Mother Nature, Father Science: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Richard Impossible:''' ''...Science?''|''[[The Venture Brothers]]''}}

 

 

 

Note that which approach is portrayed as better varies widely; see [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]. In many works that come down on the side of Enlightenment, you'll see women portrayed as [[Hysterical Woman|hysterically]] [[Strawman Emotional|irrational]] and [[Weak-Willed|easily manipulated]], while their male counterparts' hard-nosed, [[Street Smart|pragmatic]] rationalism proves to be [[Science Hero|the key to saving the day]]. More Romanticist works, on the other hand, often portray men as [[The Stoic|cold]], [[Insufferable Genius|arrogant]], [[Lack of Empathy|heartless]], and [[Measuring the Marigolds|unable to appreciate beauty or emotional realities]], while the women are [[Closer to Earth|more balanced]], [[The Heart|compassionate]], and [[Nature Hero|in tune with nature]]. In some works, it will be suggested that [[The Kirk|both approaches are necessary]] and [[Emotions Versus Stoicism|have to balance each other]]. (Note that this doesn't entirely get rid of the [[Unfortunate Implications]] if it's still implied that your gender determines which approach you have to take.) Nowadays, due to widespread awareness of this trope and its [[Unfortunate Implications]], it's increasingly common to see [[Inverted Trope|inversions]], with [[Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy|a sensitive, emotional man and a cold, logical woman]]. Again, which one is portrayed as right will still vary, although works like this are perhaps slightly more likely to go with the "both sides are necessary for balance" approach.

 

 

Compare [[Clarke's Law for Girls Toys]], [[Men Buy From Mars, Women Buy From Venus]] and [[Mars and Venus Gender Contrast]]. See also [[The Chick]], [[The Smurfette Principle]], [[Straw Vulcan]] and [[Strawman Emotional]]. Contrast [[Wrench Wench]] and [[Motherly Scientist]] (usually female, but not always).

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', protagonist Amuro Ray's father was an emotionally-distant Engineer who took his son into space. By contrast his mother is ''literally'' [[Closer to Earth]], having chosen to stay there and work in a refugee camp, and she's shown to be pretty irrational.

* ''[[Tweeny Witches]]'' has the all-female witches living in a lush, [[Hayao Miyazaki|Miyazaki-flavored]] valley-town fueled by magic while the in-name-only warlocks and their banished witch wives live under the desert in an underground fortress (basically the one in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''), surrounded by technology and artificial food. There are a few actual warlocks who can use magic, but they're very old and live outside the fortress.

* [[Ponyo]]'s mother is a goddess of mercy, and her father a scientist. (Well, sort of a wizard, but a very mad-science-flavored wizard.) However, there's a bit of a subversion in that her father is [[Overprotective Dad|motivated more by love for his family than anything else]] and cares deeply about nature, to the point of [[You Are What You Hate|hating humans]] for unbalancing the ocean's ecosystem.

 

* In the ''[[Batman]]'' universes, Poison Ivy and Catwoman are great examples of this trope. Poison Ivy can control the growth of plants with her mind and is often depicted as being mothering to plants and so in harmony with the natural world to the point that she hates just about anything man-made. Catwoman is not so obvious, but she has an unexplained and very odd affinity with cats. In some continuities, even tigers will discard habitual ferociousness if she gives them the right look. In contrast, the logical/sciencey villains like Mr. Freeze or the Riddler tend to be male, although the Penguin does have an affinity with birds.

** Then again, Poison Ivy is usually portrayed as a [[Mad Scientist|mad biologist]]. Maybe women go for the natural sciences.

* In [[From Hell]], Sir William Gull gives a rather deranged, yet convincing Nietzschean speech about the Ancient Greek beliefs mentioned above, rationalising his actions as ensuring we would have a logical, Apollonian and masculine future of science and order instead of being dragged backwards into an emotional, Dionysian future of insanity and emotional female rule. It was well-argued enough that author [[Alan Moore]] talked himself into becoming a magician whilst writing it.

 

 

** Witch stories focus around the [[The Hecate Sisters|trio]] of Nanny Ogg, Magrat, and Granny Weatherwax. Granny is a cynical, hardbitten, practical one who thinks wizards waste time with their 'jommetry' and 'supreme arch-whatever' just to look important. Nanny Ogg uses [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and is a touch louche. Magrat is romantic and a little New Age and drippy. Overall, they're rural, more folk-magic, but closer to everyday concerns and problems than the wizards.

*** A few Witch characters have been seen to use wizard magic, which is a variety of [[Functional Magic|Rule Magic]] and so there is really no reason why not. No wizard has been seen to use Borrowing or any other of the Witch specialties, but on the other hand there has never really been any suggestion that they couldn't if they wanted to. Granny once fought a magical duel with the then-current Archchancelor, and they fought to a standstill.

