Forbidden Planet is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.
I consider Altaira and Commander Adams a more than decent sci-fi couple.
Here's why (repost form 2020):
One of the things that bugs me about many so-called feminists is how susceptible they are to superficialities.
What's also sad is how far these superficialities creep into the culture, so people adopt them without thinking.
A few years ago, I showed a clip of Forbidden Planet in class. In the clip, Anne Francis as Altaira walks across the floor to speak to Leslie Nielsen's Captain Adams.
"What do you see?" I said.
All the students could come up with was her short skirt--oh, it is so sexist--and her supposed demureness, based, I suppose, on her blondness and high voice. Or the fact that the man is taller than she (Leslie Nielsen at 6'1"). Or that the two hug. I really have no idea.
They entirely missed her direct gaze; her level, clear voice; her willingness to argue; her nearly proprietary caress, the fact that she controls the situation.
Anne Francis, like other great sci-fi heroines, took the role and made it her own. To miss these obvious clues for the sake of cliches is to ignore her contributions: how she helped create a great film, her steady career as a working actress.
She and a non-joking Leslie Nielsen convey a workable relationship--she isn't a damsel in distress, no matter her temporary role. She's a working partner.