'Outlander' News: Starz TV Series Increases Scottish Tourism, Sparks Feminist Dialog
“Outlander,” the romantic time travel series based on a set of novels by Diana Gabaldon, has managed to increase tourism in Scotland, while sparking an intellectual debate about representations of feminism on TV.
Since becoming part of the scenery on the show, Doune Castle, a medieval stronghold located near the Stirling district of central Scotland, has enjoyed a surge in visitors. As the BBC reports, the castle, which is called "Castle Leoch" on the show, has had a 44 percent increase in visitors since appearing on "Outlander."
The whole of Scotland seems to have become a more popular tourist destination thanks to the show. Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Culture, credits the increase in visitors to what she calls a "highly successful TV series."
"Outlander," which portrays the exploits of a time-traveling heroine who is trying to keep love alive while changing the course of history, has become a cultural object of debate among critics as well.
The Atlantic recently published an article called “Outlander: False Feminism?” in which several staff writers discussed the sexual politics of the show.
Julie Beck, who does not like that people seem to want to compare the show to “Game of Thrones,” said that Claire Beauchamp Randall/Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) is exactly the kind of female character that shows like “Game of Thrones” sorely lack. “She’s strong, but not in the lazy way ‘strong female characters’ are often written, when a writer takes a typical macho action hero, and gives the character another X chromosome," Beck said. "She owns her sexuality, but isn’t sexualized."
Emma Green, who felt that the show has yet to offer its viewers “enough classy, feminist-friendly smut," remarked upon the strong female lead and a particular scene in which she receives oral pleasure from her husband inside a Scottish castle, saying that if "there are still men who would object to a TV show featuring any of this stuff, they’re not men worth worrying about."
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