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A Rant about NuTrek Vulcans
Jun. 30th, 2022 10:41 pmWarnings: This is a rant about NuTrek Vulcans. If that's going to be a bummer, you may wish to stop here. Light SPOILERS (a couple of details) for SNW through season 1, ep. 7 and a tiny bit beyond.
I feel torn between not wanting to spew negativity and wanting to get something off my chest. Chest has won. I hope this has a germ of a useful cultural point. This is, of course, my own perspective; many others don't feel the same way and that's fine.
I like Strange New Worlds. I've mostly enjoyed it; I'm glad it exists. I think it's the best of the NuTrek shows—but I cannot stand the NuTrek Vulcans—or actually the Vulcans on any series dating back to Enterprise. But I'm going to focus on NuTrek.
The problem with the NuVulcans, as I see it, is the writers approaching science fiction from an ethnocentric perspective. They seem not to know how to write (or see the value in writing) a culture other than their own. Thus, they write Vulcans as us, our culture. The Vulcans are arguably the most intriguing culture Star Trek ever created. Over the lifetime of Nimoy Spock, they are fleshed out across decades of writing, not always brilliant or consistent, but amounting to a civilization both instantly recognizable and subtle, relatable but extremely culturally alien. NuTrek has thrown most of that away. A few examples:( Read more... )
I feel torn between not wanting to spew negativity and wanting to get something off my chest. Chest has won. I hope this has a germ of a useful cultural point. This is, of course, my own perspective; many others don't feel the same way and that's fine.
I like Strange New Worlds. I've mostly enjoyed it; I'm glad it exists. I think it's the best of the NuTrek shows—but I cannot stand the NuTrek Vulcans—or actually the Vulcans on any series dating back to Enterprise. But I'm going to focus on NuTrek.
The problem with the NuVulcans, as I see it, is the writers approaching science fiction from an ethnocentric perspective. They seem not to know how to write (or see the value in writing) a culture other than their own. Thus, they write Vulcans as us, our culture. The Vulcans are arguably the most intriguing culture Star Trek ever created. Over the lifetime of Nimoy Spock, they are fleshed out across decades of writing, not always brilliant or consistent, but amounting to a civilization both instantly recognizable and subtle, relatable but extremely culturally alien. NuTrek has thrown most of that away. A few examples:( Read more... )
