I've talked about The John Problem a lot with friends, because of course you're right that the show centers around him and he's a 35-year-old straight white male as usual. But at the end of the day what makes me love how the show handles him is not all the "humans are stupid" stuff (which is funny and true but does not, as you point out, offset John's position in the narrative). Nope, it's two other things:
1) Although John occupies the protagonist role, he's also occupying the woman's role. He wears his heart on his sleeve; the person he loves is stoic and takes care of him. He gets rescued by his lover. He is raped, repeatedly, both mentally and literally. He falls apart mentally and emotionally, but it's never manpain he's having -- when John cries, he cries for himself.
2) John doesn't wind up back on Earth. I can't stress enough how important this is; John rebuilds himself in the image of the Uncharted Territories. John is profoundly changed; still human, but ultimately his new and true home is out there where humans are disrespected if they're known at all. A typical white male hero converts all of those around him to appreciate HIS values and beliefs, his understanding of what is important. A typical show would have had the crew of Moya becoming honorary humans, and would have had John back on Earth for the rest of his life, perhaps affected by his experiences but fundamentally unchanged. In Farscape, John's transformation is complete. He becomes the other.
Totally hear you on the girlfriend thing, though. (:
no subject
1) Although John occupies the protagonist role, he's also occupying the woman's role. He wears his heart on his sleeve; the person he loves is stoic and takes care of him. He gets rescued by his lover. He is raped, repeatedly, both mentally and literally. He falls apart mentally and emotionally, but it's never manpain he's having -- when John cries, he cries for himself.
2) John doesn't wind up back on Earth. I can't stress enough how important this is; John rebuilds himself in the image of the Uncharted Territories. John is profoundly changed; still human, but ultimately his new and true home is out there where humans are disrespected if they're known at all. A typical white male hero converts all of those around him to appreciate HIS values and beliefs, his understanding of what is important. A typical show would have had the crew of Moya becoming honorary humans, and would have had John back on Earth for the rest of his life, perhaps affected by his experiences but fundamentally unchanged. In Farscape, John's transformation is complete. He becomes the other.
Totally hear you on the girlfriend thing, though. (: