Los límites morales de la autoridad militar

la Almirante Helena Cain en "Galáctica, estrella de combate"

Abstract

Admiral Helena Cain is the protagonist of a controversial narrative arc in the SF TV series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009). This includes the episodes Pegasus (2x10), the double Resurrection Ship (2x11, 2x12), and the TV movie Razor. Cain combines very positive and very negative qualities, such as her authoritarianism, which makes her an ideal candidate to examine the limits of feminism and the impact of militarism in current SF (the issues analysed here). Her characterisation is, besides, completed and complicated by the insertion in Razor of a questionable sub-plot which redraws Cain as a violent, revengeful lesbian rather than the person obsessed by the military code she lives by of the episodes. SF refers to the future as much as to the present and it is crucial when it comes to imagining new roles for women in a post-feminist environment. Regarding this, Cain stands out as an example of the many possibilities open in the representation of women in a completely egalitarian society and, at the same time, of the current limitations to truly accept that society. This is why the script (penned by men) hesitates between celebrating and denigrating her, darkening thus not only her (homophobic) characterisation but also the issue the arc deals with, namely, the excesses of patriarchal militarism.