Abstract

This article examines the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica (2003–9) as a complex allegorical exploration of the ways in which Islam is understood and misunderstood in the West. While it never refers directly to Islam, by trading on the metaphoric distance offered by the genre conventions of science fiction, the series radically questions the binary logic of the influential ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis, which presents ‘the West’ and ‘Islam’ as distinct entities at war with one another. With its constantly shifting perspective on two fictional warring civilizations, Battlestar Galactica undermines such simplistic understandings of contemporary religious and political violence. More radically, the series seriously attempts to answer the question posed by a key character representing the West: ‘Why are we as a people worth saving?’

Keywords: Islam, clash of civilizations, Battlestar Galactica

How to Cite:

Repphun, E., (2017) “‘You Can’t Hide from the Things that You’ve Done Anymore’: Battlestar Galactica and the Clash of Civilizations Debate”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 8(2), 109-132. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.187