http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lcars/critindex.html is a list of analytical and critical books about Star Trek, with books on politics, race, religion, etc. The titles link to more info about the books.
MA Thesis Help Required
- Thread starter Moskvitz
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Not so. There were plenty of female and nonwhite players in the supporting cast. Captain Robau was played by Faran Tahir, a Pakistani-American. The Kelvin had an Asian helmswoman. Baby Jim Kirk was delivered by a female doctor with female and Asian medtechs aboard a shuttle piloted by a black man. One of the cadets Kirk fought in the bar was played by a Hawaiian. The flight officer who insisted McCoy take his seat on the shuttle was a Latina woman. Tyler Perry played the Starfleet Academy commandant, Barnett. Kirk's tactical officer in the simulator was a black man and one of the test administrators was an Asian man. One of the officers announcing crew postings in the hangar scene was played by a black woman from Puerto Rico. The Romulan guards on the drill platform were both played by nonwhite stuntmen. Keenser was played by Deep Roy, who's an Indian actor born in Kenya. The Enterprise crew contained quite a few female and/or nonwhite background players, who can be seen here: http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Unnamed_USS_Enterprise_personnel_(alternate_reality)
All in all, though they were stuck with the gender and ethnic mix of the original core cast, they made a very commendable effort to make the supporting cast as diverse as possible.
What they wanted was to be a continuation of the original while still doing something new. The problem is fan conservatism. A lot of Galactica fans objected to the full-on reboot Ron Moore did, and Trek fans can be even more hostile to novelty and change (which is ironic if you think about what Trek is supposed to stand for). There are lots of fictional franchises that have had multiple alternate continuities, but Trek has been atypical in that all its different incarnations, despite their inconsistencies, have been treated as parts of the same continuous reality. So the filmmakers knew that an outright restart set in an unrelated continuity would alienate a lot of the fanbase. But on the other hand, they knew they had to free themselves from existing continuity if they wanted to have creative freedom. So they came up with the compromise solution of setting it in an alternate timeline of the same universe.
So despite the recasting, these are supposed to be the same individuals genetically that they are in the "Prime" universe. Remember, Spock Prime recognized Kirk and Scotty on sight, meaning that, in-universe, they look the same, even though we see them played by different actors. So because of that conceit, the filmmakers didn't have the freedom to change the sex or ethnicity of any of the characters the way the Galactica remake did. They had to go with the established, male-dominated cast and compensate as best they could by increasing Uhura's role and populating the background with as diverse a group as possible.
Yes, I think it's arguable that the makers of NuTrek did seem to work reasonably hard on the background crew, including some who got to say the odd word or two (although I'd quite like more recognisable aliens). A proper examination of the background would be quite interesting. I think it's just the foreground crew (even excluding the main cast) where they stumbled, especially with the women - it looks like the ratio for women outside the main cast is still roughly 1/3, the traditional split.
"Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture" might help, but it was written in 2000 so I don't know how many copies are floating around. Jennifer E. Porter was the editor & the ISBN is 9780791443347. I haven't read it before so I don't know if it is too academic for you.
How are you defining "traditional?" One in three is a lot better than TOS did, about on a par with DS9 or VGR, and probably better than your typical action blockbuster today.
All I can say is that if a student came to me wanting to write a thesis and then declared that he wanted to be completely ignorant of all prior academic work in the field, I'd show him the door. I've refused to serve on committees for less.
The point of writing a thesis isn't to elaborate your own theories about Star Trek. Shit, that's blogging. You write a thesis to make an original contribution to the literature in your discipline. To do that, you've got to understand what's already being said.
Scholarship is a conversation, and you can't have a conversation if you're sitting in a crowded room with headphones on just shouting out whatever pops in your head. You've got to know what other people are saying.
The point of writing a thesis isn't to elaborate your own theories about Star Trek. Shit, that's blogging. You write a thesis to make an original contribution to the literature in your discipline. To do that, you've got to understand what's already being said.
Scholarship is a conversation, and you can't have a conversation if you're sitting in a crowded room with headphones on just shouting out whatever pops in your head. You've got to know what other people are saying.
Ah yes, sorry - I meant traditional for modern Trek. I have to admit I do find the opening cast lists of Hollywood movies to be quite irritating these days. It's grown into a pet hate of mine over the years because the writers and casting people are so consistent. It is genre dependent though - relationship movies, medical dramas, and soaps tend to do ok. In the UK, certainly, cop shows and detective dramas really push the boat out these days, although sometimes it can be self-consciously so. Some sci fi movies are sexist in their implementation too. Take the Fifth Element, where males and females do jobs along gender lines (male soldiers, male police, male taxi drivers vs female air hostesses, underwear-clad cuties, opera singers). They featured one female soldier who was deemed to ugly to contribute to the plot - lol. That's Hollywood. Many disaster movies fall into this trap too with male rescuers and female victims.
