Sanctuary and Subtext
Feb. 17th, 2011 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juliekarasikThanks to netflix, I've been mainlining the first two seasons of Sanctuary, and it's been ok. (Once I got used to seeing Amanda Tapping with dark hair... and an English accent.) We have a cute premise (see below), a supporting cast that does not suck; and plot lines that, while not scintillating, are at least snappy enough to keep my interest after a long day. (Plus, there was a zombie AU episode. Can't go wrong with that.)
But... that cute premise gets progressively less cute the longer I stare at it.
From the Sanctuary wiki:
Some of those dangerous creatures are the rough equivalent of giant alligators in the sewer... big scary beasties that are suffering the loss of habitat and don't play well with humans. This is where the Sanctuary network gets to act like a kind of hybridized animal control/wildlife rescue, and that's ok, right?
But many other of those abnormals are sentient. They are explicitly stated in cannon to be people. Some of them even work with/for the Sanctuary. Many others do not. Some are judged too dangerous or rare to leave wandering about, and this is where I start to get creeped out.
You have characters that the cannon itself states are sentient people, but if judged dangerous, they are caged or put down like feral animals, and the overriding ethos is that this is being done for their own good, to protect regular people from them, and to protect them from regular people. It's not analogued to jail/prision, with formal sentences and expectations of reform, because the judgment is that it's their natures, not that their actions, that are the root cause of the problem. You can't "cure" someone of their nature, so, they are imprisoned. Permanently.
I can't help but draw a parallel here between the fictional abnormals and native/aboriginal peoples, right down to many living in isolated groups/tribes in remote corners of the world, who mostly just want to be left alone.
Coming on top of that, you have Helen, who is (other than being female) the very model of a Victorian scientist: rational, educated, western, enlightened, and white. Abnormals (sentient and otherwise) are to be studied so we can increase our knowledge, protected because they cannot protect themselves, and controlled because they cannot control themselves. This reads much the way western culture viewed (still views) and treated (still treats) indigenous peoples around the world.
And then we have Helen again, and by extension, the rest of The Five. They were not born abnormals - they found super duper ancient and pure vampire blood and so made themselves into really powerful and nifty (and very long lived) abnormals... who can also pass as completely normal if they want to. All of the cool, little fuss or muss. It makes me think not so much of hidden wonders and steampunk-y science, and more of cultural appropriation, of a particularly self-deceptive kind. (With, I think, a side of Mighty Whitey)
Now on to how the Sanctuary operates in the larger world. In order for any of this to make sense, you have to work under the idea that they live in a parallel universe where the "war on terror" and the "war on drugs" never happened - it's the only way I can grock a situation where you have what amounts to independent paramilitary/scientific groups with no apparent national allegiance running about smuggling dangerous artifacts, animals, and people across the globe, and occasionally getting into semi-secret wars with each other with no international issues being raised. Now, this does sort of happen today, but the tactics are usually associated with big, nasty drug cartels, and are the sort of thing that established nations frown on, and lead to smaller, less stable nations getting labeled "rogue states".
So, those are my thinky thoughts. I do actually like this show. It's cute, fun, and easy on the brain... so long as I don't spend too much time thinking about it. Which I apparently have.
But... that cute premise gets progressively less cute the longer I stare at it.
From the Sanctuary wiki:
The show centers on Dr. Helen Magnus, a 157 year-old English scientist, and her team of experts who run the sanctuary, an organization that seeks out non-human intelligent creatures, known as abnormals, and tries to help and learn from them, while also having to contain the more dangerous creatures.
Some of those dangerous creatures are the rough equivalent of giant alligators in the sewer... big scary beasties that are suffering the loss of habitat and don't play well with humans. This is where the Sanctuary network gets to act like a kind of hybridized animal control/wildlife rescue, and that's ok, right?
But many other of those abnormals are sentient. They are explicitly stated in cannon to be people. Some of them even work with/for the Sanctuary. Many others do not. Some are judged too dangerous or rare to leave wandering about, and this is where I start to get creeped out.
You have characters that the cannon itself states are sentient people, but if judged dangerous, they are caged or put down like feral animals, and the overriding ethos is that this is being done for their own good, to protect regular people from them, and to protect them from regular people. It's not analogued to jail/prision, with formal sentences and expectations of reform, because the judgment is that it's their natures, not that their actions, that are the root cause of the problem. You can't "cure" someone of their nature, so, they are imprisoned. Permanently.
I can't help but draw a parallel here between the fictional abnormals and native/aboriginal peoples, right down to many living in isolated groups/tribes in remote corners of the world, who mostly just want to be left alone.
Coming on top of that, you have Helen, who is (other than being female) the very model of a Victorian scientist: rational, educated, western, enlightened, and white. Abnormals (sentient and otherwise) are to be studied so we can increase our knowledge, protected because they cannot protect themselves, and controlled because they cannot control themselves. This reads much the way western culture viewed (still views) and treated (still treats) indigenous peoples around the world.
And then we have Helen again, and by extension, the rest of The Five. They were not born abnormals - they found super duper ancient and pure vampire blood and so made themselves into really powerful and nifty (and very long lived) abnormals... who can also pass as completely normal if they want to. All of the cool, little fuss or muss. It makes me think not so much of hidden wonders and steampunk-y science, and more of cultural appropriation, of a particularly self-deceptive kind. (With, I think, a side of Mighty Whitey)
Now on to how the Sanctuary operates in the larger world. In order for any of this to make sense, you have to work under the idea that they live in a parallel universe where the "war on terror" and the "war on drugs" never happened - it's the only way I can grock a situation where you have what amounts to independent paramilitary/scientific groups with no apparent national allegiance running about smuggling dangerous artifacts, animals, and people across the globe, and occasionally getting into semi-secret wars with each other with no international issues being raised. Now, this does sort of happen today, but the tactics are usually associated with big, nasty drug cartels, and are the sort of thing that established nations frown on, and lead to smaller, less stable nations getting labeled "rogue states".
So, those are my thinky thoughts. I do actually like this show. It's cute, fun, and easy on the brain... so long as I don't spend too much time thinking about it. Which I apparently have.