Again, think in terms of Economic Theory. "Possessions" doesn't refer to small, petty personal items but capital: stocks, bonds, real estate, factories, warehouses, natural & human resources, companies, money and the competitive drive to acquire them. Same applies to "want." "Want" on the sociological/economic scale not simply that somebody wants candy or to go to the movies or the beach.
popular culture?
- Thread starter JoeZhang
- Start date
Again, think in terms of Economic Theory. "Possessions" doesn't refer to small, petty personal items but capital: stocks, bonds, real estate, factories, warehouses, natural & human resources, companies, money and the competitive drive to acquire them. Same applies to "want." "Want" on the sociological/economic scale not simply that somebody wants candy or to go to the movies or the beach.
One of the most cringe-worthy aspects of The Phantom Menace was the two-heded announcer doing the play by play of the pod races. There is something about mass-media in futuristic stories that seems too, I dunno, self-reflexive? I mean, you're already watching a movie or a TV show. If your futuristic characters watch movies or TV shows, it can't help but seem too modern-day. It works sometimes, like in THX-1138 or Idiocracy, but I don't think it would work for Star Trek. I'm sure there is "news" in the Trek universe, as well as some degree of high-art (like the traveling theater companies) but not the equivalent of a 24th century COPS or American Idol.
The Fifth Element got it right. Both high and lowbrow celebrity.
ST didn't even attempt to allude to popular culture aside from some 60s music played by people dressed in tinfoil suits in the original series.
However judging from TMP, the crew all got that off screen after the five year mission
I remember reading that one of the early plans for STVI was that Uhura left Starfleet and was the host of some kind of late-night talk radio show, a la Coast to Coast AM, which would imply that the Federation has the subspace equivalent of talk radio, with the audience to match.
Haha, that movie's media was funny is so many ways. "A murderer was caught today. Guilty. Execution tonight, 8pm all channels."
It difficult to imagine a future Human society without some kind of "news" service. Our history had both the town crier, and the village gossip.
Real estate like a "grape farm?" Private dilithium mines. The Federation "bought" the M5 from the Daystrom Institute, it was potentially a major contract. Flint bought an entire planet. Joseph Sisko didn't simply have people over for dinner, he owned a restaurant.
Ahh, but then it wouldn't be a "restaurant." Joseph was likely pulling a comfortable income out of his little commercial establishment.
Indeed, we know that at least by 2293, there were three different networks in wide use: Federation News Network, Starfleet Broadcasting, and the Earth Broadcasting Service. (in Generations, all three of these networks had a reporter and cameraperson on the bridge of the Enterprise-B.)
Also, by DS9's time, Jake Sisko wanted to work for the Federation News Network.
What you don't realise from watching Star Trek is that the whole thing is propped up by slaves - when he refers to humanity, he means natural born humans - he's a racist that doesn't consider the blue-skinned slaves who clean his toilets to be real people. For security reasons, those slaves were never seen on Starships.
I'm sure many of the people living in the American antebellum south thought their society to be a utopia too.
Why?
Restaurant, a place where people pay to eat meals.
Dinner party, a party of people assembled to have dinner together.
Joseph is repeatedly said to have and operate a "restaurant." If he were simply inviting random strangers over to his house and cooking for them for free, that would not be (by definition) a restaurant.
Joseph Sisko was restaurateur.
I find the idea that Joseph Sisko ran he restaurant entirely for free, for the good feeling it gave him, to be preposterous.
Picard's lines in First Contact that "we work to better ourselves" and that there's no money is barely justifyable when you're flying around in deep space meeting new aliens and saving the day over and over. But when you run a little resteraunt in San Francisco? What about the guy cleaning the carpet in Wrath of Khan, is he an evolved human bettering himself or is he just doing his job? What about the waiters in Ten Forward? What about the others who worked with Rom in DS9's waste extraction department? What about the people who do that nasty job on Earth?
Picard's lines in First Contact that "we work to better ourselves" and that there's no money is barely justifyable when you're flying around in deep space meeting new aliens and saving the day over and over. But when you run a little resteraunt in San Francisco? What about the guy cleaning the carpet in Wrath of Khan, is he an evolved human bettering himself or is he just doing his job? What about the waiters in Ten Forward? What about the others who worked with Rom in DS9's waste extraction department? What about the people who do that nasty job on Earth?
Similar threads
