10-17-2010, 02:42 AM
(10-16-2010, 11:43 AM)addy Wrote: In the case of Star Trek, they fell into the trap of using race/culture as a character shorthand because hey, its "sci-fi". The same problems arise in fantasy as well, with the argument that since it represents a reality removed from ours, even escapist, then its not problematic at all when all the heroes are caucasian-looking, while shadier characters are dark skinned. See it's thematic, not racist! *Sigh*Yeah, that aspect of some fantasy stories has always annoyed me, the catch all argument being that it's okay because it doesn't reflect the real world, even though it quite obviously does, as the story was written by people from the real world, and in order for a piece of art to be enjoyed, it must have some relevance to the audience. The Lord of the Rings, the Narnia chronicles; they're popular because the characters journeys, motivations and personalities hold resonance with us; if they didn't, we wouldn't be interested.
@billy - If I remember rightly, the essay doesn't make much mention of the original series, and actually mentions it's progressive efforts, so yeah, I doubt anyone would see the character of Uhurua as racist. The biggest bone of contention for the author seems to be The Next Generation, and I can see his point. Though I should point out that I still love the show
