tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4086344.post5618653500568737887..comments2024-03-02T08:54:41.520-08:00Comments on Soul of Star Trek: Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4086344.post-82486276362975956242010-06-02T12:01:05.506-07:002010-06-02T12:01:05.506-07:00CHECK OUT:
George & Brad in Bed which profiles...CHECK OUT:<br />George & Brad in Bed which profiles the relationship between actor George Takei (Star Trek's Captain Sulu) and his husband and lifelong partner Brad Altman. The two recently married after being together for twenty-one years.<br /><br />As an homage to John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "bed-in," filmmaker Jessica Sanders conducts the interview in a rather unusual setting.<br />http://www.telegraph21.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4086344.post-23811338197647017812010-05-16T21:27:56.611-07:002010-05-16T21:27:56.611-07:00Good points.
I'm a fan of both Trek and Fire...Good points. <br /><br />I'm a fan of both Trek and Firefly/Serenity, and I always saw Firefly as a critique of Star Trek and the philospohies that underpinned it. I don't think it was particularly original in doing so, however, DS9 itself was giving a glimpse into the shady side of the Federation a few years earlier, TNG gave us a bit of X-Files style administrative intrigue right back at the start of its run, and there has been plenty of criticism from other sources too. <br /><br />I was reading over some of my old sociology texts a month or so ago, and stumbled on some some introductory Marx and was instantly reminded of Star Trek. The pervasive notion in Star Trek that technology liberates and equalises is very reminiscent of the older Marx, the Federation has a distinctly utopian socialist look and feel to it (perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Trek was born of the 60s) and it certainly speaks to the noblest virtues and aspirations of Western society. But I can't help feeling that Trek doesn't pay enough attention to differential power and marginality - I really would have liked to have seen more made of the Maquis storyline, more recognition of the assimiliationism that the Federation was occasionally charged with and that certainly seems a fair criticism at times. Perhaps this is why the Borg were such a good foil for the Federation - they were the mirror, as Moriarty was to Holmes. I always felt Trek was at its most powerful and compelling when it was brave enough to criticise the characters and assumptions it otherwise took as given (Picard as irrational Moby Dick bent on revenge rather than rational, noble hero, for instance). I'm sure others have argued this more cogently elsewhere than I have here, Trek deservedly receives much rich, in-depth analysis as one of *the* defining cultural myths of the late 20th/early 21st century.<br /><br />It's hard to comment on Firefly/Serenity at the same sort of length because there simply wasn't enough of it to comment on. We don't know how it would have played out - the film was really an exercise in darwing out and tying up the loose narrative threads. It's very well-written and entertaining, particularly the dialogue, but as I've said, the criticisms it none-too-subtly directs at Star Trek are not entirely unprecedented. It champions a messy, violent marginality, it offers us a vision of virtue in deviance and disobedience, and certainly in these times of imperialism, prescribed conformity at the expense of individual liberty and global awareness that's a good thing. Whedon isn't saying that the aspiration toward progress isn't good, only that it mustn't be imposed from without.<br /><br />I'll leave it there because I've rambled on, but as you said, the fundamental difference between the two franchises is one's optimism about the future and inherent nature of humanity and the other's relative pessimism. I submit that there's a legitimate place for both, that they form a dialogue about the future, about power and progress, individuality and conformity, and ultimately, human nature.liminalDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621859737411962756noreply@blogger.com