January Meme: Winn Adami
Jan. 9th, 2018 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakBefore I get to the topic of today's post, an observation and a link:
1.) So: Stephen Bannon, having compared himself to "Thomas Cromwell at the court of the Tudors" only last year, has already arrived at Cromwell's "most gracious king, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy" phase, y/y?
2.) Readlegionseagle eviscerate, very entertainingly, too, that shallow "Harry Potter is a Tory" article here.
Winn Adami is without a doubt my favourite DS9 villain, and one of my overall favourite Star Trek villains. Given she's basically a corrupt Renaissance Cardinal, then Pope, in space, this shouldn't have surprised me.
Mind you, Winn's introduction has a decidedly evangelical, not Catholic flavour. The first time I watched it (on German tv, in my late teens or early 20s), I missed the contemporary US parallels that would have been apparant to an American viewer. I did not know that teaching Darwin and evolution was still controversial in some parts of the US, nor was young me aware of the tremendous political influence wielded by televangelists and other religious leaders. (Or how utterly, utterly impossible it would be for any American politician who aims for higher than the Senat not to at least profess religious faith, for that matter.) So I took the in retrospect rather obvious metaphor in the episode where Keiko O'Brien gets into trouble for calling the Prophets "aliens" in the classroom and Vedek Winn uses the issue to gain votes in her campaign for Kai at face value. Winn came across as an obvious villain back then to me, and I didn't expect her to be back. That Kira started out supporting Winn's candidacy and during the course of the episode becomes disillusioned seemed to be the core of the episode, along with giving Keiko something to do (which the show tried every now and then with varying success).
Only during Winn's next appearance, in a season opening three parter, was it made clearer that she was here to stay, and not solely as a foil for Kira, or, for that matter, Sisko. (Though these were the two most important relationships Winn had to our regulars in the show.) Having created Bajor as an extremely religious society - something specific to DS9 as I don't think Ro ever mentioned the Prophets on TNG -, arguably even a theocratic one before the Cardassian Occupation if later episodes were anything to go by, the DS9 writers originally seemed to have intended something like Tibet (or at least the Western view of same) and Buddhism - the orange robes, the various Vedeks not being sworn to celibacy but open to sexuality. (Sidenote: I don't think the view of Buddhism as the "good", Utopian religion free of any fanaticism in pop culture got shattered until very recently via events in Myanmar, the persecution of and genocidal campaigns against the Muslim Rohingya.) Winn, otoh, having started out as something of an evangelical, later took on more of a Catholic Renaissance cleric flavour. Her scheming for power, both within the clerical hierarchy and in terms of Bajor politics, her outmanouevring of her rivals - notably in the episode "Collaborator", where she manages to use Kira and Bareil's own readiness for martyrdom to get rid of him as competition and end up as Kai would have made Cardinals and future Popes Borgia and della Rovere nod in approving recognition.
Winn was foiled more often than not in her scheme du jour, but not always, and the fact that the retained her position until the end of the show, that the most important cleric of Bajor was one the show usually (but again, not always) painted as a villain, allowed DS9 to have its cake and eat it, in a way, in terms of religion. Kira's religion was a quintessential part of her, and she gets characterized throughout as a faithful and undoubting believer, but all the potentially dark sides of religion - political use, fanaticism, persecution of others was present in the story via a woman positioned as Kira's enemy from the end of the first episode she appeared hin onwards. Sisko's double position as a Federation officer and religious figure for the Bajorans, when he at first rejects that very religion, was often mined for dramatic conflict, but one thing the show avoided was to have Sisko abuse his position as Emissary for political purposes, read: the Federation's gain. That's what it had Winn for.
There's something deeply Protestant, pop culture wise, in the depiction of Kira and Sisko as the characters whom the Prophets choose to communicate with directly and who hear their prayer/pleas, while Winn, the head of the established clergy, is denied such direct communication to her life long frustration, which leads to her season 7 arc. Her gods don't talk to Winn. (In the background, Martin Luther nods eagerly and prepares his next blast against the Pope as antichrist.) Winn, otoh, does talk to her Gods, and this settles the Renaissance era for me. Winn's a hypocrite in many other regards, but she doesn't fake her faith in the Prophets. It never occurs to her to deny their existence, and when the frustration and feeling of rejection over her non-chosenness boils over into hatred, this is still very much in the Luciferian vein, resentment over the Gods loving others and the wish to reign in hell then. It's also not the end of her arc. (That would be saving Sisko's backside during that ridiculous mano a mano with Dukhat.)
