Comparing the Two: Character, Morality & the Body as Cultural Text
Science Fiction & Cultural Identity II: Television & Film
Chapter 6 · Comparing the Two: Character, Morality & the Body as Cultural Text
What's Already on the Record
Lister's Body: The Slob vs. the Leading Man
Already established in Chapter 5, worth restating as a direct physical comparison: Craig Charles's own Lister is real, documented as a "degenerate space bum," while Bierko's real, self-described "cooler," "hunky" American Lister reads as conventionally leading-man material. This isn't only a writing difference. It's a casting difference — a specific, physical body type chosen to signal competence and appeal, over a body type chosen to signal the opposite.
Cat's Body: From Peacocking Vanity to Conventional Sex Appeal
The Cat's own first line in the British original is real, documented vanity stated outright, backed by a genuinely enormous and flamboyant wardrobe — 1940s-style suits with exaggerated shoulders, Cuban-heeled shoes, later flashier tartan and leather outfits. Danny John-Jules's own real performance drew directly on three named Black American entertainment icons: "a combination of Little Richard's look, James Brown's moves and Richard Pryor's facial expressions." He studied Desmond Morris's 1986 book Catwatching specifically to learn not to blink, and auditioned in his own father's wedding suit — which he himself described as resembling a "zoot suit," a real garment with its own real, loaded cultural history in Black and Latino American style.
The American pilot's own recast changed Cat's gender to female, with Terry Farrell playing what's documented as "a slinky, sexy warrior." That's a real, complete shift in what the character's own body communicates — from male peacocking vanity, rooted in specific real performance lineage, to conventional female sex appeal, a genuinely different comedic and cultural register entirely.
What a "Loser Protagonist" Signals Differently
Chapter 4 already traced Red Dwarf's own real lineage to Porridge and Steptoe and Son — British sitcoms where a protagonist's own failure and entrapment are the entire comedic and emotional point, not an obstacle the story needs to fix. Bierko's own account, already established in Chapter 5, shows the reflex running the opposite direction on American television: given the same premise, the instinct wasn't to preserve the failure — it was to correct it toward something closer to competence and conventional appeal.
| British Loser-Protagonist Tradition | American Instinct, per Bierko's Own Account | |
|---|---|---|
| What failure signals | The genuine point — class commentary, comic empathy, a Porridge/Steptoe lineage | A problem the story reflexively corrects, even without an explicit mandate to |
| Body as evidence | Charles's own "space bum" physicality; John-Jules's real vanity built on Black American performance icons | Bierko's own "hunky," Han-Solo-adjacent leading-man physicality |
| Real source | Charles's own "White Dwarf" verdict; John-Jules's own documented performance influences | Bierko's own direct, self-critical account |
Running the Toolkit
| Toolkit Item | Real Evidence |
|---|---|
| Casting & Appearance | Two separate, real body-type shifts — Lister toward "hunky," Cat toward conventional female sex appeal — both moving away from the original's own specific, coded physicality |
| What's Heroic — or Funny | British tradition: failure itself. American reflex, per Bierko: correct the failure toward familiar competence |
| Real Cultural Grounding | John-Jules's own performance built from Little Richard, James Brown, and Richard Pryor — a genuine cross-Atlantic borrowing inside the British original itself |
What This Does — and Doesn't — Establish
| A claim this evidence supports | A claim it does not support |
|---|---|
| John-Jules's own real, documented performance influences (Little Richard, James Brown, Richard Pryor) are genuine, specific, sourced evidence of cultural borrowing | Every element of Cat's character traces to those three named figures specifically — these are documented influences, not a complete account of the character |
| Two real, separate casting shifts (Lister and Cat) both moved toward more conventional appeal in the American pilot | This proves a single unified studio policy — Bierko's own account frames it as reflex, not an explicit mandate |
| The British sitcom lineage Chapter 4 already established treats failure as the genuine point, not an obstacle | American television is structurally incapable of a loser-protagonist comedy — this chapter examines one specific case, not the whole American tradition |
Questions to Sit With
Danny John-Jules built Cat's own physical comedy directly from Little Richard, James Brown, and Richard Pryor. Does knowing that specific lineage change how you'd read the character, versus just seeing him as "a vain cat person" with no stated influences?
Cat's gender changed from male to female in the American pilot, alongside a shift from vanity-based comedy to conventional sex appeal. Do you think those two changes are connected, or could either have happened independently of the other?
This chapter argues a body type itself — not just a script — can carry real cultural information. Can you think of another example, from any show or film, where recasting a role with a different body type genuinely changed what the character seemed to be saying?
Quick Reference — Chapter 6
- Lister's own body-type shift (Charles's "space bum" to Bierko's "hunky" leading man) is a real, physical casting choice, not only a writing change
- Cat's own first line — "How am I looking? I'm looking nice!" — and his real, documented wardrobe evolution establish vanity as textual, not inferred
- Danny John-Jules built Cat's own performance directly from Little Richard, James Brown, and Richard Pryor — a genuine, real cross-Atlantic cultural borrowing already present in the British original
- The American pilot changed Cat's gender to female and shifted the comedy from male vanity to conventional female sex appeal, per Terry Farrell's own documented "slinky, sexy warrior" portrayal
- The British Porridge/Steptoe lineage treats failure as the genuine point; Bierko's own account shows the American instinct correcting toward competence instead, even without an explicit mandate to
What's Next
Chapter 7: Comedy, Failure & National Self-Image: Why a Loser Protagonist Travels Differently.