In the very first episode of Star Trek: the original series, we see a white Captain reporting to his black Admiral boss, a black woman on the bridge just a couple years after Jim Crow was abolished, wearing a short skirt (a symbol of feminist liberation at the time), a Japanese helmsman on the bridge only 20 years after the internment camps, a Russian crewmate on the bridge during the Cold War [edit: actually did not appear until Season 2 but the point stands], and the foundation of the modern concept of queercoding.
In the very first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we see male crossdressing crew members, a female officer on the bridge in charge of security, a literal ship’s counselor stationed at all times on the bridge, a single mom raising her teenage son on her own while juggling a full career in medicine, a blind mechanic whose “disability” is shown to be a strength, and an angry, all-powerful godlike being who is revealed to be simply a petulant child masquerading as a deity.
In the very first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, we see a black man gain a powerful command position, respect the hell out of the customs of a religion he didn’t understand, show respect and equal treatment to members of three other alien races he didn’t understand, appoint a female guerilla fighter who defeated imperialist fascists to a position of authority within his administration and defer to her judgement in areas of her expertise, accept his friend’s gender change, and tell his son he loves him.
Star Trek has always been woke. You just grew up to be a bad person.
leftascenter@jlai.lu
Kirk@startrek.website
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
This is a complete misunderstanding of the wokeness complaints. They aren’t about who or what is presented in current trek, but how it’s presented. For example, instead of playing out insightful allegories that let viewers figure out the message, thereby crediting us with intelligence, the characters in Picard S2 walk around LA saying, “Wow what a terrible century, there’s so much social injustice.” That isn’t good storytelling, it’s a combo of lecturing and virtue signaling, and the fact that it’s the right message doesn’t change that.
Also, minor correction: Checkov wasn’t added until Season 2.
blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
In that case the issue is hamfisted storytelling, not progressive ideas. So calling it “woke” is pointing the wrong direction.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 1 hour ago
But that’s just it. Pushing progressive ideas through ham-fisted storytelling is the wokeness people complain about.
It is also when these things are blatant. Original Star Trek was progressive not because it showed a black person’s struggle for equality, it was progressive because it showed black people as equal.
A perfect example is DS9’s lesbian kiss. The short version, Trill are a joined species consisting of a humanoid host with a standard lifespan, combined with a very long-lived symbiote that can live for many host lifetimes. The resulting personality is thus a blend of the host and the symbiote.
In this specific episode, there is a rule in Trill society that if two Trill are romantically involved, that relationship has to end when either of the symbiotes move to a new host. The explanation is otherwise two symbiotes would just stay together forever through multiple hosts and never grow or learn. Anyway, one of the show’s main characters is a Trill female and in this episode encounters another female carrying the symbiote her symbiote was once married to. So this is a forbidden romance they are both tempted to. It’s explained that the previous relationship one of them was in a male host and the other one a female host. Now they are both in female hosts, and this is not brought up even once. The fact that they are both women is not even mentioned. It is completely and totally ignored.
THAT is a non-woke progressive presentation of the idea.
It’s not trying to get the audience to empathize with the black person who can’t sit in front of the bus, it’s just showing the black person sitting in front of the bus and making it not a big deal.
kossa@feddit.org 2 hours ago
Then again, I am pretty sure, when we walked around e.g. the medieval times, we would bubble out the blatantly ovious as well.
“Look, those idiots don’t know about bacteria. Dumbasses.”