One of the few times the show lets Winn get the better of Kira in a verbal exchange is when Kira and we learn that Winn spent part of the Cardassian Occupation in a prison camp for the way she preached about the Prophets. My own suspicion is that she preaced jihad, which would be like her, but be that as it may, the fact that the writers made this part of her backstory is important, because what happens in s7 would be impossible if, say, Winn didn't care one way or the other about the Prophets as long as she had her top position as Kai, if she didn't want that denied experience of direct communication, and if she hadn't spent a life time not just scheming for power but believing in the Prophets.
Now I'm less than thrilled, to put it mildly, with the writing for Dukat post Sacrifice of Angels, and I think the Pagh Wraiths are a cheap imitation of the B5 Shadows without the other show's virtue of unmasking the Vorlons . But the one thing I really like about both Pagh Wraiths and Dukat in the last season is what they do for Winn's arc. Winn/Dukat is a marvelous villain pairing, and it fits with their respective hang-ups. Dukat's obsession of getting the Bajorans to love him, Winn's need to feel chosen by both people and prophets covers the first phase of the relationship, Dukat disguised as "simple farmer" Anjohl, faking visions for Winn. And the second phase, after the reveal, is fuelled by their issues as well. (Not to mention that the transition scene between the two, Winn throwing the blinded Dukat out in the streets saying that the Bajorans are a very merciful people is a gem for Louise Fletcher's delivery alone.) It's all hate and the need to destroy (each other, and the Prophets) for the perceived life long rejection (by Bajor for Dukat, by the Prophets for Winn) - and of course they plan for each other's murder at the same time. Not to mention that the chemistry is still strong. Louise Fletcher was around 70 at that point, I believe, and it was one of the first time when I saw a woman at this age being depicted as sexually still active (and without this being played as comic relief).
Seeing the Pagh Wraiths prefer Dukat, Winn's last actions are wonderfully ambigous. You can read it as spite (they rejected her as well, so now she enables Sisko to foil them) or as repentance (saving Bajor and the Prophets, whom in her view she had dedicated her life to). Either way, it's so very Winn. And thus I salute Her Eminence, and am glad both I could watch her on screen and that she's not anywhere near me. That would be way too dangerous.
The Other Days
1.) So: Stephen Bannon, having compared himself to "Thomas Cromwell at the court of the Tudors" only last year, has already arrived at Cromwell's "most gracious king, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy" phase, y/y?
2.) Read
legionseagle eviscerate, very entertainingly, too, that shallow "Harry Potter is a Tory" article here. Winn Adami is without a doubt my favourite DS9 villain, and one of my overall favourite Star Trek villains. Given she's basically a corrupt Renaissance Cardinal, then Pope, in space, this shouldn't have surprised me.
Mind you, Winn's introduction has a decidedly evangelical, not Catholic flavour. The first time I watched it (on German tv, in my late teens or early 20s), I missed the contemporary US parallels that would have been apparant to an American viewer. I did not know that teaching Darwin and evolution was still controversial in some parts of the US, nor was young me aware of the tremendous political influence wielded by televangelists and other religious leaders. (Or how utterly, utterly impossible it would be for any American politician who aims for higher than the Senat not to at least profess religious faith, for that matter.) So I took the in retrospect rather obvious metaphor in the episode where Keiko O'Brien gets into trouble for calling the Prophets "aliens" in the classroom and Vedek Winn uses the issue to gain votes in her campaign for Kai at face value. Winn came across as an obvious villain back then to me, and I didn't expect her to be back. That Kira started out supporting Winn's candidacy and during the course of the episode becomes disillusioned seemed to be the core of the episode, along with giving Keiko something to do (which the show tried every now and then with varying success).
Only during Winn's next appearance, in a season opening three parter, was it made clearer that she was here to stay, and not solely as a foil for Kira, or, for that matter, Sisko. (Though these were the two most important relationships Winn had to our regulars in the show.) Having created Bajor as an extremely religious society - something specific to DS9 as I don't think Ro ever mentioned the Prophets on TNG -, arguably even a theocratic one before the Cardassian Occupation if later episodes were anything to go by, the DS9 writers originally seemed to have intended something like Tibet (or at least the Western view of same) and Buddhism - the orange robes, the various Vedeks not being sworn to celibacy but open to sexuality. (Sidenote: I don't think the view of Buddhism as the "good", Utopian religion free of any fanaticism in pop culture got shattered until very recently via events in Myanmar, the persecution of and genocidal campaigns against the Muslim Rohingya.) Winn, otoh, having started out as something of an evangelical, later took on more of a Catholic Renaissance cleric flavour. Her scheming for power, both within the clerical hierarchy and in terms of Bajor politics, her outmanouevring of her rivals - notably in the episode "Collaborator", where she manages to use Kira and Bareil's own readiness for martyrdom to get rid of him as competition and end up as Kai would have made Cardinals and future Popes Borgia and della Rovere nod in approving recognition.
