astronautic subject is bestowed with "multiplicities," i.e., it is equipped with a body that can be used as both an ideological object of power maintenance and a vehicle of transgression and emancipation.

A New Creation Myth

3     The opening sequence of the 1967 James-Bond movie You Only Live Twice presents us with an awe-inspiring scenario: A starship floats in silence through outer space. In the background we can see the light-blue contours of the earth surrounded by a starless sky. As the camera zooms in on the spacecraft, we recognize the label "United States" on its upper torso. Suddenly, the silence is pierced by a voice, "Calling Cape Com. Cape Com. This is Jupiter 16." What follows is a series of juxtaposed shots - close shots of the two astronauts on board of the spaceship as well as long and extreme long shots of the Ground Control Center and the silhouette of the earth. We are obviously witnessing a space expedition controlled by American scientists. The initial voice, we soon learn, belongs to an astronaut named Chris[1]The name "Chris" can be interpreted as a metonymy, referring to the pioneer status of the astronaut in the 1960s. Like Jesus Christ, the astronaut is both a missionary and a martyr. The iconic function of the astronaut in <em>You Only Live Twice</em> is underpinned by the fact that the actor who plays Chris is not specified in the film's credits which only refer to Norman Jones and Paul Carson as the actors playing the two astronauts on the first spacecraft. who is just about to leave the capsule for a spacewalk, an enterprise repeatedly referred to as "EVA" - the technical term for extra-vehicular activity. "Don't stay out too long, Chris," the operator from the command center warns him. But it is already too late. As Chris deboards through a hatch, in slow motion, and starts floating in midair, an uncanny melody prepares us for the dramatic events which are about to occur

4     Before we actually see anything at all, the voice from ground control informs us that "an unidentified object is closing in" on the spacecraft from astern. The object is a giant rocket, in fact that of James Bond's archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The camera angle switches to an extreme long shot, revealing an eerie sight: Blofeld's aircraft slowly approaches the American spaceship, getting ready to swallow the smaller vehicle. "It's coming right at us," Chris exclaims in terror, "the front is opening up!" With the shocked astronaut, we now see the hostile rocket from a frontal view. The rocket's hatches, equipped with menacingly pointed edges, make the machine look like a giant set of teeth. As Blofeld's missile slowly devours the American spaceship, we can still see Chris hovering in the air, attached to his mother ship only through a thin cable evocative of an umbilical chord. A close-up shows the rocket's mouth biting off the astronaut's connection to his spacecraft, a moment effectively highlighted by Chris's desperate exclamation, "My lead line! It's cu…" His voice is abruptly stopped by a dull, mechanical sound. Then we see the astronaut's body, still positioned in the center of the camera frame, as it slowly drifts away into the depths of outer space. When Chris's lead line is cut off, the music also stops.

5     The astronaut's disconnection from his mother ship is marked as both a death and a rebirth. He is released into a new, mysterious terrain, different from the Old World in almost every aspect. The meaningful term EVA, used three times in the short sequence, contributes to this impression. The movie here utilizes a creation myth which was becoming increasingly important in the 1960s - that of man being reborn in space. Hence, the mission shown in the sequence is filled with notions of both reconstruction and destruction. Significantly, the American astronaut is no Adam, the possible forefather of future generations, but a Chris(tian), a martyr for the idealistic cause. Hardly protected by his spacesuit, Chris is carried to new regions in outer space, maybe to a new universe. Although we can conclude that Chris certainly dies on this trip, we might also stick to the illusion that something will survive (since we do not actually see him perish). Notably, his appearance in the spacesuit is still the same, revealing no signs of the fatal interference to his life-saving functions. Similar images of space as a destructive, yet also reproductive power have accompanied science-fiction texts from early on. The February, 1934 cover painting of the American science-fiction magazine Astounding Stories shows two astronauts in metal uniforms moving towards the planet of Mars. In a caption in the lower right half, the story "Rebirth" by Thomas McClary is announced in blazing capital letters. Space travel is linked in this imagery to a notion of overcoming not only space, but time itself.