How could you tell the character was trans just by looking at them though? Are you saying that only trans actors who don't "pass" should be cast?
The lack of national diversity in the Discovery cast...
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How could you tell the character was trans just by looking at them though? Are you saying that only trans actors who don't "pass" should be cast?
It can come up from time to time. We eventually learned about the pasts of most of the characters over the years. It’s easy to do. Sense8 has a trans character played by a trans actress. Her past has come up, mainly through her relationship with her mother. But her main storyline is focused on her being a hacker and her relationship with her girlfriend. It’s not her reminding everyone she’s trans.
It could be subtle things that some audience members don’t notice.
Going out on a limb, but assuming geneder dysphoria is the result of genetics or something seen prior to birth, it’s logical to assume that Federation Medical Science would actually...loaded word time, but not meant negatively here, purely scientific...’correct’ it before birth or immediately afterwards to ensure that the difficulties it presents the individual would not occur. It’s always a match, every time. Alternatively, given the approach to Eugenics, and most other forms of transhumanism in Trek, it’s entirely possible that any ‘tinkering’ is effectively banned. Combine that with there basically being no differentiation between gender roles, and greater control over reproductive biology we see in Trek thus far, and it seems it may simply be irrelevant due to either tech (my first example, instant transporter sex changes, surgical advances that make it basically impossible to identify gender reassignment as having occurred) or societal (there is no gender difference in roles or opportunities, the concept of ‘male’ And ‘female’ in humans now exist purely as biological difference, there are no other differences, thereby lessening the occurrence) changes making it that way. It’s entirely possible that you can pick any given crew member we have not seen in childhood or as a baby and say ‘there is a trans character’. We know that editing of genes and what have you is performed before birth, and we examine the hornets nest with B’Ellana and Tom and Miral. But this all just looking at stuff.
In terms of nationalities on DSC...yup...it’s full of more Americans than any other series of Trek. On the other hand, it’s not as much of an ensemble cast, so we don’t know who else on that crew hails from elsewhere. It is a bit clumsy though.
In terms of ‘seeing people like yourself for so long’ well, that all depends how much of your individuality you identify with. The closest characters to myself I have seen in Trek all have massive identity differences that would theoretically disallow me from identifying with them...If I allow myself to be limited by gender, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality. Fortunately, I tend not to.
Representation is tricky thing, once you start slicing it thinner and thinner, or trying to please disparate groups that make a larger group...look at Chakotay, every Native People and none of them.
Even Doctor Who, seen as a bastion of progressiveness for many many years...cocked the Trans issue right up, by having their trans actor play some kind of mutant subnormal...albeit one with a touching story.
It’s a tricky issue, and I don’t think there is a ‘right’ answer for Trek, narratively at least.
For a more..nuanced...look at it, or to find some representation as far as Trans goes, I recommend Knights of Sidonia.
Me? Well...Marina Sirtis is as close as my corner of the world got to representation, Ok maybe O’Brien. But I don’t have the same cup size as either. Ok. Maybe O’Brien. I see more of myself in Geordi, Bashir, Kira, Paris. Which sure frustrates the argument, because as I said...a certain way of thinking would not allow that way of thinking.
That said...it wouldn’t hurt for the show to try a little harder for those people who do not share that approach. There’s no harm in it at this point really, is there?
In terms of nationalities on DSC...yup...it’s full of more Americans than any other series of Trek. On the other hand, it’s not as much of an ensemble cast, so we don’t know who else on that crew hails from elsewhere. It is a bit clumsy though.
In terms of ‘seeing people like yourself for so long’ well, that all depends how much of your individuality you identify with. The closest characters to myself I have seen in Trek all have massive identity differences that would theoretically disallow me from identifying with them...If I allow myself to be limited by gender, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality. Fortunately, I tend not to.
Representation is tricky thing, once you start slicing it thinner and thinner, or trying to please disparate groups that make a larger group...look at Chakotay, every Native People and none of them.
Even Doctor Who, seen as a bastion of progressiveness for many many years...cocked the Trans issue right up, by having their trans actor play some kind of mutant subnormal...albeit one with a touching story.
It’s a tricky issue, and I don’t think there is a ‘right’ answer for Trek, narratively at least.
For a more..nuanced...look at it, or to find some representation as far as Trans goes, I recommend Knights of Sidonia.
Me? Well...Marina Sirtis is as close as my corner of the world got to representation, Ok maybe O’Brien. But I don’t have the same cup size as either. Ok. Maybe O’Brien. I see more of myself in Geordi, Bashir, Kira, Paris. Which sure frustrates the argument, because as I said...a certain way of thinking would not allow that way of thinking.
That said...it wouldn’t hurt for the show to try a little harder for those people who do not share that approach. There’s no harm in it at this point really, is there?
It doesn't matter whether the audience knows it or not. What matters is that they get jobs.
Or just have a trans character. It’s only complicated to people who can’t wrap their heads around the idea.
I think what's being asked is, if the society takes trans people for granted, how would it come up in the stories? But then, Stamets being gay didn't come up for his first several episodes. It's not something that has to come up or be focused on, it's just something that's there, part of who the character happens to be. So it might come up casually at some point after we've known the character for a while. Or maybe it'll just inform the character's point of view in a way that isn't explicitly called attention to.
