Disability in Science Fiction Part 4
More disabled shell-people! (Again, please read that with sarcasm.)
For part 4 in the series, I give you . . .
✿ “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” by James Tiptree, Jr. aka Alice B. Sheldon (1973)
SYNOPSIS: After a failed suicide attempt, seventeen-year-old Philadelphia Burke undergoes experimental surgery to become an advertising superstar.
OVERVIEW: Physically disabled, orphaned, and now declared legally dead by the media company who employs her, Burke puppets the body of Delphi—beautiful, young, able-bodied—to sell products. Advertising is illegal in this future universe so Burke/Delphi must make it seem like it isn’t an ad at all. (Think Instagram influencers before they had to put #ad on their sponsored content.) Yachts! Glamorous parties! Forbidden love! Ableism!
Like Helva in McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang, Burke is another shell-person. Burke controls Delphi from inside a “waldo cabinet.” (Doing a quick Google search, the term “waldo” comes from a Robert Heinlein story about a disabled scientist named Waldo. Maybe I’ll review that one next?) Delphi could also qualify as a shell-person. Without Burke’s brain controlling her, the lab-grown body of Delphi is described as a vegetable: “Without a Remote Operator it’s just a vegetable.”
Also, similar to Megan Galloway in “Blue Champagne,” Burke’s disability seems to allow her a greater talent at translating “feeling” to others. Interesting. In both stories, media corporations also show up post-injury to employ the disabled protagonists.
THEMES: consumerism, exploitation, celebrity
OTHER THOUGHTS: I really dislike how Burke’s body is described throughout the story. The story really leans into the trope of physical disability as disgusting/monstrous/ugly. It’s pretty brutal. The ending is also quite violent against Burke.
★ BONUS: Tiptree’s story was adapted for an episode of Welcome to Paradox, a weird Canadian science fiction television series that first aired in 1998 and ran for one season. The series aired on Syfy in the US and Showcase in Canada, apparently. It’s worth noting that Welcome to Paradox is in an anthology format, with all the stories taking place in the future city of “Betaville” where technology threatens humans in some way.1 Curious about how they adapted Burke’s disability for the screen, I watched the episode. Spoiler: They get rid of her disability. Probably for the best honestly. Fun episode though.2 Would recommend. (The sets, costumes, and special effects are gloriously terrible.)
You can watch the full episode here.
★ ★ DOUBLE BONUS: Welcome to Paradox also adapted John Varley’s “Blue Champagne,” which I reviewed in part 2. Again, I was curious to see how they were going to translate the disability themes from the original story into the episode. The plot, like most adaptations, does differ from the source material. For one, it seems like Galloway’s disability isn’t public knowledge—people just think her sidekick is for “transing” (i.e. recording experiences) and not a mobility aid. I actually really liked this episode. Would recommend. Great pool aesthetics and love the swimsuits.
Best Line: “When you can’t feel anything, you forget the equipment easier and trans better.”
You can watch the full episode here.
Betaville, like most film/tv locations, is actually my hometown of Vancouver, Canada.
Burke is played by Megan Lietch, best known for portraying Samantha Mulder in The X-Files.