It is possible to be too self-conscious though. One cop show in the UK, Waking the Dead had a principle cast of 5 (2 men and 3 women). Several of the women have changed over the 10 years the show was running, consistently replaced by other (caucasian) women (although one was French). That seems to me to be sticking to the formula too rigidly. Sci fi is not contrained by 'realism' so it doesn't have to matter that most soldiers are men or most nurses are women in the real world. It's much easier for them to diversify in the Trek franchise should they choose to.
As a teacher and school librarian, it seems to me that the OP's attitude is misguided. When he says, "I am interested in books, not other dissertations, academic papers, etc. I understand there's been a lot of them, but I want to arrive at my conclusions by myself. So even if my thesis won't be original at all, I will still have the satisfaction of creating a piece that has not been influenced by other works of similar themes"
I wonder if he's so concerned about perceived plagiarism that he's blinding himself on to how to write a successful MA thesis. Reading others' research should help the thesis writing, ie. he needs to develop a new, previously unexplored track. What gem of discovery can he make that all the previous thesis writers have missed? If he's just recreating previous thought processes of others, he opens himself up to accusations of copying. Your lecturer might, quite rightly, think - if you don't quote any of the work of others, or at least acknowledge what exists out in the ether already - that you simply lifted their research and presented it as new work of your own anyway.
Read some dissertations, papers, theses and professionally published works and then zero in on something new that can be said about Star Trek's influences. How big/small is Polish ST fandom? Maybe draw some comparisons of how ST influenced US and Polish fans in different/similar ways?
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^YES!!!
The analogy that I've always like is that this is your chance to contribute a single brick to the edifice of scholarship. If you don't know what else is out there and where it fits in, you can't do that.
And one of the major steps of the thesis/dissertation process is the literature review, which specifically focuses on prior secondary research. So I've got no idea how any program worth having a degree from would let you do graduate-level research without knowing the scholarly literature.
The analogy that I've always like is that this is your chance to contribute a single brick to the edifice of scholarship. If you don't know what else is out there and where it fits in, you can't do that.
And one of the major steps of the thesis/dissertation process is the literature review, which specifically focuses on prior secondary research. So I've got no idea how any program worth having a degree from would let you do graduate-level research without knowing the scholarly literature.
First of all, thank You all for the replies, You've given me a lot of help and a lot to think about.
Second:
@Therin of Andor and Shatnertage
I do not mean to be absolutely oblivious to works of other people. I have gone through the theses' titles and glanced at the tables of contents. I will probably read more, but you have to understand one thing.
I have one year to write my MA thesis. In that time, having tons of classes, exams and a job, makes it a bit hard to read through for ex. 20 books and flip through 130 dissertations and come up with a completely 100% original subject. Somewhere, sometimes, I will surely write about something that already has been written elsewhere.
You're saying you would do this or that if a student wouldn't show enough effort (Shatnertage, that is). Firstly, I do not intend to be ignorant, but as I said - nothing you write is ever original and I am bound to repeat somebody's words at some point.
Second, there are already dissertations listed on the MLA IB with identical topics, let alone contents. That only proves it's not just Polish standards but also the US ones that allow students some lapses in 'creativity'.
Third, I don't want to simply 'blog', that is just to say 'imho' and 'I like this, I don't like that' - yes, I want to state my opinions, but derived upon research - and, I know this may come as a surprise, but not every single tutor or promoter is the same.
FYI, my professor, does not approve of quoting other BA/MA works, as he does not consider them 'academic' works. He agrees that one should avoid copying themes/subjects, but orbiting around a similar idea - if it is interesting and not elaborated upon a lot - is acceptable. Especially that I am a student of American Studies, where themes a'la 'the effect of [something] upon the American culture' are very sought after, as we literally have HUNDREDS of theses that are focused on the topics of literature, for instance - an analysis of Captain Ahab's psyche in Melville's Moby Dick appears every two years, and nobody is really bothered by it.
My conclusion is, before you start saying how enraged you'd be, or appalled by a certain action, please try to perceive the matter via scope of a certain country, culture, etc.
I will filter the popular subjects on Star Trek listed in international sources to avoid repetition and perhaps I shall touch a subject that is already made, but will take a different approach - I simply do not know. I want to be original, sure.
I have started this topic to get some help, as I need to pass a presentation, proving to my promoter that the 'general' topic of ST is worthy of writing a thesis on.