Basically yeah.
Not to be a pendant, but we don't know Stamets is "gay." We just know he's in a same-sex relationship. He very well may be bi (hell, everyone in the show might be). Even if he's exclusively attracted to men, sexuality in the 23rd century may not be defined in such a way that the terms "straight" and "gay" have the contemporary or any other meaning.
So very much not the point. It's just an example of a character trait that wasn't revealed right away or made a big deal of. The way it was handled is the point, not what specifically it was.
And it's pedant. If you were a pendant, you'd be on a chain around someone's neck.
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The producers and actor has said the character was gay. I would assume they know more about him than we do.
All I can tell you guys is that I'm as "American" as they come and I've been in this country since I was a young teen and I don't look "white" at all and a "white" American who came from, say, Idaho or Utah would take one look at me and think I'm from some other place in the world (even though they might not be able to point at it on a map LOL).... until I opened my mouth and said something.
Someone in India would think I'm "from" there... until I opened my mouth and out came my thoroughly embedded Jersey-Midatlantic accent and perhaps even mannerisms and gestures.
My point? I'm a citizen of the world already... at least, I consider myself both Indian and American... I belong to both and neither. One would think and hope that by the time (and if) we get to a place in the future shown in Trek, most people would be like me and even more "global". Accents are ephemeral things. I can -- if I want to and if I'm talking to an Indian -- sound perfectly Indian, but my inherent accent is now what it is... different from what it was when I was a child.
Once we let go of our preconceptions of what a British captain or a Vulcan first officer or a Russian navigator or a Japanese helm officer must sound like, we get to the very Star Trek place where everybody's free to be who they are in that moment. A Frenchman perhaps brought up in England, or a Klingon reared by a Russian couple. Perhaps Worf's gruff solemnity wasn't due to his Klingon heritage after all?
Someone in India would think I'm "from" there... until I opened my mouth and out came my thoroughly embedded Jersey-Midatlantic accent and perhaps even mannerisms and gestures.
My point? I'm a citizen of the world already... at least, I consider myself both Indian and American... I belong to both and neither. One would think and hope that by the time (and if) we get to a place in the future shown in Trek, most people would be like me and even more "global". Accents are ephemeral things. I can -- if I want to and if I'm talking to an Indian -- sound perfectly Indian, but my inherent accent is now what it is... different from what it was when I was a child.
Once we let go of our preconceptions of what a British captain or a Vulcan first officer or a Russian navigator or a Japanese helm officer must sound like, we get to the very Star Trek place where everybody's free to be who they are in that moment. A Frenchman perhaps brought up in England, or a Klingon reared by a Russian couple. Perhaps Worf's gruff solemnity wasn't due to his Klingon heritage after all?
Wasn't David Duchovny's character on Twin Peaks trans?
As far as I aware David Duchovny is not actually trans. So it doesn’t count. It’s like saying blackface is a form of inclusion.
English is an official language in India anyway (and the language of the courts). Despite this, other languages (as you cited them) much older and some like Tamil, Marathi and Bengali with rich and long literary traditions have survived tens of thousands of years. India's inherent quality is to absorb and synthesize, so I seriously doubt English will replace these (and the other hundreds of) languages. Rather, it's India and Indians who have changed and adapted English to their own "Indian-English", so much so that a separate literary tradition now exists known as Diasporic Literature by Indian-English authors.
So, supplant, no. Co-exist? Yes, of course.
Hindi and Bengali are already #4 and #7 in the top ten of the world's most spoken languages, and they aren't going anywhere.
In terms of global reach, I think it depends on STEM-usability or adaptability of that particular language. I think the more a language can be used to write STEM subjects, the longer its shelf life will be in terms of substantial growth and expansion.
Oh, I see where you were going with there... I didn't realize. I thought you were just trying to find out the prevalence of trans characters on film and TV.
Yeah. I don't know regards the National diversity representation on Star Trek. If it comes down to accent defining a ticked box of this country, or that one, or this region or whatever.. then tick those boxes. I'm sure if Australia was producing Star Trek the default accent would be Aussie and I would cringe at the Sydney one (wink). There may never be an 'Earth' accent unless we truly expect the future requires we become homogenised. All one colour, race, gender. I doubt that. Star Trek is however going to have to make choices and if it means that not everyone gets to see a mini me of themselves represented.. that just might be the way it is.
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Captain pl1ngpl0ng
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Ah.... I had to look that up. Shes a greek born in England, i had No idea.
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^This
She did a really good ‘deaf’ accent, based on the fact Deanna was raised on a world ‘where silence has lease’ due to everyone talking telepathically. It’s a good idea. Blown out the water when Majel turned up as Lwxana, so she tried to bring in some American too...and then by the films her London side crept in more, and they made her father from London in the novels as a result. Turned out well. But yeah, she a Londoner Basically. Her work on Deannas accent shows a level of craft that seems rarely remarked upon.
Patrick Stewart is from Yorkshire, but just goes Shakespeare Company RP. I am not sure he can do more than two accents.
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