Winn was foiled more often than not in her scheme du jour, but not always, and the fact that the retained her position until the end of the show, that the most important cleric of Bajor was one the show usually (but again, not always) painted as a villain, allowed DS9 to have its cake and eat it, in a way, in terms of religion. Kira's religion was a quintessential part of her, and she gets characterized throughout as a faithful and undoubting believer, but all the potentially dark sides of religion - political use, fanaticism, persecution of others was present in the story via a woman positioned as Kira's enemy from the end of the first episode she appeared hin onwards. Sisko's double position as a Federation officer and religious figure for the Bajorans, when he at first rejects that very religion, was often mined for dramatic conflict, but one thing the show avoided was to have Sisko abuse his position as Emissary for political purposes, read: the Federation's gain. That's what it had Winn for.
There's something deeply Protestant, pop culture wise, in the depiction of Kira and Sisko as the characters whom the Prophets choose to communicate with directly and who hear their prayer/pleas, while Winn, the head of the established clergy, is denied such direct communication to her life long frustration, which leads to her season 7 arc. Her gods don't talk to Winn. (In the background, Martin Luther nods eagerly and prepares his next blast against the Pope as antichrist.) Winn, otoh, does talk to her Gods, and this settles the Renaissance era for me. Winn's a hypocrite in many other regards, but she doesn't fake her faith in the Prophets. It never occurs to her to deny their existence, and when the frustration and feeling of rejection over her non-chosenness boils over into hatred, this is still very much in the Luciferian vein, resentment over the Gods loving others and the wish to reign in hell then. It's also not the end of her arc. (That would be saving Sisko's backside during that ridiculous mano a mano with Dukhat.)
One of the few times the show lets Winn get the better of Kira in a verbal exchange is when Kira and we learn that Winn spent part of the Cardassian Occupation in a prison camp for the way she preached about the Prophets. My own suspicion is that she preaced jihad, which would be like her, but be that as it may, the fact that the writers made this part of her backstory is important, because what happens in s7 would be impossible if, say, Winn didn't care one way or the other about the Prophets as long as she had her top position as Kai, if she didn't want that denied experience of direct communication, and if she hadn't spent a life time not just scheming for power but believing in the Prophets.
Now I'm less than thrilled, to put it mildly, with the writing for Dukat post Sacrifice of Angels, and I think the Pagh Wraiths are a cheap imitation of the B5 Shadows without the other show's virtue of unmasking the Vorlons . But the one thing I really like about both Pagh Wraiths and Dukat in the last season is what they do for Winn's arc. Winn/Dukat is a marvelous villain pairing, and it fits with their respective hang-ups. Dukat's obsession of getting the Bajorans to love him, Winn's need to feel chosen by both people and prophets covers the first phase of the relationship, Dukat disguised as "simple farmer" Anjohl, faking visions for Winn. And the second phase, after the reveal, is fuelled by their issues as well. (Not to mention that the transition scene between the two, Winn throwing the blinded Dukat out in the streets saying that the Bajorans are a very merciful people is a gem for Louise Fletcher's delivery alone.) It's all hate and the need to destroy (each other, and the Prophets) for the perceived life long rejection (by Bajor for Dukat, by the Prophets for Winn) - and of course they plan for each other's murder at the same time. Not to mention that the chemistry is still strong. Louise Fletcher was around 70 at that point, I believe, and it was one of the first time when I saw a woman at this age being depicted as sexually still active (and without this being played as comic relief).
Seeing the Pagh Wraiths prefer Dukat, Winn's last actions are wonderfully ambigous. You can read it as spite (they rejected her as well, so now she enables Sisko to foil them) or as repentance (saving Bajor and the Prophets, whom in her view she had dedicated her life to). Either way, it's so very Winn. And thus I salute Her Eminence, and am glad both I could watch her on screen and that she's not anywhere near me. That would be way too dangerous.
The Other Days
no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 08:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 05:16 pm (UTC)Exactly! You can't just be Cromwell until it stops being fun!
no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 05:14 pm (UTC)I did wonder at the time how he thought that metaphor was going to turn out.
Read legionseagle eviscerate, very entertainingly, too, that shallow "Harry Potter is a Tory" article here.
Thank you! I hadn't seen the article, but that was a lovely evisceration.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-09 06:52 pm (UTC)(Sidenote: I don't think the view of Buddhism as the "good", Utopian religion free of any fanaticism in pop culture got shattered until very recently via events in Myanmar, the persecution of and genocidal campaigns against the Muslim Rohingya.)
Maybe in the USA. I think in the UK, the sri lankan civil war meant it took a big hit in reputation. But the sub continent looms large with us (the fact we call it just the subcontinent rather than the indian subcontinent is evidence of that, I suppose).
no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 09:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-10 07:49 pm (UTC)