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Star Trek

Page history last edited by kate.galatian@okstate.edu 13 years, 3 months ago

Narrative has always been an amazingly effective median for artists, writers, and philosophers, who have all used fictional and nonfictional ideas to put forth new ideas and innovations expressed in various ways. Any trip to an art museum gives insight into what was going on socially and politically at any given time during history.  Drawing, painting, and sculpting were important tools for recording observations even before written language was developed.  And while one would think that ancient man would have only recorded what he observed, that is certainly not always the case.  Many examples can be found in almost every culture of pictures of beasts and beings that can only be explained by the imagination of the artist.  As man learned to record his language he also expanded his ability to document his imagination. Tales of fantastic worlds, strange people, and customs have all had their place in teaching ideas or lessons in the history of earth.                                                                                                                                                                     

Attempting to explain the unknown has always seemed to be an extremely important issue for those individuals who find it necessary to make a record of things.  Every culture certainly had idols built and, if a written language was in place, stories written or told about beings of a godlike state who controlled the things that nature provided for them.  These were especially important for dealing with the frightening times when mother nature was being particularly nasty or when mankind produced someone who just didn’t fit the program.  As humans became more sophisticated, art forms became more and more a venue with a purpose beyond just explanation.  Many artists evolved from mere storytellers and historians to teachers.  Art became a way to pass on moral ideas and lessons in a world that was becoming more and more about control and what humans could do to each other that about just merely surviving.  Often stories or art forms which at first glance do not seem to have a story other than pure entertainment actually have an agenda much deeper when examined more closely.   At times even the most meaningless piece of work has an idea or a purpose; sometimes one that the author doesn’t even mean to portray.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries art took on a completely new venue as humans developed advanced technologies to record their thoughts more easily.  Technology not only made record keeping easier but it also made it easier for man to survive, freeing up much more time for artistic endeavors.  Science fiction found a fertile bed as writers and then movie makers plied their trade.  Early attempts either dealt with issues that were frightening at the time or age old stories attempting to explain the unexplainable.  

Moving through the twentieth century man had new monsters to deal with that were very real.  The wars that were started by men who wanted absolute power and the technologies developed to wage those wars contributed more and more to what artist imagined man was capable of doing and of where he was going.  Of course, what fell in this category more than the ultimate place that was unexplored, space?

It would be safe to say that most people in the United States have at least heard of the science fiction show called Star Trek. The franchise know as Star Trek spans seven separate series starting in 1966 with the original series and ending with the most current television show Enterprise in 2005. Eleven feature films have been released and one is in the works to be released in 2012.  It has also spawned countless merchandise lines in the form of books, toys, and games. Star Trek was very controversial during its airtime in the late 1960s and with good reason, since it was meant to be. Gene Rodenberry, the creator of Star Trek, said that “he decided to write and pitch a science fiction series that would allow him ‘to talk about love, war, nature, God, sex’, and one that the censors would pass ‘because it all seemed so make-believe.’”(Geraghty, p.3)

Gene Rodenberry was writing to the audience of the 60s, and in the mythos of the American mind there is something about the sixties and seventies, especially for the younger generations, that seemed to be a time when there were real purposes for people to get behind. Causes like the feminist and civil rights movement, callings for social change, anti-war movements and of course the space race were all present. People were looking up at stars and suddenly it seemed possible to touch them. Humanity went to the moon and could conceivably explore the final frontier, space.

Perhaps this is why Star Trek the original series resonated so clearly with certain people of the United States and around the world. Star Trek was a television show that only lasted three seasons, which compared to other television shows isn’t an impressive run, especially compared to its contemporaries such as the cowboy western series “Gunsmoke,” which ran for twenty years.

 It is not the run time or the support of its network that distinguished Star Trek.  Star Trek pushed boundaries, and the writers seemed to do their best to question what makes the very essence of a human being. Questions of racism and social struggles arose through the adventures of the multi-racial crew of the Enterprise. Perhaps it was the idea that the Earth would be a utopia and the human race could have exciting space adventures. There are numerous interpretations of Star Trek the original series and its subsequent movies and television spinoffs. Some people love it to the point they believe the world should model society after the one presented to us in the form of the United Federation of Planets. Some people dismiss it as nothing more than a television show that had bad fight scenes and one that only lasted three seasons.  

