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Passion and embodiment
Feb. 15th, 2025 10:39 pmLi, intersex Centauri goddess of Passion, fascinates me. She is depicted as a dancing nude figure, in a state of arousal (it seems), mid step, arms raised, head thrown back, in a moment of joyous abandon. The sculptor for the show really did a wonderful job of conveying a huge amount of information about a religion that is never explored or mentioned more than once in her pose. There is some canon-ish information about her out there, stating that she was based on a historical figure who advocated for romantic love, joyful engagement with sex, and big families. That last one feels a bit propaganda like, as though some scholar, eager to please the throne, tacked it on a century after her death. Who can say.
At any rate, Li owns herself and identifies herself as She, while still cultivating a masculine crest and utilizing her 'attributes' artfully in her exuberant dance. She Embodies her own interpretation of herself. While I am in favor of love and sex, it is her bravery and joyful exhibition of her body and self that is most compelling to me. I cannot fathom being that brave. Despite the restrictions and intense patriarchy and hierarchy of their culture, the simple existence of Li the dancer, Li the lover, Li the passionate, and the place of honor her statue receives in the Centauri ambassador's home and on his banquet table seems to indicate she's not a secret cult, not a quietly venerated or propitiated goddess. Rather, she is openly embraced and loved by her people, alongside the other 48 deities of the Centauri (49 if one is a liberal).
How interesting that must be, to be a small child at temple with your mother, to see a naked body that is just like (but not like) your own body, unashamed and enthusiastic. Not engaged in sex, not thought to be obscene. Just naked. Just like we all are under our clothes. How reassuring that must be. Some of your gods have bodies and they like living in their body. They like feeling their body and they like showing how happy they are by dancing.
What kind of a culture embraces that goddess, while also embracing rigidity and oppressive stricture in so many arenas?
I like to play with that. To compare and contrast human patriarchy with Centauri patriarchy. Convergent evolution made them so like us, and so very different. A society that a human viewer looks at and says, "Ah, I understand this. Polygamy is always horrible, patriarchy arises from religion, look how ostentations they are. Bourgeois bastards, the lot." And... Yes. Londo Mollari is the only husband we see in the show, and he's terrible. His wives are terrible (well, two are). The royal court of Cartagia is a collection of spineless dilettantes and sycophants. But these are a small sample size. What if there are happy families? Women who take the world they live in and bend it to their true will? A culture that values ostentation because it reveres artisans and creativity? Brave men who put their foot down and say "No more." Goddesses who dance naked under the sky?
At any rate, Li owns herself and identifies herself as She, while still cultivating a masculine crest and utilizing her 'attributes' artfully in her exuberant dance. She Embodies her own interpretation of herself. While I am in favor of love and sex, it is her bravery and joyful exhibition of her body and self that is most compelling to me. I cannot fathom being that brave. Despite the restrictions and intense patriarchy and hierarchy of their culture, the simple existence of Li the dancer, Li the lover, Li the passionate, and the place of honor her statue receives in the Centauri ambassador's home and on his banquet table seems to indicate she's not a secret cult, not a quietly venerated or propitiated goddess. Rather, she is openly embraced and loved by her people, alongside the other 48 deities of the Centauri (49 if one is a liberal).
How interesting that must be, to be a small child at temple with your mother, to see a naked body that is just like (but not like) your own body, unashamed and enthusiastic. Not engaged in sex, not thought to be obscene. Just naked. Just like we all are under our clothes. How reassuring that must be. Some of your gods have bodies and they like living in their body. They like feeling their body and they like showing how happy they are by dancing.
What kind of a culture embraces that goddess, while also embracing rigidity and oppressive stricture in so many arenas?
I like to play with that. To compare and contrast human patriarchy with Centauri patriarchy. Convergent evolution made them so like us, and so very different. A society that a human viewer looks at and says, "Ah, I understand this. Polygamy is always horrible, patriarchy arises from religion, look how ostentations they are. Bourgeois bastards, the lot." And... Yes. Londo Mollari is the only husband we see in the show, and he's terrible. His wives are terrible (well, two are). The royal court of Cartagia is a collection of spineless dilettantes and sycophants. But these are a small sample size. What if there are happy families? Women who take the world they live in and bend it to their true will? A culture that values ostentation because it reveres artisans and creativity? Brave men who put their foot down and say "No more." Goddesses who dance naked under the sky?
