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"Dysfunctional family" is a redundant phrase

Below is a revision of something I posted to the B7 mailing list ages ago and just tidied up for Rallying Call, the B7 apa I belong to. It's a chart and brief discussion of families in the series.

About half of the episodes show or refer to a family relationship: parent & child, siblings, or a partnership that might or not be marriage. Of course, all the male characters are sons and all the women are daughters, but I'm only covering the times a relationship is mentioned onscreen. The observations I've made based on what we're shown or told are:

Single parent families are the only kind we see, although traditional families (mother, father, child[ren]) are referred to. Single parent families could be the norm. In episodes where one parent is present, the other is not referred to: Ushton doesn't refer to Inga's mother, Kasabi doesn't refer to Veron's father, etc. The exception to this is a reference to Dayna's mother (actually, Mellanby's wife) in "Aftermath." We know marriages exist, of course, but we don't know what child-rearing arrangements were like at all. Parents, as a unit, are referred to by Cally ("Harvest of Kairos") but that has to do with Auron and not Federation society. Soolin twice refers to her family ("Rescue" and "Blake") but that could refer to her father, mentioned in "Warlord," and siblings; there's no direct evidence to suggest her mother was part of the group. The counter evidence is the reference in "Deliverance" to Maryatt's wife and children being sold into slavery. The way it's said suggests that parents and children are the standard family unit. and in the absence of firm evidence to the contrary, I assume Federation society was organized like the one that produced the series and two parents and child(ren) was also the norm for Fed citizens.

So why all the single parents? Although the absence of one parent is usually not directly attributed to the Federation (Dayna's mother and Ro's father in "Horizon" being the exceptions), many of the families we see/hear about have been damaged by the Federation: Blake's siblings ("The Way Back," "Space Fall" [implied]), Soolin's family, the Ensors ("Deliverance" and "Orac"), the Mellanbys ("Aftermath"), etc., were all killed by the Federation. If family members haven't been done in by the Feds by the time we hear of them, wait a few minutes. I think we're supposed to get the impression, without being shown it directly, that there is something inherently wrong with the Federation because of the high number of disrupted families, just in case genocide, slavery, and mindwipes aren't enough to convince you. An absent parent is more immediately noticeable and perhaps more emotionally powerful than a missing sibling. I mean, you immediately notice if a parent is missing because the presence of the other reminds you, but unless a sibling is mentioned you don't immediately assume there was one.

On the other hand, it might be that having a tragic loss in the background introduces the right note of darkness and justification for violence. Heroes in movies are customarily kitted out with a disposable wife/girlfriend and/or disposable kids who are killed off by the bad guys, thus allowing the hero to engage in guilt-free violent revenge.

Fathers are more important than mothers. If you look at the chart, you can see that fathers outnumber mothers as fully-realized characters. This is true even if you include figures who are not biological mothers but perform some maternal function like Zil and the eggs (and Blake in "Trial"), Meegat and the cells ("Deliverance"), Fen and the clones ("Weapon"). Eliminate them and the only mother figure of any significance is Kasabi ("Pressure Point"); other mothers are mentioned in passing and/or as part of a family group (Bek and Hanna's mother in "Shadow," Cally's parents, Soolin's family). Moreover, we rarely see a case where both mother figure and child are significant characters. We see Jenna's mother in a brief flash back, we have Servalan wanting to spawn but the shrimp salads in "Children of Auron" are hardly characters in their own right, same with Zil's eggs and Meegat's cells. Again, Kasabi and Veron are the sole exception.

Fathers, on the other hand, play important roles in more episodes and are more likely to have children who are significant characters as well: Sarkoff and Tyce ("Bounty"), the Ensors, Ushton and Inga ("Hostage"), Hal and Dayna Mellanby, Zukan and Zeeona ("Warlord"), Hower and Bershar ("Volcano"), maybe the clan of the cave bear in "The Keeper," although calling the Old Man an important role might be a stretch. I don't think we need to look very far for an explanation of the gender gap here: we live in a patriarchy, we lived in a patriarchy in the 1970s and 80s. Men still get most of the important, vital, active roles; women don't.

Father-daughter dyads are the most potent. Daughters outnumber sons in the series (although men outnumber women, I'm talking only about characters presented in their roles as parents or offspring) and tend to have more positive relationships with their fathers than sons do; compare Hal and Dayna to Hower and Bershar, for example. The Ensors seem to have a strong bond, but the other father-son dyads tend to be strained compared to the father-daughter ones. Does the prevalence of daughters contradict the statements I made in section 2 about fathers? I don't think so. In any parent-child duo, the assumption is going to be that the parent is dominant and the child subordinate, roles we are trained to assign to males and females respectively. This may explain the complete absence of biological mother-son dyads: it's hard to take a hero seriously when his mom's looking over his shoulder. It also explains why the relationships between fathers and sons is rockier: sons are supposed to break free to gain independence and maturity, daughters are supposed to be maintain familial ties. Thing may be different in the Federation but, again, in the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, I assume their society mirrors the one that created it and those expectations are still around. Having a father-daughter pair also takes care of the sticky issue of how to explain the presence of a nubile young woman in a dangerous or unusual place: she had to go with her father. This is the "scientist's daughter" cliche of sci fi movies. B7 is to be praised in not falling prey to it as often as it might have and for introducing female characters whose presence in tough trades was not questioned or made to seem aberrant by "what's a nice girl like you..." lines.

