The Emancipation of the Soul: Memes of Destiny in American Mythological Television

156 Pages·2010·0.95 MB·English

by  Philipp Kneis

T E S
HE MANCIPATION OF THE OUL
M D A M T
EMES OF ESTINY IN MERICAN YTHOLOGICAL ELEVISION
P K
HILIPP NEIS
LANG
This book analyzes the mythological content of five television franchises
within the genre of science fiction, fantasy and horror: The X-Files &
Millennium, Babylon 5 & Crusade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel,
Stargate and Star Trek. The central themes are errand into the wilderness,
emancipation from larger powers, individual responsibility, prophecy,
apocalyptic scenarios, fundamentalism, artificial intelligence, as well as
hybridity, gender roles, psychotic narration, and others. The theoretical
basis for this work are both a conventional cultural studies perspective
as well as memetics, an evolutionary perspective of culture and literature
that is utilized in this volume as an approach to studying genre at the
example of the five case studies.
Philipp Kneis studied American Studies and History at Humboldt-
Universität zu Berlin. His research concerns American film and televi-
sion, politics, Native American Studies and aging. Together with Antje
Dallmann and Reinhard Isensee he has published Picturing America.
Trauma, Realism, Poli tics and Identity in American Visual Culture (Peter
Lang, 2007) and Envisioning American Utopias. Fictions of Science and
Politics in Literature and Visual Culture (Peter Lang, 2010).
www.peterlang.de
The Emancipation of the Soul

