Star Trek Meme: Day 23

[selenak]

Day 23 - Is there anything you'd want to change about Star Trek? Why?

Very apropos current news: LGBT representation. TNG tried to do it once metaphorically, and it misfired badly (The Outcast), and there was the probably unintended misfire that was the end of the Beverly/Odan affair in another episode. Neither of which would have been a problem at all if, say, we'd have had a recurring character like O'Brien or Ro with same sex preferences, or the occasional crew member showing handholding or embracing someone of the same sex, etc. (First Contact had the redshirt bridge officer who was meant to be gay - the novelization still has Picard notifying his husband - but guess which dialogue didn't make it on screen?) DS9 did somewhat better with Reunion because while we still got the metaphorical approach via the reassociation taboo, we also got nobody blinking at the fact that both Jadzia and Lenare were female. Indeed Dax has probably the claim of being the first ST on screen, not subtext but textual bi character. (Well, positive character. The Intendant over the Mirrorverse was on screen bi as well, but evil alter egos being other than straight isn't exactly an improvement in the representation department.) But otherwise: zilch. I don't recall anyone from Voyager, either, but then I didn't watch all the episodes. The reboot movie Into Darkness has a bridge officer sitting next to Sulu (when Chekov is doing Scotty's job) who looks like he or she could be meant to be a trans or intergender person (very "masculine" body build but pronounced breasts), and the character doesn't die, so I'm cautiously optimistic in assuming they were going for something other than cis with this crew member.

But still. All the way back when, in the 60s, the fact that the Enterprise had bridge crew members like Sulu (Asian), Chekov (Russian, i.e. from the 1960s American tv audience pov the Cold War enemy) and Uhura (black) was supposed to signal humanity being less prejudiced and more equal in the future. It's a few decades later, and ST spaceships and space stations are still lacking in openly acknowledged LGBT characters in the future, while in the present in the country where ST was/is produced has just become advanced enough that the Supreme Court has decided same sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. In other words, the present got there first. And it could easily have been the other way around, if only the production people had shown more initiative and courage in that direction.







Day 1 - Which Star Trek series is your favorite?
Day 2 - Who is your favorite character?
Day 3 - Who is your least favorite character?
Day 4 - What was the first episode/movie you watched?
Day 5 - What was the first Star Trek series you watched?
Day 6 - Your favorite canon pairing? (Canon being the series and the movies, including the reboot.)
Day 7 - Your favorite non-canon pairing?
Day 8 - Your favorite actor/actress? (Not the same as character.)
Day 9 - What's your favorite episode?
Day 10 - What's your favorite species? (Humans are a species as well.)
Day 11 - What's your least favorite species? (See question 9 about species.)
Day 12 - What's your favorite funny moment?
Day 13 - What's your favorite dramatic moment?
Day 14 - What's your favorite Star Trek quote?
Day 15 - How did you get into Star Trek?
Day 16 - Are you involved with Star Trek fandom?
Day 17 - Have you read any of the books? If so, which ones?
Day 18 - If you could be any species in the Star Trek universe, what would you be?
Day 19 - How did the Star Trek reboot affect you?
Day 20 - Of the minor characters (one shots, not the recurring ones) who’s your favorite?
Day 21 - Which Star Trek food would you want to try at least once?
Day 22 - Which Star Trek world would you want to visit at least once?


Day 24 - Is there anything about Star Trek that has disappointed you?
Day 25 - How has Star Trek changed you?
Day 26 - Lots of Star Trek Parodies out there. Which do you dig?
Day 27 - What would you cross over with Star Trek?
Day 28 - Your favourite friendship in Star Trek?
Day 29 - If you could tell Gene Roddenberry one thing, Star Trek related or not, what would it be?

Comments

[muccamukk]

Agreed on all points. If you count the Roddenberry novelization of TMP, Kirk is at least bi-curious, if not pan sexual with a preference for women, but things seen on screen: nada.

I think the most annoying thing was how pleased the producers were with themselves over the representation on DS9, especially the Dax kiss, when really they weren't giving us much. You get your cookie AFTER we get decent representation.

[selenak]

"You get your cookie AFTER we get decent representation" is the best reply ever to that self pat on the shoulder!

[muccamukk]

Long, and you've already said most of this, but anyway:

As a bb lesbian back in the day, that "Rejoined" actively pissed me off. Nenya had a very different reaction to it, but for me it was the most blatant example of wanting to have your cake and eat it too that I'd ever seen. They were all yay! Gay rep! Go us! for a one episode thing about characters that had hooked up as het in the first place, that the biggest Tragic Lesbian trope ever, and after they'd cast Voyager with NO gay characters despite a decently racially diverse cast, and never added any. Yeah, no. Get lost.

There was some quote about how, "We didn't just want to have crew members holding hands in the background; we wanted there to be a story." You know what! I would have loved that! I was reading a fan written series online around the same time, and THAT had a lesbian character who was just... there and gay and it wasn't a big deal. I remember e-mailing the guy writing it to thank him.

I know it was the '90s, but right around then Babylon 5 had a (covert) lesbian relationship and then later had two male characters fake married. It wasn't that long before Buffy.

For me, it's the most heartbreaking example of what Star Trek should be and is not.

[jesuswasbatman]

As I remember it somebody actually made a remark along the lines of "if you have a gay character it inevitably means you have to have a heavy storyline about them being gay" which is absolute and complete rubbish, especially when your show is set in a society that has supposedly grown beyond all forms of social prejudice.

[muccamukk]

Yes. I remember that too. And ten years later, the Stargate producers were saying the exact same thing. NO YOU DON'T! It's easy. You just have to have them being gay.

But then, the first female captain had to have a scene where she told her crew to call her ma'am instead of sir, and they ran into HOW many planets where women were oppressed? So it's not like they were commonly a light touch.

[jesuswasbatman]

Sorry, I meant to comment earlier. I suspect that such "heavy story" remarks are a euphemism for "we aren't comfortable/we think the network won't be comfortable with portraying a same-sex relationship".

[rachelmanija]

It unfortunate how the series actually got less interested in representation in some ways since the original. It was really radical to have a Russian character, not to mention Uhura. And neither of them were ever the focus of heavy storylines about being Russian or female. The radical equivalent now would be an LGBTQ character or a Muslim character.

[muccamukk]

As ham handed as it was (and when I can spot this when I'm ten, it's not a good sign), I think Chakotay was pretty radical. He is to my knowledge the only major First Nations hero sf has ever had, certainly the only one with acknowledged heritage (SGA had Ford, and BSG had Helo, who were played by mixed race actors, but neither were played with cultural notes).

Now, they made a hash of 80% of the cultural stuff, but he was a huge deal for me growing up for that reason (diversity in my area is pretty much white and First Nations, and positive portrayals of the latter in the media were and are... not common).

But I don't think Star Trek has any interest in being cutting edge any more. Certainly not in the current form.

[endeni]

/In other words, the present got there first./ - OMG, that's true. That's unforgivable of sci-fi...

[wee_warrior]

I'm also not sure that the current version of the Star Trek PTB have any interest in being enterprising (pardon the pun) in their ways of showing social advancement. At worst, they seem to have a weird nostalgia, where they think the 60s show was cool because women wore mini skirts and Kirk could hit on anyone female without repercussions of sexual harassment.

[selenak]

Yes, Star Trek, in the 60s, was forward-looking, not just because of the sci fi setting but because it imagined a different society from what was already existing. The reboot movies, while I like a lot about them, are a nostalgia exercise.