Siblings show up a lot in B7, more than I'd realized before I made the chart. Del and Anna Grant ("Countdown," "Rumours of Death") are the most important duo, I think, because of the centrality of Anna to Avon's backstory, but other sibling pairs and trios--Del and Deeta Tarrant ("Death-Watch"), Cally and Zelda ("Children of Auron"), Dayna and Lauren ("Aftermath"), Bek and Hanna, and the Lear family in "The Keeper"--are essential to the episodes they're in. Brotherhood as a concept is clearly important, given the Kommissar's use of it to bind Ro to him emotionally in "Horizon" and the link it gives to Ushton: Blake's father and Ushton may not have been close, but brotherhood is still a bond here. And there's Avon's brother used as bait in "Space Fall," as well. Sisterhood, while not evinced as a principle like brotherhood, is important, whether it's two sisters or a sister and brother(s). Here we have an immediately recognizable emotional link between characters without having to go into long expositions about what they mean to each other. And we get that justification for revenge again, too, when one is inevitably killed.

Blood ties are not the only ones that count, of course, and the series does occasionally mention marital relationships. We don't know for sure if Varon and Maja ("The Way Back") were married but if so, they're the only happily married couple we see. Vena is called Muller's lady in "Headhunter" and in "Time Squad" Gan refers to his "woman." Given the presence of marriage in the series universe, I think that the term wife would've been used if there was a marriage in either of these cases. Groff's ("Dawn of the Gods") and Maryatt's wives are mentioned but not seen. Egrorian dies before achieving his dream of connubial bliss with Servalan ("Orbit"), and Sula killed Chesku ("Rumours of Death"). Avon and Dayna weren't really married ("Powerplay"). Ro and Selma might live happily ever after but they aren't married as "Horizon" ends. The only conclusion I can draw from the examples presented is that the Federation did recognize the institution of marriage but other options are accepted if not condoned. The presence of two homosexual couples ("Gambit" and "Orbit") suggest that same sex relationships existed but weren't granted the same status as heterosexual unions. I'm basing this on the depictions of the characters and the way the relationships are suggested rather than openly acknowledged; another case of the attitudes in the series reflecting the attitudes of the contemporary world.

Kissing cousins. I left this one out of the apa (gotta leave something for issue 20 and the one we discuss "Hostage" in) but there is the unique relationship between Blake and Inga in "Hostage." They're the only set of cousins we know about and their relationship looks to be illegal in most states in the US if you interpret it the way Jenna does (i.e. the way Blake seems to deliberately lead her to interpret it). But perhaps Federation society has different rules of consanguinity and 1st cousins getting cozy isn't unusual. Jenna's reaction sort of suggests that and so does the lack of reaction by the others: there are no choruses of "eeeewwww, but you're _cousins_!" when Blake says Inga was important to him once or after that peck on the cheek. My own take on Blake and Inga is sort of Cyrano and Roxanne toned down a few notches: there was a romantic attachment in their childhood/adolescence (Blake was "a boy" when he was Exbar and Inga appears younger than he is) but that's it--a crush followed by a lingering sentimental fondness that isn't going to go anywhere--and he's using it to yank Jenna's chain.

So here's the chart. A (?) means we don't know the nature of the relationship for sure.

Episode f/d f/s m/d m/s b/b b/s s/s othercouple
The Way Back ... ... ... ... Blake-brother Blake-sister ... ...Varon-Maja(?)
Space Fall ... ... mother-Jenna ... Avon-brother ... ... ......
Time Squad ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Gan-woman(?)
Bounty Sarkoff-Tyce ... ... ... ... ... ... ......
Deliverance ... Ensor-Ensor Jr. ... ... ... ... ... Meegat-cells; Maryatt childrenMaryatt-wife
Orac ... Ensor-Ensor Jr. ... ... ... ... ... ......
Shadow ... ... ... ... Bek-Petie Bek-Hanna ... their mother referred to...
Weapon ... ... ... Fen-clones Blake-clones ... ... ......
Horizon ... Movo-Ro ... ... Kommisar-Ro ... ... ...Ro-Selma
Pressure Point ... ... Kasabi-Veron ... ... ... ... ......
Trial ... ... ... Zil-Blake ... ... ... Zil-eggs...
Hostage Ushton-Inga father-Blake ... ... Ushton-Blake's father ... ... Blake-Inga (cousins)...
Countdown ... ... ... ... ... Del-Anna Grant ... ......
Gambit ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Krantor-Toise
The Keeper Old Man-Tara Old Man-Gola and Rad ... ... Gola-Rad Gola and Rad-Tara ... ......
Aftermath Hal Mellanby-Dayna ... ... ... ... ... Dayna-Lauren ...Mellanby-wife mentioned
Powerplay ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Avon-Dayna pretend
Volcano ... Hower-Bershar ... ... ... ... ... ......
Dawn of the Gods ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Groff familyGroff wife
Harvest of Kairos ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Cally's parents mentioned...
Children of Auron Franton-Franton ... ... ... ... ... Cally-Zelda Servalan's cells...
Rumours of Death ... ... ... ... ... Del-Anna Grant ... ...Sula-Chesku
Death-Watch ... ... ... ... Del-Deeta Tarrant ... ... ......
Rescue ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Soolin's family mentioned...
Headhunter ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Vena-Muller(?)
Orbit ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Egrorian-Pindar, Egrorian-Servalan proposed
Warlord Zukan-Zeeona; father-Soolin ... ... ... ... ... ... ......
Blake ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Soolin's family mentioned...

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