ERIC Number: EJ749620
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 12
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0270-4676
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Seeking New Civilizations: Race Normativity in the "Star Trek" Franchise
Kwan, Allen
Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, v27 n1 p59-70 2007
As with many science fiction works, the "Star Trek" franchise uses allegory to address contemporary social issues. Taking a liberal humanistic stance, it addresses race and racism using aliens as allegorical stand-ins for humanity. However, the producers of the "Star Trek" franchise were inadvertently perpetuating the racism they were advocating against. Operating within the framework of normative Whiteness, the producers privilege the White American male as the average human being. The characters of other racial and cultural backgrounds try to assimilate into the normative Whiteness defined by the producers or they are simply in the background to support the White lead characters. By drawing on previous work on the original series and "The Next Generation," this article examines episodes from "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," and "Enterprise" to determine how the "Star Trek" franchise reinscribes, or sometimes destabilizes, the mode of racial and cultural homogeneity assumed by the producers.
Descriptors: Figurative Language, Science Fiction, Popular Culture, Literary Criticism, Misconceptions, Critical Viewing, Humanism, Ideology, Gender Issues, Racial Attitudes, Hermeneutics, Critical Theory
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A