* ''[[Frankenstein]]'' constantly refers to nature as female, and [[Character Title|the title character]] says he wants to "penetrate the secrets of nature". Subtle, [[Mary Shelley]].

* In the novel ''Enduring Love'', Clarissia is "mother nature" to Joe's "father science".

* In ''[[The Belgariad]]'' prequels, Polgara notes that her mother encouraged her to learn by accepting, whereas her father taught her to question everything.

 

** The Doctor's first two human companions: Ian taught Science while Barbara taught History.

** The Rani is meant to be a genius, and is usually shown doing evil science of some kind, but still falls partially within this trope in that her field seems to be biogenetics, as opposed to the engineering favoured by both the Doctor and the Master. Romana, who is canonically meant to be cleverer than the Doctor, is an inversion, especially when she makes her own (superior) sonic screwdriver that the Doctor tries to steal.

* In ''Dona Barbara'', the title character (a wealthy landlady) represents the brutish nature while Santos Luzardo (a lawyer from the big city) is the civilization.

** Played straight with iGo Nuclear. Carly's projects involve a crude compost pit and an organic pesticide, while Sam used her fingers to rip an orange apart. Contrast Freddie's high-tech modern composter, Spencer's electric-powered scooter, and Cal's illegal nuclear power generator.

** For more, see "Inversions," below.

* The fourth season of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' follows this theme, with the Slayers' magic vs. the Initiative's research in dealing with demonic forces.

* The primary female scientists in ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' work in the fields of neurobiology and microbiology while the males take to experimental physics, theoretical physics, astrophysics, and aeronautical engineering.

 

* Played straight in ''[[Eberron]]''. In the Sovereign Host, Aureon the god of Lore and Onatar the god of Craftsmen are both males. Arawai is the goddess of Life, and is female.

 

** The expansion also played it straight with the two alien factions: the Caretakers, led by a female sworn to preserve the planet, and the Usurpers, led by a male and hellbent on exploiting its power for their own gain.

*** However, the expert hackers (Data Angels) and the ultra-militaristic faction (Spartans) are led by women, while the humanitarian Peacekeepers are led by a man.

* The siblings Animebona and Animenkhna, the spirits of Albion and Earth, also represent Magic and respectively science. They don't get along very well.

 

'''Jones''': Oh? That was your father's influence, I suspect. Yes, he never had patience for matters that didn't fall into a scientific category. }}

** No mention of ''Gunnerkrigg Court'' would be complete without noticing that Kat, and her mother, both fall on the side of science.

*** Anthony's views on magic aside, Gunnerkrigg subverts the whole thing pretty soundly by treating magic as another form of science. It's explicitly referred to as the "etheric sciences". Kat's dad was able to cast that one shield spell because he's a sub-user on his wife's etheric computer.

 

* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Fox's parents are a male scientist/robotics engineer and Titania. Yes, ''that'' Titania. Queen of Faerie Titania. And yet it works perfectly, in part because Titania appreciates science as a kind of "magic".

** Somewhat inverted in that Fox's father has a lot more integrity and good principles than her mother. He's a lot kinder too.

* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Bart and Lisa's school was split into Boys' and Girls' sections. The Boys learned everything pretty much the same way, but the Girls reverted to some absolutely bizarre New Age teaching methods. While the boys' teaching methods worked better, outside of class their side of the school looked like a scene from ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''.

* ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' lives this trope. Doc Saturday is a scientist through and through, while his wife Drew is more a believer in the paranormal. Faced with any problem Doc will always seek a logical solution while Drew will explore more mystical alternatives. They're still [[Happily Married]] though so that's cool.

 

* Paleolithic sites of Europe and the Middle East are filled with figures and drawings of either obese or pregnant women that are generally assumed to be fertility goddesses. From the Neolithic on, these goddesses are joined by increasing depictions of bulls or horned male figures that are rendered as personifications of agriculture.

 

* The movie ''[[Sailor Moon]] S'' has a female scientist and her emotional boyfriend who believes in myths.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'' the only characters who can use [[Green Thumb|Mokuton]] are male: Senju Harashima, Captain Yamato and {{spoiler|Shimura Danzo}}

* Subverted in ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'': Lady Eboshi provides food and shelter for the poor and sick, former prostitutes, and all other kinds of outcasts who don't have any other place to go...by running an industrial scale iron mine and expanding into advanced firearms development and production.

 

* Zol-El and Alura, the parents of [[Supergirl]]. Zor-El is an artist and very kind and opened-up. Alura is a scientist and usually an example of [[Good Is Not Nice]]. A flashback revealed that she used to be an [[Emotionless Girl]] before [[Defrosting Ice Queen|her relationship with Zor]].

