The lack of national diversity in the Discovery cast...

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Discovery' started by eschaton, Nov 9, 2017.

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  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    This isn't a conversation about what accents actors use. It's about whether the characters are portrayed as all-American or as globally diverse. There are plenty of Trek characters who speak with American accents but are overtly not from America -- Uhura (US of Africa), La Forge (Somalia), Yar (Turkana IV, with Russian ancestry), Chakotay (Trebus, with Native/Latin American ancestry), Seven of Nine (Tendara colony, with Scandinavian ancestry), etc. Accents can be one way of coding a character as non-American, but they're not essential for doing so. And thus they aren't the point of this conversation at all.


    Because they don't exist in isolation. They're serving on the same crew, so obviously they're using a shared language. They could certainly use their native languages when speaking with their family members, but then code-switch to the standard/official Starfleet language when they're on duty or conversing with their crewmates, because that's how bilingualism works. And it's not unreasonable that the shared language would be English. It's the most widely spoken second language on Earth, and it's the international language of space travel, science, and engineering, so it's a plausible choice to become the lingua franca of humanity in space. Sure, theoretically it could be supplanted over the next 2 or 3 centuries by Chinese, say, but obviously that's not going to happen in a show made for English-speaking audiences.
     
  2. Ithekro

    Ithekro Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well since fortune cookie production is an American business, Lorca being an American would be reasonable.

    As for Ash Tylor....his backstory as being an American, but having a shaky accent could be just another clue to him not really being who he claims to be.

    Captain Georgiou has a Greek surname.

    Burnham is an English surname.
     
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  3. eschaton

    eschaton Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yes, this gets at the heart of my issue with the characters on Discovery seemingly all being American.

    I mean, as an American, I am really disturbed by the idea that Starfleet is not just dominated by humans (which doesn't fit with all federation members being equal) but that it's some Pax Americana. It implies that maybe there is a hierarchy and lots of people in the Earth of the 23rd century don't actually have real power.

    While the lack of many aliens in Starfleet can be excused to some extent by real-life production issues (budgetary requirements meaning you can't have over half the cast require extensive makeup) that excuse doesn't hold for actors of non-American background. Hell, Discovery is filmed in Toronto - the exact same city as The Expanse, which as I noted has a very multinational cast. And as was noted, Americans could always play foreign characters without even feigning an accent.
     
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  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Except for Detmer, who's German according to the first novel, and Owosekun, whose name and accent are Nigerian. But they're both minor characters so far.
     
  5. indranee

    indranee Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Are you fricking serious with this or are you trolling? You think "America" is only white people?! #smh
     
  6. indranee

    indranee Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's called STANDARD in the 23-24th century, not ENGLISH.

    I think you're conflating the TV show for what it's always tried to show -- a diverse yet united Earth reaching out to the stars hand-in-hand with the diversity we then encounter once we're out of Terra.

    I am not a "white American" (although I've spent most of my life here since I was a kid) and I have no problem with the series using American accents or actors in key roles, but it's STAR TREK dammit. And having watched from TOS onward, I at least expect a nod toward that kind of diversity in the characters in Discovery.

    Anyway, I think this is a bit of a futile topic. It's what it is and we'll have to accept it. But I still had a bit of a frowny moment when they replaced one South Asian with an Anglo-American name with yet another South Asian with an Anglo-American name. What gives, TPTB?!
     
  7. marsh8472

    marsh8472 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    and I thought I was nitpicky :) I never thought about this. It could be used as an additional argument to what I was saying about how adding a character to the series would help the show but more specifically someone that has a foreign accent.
     
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  8. indranee

    indranee Vice Admiral Admiral

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    In my world, if I like a show, I nitpick the hell out of it :angel:
     
  9. indranee

    indranee Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I visited and also lived in TO (Toronto) as my ex was from there, and it's truly one of the MOST multinational cities in North America. They could easily find people to fit this bill if they wanted to (although I'm really ignorant about SAG rules so I dunno)...
     
  10. marsh8472

    marsh8472 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  11. indranee

    indranee Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Stealing :beer:
     
  12. MakeshiftPython

    MakeshiftPython Commodore Commodore

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    Yeah, he made the decision so that he wouldn't be compared to another famous British actor that once played a starship captain.
     
  13. Brainsucker

    Brainsucker Captain Captain

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    Are you serious or are you trolling? Did I said only White People as American?

    Now you call it Standard, and not English. so what is the point of having the accent then?
     
  14. midnightz

    midnightz Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    That is a shame because there really is no comparison in the two captains' characters. Would have been great to have a British accent.

    I can understand why there are so many American accents on the show but agree it would have been preferable to have a crew that didn't seeimgly all herald from different American states.
     
  15. Satron

    Satron Commander Red Shirt

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    Check your internet/network settings if it gets stuck.
     
  16. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    Umm... $8.5 million dollars per episode times 15 episodes gives it a $125.25 million dollar budget. They could've easily shaved some off of set construction and special effects if they had want to bring in international actors.
     
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  17. Boomer359

    Boomer359 Commodore Commodore

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    It certainly seems to be the official language of the show. Whether that's the case in-universe is another question. The characters don't often name the language they're speaking unless it's something other than English. For a non-English-speaking audience, any reference to Standard would just be the language into which the show was dubbed. In fact, I think the only time I can recall them referencing "English" was just a few episodes ago on Discovery when Lorca remarks to L'Rell that he's impressed with her English.
     
  18. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    In the franchise, Spock references English in "Bread and Circuses".

     
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  19. Cake

    Cake Captain Captain

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    Actually casting foreign actors wouldn't have cost more. So many of them try their best to get roles in U.S. series. They easily could have found many willing to play a role on DIS without having to pay them more. That said there is no reason why U.S. actors can't play characters from different countries.
     
  20. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    While in and of itself it isn't a deal breaker, I do find the casting disappointing being this was the first Star Trek show built with international distribution in mind.
     
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