Sexual Attitudes are Opposite?

[Anonymous]

Was just watching Parallel Universe last night…and something struck me (ouch).

Lister says as a throwaway line at one point about their female counterparts “so sexual attitudes are opposite too”…

This seems to be a bit underdeveloped in the episode itself. Arlene is sometimes more brash than Rimmer…but still uses a lot of his seduction techniques and appears awkward talking to him.

Also, Lister’s female equivalent seems almost identical to him.

And Cat’s equivalent… er….

Topic

[TheLeen]

“This seems to be a bit underdeveloped in the episode itself. Arlene is sometimes more brash than Rimmer?but still uses a lot of his seduction techniques and appears awkward talking to him.
Also, Lister?s female equivalent seems almost identical to him.”

I think this ^ is exactly what “sexual attitudes are opposite too” means.

Once when I saw Parallel Universe I asked myself, if everything’s opposite, how come Arlene hits on Arnold and he doesn’t on her? But then I thought, he probably WOULD have if they’d all met up on the “male Holly Red Dwarf”. Or something.

[Anonymous]

But Arlene and Debs seem to see women in much the same way as Arnold and Dave, so how are they opposite?

[TheLeen]

What? They seem to see WOMEN the same way that Arnold and Dave see MEN… and vice versa…

Or how about an example, I really don’t get what you mean…

[Andrew]

Yeah, what Marleen say. Women aren’t just the ‘dominant sex’ in the parallel universe, they’re also disposed to thinking of men the way men of our universe (apparently) think of women.

So not only is the parallel Lister female, she’s also got his mirrored sexual politics – as opposed to having the opinions ‘a woman’ would have in our universe.

Y’know, the more I debate it, the more I think Doug was right in the docco. And yet I love the episode…

[Tanya Jones]

Yeah, I pretty much saw it as a satire on sexual politics. Nothing complex there, I thought! I’ve always been fond of the episode because of Arlene Rimmer; beautifully played.

[John Hoare]

I’ve often thought that the episode felt a bit too damn obvious. Usually not something I mind, of course, but it feels slightly off here.

Still, it probably works because Rimmer’s sexual politics are obvious and transparent too…

[TheLeen]

Parallel universe makes me laugh a LOT each time, no matter how obvious. Hehe.

[Anonymous]

Oh I SEE!

I always assumed that they meant that – for example – Lister’s female equivalent would have a sexual attitude opposite to his own (presumable virginal, shy and retiring).

I was confused because Arlene is in some ways quite opposite in her attitudes to Arnold – i.e. she is very forthcoming and “blokey” in a way that Arnie isn’t.

In the same way, Cat’s “opposite” is entirely different to him – scruffy and vile.

[Andrew]

> I was confused because Arlene is in some ways quite opposite in her attitudes to Arnold – i.e. she is very forthcoming and ?blokey? in a way that Arnie isn?t.

I don’t think you’re right. Rimmer, with women, is the kind of guy who tries the Wormdo line. He’s the kind of guy who hypnotises women into going out with him. The whole point of that opening dialogue scene is to establish Rimmer as absolutely cheap and sexist, with Arlene then reflects.

I guess we hadn’t seen Rimmer with real women at all at this point – Kochanski’s handbag chucking aside – so we had little to go on. That opening stuff, the cut scene from The End describing his hobby of ‘elbot titting’, the ‘call me Ace’ stuff from Kryten, and Rimmer’s discussions about McGruder (including peep-hole bra in BTL) is the best we have.

All of which show him as pretty crass and offesive.

[Paul Muller]

What’s a worm do?

[Anonymous]

Is this still the opening line?

[Ben Paddon]

I took AS/A level Media Studies in College, and the first part of our course was covering “gender Representation in British Sitcom”. While the rest of the students were busy analysing The Office, I decided to write my essay on “Parallel Universe”. I received a very high mark for my essay, and I seem to recall being told it was the highest mark in the class.

[Anonymous]

Once wrote an essay at Uni on how Red Dwarf reflected changes in British humour in the late 20th century.

Got one of my only firsts!

[Andrew]

I’ve done all sorts of pieces on it over the years. English Language A-level showing how language use in Maroned reveals the nature and history of a character (you can write for ages just on the line “And you had the front to borrow money off me…”); Media A-level coursework of an original Dwarf comic-strip and analysis thereof, plus a ‘history of the show’ piece; a thing for my degree where I interviewed former and current fans to assess the nature and benefits of being ‘a fan’…

I’m qualified for exactly one job in the entire world. Thankfully it’s the one I have.

[Pete Part Three]

My English Literature GCSE coursework compared and contrasted Backwards and Last Human. I can’t really remember much of it, but I’m now struggling to see how I could have made that work…

[Joey TORDFC]

>>I?m qualified for exactly one job in the entire world. Thankfully it?s the one I have.

What a heartwarming story :) (and I don’t mean that sarcastically!)

[John Hoare]

God, I’d love to see some of these essays!

I can’t remember if I ever managed to wangle talking about Red Dwarf in an essay – I’ve got the feeling I must have done, but nothing springs to mind.

I did have an English teacher who showed us Waiting For God in an English lesson for some reason. She got sacked for being useless at the end of the year.

[Ben Paddon]

I have no idea if any of my College work got backed up when I moved from the UK to the US, and I know it’s not on my old UK-based computer anymore as I wiped my personal data when I went to visit a couple of weeks ago. If my essay has survived the immigration, I’ll slap it up somewhere.

[Ian Symes]

I did a couple of pieces on Dwarf at uni, but my best ever mark came from an analysis of Hitchhikers as a contemporary social satire. I wanted to do a dissertation on Doctor Who, but they wouldn’t let me.

[Andrew]

> What a heartwarming story :) (and I don?t mean that sarcastically!)

Just as well you added that. It’s so hard to tell! (Which is also not meant…fuck, this could go on forever.)

[penny]

I tried as much as I could to have Red Dwarf as my running theme in the written coursework at uni, but didn’t manage it as much as my Korn running theme in College…*giggles* Korn music in a history documentary about Lancaster Castle was funny.

[Author]

Replies