Is Deep Space Nine racist?
- Thread starter Destructor
- Start date
Didn't they actually like the taste of the root beer, and were thus embarrassed at themselves for it?
Quark maybe but Garak doesn't seem like the type to like sweet things.
I think if you look for racism hard enough, you'll find it almost anywhere. To find it in episodes of ST is a bit of a stretch even if so minor points can be identified.
Personally, I find the accusation of racism toward imaginary species to be laughable. Racism is a serious thing that affects real people.
Yes. But 'does deep space nine contain examples of what might be called racism, discuss' won't quite draw as much attention
Precisely.
yes they do, I like it.
I couldn't find it in France and it's not for lack of trying.
There is more to Europe than France
Hmm, a good thread all around. I think DS9 isn't racist in the ways we think of racism, but that the writers didn't shy away from the fact that prejudice and ignorance still existed in other ways. It had shifted from human targets to aliens but it was still there.
Actually, the best example of this isn't even in DS9, but Voyager, surprisingly. In the episode where B'Elanna learns her baby would still have the ridges despite being predominantly human, were shown a flashback to her childhood where a classmate had put live worms in her sandwich. Where would a kid born in the 24th Century get an idea like that except from at home?
Actually, the best example of this isn't even in DS9, but Voyager, surprisingly. In the episode where B'Elanna learns her baby would still have the ridges despite being predominantly human, were shown a flashback to her childhood where a classmate had put live worms in her sandwich. Where would a kid born in the 24th Century get an idea like that except from at home?
"Lineage" (the episode with the live worms in the sandwich) is perhaps my favorite episode of the entire Star Trek franchise, but the issue of Klingons preferring live food (not just in "Lineage," but in episodes throughout The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager) again illustrates the subtle problem with the way Star Trek shows treat the category of "human." In the Star Trek franchise, alien Klingons eat live food, while Starfleet humans react either with revulsion or condescending indulgence in an alien culture. In reality, eating live food is part of several human cultures. It's just not common among Americans.
And to those who say issues like root beer and live food are too trivial to be racially problematic; I say those issues would be trivial, if they weren't illustrative instances of a larger pattern, a pattern of naively confusing human nature and mainstream American culture. But to bring the discussion back to the initial question, this isn't a thing with Deep Space Nine particularly but the Star Trek franchise, generally--especially all the Generation era shows.
And to those who say issues like root beer and live food are too trivial to be racially problematic; I say those issues would be trivial, if they weren't illustrative instances of a larger pattern, a pattern of naively confusing human nature and mainstream American culture. But to bring the discussion back to the initial question, this isn't a thing with Deep Space Nine particularly but the Star Trek franchise, generally--especially all the Generation era shows.
You say that, then give the series with Space Lincoln and Kohms and Yangs a free pass? XD
The Kohms and Yang was all sorts of racist. Stereotype roulette!
By "Deep Space 9", though, being able to eat live Klingon food seems to be--if not the norm--at least a sign of a sophisticated palate.
There is sort of an undercurrent of odd condescension and boredom that creeps into Star Trek from time to time, where the characters who are allegedly all about strange new worlds and new civilizations seem to become weary of the whole idea. Picard and Kirk in the beginning of Insurrection and Beyond, for example, though at least working through it is part of their character arcs. It's a little funny at first when Dax starts dating that captain with the transparent head, but by the fifth time someone makes a joke about it, it's a little uncomfortable. There are a lot of episodes of TNG and Voyager where the characters almost seem upset that the strange and unknown is intruding on their daily routines--what's up with that?
TC
I was going to say the same. The Klingon restaurant seems to be doing pretty good business.
Those devices (especially the Kohms and the Yangs) were overtly, self-consciously about using sci fi to explore and criticize the American sense of self. In general, the original Star Trek presented itself as a fictional vehicle for commentary, whereas The Next Generation (and to a lesser extent its spin offs) presented itself as a sincere representation of an inter-species future society, but that representation looked too much like mainstream American culture.
Yes, people like the Klingon food, but they still treat it like alien food. It might have been fun to see a human from a culture that eats live food go into that restaurant for something familiar, or better yet, that human could pronounce Klingon cuisine wholly unsatisfactory compared with the live food he or she normally enjoys.
There's as much of the morality play to later Trek, it just covers a wider gamut. Ironically Voyager probably does the most hard scifi, and Ds9 does the most allegory.
We have that in Melora.
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