Is Star Trek Racist

[Arpy]

Enterprise basically had Federation starship design be exclusively human. "We don't know what's underneath the hull" apologetics aside, it doesn't present well the idea of a Federation melting pot.

The theme is often raised about what it is to be "human" specifically - not intelligent, or sentient. Humanity is always the uber-race in Trek, all others being foils or pepper to their main course.

Trek has a major problem with mono-cultures, showing little diversity in most, using whole civilizations to be different personality types.

It also casts mostly white actors to play mostly "American acting" aliens. I'm amazed how many Cardassians or Kazon sound like they're originally from Michigan.

Trek is contemporary Captain Proton.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Don't overthink casting laziness and cost-cutting.

 

[retroenzo]

The problem with a sci-fi series filmed in the USA is that you're going to get a lot of American accented aliens. I saw a nit-pick once that complained that some of the aliens in one episode sounded Swedish. "Where would they encounter the Swedish accent in space?" they complained. "Same place they encountered the American one" I replied. They weren't impressed. To be honest, we get the same thing with Doctor Who here in the UK. Lots of British accented aliens.

However, I've always taken the aliens with American accents as being a Universal Translator effect.

And Trek has had diversity over the years: Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Avery Brooks, Alexander Siddig, Roxann Dawson, Tim Russ, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park. John Cho, Zoe Saldana. Probably plenty of others but they're the obvious ones that spring to mind right now.

 

[JeffinOakland]

I've harped on ST's fake-progressive credentials as much as anyone else but even I understand that you have to make allowances for a low-budget tv show. They can only do so much. At times, especially during DS9, its impressive how much they were able to do to make the "aliens" look and sound distinct.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Enterprise basically had Federation starship design be exclusively human. "We don't know what's underneath the hull" apologetics aside, it doesn't present well the idea of a Federation melting pot.

That's the fault of the writer's They tend to forget what the Federation is. Probably because they are human and the audience is human, so the focus is on humanity.

The ship is really a sound stage. So we're not going to get any exotic environments on a TV budget. Just doing weightlessness was a struggle.

Previously, the theme was always raised about what it is to be "human," specifically, not intelligent, or sentient. Humanity is always the uber-race in Trek, all others being foils or pepper to their main course.

Again a human audience. The "Aliens" are just various aspect of humanity to be examined.

Trek has a major problem with mono-cultures, showing little diversity in most, using whole civilizations to be different personality types.

See above.

t also casts mostly white actors to play mostly "American acting" aliens. I'm amazed how many Cardassians or Kazon sound like they're originally from Michigan.

Trek is contemporary Captain Proton.

Well, this is a real problem and not one caused by the restrictions of budget or technology. They could try and cast more non white actors, not just as aliens but in human roles too.

As for "acting American". What does that even mean? America is a large diverse country. Don't complain about mono-cultures and then try and pigeon hole an entire country. Why should you be amazed that the majority of actors in a show filmed in America speak with American accents? Do you have the same complaint about British accents on Doctor Who? Or German accents on a show filmed in Germany?

Captain Proton is a show with in a show. It's not a real show. Though it was probably more diverse than the shows it was pastiching.

 

[Tosk]

A perceived lack of diversity isn't the same thing as racism.

 

[The Wormhole]

Star Trek is the story of the Human Adventure. Can't really tell that story with Bolians or Tellarites, can you?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Star Trek is absolutely racist. Look at all of those humans in Klingonface and Vulcanface, for example. It's unforgivable that they don't cast actual Klingons and Vulcans for those roles.

 

[StarLore]

Considering that most of the alien races in Star Trek are humanoid, I don't think it is racist for the Enterprise to be designed accordingly.

 

[BJ Wagner]

What about Doctor Who? Every planet The Doctor visits seems to have British aliens.

 

[Nerys Myk]

A lot of planets have a Britain.

 

[Silvercrest]

If only you could hear yourselves. 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club. Oh, and Vulcans are well-known as the intellectual puppets of this Federation.

 

[Arpy]

Don't be obtuse. Obviously they're going to cast more Americans in Hollywood, but there are ways of lessoning the regionalism of speech and characterization.

Enterprise presented the Starfleet esthetic as exclusively human. No visual characteristics of other races' ships carried over to the Federation ships of later years. They were just slightly different Earth ships. Magically, they were more advanced than aliens spacefaring for centuries.

Whether the racism is achieved purposely or not, the end result is the same. It doesn't matter how many black or Asian actors are on the show; it's not about black-yellow-white-etc racism. In Star Trek, to be human is to be better than alien, the only philosophy that matters, and whose only fleet matters. It's the Terran Empire, with less shouting and murder.

EDIT: And Captain Proton is a play on Flash Gordon. Trek is the contemporary version of the real Gordon and fictional Proton. That its bigoted racial exceptionalism seems incongruous with its ideals is its own damn problem.

 

[SPCTRE]

If only you could hear yourselves. 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club. Oh, and Vulcans are well-known as the intellectual puppets of this Federation.

your references are out of control, bro

 

[JeffinOakland]

Blatant speciesism. #Klingonlivesmatter

 

[JRoss]

I'mma just leave this here.

 

[NaughtyTrekkie]

Don't overthink casting laziness and cost-cutting.

It's not just a problem of laziness and costs:
aliens in ST are basically human with some phisical differences. They think like humans, live like humans, have the needs of humans, act like human.

Even the most "alien" alien in ST (between the main characters), Odo, seems to think like a human, he's ironic, he can be manipulated, and he falls in love.

It's for that I say ST would work better without aliens

 

[JeffinOakland]

I'mma just leave this here.

Satire

 

[2takesfrakes]

 

[F. King Daniel]

Never lose sight of it being a television show operating on a limited budget and intended primarily for US viewers.