4 ms·

Most "Western" Sci Fi has been very diverse in it's characters as most non-dystopian futures assume a very globalized earth. Let's take star trek for example *

by dtx1 8y ago

Most "Western" Sci Fi has been very diverse in it's characters as most non-dystopian futures assume a very globalized earth. Let's take star trek for example * TOS has been on the forefront of this with basically the whole bridge crew beeing a commercial for space diversity, even going so far as having a russian officers during the cold war on the bridge. * The first Chief engineer of the TNG Enterprise was an Indian only to be replaced by Geordi La Forge (a blind black man). * DS9 dealt with race and diversity on so many levels, i can't even begin to count. * VOY just happened to have a very diverse crew, it was never explored much just...accepted? * ENT same as voyager just a little less "on the nose"

dtx1 8y ago
Just reminded myself of this: In the model 2001: A Space Odyssey the moon station has a "sovyet" and an "american" entrance which both lead to the same room. The main character notices this with releave instead of annyoance.
saiya-jin 8y ago
Star trek was interesting in this, you can see how creators tried for diversity as much as current norms at the time allowed. In 60s, captain (aka main hero) had to be postercard white american, no way around it. TNG had a caucasian french captain (played by british actor, tells something about what creators thought about audience). DS9 had an african-american captain. Voyager a woman.
- rsynnott 8y ago
  > In 60s, captain (aka main hero) had to be postercard white american, no way around it. And indeed, it is even stated at one time (albeit possibly by an unreliable character) that women _could not be Starfleet captains_.
rsynnott 8y ago
I think Star Trek was actually fairly timid about this compared to contemporary and older novels. TOS pushed the envelope a little bit, but the rest were mostly just hitting contemporary norms. Notoriously, they were very skittish about LGBT characters, even at a time when gay people were showing up in sitcoms etc without anyone getting too upset. Novels are a whole different story, though; Clarke, le Guin etc were very much more progressive.
- beat 8y ago
  Television is a more conservative medium than novels, generally. Star Trek always lagged slightly behind the cutting edge in terms of social commentary on tv, but also stayed pretty close to that cutting edge. It's always tricky, introducing more progressive social ideas to a broad audience. You want to open minds without alienating them.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  I disagree on TOS, which I think pushed the envelope a lot for the time it was created, but yeah, most of the later series have been more conservative. "Let's have some black and/or female characters" was less revolutionary by the late '80s. (Though it's interesting that TOS, by including a Klingon and an android in the bridge crew, illustrated the in-universe diversity of Starfleet without doing much for IRL casting diversity.) I suppose I have to admit that having a blind man in TOS was progressive. And having black, female, and finally black female protagonists (DS9, Voyager, Discovery) was a series of steps forward. Still damn disappointing that we had to wait 'til the last few years to get openly gay recurring characters.
arunix 8y ago
Before Geordi La Forge became chief engineer of the TNG Enterprise, there wasn't a dedicated chief engineer [1]. The Indian character you mention wasn't the first (or particularly senior) [2]. [1]: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Argyle http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Argyle [2]: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Singh_(Lieutenant_JG) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Singh_(Lieutenant_JG)

by dtx1 8y ago

dtx1 8y ago

Just reminded myself of this: In the model 2001: A Space Odyssey the moon station has a "sovyet" and an "american" entrance which both lead to the same room. The main character notices this with releave instead of annyoance.

saiya-jin 8y ago

Star trek was interesting in this, you can see how creators tried for diversity as much as current norms at the time allowed. In 60s, captain (aka main hero) had to be postercard white american, no way around it. TNG had a caucasian french captain (played by british actor, tells something about what creators thought about audience). DS9 had an african-american captain. Voyager a woman.

rsynnott 8y ago
> In 60s, captain (aka main hero) had to be postercard white american, no way around it. And indeed, it is even stated at one time (albeit possibly by an unreliable character) that women _could not be Starfleet captains_.

rsynnott 8y ago

I think Star Trek was actually fairly timid about this compared to contemporary and older novels. TOS pushed the envelope a little bit, but the rest were mostly just hitting contemporary norms. Notoriously, they were very skittish about LGBT characters, even at a time when gay people were showing up in sitcoms etc without anyone getting too upset. Novels are a whole different story, though; Clarke, le Guin etc were very much more progressive.

beat 8y ago
Television is a more conservative medium than novels, generally. Star Trek always lagged slightly behind the cutting edge in terms of social commentary on tv, but also stayed pretty close to that cutting edge. It's always tricky, introducing more progressive social ideas to a broad audience. You want to open minds without alienating them.
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
I disagree on TOS, which I think pushed the envelope a lot for the time it was created, but yeah, most of the later series have been more conservative. "Let's have some black and/or female characters" was less revolutionary by the late '80s. (Though it's interesting that TOS, by including a Klingon and an android in the bridge crew, illustrated the in-universe diversity of Starfleet without doing much for IRL casting diversity.) I suppose I have to admit that having a blind man in TOS was progressive. And having black, female, and finally black female protagonists (DS9, Voyager, Discovery) was a series of steps forward. Still damn disappointing that we had to wait 'til the last few years to get openly gay recurring characters.

arunix 8y ago

Before Geordi La Forge became chief engineer of the TNG Enterprise, there wasn't a dedicated chief engineer [1]. The Indian character you mention wasn't the first (or particularly senior) [2]. [1]: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Argyle http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Argyle [2]: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Singh_(Lieutenant_JG) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Singh_(Lieutenant_JG)