This was the first time I ever saw Seven of Nine. If I may say so - what an utterly boring character! Perhaps she has more personality in other episodes?
Seven of Nine was given a steady progression of character change from her first scene until the show's end. It was not to everyone's taste. The character was also not to everyone's taste. (I have heard fans refer to her as "Barbie of Borg.")
Two things stand out, for me, about Seven.
She, like Data and Spock, represent a certain specific Star Trek character, almost a stock character of the Star Trek universe. I had already come to a certain realization about Spock, and all Vulcans, before I ran across this t-shirt slogan: "Spock wasn't a Vulcan, he was an autistic with pointed ears." This was on a website built by a mother whose son is autistic, and clearly was meant to be an affirmation of self-respect....
Then again, the other thing about Seven: On a weblog devoted to autistic pride, Seven of Nine was trashed as the ultimate symbol of "oh please can't someone make me neurotypical." The very path of character transformation that Seven followed from her accidental and totally unexpected rescue from the Borg was seen as a progressive cop-out. Seven as first discovered, after being separated from the Collective, represented to this writer an independent, individual autistic -- in a good way.
Just telling you what I know about Seven. Myself, I fall somewhere between the extremes of "she's totally sexist and boring" and "she's a cop-out to autistic diversity." And, being autistic myself, could be what I've just written has come across as overly blunt or harsh or pedantic, which I didn't intend. I'm only conveying data. Interesting data, I hope!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-03-30 12:13 am (UTC)Seven of Nine was given a steady progression of character change from her first scene until the show's end. It was not to everyone's taste. The character was also not to everyone's taste. (I have heard fans refer to her as "Barbie of Borg.")
Two things stand out, for me, about Seven.
She, like Data and Spock, represent a certain specific Star Trek character, almost a stock character of the Star Trek universe. I had already come to a certain realization about Spock, and all Vulcans, before I ran across this t-shirt slogan: "Spock wasn't a Vulcan, he was an autistic with pointed ears." This was on a website built by a mother whose son is autistic, and clearly was meant to be an affirmation of self-respect....
Then again, the other thing about Seven: On a weblog devoted to autistic pride, Seven of Nine was trashed as the ultimate symbol of "oh please can't someone make me neurotypical." The very path of character transformation that Seven followed from her accidental and totally unexpected rescue from the Borg was seen as a progressive cop-out. Seven as first discovered, after being separated from the Collective, represented to this writer an independent, individual autistic -- in a good way.
Just telling you what I know about Seven. Myself, I fall somewhere between the extremes of "she's totally sexist and boring" and "she's a cop-out to autistic diversity." And, being autistic myself, could be what I've just written has come across as overly blunt or harsh or pedantic, which I didn't intend. I'm only conveying data. Interesting data, I hope!