For that I need books rather than academic works - for various reasons, like the fact that my professor (again) deems them (books) as sources more serious and I do not need comparisons right now.
Once I get the approval I will have the entire summer holiday to create an original topic, on which I intend to expand.
I know I have written something a bit somewhat different earlier - but that was because I wanted to get other answers than "read dissertations". I hope this clarifies things a bit. I am impatient at times.
I do not mean any offense.
Cheers.
Second:
@Therin of Andor and Shatnertage
I do not mean to be absolutely oblivious to works of other people. I have gone through the theses' titles and glanced at the tables of contents. I will probably read more, but you have to understand one thing.
I have one year to write my MA thesis. In that time, having tons of classes, exams and a job, makes it a bit hard to read through for ex. 20 books and flip through 130 dissertations and come up with a completely 100% original subject. Somewhere, sometimes, I will surely write about something that already has been written elsewhere.
You're saying you would do this or that if a student wouldn't show enough effort (Shatnertage, that is). Firstly, I do not intend to be ignorant, but as I said - nothing you write is ever original and I am bound to repeat somebody's words at some point.
Second, there are already dissertations listed on the MLA IB with identical topics, let alone contents. That only proves it's not just Polish standards but also the US ones that allow students some lapses in 'creativity'.
Third, I don't want to simply 'blog', that is just to say 'imho' and 'I like this, I don't like that' - yes, I want to state my opinions, but derived upon research - and, I know this may come as a surprise, but not every single tutor or promoter is the same.
FYI, my professor, does not approve of quoting other BA/MA works, as he does not consider them 'academic' works. He agrees that one should avoid copying themes/subjects, but orbiting around a similar idea - if it is interesting and not elaborated upon a lot - is acceptable. Especially that I am a student of American Studies, where themes a'la 'the effect of [something] upon the American culture' are very sought after, as we literally have HUNDREDS of theses that are focused on the topics of literature, for instance - an analysis of Captain Ahab's psyche in Melville's Moby Dick appears every two years, and nobody is really bothered by it.
My conclusion is, before you start saying how enraged you'd be, or appalled by a certain action, please try to perceive the matter via scope of a certain country, culture, etc.
I will filter the popular subjects on Star Trek listed in international sources to avoid repetition and perhaps I shall touch a subject that is already made, but will take a different approach - I simply do not know. I want to be original, sure.
I have started this topic to get some help, as I need to pass a presentation, proving to my promoter that the 'general' topic of ST is worthy of writing a thesis on.
For that I need books rather than academic works - for various reasons, like the fact that my professor (again) deems them (books) as sources more serious and I do not need comparisons right now.
Once I get the approval I will have the entire summer holiday to create an original topic, on which I intend to expand.
I know I have written something a bit somewhat different earlier - but that was because I wanted to get other answers than "read dissertations". I hope this clarifies things a bit. I am impatient at times.
I do not mean any offense.
Cheers.
That is the problem every MA thesis writer faces. It's supposed to be arduous and challenging.
Exactly. And if you don't acknowledge them, how does your lecturer know who has filtered out a new line of research and who has simply copied someone else's word-for-word?
If you haven't read them yet, how would you know?
Umm, who suggested that?
Universities have generally agreed standards for what makes an MA thesis an MA thesis.
Huh? Many of the professionally published factual books listed on Steve Roby's site are people's theses. Most are small-press publications, sold in very limited editions, and some are essentially vanity press editions. How are they any more "academic works" than unpublished MA theses?
We told you that above.
And if you read them, the ones that get high marks will be the ones that still managed to find a new track of thinking - and proved that it was a new track by using the scholarly research approach, and analysing the previous studies and academic literature.
You do a disservice to the Polish education system by saying that. Your universities should be holding to a certain worldwide standard. And I'm sure they do.
There is no easy way to write a thesis.
One could argue that a hidden agenda of thesis writing is to teach the students self-discipline, thoroughness and patience.
The UK went to war in Iraq based on (mis)information lifted out of somebody's thesis!
No, I think that was the Lybian conflict. Still, we're choosier than the USA - apparently their interrogation policy was developed from watching episodes of 24! Seriously, somebody needs to prosecute members of the Bush administration for that fiasco. But I digress...
Well to be fair our coalition is based on the premise of Are You Being Served, with the larger menswear having to cope with including the smaller womenswear on their floor!
With the hilarious added bonus of making Nick Clegg - Molly Sugden and George Osbourne John Inman!
With the hilarious added bonus of making Nick Clegg - Molly Sugden and George Osbourne John Inman!
I would so watch Prime Minister's Question Time if it was based on Are You Being Served!
Don't worry about the cuts to public services, they will ride up with wear...
