Background: I've been a huge fan of the show Star Trek since I was 3 years old, and have generally felt that most of the episodes have presented an uplifting view of the future, a future in which economic inequality, racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other types of discrimination had been completely eradicated. Humanity now spent it's time exploring the stars in large space ships, seeking out new life forms and interesting stellar phenomena. One of my favorite series (Star Trek: The Next Generation) premiered in the late 80's, and following the tradition of the original series, contained a command crew composed of many different types of people. These people included people of color, women, and even non-human characters all in positions of power and authority. To this day, the TNG cast is the only Star Trek cast that has remained close friends. As such, they often appear for interviews together.
Topic: This brings me to a video I recently watched on Youtube, in which two of the most popular women from TNG (Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden) discuss their experiences both on the show, and throughout their careers in general. Given that both women are outspoken feminists, many of the questions directed at them were about feminism. One section that struck me was at the 27 minute mark, where a woman asked how both Gates and Marina were able to bring feminism into their portrayal of their respective characters. Just to summerize, Marina begins the answer section by discussing how her appearance was often more subject to critique than her acting due to her gender. Gates, then discusses how she was temporarily fired because she confronted the producers on their failure to allow her character to attain her full potential, again related to the gender of the actress.
Reflection: I was already somewhat aware that there had been some tension between the producers and some of the actresses regarding allegations of sexism, however, as a fan of Star Trek, I was horrified to hear the details. You would think that a show promoting equality among humans would endeavor to maintain that vision on the set. Still, I think that the both women's experiences on set are a great example of why examining pop culture through the lens of feminism is so important. The link to the interview is provided below (skip to 27:00-32:00 to hear the section I'm bringing up).
-Isaac Joy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbtjRbaAI0
I think that's a big part of the problem today; people acting like they are promoting equality, but actually only doing it for "show".
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