The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Martin's given up on the new Battlestar Galactica - because torture's not morally ambiguous, surely?

Martin Anderson

"Civilisation is not defined by iPods, skyscrapers or websites, but by the ability to empathise"

Am I the only person in the world who stopped watching Battlestar Galactica at the Flesh & Bone episode (season 1, ep.8) where Starbuck tortures a Cylon prisoner for almost the entire runtime of the episode before Roslin finally executes him by blowing him alive out of an airlock?

To the arguments that the prisoner was ‘only a robot’, we might remember that one of the many strengths of science-fiction is its capacity for symbolism and transference; in history there are notable examples such as the case of extraterrestrial beings representing the communist threat in sci-fi classics such as Don Siegel’s Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956), and less luminous commie-bashing tracts such as Invaders From Mars (1953). Under the most grievous of fascist or communist regimes, the ability of science-fiction to depoliticise contentious issues by transposing them into a fantastic scenario was the only recourse many serious artists had.

Good science-fiction attacks contemporary issues with signs and ciphers. So forget the ‘robot’ argument, it’s an evasion that doesn’t hold.

Flesh and Bone is about human torture, not about cybernetics, and its tacit acceptance of torture is a ratification. The writing in the episode is typically intelligent, with many quandaries regarding issues of rights, pain, the philosophical essence of what makes an individual sentient…do robots have souls…?

Starbuck was spiritually troubled throughout the episode, and counselled by the wiser Roslin during the locker-breaks. The one thing remaining unaddressed was whether or not torture in itself was acceptable. Discussed instead was the issue of whether Starbuck herself had the resilience, invention and necessary brutality to do a ‘hard’ thing for the greater good.

The most troubling aspect of torturing a completely humanoid robot for 45 minutes is how closely the scenario resembles the schizophrenic disassociation necessary in order for ‘rational’ people to spend the day interrogating suspects with drills and knives, before going home to kiss their children goodnight.

Excuses for torture abound; in the case of Flesh and Bone, the captive Cylon apparently held information on a nuclear bomb planted in one of the ships in the fleet, a transparent simile for some of the motives behind Rendition in our current society. A search was being conducted, but may have taken more time than the colonials had; the pragmatism of torture offered a possible short-cut to save many lives…

I have discussed this particular episode of Galactica on more than one forum or comments board on the web, and, surer than Godwin’s law, the discussion is never more than ten replies away from someone expressing the following (summarised) sentiment: I’ll tell you buddy, if they had my daughter kidnapped and I had the guy helpless in front of me, I’d reach for my toolbox in a heartbeat.

You know what? So would I, but I’m not looking to write it into either English law or the constitution of the United States; because that hypothetical case posits an example of instinct overcoming reason, and its rightful destination is a trial in a courtroom. Maybe they’d let me off with mitigating circumstances, maybe not. That doesn’t mean I want to be able to dial 999 and let the police do the work for me in specially-built cellars.

That isn’t a society I want to live in, or to send a child into. Civilisation is not defined by iPods, skyscrapers or websites, but by the ability to empathise. What you sell for the practical advantage of torture is everything you were seeking to protect. It is an instant and complete victory for your opponents, because they have murdered you with a mere idea, and ruined the world you were trying to protect for your children.

What most offended me about Flesh And Bone was not that it sought to rationalise torture but that it took the validity of such an interrogation procedure for granted and immediately went on to lesser issues. And this is the most insidious type of propaganda there is: when you wake up and find the status quo has been subtly rewritten.

The science-fiction of George Orwell, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and many other writers (even as unlikely as Douglas Adams) has a long history of vigilance against the rationalisation and philosophies-of-expediency that breed fascism and fear, and it was dispiriting to see the genre employed to do what the current culture seems bent on – making the notion and presence of torture a kind of banal muzak that no-one notices anymore.

I continue to hear a lot of good things about Battlestar Galactica, but – though I miss it a little - I don’t watch it anymore. Ultimately my rift with the show is analogous to dating a beautiful and charming woman, who one evening puts her National Front membership card on the table whilst searching for the ringing mobile in her handbag. There’s just no going back.

 

02/11/07

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by LunaSkya on Mar 8, 2008

What sets Battlestar Galactica apart from other TV shows is that it doesn't wrap up each episode in a neat little package with easy, hollow answers. There is no "And the moral of the story is..." Instead, the show provokes active intellectual discussion of uncomfortable issues - which is exactly what it has done here, in this very column. This is an adult show that often deals with the effects of each act in more detail than it deals with the act itself. By deciding not to see how the show portrayed the CONSEQUENCES of the act that so clearly bothered you, I think you did a disservice to this show and to yourself. As the posts above have already mentioned, this torture scene from season 1 has echoed throughout the show all the way to the end of season 3 - and I'm sure its shock waves will continue to resonate through the final season. While the miniseries was the beginning of the show's action arc, Flesh and Bone was, in effect, the beginning of the 4-season-long moral journey of the show. You are clearly not the kind of person who looks for easy (and therefore easily dismissed) pre-packaged value judgments. I hope that, based on the comments above, you open yourself up to the complex and uncomfortable discussion of torture, suicide bombings, home, and the very basic definition of "humanity," and watch the rest of the show.