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' has two major pairs of "sweet, mystical, peaceful boy" and "strong warrior woman" (Suntop and Ember, Redlance and Nightfall), and both are experienced as playing against type. An [[Animated Adaptation]] was proposed, but canceled when [[Executive Meddling]] demanded that the personalities be switched.

 

* Everything [[Dan Brown]] has ever written. His hero is always an expert in some area of humanities, while the heroine is an expert in some mathematical field.

* The Ents and Entwives in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Treebeard explains that while the Ents delighted in nature and the wilds, and would roam for long periods communing with plants and animals. Whereas:

** The Entwives then first taught humans agriculture, and how to farm the land. Their male counterparts remained wild, favouring a more intuitive connection with growing things.

 

* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Daniel Jackson is a linguist, archaeologist and anthropologist whereas Samantha Carter is a genius astrophysicist. She's also amazing at maths and engineering.

** Played straight in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]''. Weir is a diplomat, MacKay is a Physicist.

** In seasons 8 and 9, however, this was played straighter to avoid [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] syndrome. Scully took over Mulder's role as the believer. Her new partner John Doggett [[Dumb Is Good|wasn't a scientist]], but he became the [[Arbitrary Skepticism|Arbitrary Skeptic]] and a [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man|Manly Man in comparison to Mulder's Sensitive Guy]]. Doggett was eventually partnered with Monica Reyes, who was if anything [[Cloudcuckoolander|even more open-minded about the paranormal]] and [[Bat Deduction|reliant on intuition]] than Mulder.

* Booth and Brennan in ''[[Bones]]''. A complete inversion. Brennan disapproves of anything that isn't discovered through logical analysis (usually while poking around a corpse), and dislikes psychology, calling it a "soft science." Booth, on the other hand, is perfectly willing to go out on a limb without facts to support him, and crafts plausible scenarios, the potential for personal bias be damned. Booth isn't on the side of Nature, but he's a far cry from the logic of the squints.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': The first season episode "I Robot, You Jane" has a sort of inversion. Giles is books and eye of newt, Jenny is computers and techomagic.

* ''Eureka'' has Alison as the logical scientist and Carter as the emotional one with a stronger grasp of the human element.

 

* Inuit mythology has two "nature" deities: Sedna, ruler of the creatures of the seas, and Torngarsoak, master of animals of the land.

* Averted in Norse mythology, in which gender was used to represent different facets of both nature and logic/wisdom, rather than to distinguish them. Nature was represented by a plethora of gods, giants and spirits, most prominently by the siblings Frey and Freya, who represent male and female fertility, respectively, while both Odin and his wife Frigg were associated with the wisdom deemed appropriate for each gender, specifically in the roles as patriarch and matriarch. (Still gender-normative, yes, but [[Fair for Its Day]].)

* Inverted by the Dagda or the Green Man, a Celtic nature god. He appears today in a lot of leafy-carved garden ornaments.

 

* In contrast to the trope title, 'Father Nature' figures do occasionally crop up. [[Dungeons and Dragons]] third edition featured two nature deities; the all encompassing Obad-Hai, a male 'Father Nature' figure, and Ehlonna, a female deity specifically of the woodlands. Obad-Hai remained staunchly neutral, encompassing all of nature's aspects, while Ehlonna was good-aligned, and usually portrayed as subordinate to Obad-Hai. In the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting, the deities are similar. Nature as a whole is covered by Silvanus; so much a 'Father Nature' that his title is the Oakfather. Mielikki plays the same role as Ehlonna; she serves him, and while accepting that there's a natural cycle, out of tender-heartedness tends to intervene benevolently. There is a 'Mother Nature' figure, Chauntea, but she is described as specifically the deity of how humans interact with nature. Nature itself comes under Silvanus.

** And yet played straight with the science half of things. Of the Greyhawk deities, Boccob is the coldly intellectual deity of magic and learning, and male, while Wee Jas is the female goddess of magic and death-but called a Witch Goddess of mysticism rather than enlightenment. Of the [[Forgotten Realms]]? All four of the deities of knowledge, invention, and learning are male (Oghma, Deneir, Gond, and Milil), Azuth, the god of wizards and academic magical learning is male. The only female deities who come remotely close are Mystra, goddess of magic, and Selune, goddess of the moon, and both have an extremely mystical bent rather than academic. The story is similar for all the non-human pantheons.

** Averted, however, by the 4th edition pantheon, in which Nature and Magical Study are the domains of goddesses Melora and Ioun, respectively.

 

* In the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series, the female Tali is an engineering genius and [[Wrench Wench]], while the male Dr. Mordin Solus specializes in biology.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]

[[Category:Double Standard]]