That's my take on it too.
Is Deep Space Nine racist?
- Thread starter Destructor
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Yeah that definitely seems to be a line about his age - I don't see any racist connotations in there? Though no doubt the actor could have drawn on such experiences (and he really sells that scene).
I assume the 'racist' element there comes from the fact that "boy" was a common (Southerner) term for blacks esp slaves and Daystrom was black.
Hmm. I'm not from the States so hadn't really heard that before. Though 'boy wonder' seems like such a common term that it could easily be used without those connotations.
But really, it's Star Trek. It's entirely possible to read it in-universe as one way (about youthful accomplishment) and still see it as allegorically alluding to other problems, i.e. the racism a black man in the 60s would have experience in that kind of environment, probably having his ideas stolen or attributed to others.
There is literally zero evidence that the racist element was intended. @Nerys Myk already addressed this, and I agree completely with what he said:
As often happened with TOS, casting added subtext.
Still a bit of a stretch. Again, it's unlikely they cast the part with that subtext in mind.
Ok, that's just willful ignorance: perhaps they weren't trying to put a particular spin on boy, but they were inviting the audience to contemplate the character's blackness.
I don't think so. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Nopers.
I think the show and Next Generation is funny in that people with certain names (ethnic) "look" that ethnicity.
Miles O'brien a white guy with an Irish accent. He should have been say a part black part Asian guy.
Keiko= looks Japanese, maybe she should have been white with red hair.
Nobody has any names from places like Denmark or Sweden. No Lars or Sven.
Ensign Gomez, with Geordie in engineering, she looks like what in the USA is called "Hispanic" today.
All of that bothered me I guess. Too many one "race" humans still, 400 years in the future. With names matching the "race" they appear to look like.
Miles O'brien a white guy with an Irish accent. He should have been say a part black part Asian guy.
Keiko= looks Japanese, maybe she should have been white with red hair.
Nobody has any names from places like Denmark or Sweden. No Lars or Sven.
Ensign Gomez, with Geordie in engineering, she looks like what in the USA is called "Hispanic" today.
All of that bothered me I guess. Too many one "race" humans still, 400 years in the future. With names matching the "race" they appear to look like.
Yeah. Perhaps the most notable exception was because of a serendipitous casting accident: The Frenchman with a British accent!
But often now of course, you'll talk to people that are from Germany, France, Italy or other places and they have the accent of where they learned English.
I attributed his accent to the theory that French is a dead language 400 years from now and then as now Peole speak with the accents from where they grew up.
Some of the sexiest accents on English are spoken in Africa!
What?
The actor who plays O'Brien is Irish. I think the character became Irish to match that. ( he didn't have a name at first)
The actress who played Keiko is of Chinese ancestry.
Seven of Nine's real name is Annika Hansen. One of her ancestors is Sven Hansen
Hispanic covers a wide range of looks.
Geordi's last name is "LaForge". Probably of French origin.
Sulu isn't a Japanese name.
Sisko's name has various origins. None of which appear to be African
Key Luke played Donald Cory.
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Hikaru is.
And?
That was my first thought as well
What's next? Voyager sexist?
His points on the Klingons alone make me wonder if he even watched the same show I did.
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My point is, that today-right now 2017, you go places and there are people who look sort of Asian and have last names like Norburg, Thompson, Hurst, there are people that look black with last names like Sanchez and Gerstitz.
Don't you think in 400 years humans will be a melee of colors and names?
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