Is Star Trek Racist

[C.E. Evans]

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.

Naturally, the argument can be made that that when the Federation was formed, Earth-based designs were chosen because Starfleet was Earth-based, and it then became a tradition that carried through into the 24th-Century. But since the Federation's founding, it could very well be that a number of technological improvements originated on worlds other than Earth (for all we know, the Warp 7 engine may have come from Vulcan or the TNG-style phaser array could have originated from Andoria).

But a very case was made in ENT that Humans did advance very quickly after developing warp drive--so much so that the Vulcans thought they were going way, way too fast:

"We had our wars, Admiral, just as Humans did. Our planet was devastated, our civilization nearly destroyed. Logic saved us. But it took almost fifteen hundred years for us to rebuild our world and travel to the stars. You humans did the same in less than a century. There are those on the High Command who wonder what Humans would achieve in the century to come--and they don't like the answer."
--Ambassador Soval to Admiral Maxwell Forrest.

 

[BillJ]

It's a show that was faux-progressive in the 1960's, and the franchise has been living on that reputation ever since.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

"Code of Honor". Hel-LO?

 

[Paradise City]

The humans are the top dogs in the Federation that's the only enlightened big power. Most every other big power is a racist dictatorship. Funny stuff.

 

[The Old Mixer]

No actual aliens were discriminated against in the making of this television series.

 

[Vandervecken]

"Code of Honor". Hel-LO?

Well sure that damns the whole franchise.

 

[Paradise City]

Star Trek is just one long hate propaganda directed against Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans..etc. In fact they really should rename it Klan Trek, replace the Arrow head with a silhouette of a burning cross and kit everyone out in hoods.

 

[locutus101]

Star Trek is just one long hate propaganda directed against Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans..etc. In fact they really should rename it Klan Trek, replace the Arrow head with a silhouette of a burning cross and kit everyone out in hoods.

I have nothing against Klingons, some of my best friends are Klingons.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I have nothing against Klingons, some of my best friends are Klingons.

So you can guarantee 95% of the Klingon vote then?

 

[locutus101]

So you can guarantee 95% of the Klingon vote then?

I am counting on it.

 

[Kevman7987]

I'm having trouble separating some of the satire and sarcasm from people who lost sight of what Star Trek is, what it represents, and why the aliens are mono-cultures. smh

 

[The Wormhole]

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

And Farscape took place in a galaxy where everyone was Australian.

 

[1001001]

Starbase Yorktown showed what the Federation really is.

It was breathtaking and inspiring.

 

[JRoss]

Satire

Oh yes, I know. I just really love it.

 

[BJ Wagner]

To post a more serious response, on the production front, it's probably very difficult to not only imagine an alien race, but to also fully realize that race to have as much diversity as our own. Hence the heavy use of mono-culture civilizations. Given enough time, I'm sure a good writer could really create a diversified race, but unless that race was going to be heavily used in a particular series, it's just not worthwhile. I can't remember how well the Bajorans were developed, but you'd need that much exposure to make such work necessary from a production standpoint.

On the other hand, it's simpler to go cheap and oversimplify things. The Trade Federation aliens in Star Wars The Phantom Meanace are all Asian accountants. The Gungans are all Jamacian. I don't think any alien races in Trek were as badly racist as those examples, but I could be wrong.

For an in universe response, it would be interesting if all Federations starships had a more culturally diverse design aesthetic. For example, say the engines were of human design, and the computer terminals were distinctly Vulcan? The layout and materials could be very different. Now imagine how educated the engineering department would have to be? Talk about pay raise! Didn't Babylon 5 play with a similar idea? It's been decades since I saw that show, so I could be wrong.

 

[locutus101]

And Farscape took place in a galaxy where everyone was Australian.

 

[LJones41]

On the other hand, it's simpler to go cheap and oversimplify things. The Trade Federation aliens in Star Wars The Phantom Meanace are all Asian accountants. The Gungans are all Jamacian. I don't think any alien races in Trek were as badly racist as those examples, but I could be wrong.

I don't think I can agree with you on this. The main Trade Federation characters were spoken by white actors and apparently no one can make up their minds on which accent they are using . . . even to this day. Some have claim that the Trade Federation characters sound Italian. Of the two Gungan characters, one was voiced by an African-American and the other by a white Englishman. It was Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) who had created the linguistic style of the Gungans all on his own. It may sound "Caribbean" or "West Indian" to many, but not quite to me.

I'm having trouble separating some of the satire and sarcasm from people who lost sight of what Star Trek is, what it represents, and why the aliens are mono-cultures. smh

Do you know why? It's been a long time for me, so I have forgotten.

 

[BJ Wagner]

I don't think I can agree with you on this. The main Trade Federation characters were spoken by white actors and apparently no one can make up their minds on which accent they are using . . . even to this day. Some have claim that the Trade Federation characters sound Italian. Of the two Gungan characters, one was voiced by an African-American and the other by a white Englishman. It was Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) who had created the linguistic style of the Gungans all on his own. It may sound "Caribbean" or "West Indian" to many, but not quite to me.





Do you know why? It's been a long time for me, so I have forgotten.

Yes, I think Italian would be a better description of their accent. All I know is that when people try to emulate most of the accents used that that film, they quickly turn into something sounding very racist. Not sure if that means they were good accents because they can't easily be reproduced, or bad because they sound like something people who a culturally sensitive might find offensive.

 

[JeffinOakland]

All sentient aliens are going to be somewhat familiar because humans can only imagine variations on what we've experienced. Our brains have not evolved to the point where we can imagine and grasp beyond our experience.

 

[BJ Wagner]

Been thinking about this topic while out on my morning walk. I find it actually quite compelling...

Perhaps the re-imaging of the original series should have been more along these lines of not being human-centric? Yes, the Terrans are from a planet that no longer judges its inhabitants based on gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, but also has a truly unified Federation that happens to not be based on Earth. Federation bases, starships, uniforms and technology would evoke a multicultural esthetic, with some being distinctly alien to human eyes based on which civilization excels in that particular technology. One could argue that that sort of Federation may have a unified esthetic to make production easier, but that would not look as unique to the viewer.

There would have to be more of an effort into showing that every race was also made up of various sub-cultures. Not all Klingons were brown and spoke the same language, for example. But for things like their technology, it would all be pretty much identifiable as Klingon, just as Terran would have one distinctive look. For example, all cars on this planet look the same to me, no matter which country designed and built them.

Say Terrans excel in propulsion technology. Vulcans in computer and sensors. Klingons in weapons and defense. Ferengi in entertainment and luxury. Now it's up to the art department to try and combine all those elements. That could be fun.