Star Trek has impacted many people, and even those who are not fans will often times know lines from the show such as “Beam me up Scotty,”"I'm a doctor not a...", or “He’s dead Jim.” Some of them have practically become slang. The original series was noteworthy in many ways in its portrayal of gender, race, and ethnic groups. It is often mistakenly given credit for the first televised inter-racial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura when the first inter-racial kiss had actually been in a British medical drama.In the episode 724 of Emergency Ward Ten, was aired in July 1964, Joan Hooley and John White were portraying a interracial relationship instead of the forced kiss between Kirk and Uhura.   

Nevertheless it was a controversial subject at the time and for the writers to even be discussing a kiss between a black woman and a white man was very progressive for the time. There has also been harsh criticism about the original series implying that the writers in fact did not go far enough in their portrayal of the supposed Utopian society. Many have also argued that Star Trek, at least in the original series, is subjective and derogatory towards non-white races and other ethnic groups.  

   Gene Rodenberry has often in interviews complained about the constricting and often nameless studio executives that forced rewrites, and would often not release episodes of  Star Trek because the story lines would not be acceptable for the audience of that time. One excellent example of this  was the original pilot for Star Trek titledThe Cage.” The episode had a different captain of the Enterprise than the famous Kirk and with the exception of Mr. Spock and Mr. Sulu, a completely different cast. The role of women within the context of the story is the most cited reason for the rejection of the episode. The episode plot is driven by the kidnapping of  the white male protagonist (Captain Pike) by a race of large brained underground dwelling psychics and the efforts of the crew of the Enterprise lead by his female first officer, Number One, who has taken command in his absence. The strong female lead was viewed by studio executives to be too extreme in the portrayal of women.  The thought of a woman commanding a regular ship, much less a starship, was met by the test audience with disbelief and scorn. Other complaints were about one of the most favorite characters, Mr. Spock, who was deemed unacceptable and Roddenberry was ordered to get rid of the character as he was thought to be satanic looking and would supposedly scare children.

Surprisingly, the television series as we know it was actually more ethnically and racially diverse than the pilot. While the pilot was predominately white with a strong female presence the main cast of the series was three white men as leads and a supporting cast of extremely diverse racial backgrounds. The supporting cast was not only made up of different races, it had humans from all parts of the Earth. Sulu was Japanese, Checkov was from America’s cold war enemy Russia, Uhura was not only black but a woman, Scotty was from Scotland, and there were a whole host of crewmen of different genders, races, and backgrounds.

The role of women within the original Star Trek is perhaps one of the most disputed topics in the history of television. Star Trek has been often been criticized for being derogatory towards women, saying they are only portrayed as sexual objects and damsels in distress at best.

However, when studying the actual television show a different interpretation can be reached. Captain Kirk, a notorious ladies’ man, most often seduces women to complete whatever mission the Enterprise has been sent on. Examples of Episodes in which this happens are 

Gamesters Of Triskelion” Drill Thrall Shanah, “Miri”, “Is There In Truth No Beauty” Doctor Miranda Jones, “Conscience Of The King” Lenore Karidian, “The Mark Of Gideon”,Odona Hodin, “Whom Gods Destroy”, Marta, ect...

The Captain Kirk in this capacity actually fulfills a roll that is traditionally held by women. Traditionally men seduce virginal young women, however the women Kirk seduces are usually women who have power and influence over a given situation. He is sleeping his way to the top, so to speak, and he does not always succeed.  The women he encounters are also from various backgrounds.  While they are at times human women he finds in outposts they are checking on or from other starships, more often than not they are from species they happen upon in their quest to explore the unknown.  He also seems to have actual respect for the women of his crew. When a pilot from the 1960’s in the episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" expresses disbelief and surprise about the presence a woman on board the Enterprise, Kirk quickly corrects him, telling him “a crewman.” Also in the episode "The Squire Of Gothos" The crew meets a super powerful being named Trelane whom he has this interaction with.

TRELANE: Women? Do you mean that you actually have members of the fairer sex among your crew? Oh, how charming. And they must be all very beautiful. And I shall be so very gallant to them. Here, let me fetch them down at once.
KIRK: (grabbing his arm) No.
TRELANE: No?
KIRK: This game has gone on long enough. Those are crucial operating personnel. You can't!