P K
hiliPP neis
T e s
he manciPaTion of The oul
m D a m T
emesof esTinyin merican yThological elevision
PETER LANG
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Wien
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the
Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is
available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Cover illustration:
Vaticano 19, Vatican Museum, Rome;
available on philjohn.com
©Philipp Kneis
ISBN 978-3-653-00357-4
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2010
All rights reserved.
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utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
www.peterlang.de
PROFESSOR WALSH: So, the Slayer.
BUFFY: Yeah, that’s me.
PROFESSOR WALSH: We thought you were a myth.
BUFFY: Well, you were myth-taken.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 4.12 “A New Man.” 6:11-6:20.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Reinhard Isensee ................................................................................................................................................. 9
Preliminary Remarks: Kinds of Television ........................................................................................................................... 11
Thanks and Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................. 14
PART ONE: OF MYTHS & MEMES ............................................................................................................... 15
1. The Mythological Genre: Religious Thought in Allegorical Television .................................................................... 17
1.1. Introduction: Scope and Outline of the Investigation .................................................................................... 17
Structure of the Book ........................................................................................................................................... 17
1.2. The Mythological Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror .......................................................................... 19
The Mythological Genre in Television .............................................................................................................. 19
The Coherence of Narrative and the Use of Mythology ................................................................................ 21
1.3. Theoretical Foundation ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Interdisciplinary Character ................................................................................................................................... 23
Memetics ................................................................................................................................................................. 23
Religion as a Natural Phenomenon .................................................................................................................... 24
2. Seeing Things Differently: A Memetic Approach to Culture ..................................................................................... 27
2.1. From Genes to Memes ......................................................................................................................................... 27
Selfish Genes, Replicators, Vehicles................................................................................................................... 27
Imitation .................................................................................................................................................................. 30
“Viruses of the Mind:” Memes as Evolving Ideas........................................................................................... 32
The Selfish Phone Meme: Technological Evolution ....................................................................................... 34
Religion from a Memetic Perspective ................................................................................................................ 35
2.2. Memetics as a Way of Seeing ............................................................................................................................... 36
Theory in Literary and Cultural Studies ............................................................................................................. 36
Authors Dead and/or Unconscious: Memetics and Post-Structuralism ..................................................... 38
Cui Bono? ............................................................................................................................................................... 39
PART TWO: CASE STUDIES .................................................................................................................................................... 41
3. Errand into the Darkness: Truth and Lies on The X-Files & Millennium .............................................................. 43
3.1. Exposition: The X-Files & Millennium ............................................................................................................. 43
3.2. Franchise-Specific Themes .................................................................................................................................. 44
The Doors of Perception at the Frontier .......................................................................................................... 44
Errand into the Wilderness .................................................................................................................................. 46
Errand into the Darkness ..................................................................................................................................... 48
Forcing the End ..................................................................................................................................................... 49
What is Religious About It? ................................................................................................................................. 50
The Truth is Out There ........................................................................................................................................ 52
Pseudoscience as Subject to Science .................................................................................................................. 53
4. Between the Darkness and the Light: Prophecy and the Self on Babylon 5 ........................................................... 55
4.1. Exposition: Babylon 5 & Crusade ...................................................................................................................... 55
4.2. Franchise-Specific Themes .................................................................................................................................. 56
Rediscovering the Epic on Television ............................................................................................................... 56
Who Are You & What Do You Want –– The Soul Caught in Dichotomy ............................................... 58
Creationism and Christianity on Babylon 5 ...................................................................................................... 60
The Soteriology of Sheridan ................................................................................................................................ 62
The Universe That Sings Itself ............................................................................................................................ 63
5. “I Touch the Fire and it Freezes Me:” Soul-Searching on Buffy and Angel ........................................................... 67
5.1. Exposition ............................................................................................................................................................... 67
5.2. Franchise-Specific Themes .................................................................................................................................. 68
Stories of Choice and Redemption ..................................................................................................................... 68
The Emancipated Psyche ..................................................................................................................................... 71
Daimonion .............................................................................................................................................................. 72
An Apocalypse, Now & Then ............................................................................................................................. 74
Heroism ................................................................................................................................................................... 76
8 The Emancipation of the Soul
6. Feeding False Gods: Serpents, Souls and Hallowed Origins on Stargate ................................................................. 77
6.1. Exposition: Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis ............................................................................................ 77
6.2. Franchise-Specific Themes .................................................................................................................................. 79
Archeology and Anthropology: Indiana Jones in Space ................................................................................. 79
Science and Pseudoscience .................................................................................................................................. 80
Euhemerism in Space ........................................................................................................................................... 83
Creationism in Space: “Hallowed are the Ori” ................................................................................................ 85
Genetic Memory, Lamarckism, Absolute Evil ................................................................................................. 87
The Goa’uld Inside ................................................................................................................................................ 88
Stealing Souls .......................................................................................................................................................... 89
Replicators .............................................................................................................................................................. 90
7. “Photons Be Free:” Star Trek’s Fourth Discontinuity................................................................................................. 93
7.1. Exposition ............................................................................................................................................................... 93
7.2. Franchise-Specific Themes .................................................................................................................................. 94
“The Measure of a (Wo)Man:” Human Rights for Machines ....................................................................... 94
The Soul as Free Will ............................................................................................................................................ 96
The Fourth Discontinuity .................................................................................................................................... 97
PART THREE: A MIND OF ITS OWN .................................................................................................................................. 99
8. Points of Comparison: Recurring Patterns & Elements............................................................................................ 101
8.1. Recapitulation ....................................................................................................................................................... 101
Errand into the Wilderness ................................................................................................................................ 101
Prophecy and Free Will ...................................................................................................................................... 101
The Soul ................................................................................................................................................................ 102
False Gods ............................................................................................................................................................ 102
Artificial Intelligence ........................................................................................................................................... 102
8.2. Themes Across Franchises ................................................................................................................................ 102
Alien-Human Hybridity ...................................................................................................................................... 102
Ancients ................................................................................................................................................................. 105
Gender Roles ........................................................................................................................................................ 105
Romantic Stereotypes and Psychotic Narration............................................................................................. 107
Advanced Humans and Ascension ................................................................................................................... 108
Death and Resurrection ...................................................................................................................................... 109
Élan Vital .............................................................................................................................................................. 109
Dreams and Visions ............................................................................................................................................ 110
Torture ................................................................................................................................................................... 111
Serpents and Arachnoids/Insectoids ............................................................................................................... 111
The Cave, The Watcher, The Philosopher, and Atlantis: Platonism .......................................................... 112
8.3. Religion in the Mythological Genre ................................................................................................................. 113
9. The Realism Assumption: Genre, Memetics and the Evolving Text ...................................................................... 115
9.1. Sufficient Sense .................................................................................................................................................... 115
Down the Rabbit Hole Towards the Klingon Forehead Dilemma ............................................................ 115
Science and Fiction.............................................................................................................................................. 117
Science Fiction as Religion? ............................................................................................................................... 119
9.2. The Genre as Memeplex .................................................................................................................................... 121
Independence of Thought ................................................................................................................................. 121
The Evolving Genre ........................................................................................................................................... 122
Memeplexes and Memetic Drive ...................................................................................................................... 123
Selection Pressure ................................................................................................................................................ 124
The Evolving Text: Genre as Mold, Genre as Riverbed .............................................................................. 125
Reality and Fantasy: Of Memes and Groundhogs ......................................................................................... 127
10. Conclusion: The Toolbox of Theory ............................................................................................................................ 129
10.1. The Mind’s Eye: Ways of Seeing and Interpreting ........................................................................................ 129
10.2. The Emancipation of the Soul .......................................................................................................................... 130
Reality Lost…....................................................................................................................................................... 130
… and Recovered ................................................................................................................................................ 133
References................................................................................................................................................................................. 135
Index .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 151