caprica

[sophiaserpentia]

I've been watching Caprica with cowgrrl, and she posed this question last night. It's a good one, so I'm curious to see what other people think.

Caprica is a society with legalized pot, sanctioned group marriage, total acceptance of homosexuality, and general sexual freedom. But since this is a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, we know that there is soon going to be a war between Cylons and Humans leading to the eventual destruction of Caprica and the other 11 colonies.

So... is this portrayal of Caprica as a pleasure-permissive society an indication that the writers and producers believe these are features of an advanced human civilization? Or, do they indicate that Caprica is a decadent society ready to fall due to its own hubris? Or is it wrong to interpret this portrayal as delivering any sort of political statement?

Comments

[lassiter.livejournal.com]

In those post-AIDS horror films of the 80s, the teens who were making out or having sex early in the film were always the ones to die horribly at Freddie or Jason's hands.

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

I'm almost completely behind having just watched the pilot miniseries last week, but based on the brief description you've given, I'd likely take away:

Evolved/advanced civilizations are highly susceptible to destruction by barbarism.

Kind of a social entropy of sorts... the lowest common denominator in time will eventually succeed.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I have a lot of complex thoughts in response to this. The historian side of me grates a little at the idea of barbarians being responsible for the downfall of civilizations. Generally speaking, barbarians have been more in danger FROM empires than they were TO them.

If you mean philistines (I wish there was a better term) then there may be something to that -- I suppose we'll see. OTOH from the doomsayer's perspective there is a considerable amount of hubris in building a 100,000-strong army of military robots.

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

There is quite possibly an issue with vocabulary and definition. I am notoriously averse to history as a course of study, so you definition of barbarian and mine likely differ. If "barbarian" is a purely relative term, then it would depend on the two societies being compared. In our history, I can see where empires tend to dominate barbarians. If evolved/barbarian are objective terms, with certain traits being attained only when one has "evolved", then our history may consist entirely of various levels of barbarians. Have we had what would be considered an evolved/advanced civilization on par with what Caprica is presenting? One of the traits you indicated in their portrayal is a lack of focus on military efforts. If evolving as a society means dropping military forces, that would leave the evolved society open to overthrow from those "barbarian" societies like most of our history's empires.

My original comment was based essentially on an objective definition of evolved/barbarian, where all of our current societies would likely be termed "barbarian", and Caprica being the utopian "evolved" society people aim for - much like the search for spiritual enlightenment.

irrelevant trivia

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

I saw them filming Caprica outside my building on the UBC campus some months ago. I think it was last summer.

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

I might guess that rather than clearly answering, the series might play on all of those themes. For example, once trouble begins, perhaps some members of the colony will begin to place blame on pleasure-permissiveness as a contributing factor. But these claims might be portrayed as self-serving and/or misdirected.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. However they handle the relevance of it will likely be very nuanced.

[revulo.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I think I'd want to live there see it, now.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Me too. Although they are not without many of the same problems we have.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I'm going to say I doubt there is anything that happens that doesn't have some political, spiritual, or philosophical meaning behind it.

I agree.

It's probably too early to tell really how different it will be from BSG in terms of social commentary, or in general really. (It's not as grim so far, that's for sure.)

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

If it is a political statement, it is a Sysiphian one.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Like everything else in the series?

"This has happened before."

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what this series is about. I have never heard of it. JHC there are a lot of serial programs now! yeesh.

[matthardwick.livejournal.com]

I'll put it this way: after watching Caprica, I could understand why the United Nations would invite the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica over to tour n' talk.

I'm obviously on the side of "this portrayal of Caprica as a pleasure-permissive society (as) an indication that the writers and producers believe these are features of an advanced human civilization." But, oh, what indications they give. Just by the way they convey the look of a polytheistic, technological society...and the ease in which they do so...Well, I find myself thinking about how the Chinese and Indians might make huge strides in biotech all because the Xtians here in this country are queasy about stem cell research. But I digress.

I can also see why Dirk "Starbuck" Benedict would want to make a sexist tush of himself, btw.;-) The reimagined series is far less two-tone (i.e. black-and-white) than the original. And not just because CGI offers more chance for detail than models, matte backgrounds, and (in order to depict Caprica itself) big-ass stage sets ever could...

[akaiyume.livejournal.com]

So... is this portrayal of Caprica as a pleasure-permissive society an indication that the writers and producers believe these are features of an advanced human civilization? Or, do they indicate that Caprica is a decadent society ready to fall due to its own hubris?

I think the series, and the post series movie "The Plan" have already answered this question.

It was not the inclusive, or what certain segments insist on calling "decadent," aspects of the culture that brought about destruction. It was the intolerance - both societal and personal. For example, it wasn't the fact that Baltar liked sex that allowed Six to play him in the pilot - it was his sexism and sense of self superiority, his attempt to use her for his own gain that backfired on him.

It was a pretty common theme that self-righteous closed mindedness led to problems and seeing the "other" as non-other and worthy of equal love and respect that led to moments of salvation in BSG.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Huh; this makes me think of an analogy to Rome.