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this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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Star Trek has always been contemporary issues wrapped in the veneer of space aliens. It's not meant to be pure escapism.
I would say sci-fi probably has as well or story telling as a whole
Orsen Wells, Asimov etc. A lot of alagory
This was my first Star Trek Series, I've now realised it's a theme. It's certainly my least favourite aspect of the show.
The episode about child sweatshops in particular felt very accusational to me, the message seemed to be that by existing I'm causing child suffering akin to child murder, through cobalt mines and clothing sweatshops etc.
I'm reminded of that bit in The Good Place where the judge says "There's a chicken burger that, if you eat it, means you hate gay people. And it's so gooood! It's not fair!" (Referring to chik-fil-a)
It's more than a theme, it's the entire cloth the show is cut from. It's meant to be a vehicle for progressive, egalitarian, humanist ideals. It dares to see the world as a better place without the chains and vices of greed and capitalism and bigotry.
It's not popcorn sci-fi. It's a surprisingly deep show meant to make you confront biases and prejudices you may not have even realized you had.
Yes I get that, I simply find it doesn't achieve that goal and that its attempts to do so are without subtlety and overly contemporary, I'm now watching Discovery and in S01E03 or so, Captain Lorca cites Elon Musk as a great innovator.
The show is already dated and it's only 5 years old, that's a major downside.
I think it's primarily the shallow depth of the prejudice confrontation that causes the problem, I don't remember any episodes so far which didn't feel like primary school level metaphors for racism etc. A more tactful and/or deeper writer would perhaps cause me no issues
The Elon comment kinda comes back around, you'll just need to keep watching and it'll make sense. Also, that image I used above was from a TOS episode about racism being stupid all the way back in the 60s. It's not trying to be subtle, and it never was.
And there's STILL people who think it's a show that glorifies and celebrates white, western colonialism and American exceptionalism. It has to be blatant because people miss the point regularly.
I hadn't thought about that, it makes me think then about whether the stories could remain as blatant but have more depth. For example the court episode didn't have any story beyond 'Society (and Admiral April) is hypocritical and and racist' by demonstrating it through one person's story, and at the end of the story nothing has changed. I'm watching Discovery now and it's going for a similarly blatant racial and cultural purity is evil antagonist so far, but it feels like it's setting it up to be the antagonists' folly, which would be more of an interesting story.
That's just because it's a prequel, and this issue continues through DS9. So they can't change it. And that is the big weakness of much of current Trek being prequels.
I just finished season 1 of Discovery and thought it was essentially flawless, though there was very little social commentary outside of Taran space nazis
Though it did deal with sexual assault and PTSD well, and other personal issues.
Season 1 of discovery was insane from start to finish, it was like when Game of Thrones was still good
I'm glad someone liked it. I guess you might be the third person I've met who liked any part of Discovery, and the first who thought it was anywhere close to flawless. No to be an ass - have you watched any Star Trek before these?
As I said somewhere else in this comment tree, Strange New Worlds was my first series.
I've now finished Discovery season 2, and holy moly they ruined that in a hurry. The writing quality difference between seasons 1 and 2 gave me whiplash, the middle of the season it got a bit better and then the ending did a game of thrones and retroactively made the rest of the season even worse.
So yeah, loved season 1 mainly because it was like a whole new series every 3 episodes, hated season 2 because it was 3 bad movies stretched across 14 episodes
Ahhh, yes Discovery probably was a lot more enjoyable if you've never seen any Star Trek before.
Oh man, I've come to wonder that maybe subtext and subtlety could stand to be abandoned again, because the way people will miss or actively ignore the point...
You're free to stop watching.
You don't have criticisms for things you like? I like the show, this and the writing are really the only weaknesses it has in my view. Everything else in the list I gave about it is absolutely 10/10
What you're saying is that you hate actually having to acknowledge that you consume stuff that causes pain and suffering and would rather just ignore it.
Correct. How do you propose I live in the modern world without a phone that uses cobalt?
There is a phrase that describes this situation: "There is no ethical consumption under capitalism"
There is nothing I can do while living in the modern world without benefitting from exploitation or encouraging evil, that's the point of the The Good Place quote I included.
I'm already depressed about it, I don't really want to be berated for it when there's nothing I can do about it. I already buy all my clothes second hand, fight my phone and laptop for basic privacy rights, vote for the least evil politician I can, I don't own a car.
You can fight the system
Oof.
Really not trying to resort to "watch something else..." but the social commentary is pretty foundational to Trek.
I feel like The Mandalorian might be more your speed, the or maybe the Abrams reboot Trek.