Women in Star Trek where everything from Doctors to soul ruling Queens. In this way the Women of Star Trek are to be looked at in a very Feminist way according to Drucilla Cornell in "Gender in America" she implies that women can be equal to me yet still be very female and its often forgotten than the men of Star Trek often behave in what we women considered women's roles even homoerotic as pointed out by  Nicholas Mirzoeff,in his book an "Introduction to Visual Culture"   

When addressing gender and race within Star Trek useally the first name to be brought up is that of Lieutenant Commander Uhura.  Uhura is often cited as a great roll model for women and African Americans in particular.  It seems particularly bold of Rodenberry to use Uhura in this way considering the fact that the 60’s were an extremely explosive time for the civil rights movement and also the women’s rights movement in America. She was an integral part of the crew and played a large part in almost every episode. For example, in the episode “Mirror, Mirror” Uhura,Kirk, Scotty, and McCoy were transported to an alternate universe where Uhura had to seduce the alternate Sulu,who was normally her trusted firend, became an evil simi-rapist in the alternate universe, to get coordinates to return them to their actual place in time. 

 So not only was she the head communications officer, a vital roll for any starship, but also an integral player in many missions. She went on away missions and preformed very professionally under intensesituations she would fight along side her male counter parts and just as hard she could also pilot the vessel.  An odd thing for starships in that evidently it was important to send their main officers on the most dangerous missions to other planets and spaceships.  

 

While in the original series there were not a great many women or other races portrayed in the main command positions, it was always implied that there was ample opportunity for the crew to move up in rank.  Episodes were developed as futuristic or alternative universe type shows where various members of the crew were depicted as commanders or other ranks than what they were in the here and now.  Of course, in the beings they encountered not of the human variety all varieties of genders and species played power positions.  Indeed, at times even beings who were genderless were encountered and were treated with the same respect.

 

Star Trek was loved by the young and young at heart in the sixties.  It was a time of upheaval and a need for social change.  Young people were tired of war and having boys drafted and sent to battle fields that didn’t make sense. Women and non-white races of America wanted equality and freedom to work as equals with their white counterparts.  In this environment Roddenberry created the ideal Utopian society on the starship Enterprise. Everyone was equal or at least had the opportunity to be equal. Their was no need for money, most medical issues could be resolved, and while there were still unsolvable issues such as love and God, things were much easier to resolve.  And then again, if you became too involved on some planet, you always knew you had to move on.  Humans were once again adventurers and explorers.  Although this time around we weren’t supposed to damage the native populations or try to change them in the name of religion or progress.  There were plenty of unoccupied planets for us to colonize without forcing ourselves on the species who were already there.  Earth had survived without destroying itself and had solved its population problems.  This was a particularly uplifting message during the sixties when we were in the midst of the cold war and thought any day we might bomb or be bombed by the Russians.  School children in the early sixties practiced hiding from bombs under their desks so to watch a television show where we had survived and were exploring space with a Russian crewmember was particularly enlightening.  One has to wonder if Roddenberry knew how much impact this short lived series would have. 

Utopia was further expanded upon with other series in later years and of course the many movies that Star Trek spawned.  While the original idea was expanded upon and made for great entertainment, none quite lived up to the original.  The Next Generation with Captain Piccard at the helm probably came closest and was the most watched.   Piccard and his crew were much more developed on a personal level and their mission statement hardly ever crossed the line from their moral obligations.  Kirk, on the other hand, often made decisions on just how he felt, was a risk taker, and often got out of scrapes using his fists.  Piccard was more of an intellectual and used diplomacy whenever possible. Kirk left that often to Spock whose favorite line was, “that is illogical”.  Star Trek has become an American experience in that every generation since the sixties has had the experience.  We have been given lessons on how to behave as humans from the many episodes we have watched.  Just like the artists of old we have been given a way  to explain the unknown and lessons on how not to repeat our mistakes if we only listen.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

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Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "Chapter 6: From Independence Day to 1942 and Millennium." An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Routledge, 1999. Print.

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Waldman, Linda. Keywords: Gender. New York: Other, 2004. Print.

"YouTube - Dr. McCoy - He's Dead Jim." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH7KYmGnj40>.

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Comments (1)

Zak said

at 3:02 pm on Dec 18, 2010

I do love me some classic Star Trek. Nice article, Kate.

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