Gender Stereotypes In Star Trek

1074 Words5 Pages
Star Trek was definitely a show ahead of its time. The shows’ creator, Gene Roddenberry, hired a unique cast for his characters that would be shown in a futuristic setting. With a Russian crewmember, Japanese crewmember, an African-American woman, and a vast spectrum of alien species, Star Trek extended the boundaries of race and gender equality by not being afraid to take on controversial topics in many of its episodes. Star Trek first aired on television in the 1960s, a time of great social changes. African Americans were at the peak of their battle for civil rights. There were many nonviolent protests to promote equality, similar to what people are still doing today in 2014, along with violence from those who preferred segregation like the…show more content…
“It’s been my experience that the prejudices people feel about each other disappear when they get to know each other,” A quote by the character Captain Kirk in the TOS episode Elaan of Troyius, is something people during the 60’s did not realize as easily as a character in a science fiction show did. Another great quote by Captain Kirk in the episode Plato’s Stepchildren, “-where I come from, size, shape, or color makes no difference,” (Sherwin 223) also says quite a lot, seeing as Kirk came from Earth. There were many different races in Star Trek spread out among many different planets, and yet there was less racism shown than during the 60’s on Earth where there is less than half the amount of the different species that were shown on Star Trek. One of the most well known episodes for showing how unreasonable racism is, is the episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, where there are two different aliens who seem exactly the same, but one is black on the right side and white on the left, while the other is black on the left side and white on the right. These two different people who are from the same planet are constantly fighting each other, and for a reason that the enterprise crew finds pointless. One of the characters, Lokai, says in the episode, “How can I make your flesh know how it feels to see all those who are like you, and only because they are like you, despised, slaughtered and, even worse, denied the simplest bit of decency that is a living being’s right?” (Sherwin 224) which is an accurate description of how African Americans were treated before and during the
Show More
Related

  • Gender And Sex In Star Trek

    2332 Words  | 10 Pages

    (1997) writes, “there is nothing like Star Trek…Of all the universes of science fiction, the Star Trek universe is the most varied and extensive, and by all accounts the series is the most popular science fiction ever.” Star Trek is considered to be one of the most successful shows of American pop-culture till today. Consisting of decades of television and films, numerous novels and comics, and merchandise ranging from toys, games, clothing and more, Star Trek is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon

    Read More

  • The Stereotypes In Buffy The Vampire Slayer

    2188 Words  | 9 Pages

    That is one of the reasons for the cult-like BtVS following. Whereas previous shows have portrayed the stereotypes of teen culture and the teenager through the patronizing perspective of an adult, BtVS uses a realistic approach to explain teenage years through Buffy’s experiences and failures (Early, XXXX). “the series depicts typical relationships and problems

    Read More

More about Gender Stereotypes In Star Trek

Open Document