One of the criticisms of Star Trek over the years, has been that certain cultures seem overly mono-cultural - they seem to contain little diversity on an interstellar scale involving trillions of citizens, where in real life, there are hundreds of tribes and ethnic groups in countries like Russia, China or India.
The intent in TV episodes is to be able to do an episodic allegory in 45 minutes - so the Klingons are simplified into Soviets, or 'noble savages', etc, for dramatic purposes - but the downside to this, is that it could maybe lead to simplified quasi-rascist depictions of foreign cultures - exactly what Star Trek attempted to avoid by having Americans, Africans, Europeans, Russians and Japanese on the bridge of the original Enterprise.
This hasnt always been the case - there have been times when Star Trek has made certain cultures appear very diverse and realistic. But, I've just been reading through a ton of Trek lit, and have notaced some pretty singular and un-insightful depictions of alien cultures, in certain cases - perhaps for fear of violating canon, or perhaps because introducing popular real-world steriotypes was seen as compelling.
Sometimes, its a case of name dropping things from TV Trek, but not making any original additions. For example, constantly comparing Romulans to hawks and raptors, or mentioning people from past episodes as national heros, is akin to an English person walking around and contantly talking about Lions, Roses and Oak Trees in every conversation - yes, they are cultural symbols, but I doubt very much, they are thought about with such freqency by the average Romulan.
What is your view on this?
The intent in TV episodes is to be able to do an episodic allegory in 45 minutes - so the Klingons are simplified into Soviets, or 'noble savages', etc, for dramatic purposes - but the downside to this, is that it could maybe lead to simplified quasi-rascist depictions of foreign cultures - exactly what Star Trek attempted to avoid by having Americans, Africans, Europeans, Russians and Japanese on the bridge of the original Enterprise.
This hasnt always been the case - there have been times when Star Trek has made certain cultures appear very diverse and realistic. But, I've just been reading through a ton of Trek lit, and have notaced some pretty singular and un-insightful depictions of alien cultures, in certain cases - perhaps for fear of violating canon, or perhaps because introducing popular real-world steriotypes was seen as compelling.
Sometimes, its a case of name dropping things from TV Trek, but not making any original additions. For example, constantly comparing Romulans to hawks and raptors, or mentioning people from past episodes as national heros, is akin to an English person walking around and contantly talking about Lions, Roses and Oak Trees in every conversation - yes, they are cultural symbols, but I doubt very much, they are thought about with such freqency by the average Romulan.
What is your view on this?
"Catalyst of Sorrows", in the Lost Era series, made a point of mentioning how varied Romulan worlds are, economically, culturally, technologically, and how some are actually more socially and technologically advanced than Romulus itself, which has the greatest and most restrictive Tal Shiar presence. One interesting hint at diversity explored by the "Vulcan's ....." books you mention, as well as elsewhere, is the ratio of women to men in the military. I've noticed that some Romulans speak of "women, children and elders" as noncombatants, whereas other Romulan characters in the same book will speak of "children and elders". I always assumed this was- or interpreted it as- evidence that on some Romulan worlds women were warriors alongside the men, whereas in other regions it was a male-only role.
