Mother Nature, Father Science: Difference between revisions

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

If a show has men and women both from an academic background, the man will typically have a degree in science, math, or engineering, while the woman will have one in arts or literature. (This may be why so many [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] are male.) Even if both characters are scientists, expect the man to research physics or mathematics and the woman to research psychology or biology. (This particular aspect is currently [[Truth in Television]] -- men usually outnumber women in university courses in mathematics, engineering, chemistry and physics, while women outnumber men in the humanities and in social and biological sciences.) Even when a character works in a field not usually associated with their gender, gender may still affect the approach they take -- for instance, a female engineer may be portrayed as understanding machinery in an intuitive way, while a male gardener might see himself more as a botanist than as a caretaker who loves beautiful flowers. Even people in the exact same careers will often change their approach; female doctors in fiction are likely to view themselves as compassionate healers, while men in the same profession will often see themselves as problem-solving scientists. This may lead to [[Harmony Versus Discipline]] conflicts.

*** 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]].

* Diane Duane's [[Young Wizards]] series follows this. Nita's magic relates to nature and living things. Her male partner Kit tends to do better with technology and inanimate objects like rocks. However, later on Nita's sister subverts the whole thing by being a computer wiz with a magical affinity for technology and silicon-based lifeforms, and both Nita and Kit eventually grow out of their original specialties into others, which is apparently common for wizards. It's left open whether their initial foci came from awareness of the trope, but newcomers to magic in the books do tend to get it in a form which behaves as much the way they expect it to as is practical (without breaking [[Magic A Is Magic A]]).

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''Lungbarrow'', which explains the mythology of Gallifrey; the three scientists (Rassilon, Omega and the Other) are male and good. The Pythia (bad) is a witch and a woman.

** 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.

* ''[[iCarly]]'': Expect Carly and Sam to solve problems in the natural (or the brawn) way and Freddie to resort to geeky gadgets and tech stuff.

* In the initial cast of ''[[Farscape]]'', there is Crichton, a scientist (if one given to explosiveness under pressure), and Zhaan, a priestess. However, this might also count as an inversion, because Crichton is very emotional, and Zhaan at least tries to be calm and logical.

** 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.

* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' is Father Science in contrast to Cameron/Cuddy/Thirteen/Adams/Wilson as Mother Nature.

{{quote|'''Antimony''': I had no idea [Surma] worked here. She never mentioned it.

'''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.

* ''[[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.

* The parents of [[Kim Possible]] are both [[This Ain't Rocket Surgery|highly qualified scientists]] -- but her father is a rocket scientist and her mother a brain surgeon.

== Other ==

** 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 ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy]]'' the most prominent female character, Trillian, is a competent astrophysicist.

== [[Live Action Television]] ==