Star Trek at 50
culture ·Originally posted on my tumblr.
Since other people are sharing their appreciation of Star Trek today, I should throw in mine, too.
One of the things that strikes me about Star Trek these days is how much, as a shared culture and ideal, it has transcended the shortcomings of its creators. And I don’t mean just in the trivial sense of fans expanding on a franchise with their own creations, as happens routinely; but that, in spite of the clunky dialog and the hammy acting and the handwavey plots and so on and so forth, Star Trek means so much to so many in articulating what humanity should be striving for–today and into the future. It’s been held up as a feminist ideal, even though so many female characters were pigeonholed as either caring mothers or sex objects. It’s been an important locus for imagining queer sexuality, despite not having an openly gay character until this year. It’s been a trailblazer for racial equality, even as its portrayal of non-human races often relied on ugly stereotypes (TNG-era Ferengi, I’m looking in your direction). It may be the most popular vehicle ever for envisioning a peaceful, socialist future, but most of its stories are about a hierarchical quasi-military organization. And that’s to say nothing about the many constraints that Gene Roddenberry placed on the storytelling that later writers and producers struggled against mightily. The great thing about Star Trek is that it’s not about one person’s vision–indeed, it would be a far inferior product if it were. Maybe because of its clunkiness, it invites us–all of us–to imagine what a brighter future might look like.