A version of What is Kate Mulgrew Afraid Of? was first offered up
for discussion a few weeks ago on the Alternative Quadrant message board where
it created some interest. It was concerned mainly with the reasons why we had
seen no major interaction between Janeway and Seven on Voyager.
However, given the near orgasmic responses to the episode
"Imperfection", it seems appropriate to further reassess the J/7
relationship in the light of this unexpectedly subtext filled episode. I have
done this in a companion piece called, J/7, Voyager's Great Unspoken
Romance.
What is Kate Mulgrew Afraid Of?
(I was truly trying to be objective when I wrote this. However, as Jeri
Ryan is a woman I would cheerfully crawl over broken glass for, it might be
considered a little biased in her favour).
I suppose, I ought to begin with defining what I mean by "no major J/7
interaction". And by this, I was referring to the fact that there has
never been more than the faintest hint on the show, that their relationship
might have an erotic foundation. Apart, that is, from the eroticism generated
inadvertently by the two actresses. We cannot impute a single reason for the
lack of a J/7 relationship, as many factors have converged to prevent it.
However, some reasons are more important than others.
I have read the interview that Kate Mulgrew gave to Star Trek: The Magazine,
Oct., 2000. I must say, I found some of Mulgrew's comments rather interesting.
I know that when one reads an article, we cannot be sure that the remarks
reported are a true representation of what was actually said. However, if you
read the interviews that someone gives over a period of time, inevitably
certain themes begin to emerge, which indicates an individual's attitude to
particular people or topics. I recall writing of Mulgrew's 'performances' at
cons some time ago, when I suggested, with not a little contempt, that she was
in large part feigning her trauma at the removal of Jennifer Lien, her friend,
from the show. There Mulgrew was on the stage, her eyes brimming with tears,
her body racked with emotion. A performance she was to repeat on several
occasions. I believe she intends to return to the theatre when Voyager finally
ends.
Another theme that coincides with, 'weren't the producers horrible to poor
Jennifer' is the prosaic, sometimes negative, comments she has made about Jeri
Ryan, Lien's, far more interesting replacement, and eventual girl friend of
Brannon Braga. As far as I can tell, apart from a period in Season 5, the
relationship between Mulgrew and Ryan off-screen has been cool. I think
Mulgrew once referred to Ryan as "introverted". It is widely known
that Mulgrew's comments about Ryan and the producers have not always been
favourable, and I don't need to repeat them here. (Mulgrew really shouldn't be
surprised that Ryan has little to say to her). I have also noticed that
Mulgrew has had to be prodded on occasion to talk about Seven, or Janeway's
relationship with her. So I wasn't unprepared for what I read in the following
passage from her interview in Star Trek: the Magazine:
'If she could look into Janeway’s future, Kate thinks some friendships
forged aboard Voyager will endure through the years. "I think she would
always seek out Chakotay," she says. "And Tom Paris, and her
beloved Neelix, and B’Elanna." What about Seven of Nine, whom Janeway
has nurtured from Borgdom toward humanity? "I think that could continue
to evolve very nicely in a sort of student-mentor way" she says.
"Seven will have so many difficulties in Federation space, I think. She’ll
need to find a different kind of sea legs, and an even more provocative way
to show her humanity will be when this ship finally lands: who will Seven be
when she has to finally and quite deliberately confront her humanity?'
You will observe that Seven is not included in the list of crew members that
Mulgrew thinks that Janeway will "always seek out". When prompted,
she tells us that Janeway's and Seven's relationship will advance in a
"student-mentor way". This is not what many of us were hoping for,
but at least it's better than asking us to believe they have a mother-daughter
relationship. B'Elanna, on the other hand, is included. It is then interesting
to read what Mulgrew says about Roxann Dawson and the character she plays.
'Right now Kate would like to see a little more of the captain with B’Elanna
Torres a twosome that created a real spark when the series began. "They’re
wonderfully juxtaposed personalities," she says. "First of all, I
adore Roxann Dawson; she’s a dear friend of mine. I don’t know why they
don’t put us together more often. I suppose they think that we each have
so much intensity that they need to spread it around more carefully.'
I read this and thought, is Kate Mulgrew taking the piss, or what? She
cannot be, and I'm sure, is not, unaware of the on-screen chemistry between
her and Ryan, so why talk about the "intensity" between her and
B'Ellanna/Dawson. As I write this post, I still really don't know quite what
to make of this. And, before anyone tells me, I know she is unlikely to be
talking about an "intensity" that is sexual. I suppose the more
salient point is that Dawson is a "dear friend". In which case, I
would have to ask, would Mulgrew be any more amenable to exploring an implied
or overt lesbian relationship with Dawson, i.e. Janeway/B'Ellanna since there
is "so much intensity" between them?
One thing is clear, Mulgrew has had the power to influence the way Janeway has
developed, so it is interesting to see that she encourages the writers to
"rock the boat a little bit".
Thus:
'Janeway’s heroism is now so well established that I’m always asking
them to, you know, rock the boat a little bit. I’d like to take some
personal risks with her. It seems that when we do that, though, it’s
controversial. ‘Night’…got really mixed reviews because people get
uncomfortable watching a captain’s depression, but I thought it was just
such a wonderful thing to explore. Six years of this loneliness, of this
absolute solitariness: how would she feel at this point, how would she
manifest this great sadness? But people really want to see the captain punch
through, so it’s a double-edged sword most of the time, and I try to play
it like that.'
Do you know how the writers could "rock the boat a little bit" and
make Janeway take "some personal risks"? I know I do. So we come
back to the question of why no J/7? Certainly, not upsetting the mainstream
audience is a big part of it. However, I do not believe Kate Mulgrew is
homophobic. Workplace politics, past and present, is probably the biggest
stumbling block, Mulgrew does not like Jeri Ryan, plain and simple. But what
of that chemistry? Mulgrew knows it exists and it probably frightens her. And
I'm going to go right out on a limb here, and suggest that, if the truth be
known, Mulgrew finds the prospect of embracing and sharing a kiss with Jeri
Ryan, dressed as Ryan is in that biosuit, absolutely terrifying. Ryan has
played a lesbian before and would not have a problem. The irony is, that of
the actresses on 'Voyager', if I was going to point the finger at one of them,
and say she's the one most likely to have a lesbian relationship, it would
have to be Kate Mulgrew.