Star Trek: Picard Thoughts – Elnor
Mar. 28th, 2020 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labingiIt's been a great pleasure to watch Star Trek: Picard. My feelings about its ups and downs (mostly ups) are very well summed up by selenak here, so I won't do a general review here. Instead, I want to post some thoughts on dear underdeveloped Elnor, who I hope will get more to do in season 2.
Elnor really is underdeveloped. His relationship with Picard, which is his emotional center, is much more "tell" than "show," despite a lengthy flashback when he's first introduced. I can't say he's one of the series' standout characters, but I do think he may be conceptually the most interesting for me.
Elnor is an example of one of the things I yearn for most in science fiction, one of the key reasons SF&F are useful genres for me: an exploration of a truly different cultural perspective, a truly different stance toward life. Though it isn't yet deeply explored, I have never seen a concept like the absolute candor of his culture. At first blush, the concept sounded to me like Lwaxana Troi's persistent honesty or some antithesis of Vulcanness where people shout their emotions all the time. [1] But Elnor's people don't do that.
In fact, for absolutely candid people, they are quite quiet and restrained. For me, that characteristic is both surprising and perfect: surprising because it plays against the "let it all hang out" that candor suggests, but perfect because, really, if you're going to be honest all the time and live in a society without hating each other, you'd better be circumspect. They're candid, but they don't say everything they're thinking or feeling, only a selection of what seems important to mention, it seems. They have a space for showing emotion, but it is generally subordinated to a low affect demeanor: the words are often candid while the tone is flat.
It's actually been a long time since I've encountered a sci-fi cultural concept that feels this fresh and interesting. I am intrigued and want to see more of it, and I do hope Elnor will get a chance for more development in season 2. (And as a bonus, I would like to see a bit more delving into the gender dynamics of his culture. He's a man raised by women to be in a woman's role. That didn't get addressed in season 1—except perhaps insofar as he seems quick to bond with female authority figures like Seven and Raffi. The gender dynamics are also worth more exploration.)
[1] By the way, I get that it's really the antithesis of Romulan secrecy, and that's interesting and good society-building; I just don't have much to say about it.
selenak here, so I won't do a general review here. Instead, I want to post some thoughts on dear underdeveloped Elnor, who I hope will get more to do in season 2. Elnor really is underdeveloped. His relationship with Picard, which is his emotional center, is much more "tell" than "show," despite a lengthy flashback when he's first introduced. I can't say he's one of the series' standout characters, but I do think he may be conceptually the most interesting for me.
Elnor is an example of one of the things I yearn for most in science fiction, one of the key reasons SF&F are useful genres for me: an exploration of a truly different cultural perspective, a truly different stance toward life. Though it isn't yet deeply explored, I have never seen a concept like the absolute candor of his culture. At first blush, the concept sounded to me like Lwaxana Troi's persistent honesty or some antithesis of Vulcanness where people shout their emotions all the time. [1] But Elnor's people don't do that.
In fact, for absolutely candid people, they are quite quiet and restrained. For me, that characteristic is both surprising and perfect: surprising because it plays against the "let it all hang out" that candor suggests, but perfect because, really, if you're going to be honest all the time and live in a society without hating each other, you'd better be circumspect. They're candid, but they don't say everything they're thinking or feeling, only a selection of what seems important to mention, it seems. They have a space for showing emotion, but it is generally subordinated to a low affect demeanor: the words are often candid while the tone is flat.
It's actually been a long time since I've encountered a sci-fi cultural concept that feels this fresh and interesting. I am intrigued and want to see more of it, and I do hope Elnor will get a chance for more development in season 2. (And as a bonus, I would like to see a bit more delving into the gender dynamics of his culture. He's a man raised by women to be in a woman's role. That didn't get addressed in season 1—except perhaps insofar as he seems quick to bond with female authority figures like Seven and Raffi. The gender dynamics are also worth more exploration.)
[1] By the way, I get that it's really the antithesis of Romulan secrecy, and that's interesting and good society-building; I just don't have much to say about it.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-31 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-31 05:44 pm (UTC)She was so good at different ways of being, and at different ways of being that are not as conventionally expected.
And, yes, it does sound really Elvish--and the hair looks Peter Jackson Elvish--which is an interesting choice.
Hah! That is.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-02 04:29 pm (UTC)She really made use of the anthropological background. I've been reading The Overstory, which I love in many ways, but the relentless focus on Western culture as universal "humanity" is making me miss Le Guin.