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by LunaSkya on Mar 8, 2008

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Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by twosheds on Nov 2, 2007

Karl - I agree totally that the subject of torture should be discussed in literature, film and television - particularly now that we are in the midst of a media torture-orgy (Saw 4, Captivity and many others). I don't expect it to be endorsed, though. The fundamental immorality of torture has been an accepted principle of civilised Western society for so long that by now I would expect an episode of a show like Galactica to represent the notion of torture in the guise, perhaps, of a cancer infecting the micro-culture of the fleet. Instead we find the practice institutionalised and skirt the core issue to discuss the finer points. I truly feel like I had 'missed a meeting' when I watched Flesh And Blood.

This isn't Groundhog Day - you can't make such a moral assault on someone's sensibilities and then contextualise it later on when the focus groups are in. Galactica toed the 'unofficial', Rendition-approving Bush party line in Flesh and Blood - which WAS a standalone episode. And I lost trust in the programme after that.

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by RonHogan on Nov 2, 2007

I can forgive a lot of things in the name of entertainment, be it Starbuck torturing a Cylon or Jack Bauer getting tortured. Just because I don't agree with it or if it makes me uncomfortable doesn't mean I'll always stop watching. Sometimes I stick around to see the ramifications of said action. Sometimes I tune in to be made uncomfortable (that's why I watch the news).

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by twosheds on Nov 2, 2007

Karl - Flesh and Bone concludes with Starbuck praying for the creature she spent a day torturing, and wraps itself up quite discretely. If viewer reaction or criticism of the episode led the story-arc team to return to the subject matter in later episodes, it's no surprise that they lost a viewer or two on this one, since it was not painted as part of the continuity of the series. In my opinion they were testing the water on the subject of torture with the readiness to abandon it as a hot potato.

Fine - if they were unwilling to commit to a multi-episode examination of the story at the time, they must live with the effects of ratifying torture in Flesh And Bone;

Every time a loathsome but expedient practice tries to re-enter society, the very first thing it does is to ferment debate. I am sickened to live in a time when the subject of torture has successfully opened this dialogue after a 200 year hiatus.

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by khodge on Nov 2, 2007

"I am sickened to live in a time when the subject of torture has successfully opened this dialogue after a 200 year hiatus."

I'm not too happy about it either. But if the practice has re-entered the media gaze, due to coverage of Guantanamo Bay et al, then I think it appropriate that shows like BSG address the issues surrounding the practice as part of their "remit". Literature, film and television are tools we can, and should, use to both reflect and dissect our culture. The other option, ignoring the debate that's there, is far less savoury.

"Fine - if they were unwilling to commit to a multi-episode examination of the story at the time, they must live with the effects of ratifying torture in Flesh And Bone"

BSG has committed to multi-episode examination of the issue. It has a continuous narrative - not just a "story arc" - with fewer and fewer standalone episodes as the series progresses. It returns to the subject (and, as I've said, even the specific events you refer to) again and again throughout its run.

What I personally object to are movies like Hostel that make torture a scopophilic entertainment.

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by khodge on Nov 2, 2007

While I understand and agree with the sentiment expressed in this column, you overlook the narrative dynamic at play in Battlestar Galactica. As you opted out at episode 8, you may not be aware that the show consistently questions the traditional hero/villain dichotomy that is so clearly delineated in less complex sci-fi and horror. For example, at the beginning of season two, the captured Galacticans start a guerilla war against Cylon occupiers - in one case using suicide bombers to strike against human collaborators. Galactica explores doesn't explore "good" and "evil" - but seeks instead to analyse the complex motives and behaviours of two different cultures in the context of war. Battlestar Galactica as a whole does not "tacitly endorse" Starbuck's behaviour - or that of Roslin. In fact, many of the episodes that follow "Flesh and Blood" refer back to this incident, questioning it in light of further revelations made about Cylon society. For example, a Cylon character joins the fleet and is accepted into the fold. Inevitably, a moment arrives where she has a confrontation with Roslin in which she says "What are you going to do, throw me out of the airlock?" Many of the human fleet are forced to reconsider their knee-jerk prejudices about the Cylons - their categorisation of them as "merely machines". Flesh and Blood becomes a reference point for the change in view that occurs. As an example, in later episodes the tables are turned on Starbuck, and she is tortured by the same character she encountered in Flesh and Blood. If this was an episode of Star Trek, I would agree with you more - but a single episode of Battlestar Galactica is part of a larger narrative. There's no reset button at the end of the hour and what the characters did in Flesh and Blood - and other episodes - has continued consequences.

Re: The Martin Anderson column: when good guys torture

Posted by Spidergirl on Nov 2, 2007

This is an awesome, awesome column.