• NoiseColor @lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    For me, this is nonsensical. Star Trek being political is a truism. It makes no sense to claim it. It’s like saying politics is political.

    Even talking about it is inviting a counter argument which can only be nonsense.

    But I’m also old, from the time start trek was political.

    • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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      2 months ago

      Idiots complaining about how star trek is “political now” are speaking nonsense but they’re still speaking. It’s important to counter this because idiots, gullible folks, and people not paying attention, will be sucked in by the nonsense if it’s unopposed

      • cassandrafatigue@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        It’s whiny Nazi shit sticks who want to look at cool spaceship without being criticized.

        And, like, sorry hypothetical Nazi bitchbaby, but the only SciFi that doesn’t explicitly tell you you’re wrong is so far above your head and would scare the shit out of you.

        They don’t want to have to deal with the fact that anyone who tolerates their existence is morally and more importantly creatively bankrupt. And if course they’re Nazis, so they would rather deny reality than acknowledge any flaw with themselves or the dog shit they chug like a college freshman at jonestown.

      • presoak@lazysoci.al
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        2 months ago

        It alternated. Sometimes they boldly went. Other times it was other stuff, like politics.

        Fact is, the other stuff is more popular than scifi. And that’s why they do it.

    • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      I think when people talk about fiction being too “political” nowadays, they usually mean one of three things:

      1. “I hate minorities.”
      2. “I am only now savvy enough to notice the political undertones that have been a defining characteristic of the genre for a century or more.”
      3. “The writing sucks.”

      Personally, I can get behind #3 because boy howdy there’s some bad writing out there.

      And I’ll admit I occasionally fall prey to #2. Some things I watch today feel too “on the nose” in regard to current events, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if it’s truly worse writing than my old favorites or if I was just too ignorant, naïve, or credulous to pick up on it when I was younger. It’s also sometimes hard to tell when re-watching old stuff because I don’t feel the zeitgeist of 30 years ago in my bones the same way I do today’s (naturally).

      For example, I can watch an episode of Futurama that’s literally about the world being nearly destroyed by a giant ball of 20th-century garbage, and somehow it doesn’t feel overtly topical, while the new episodes about bitcoin and AI feel more like a sermon than a sitcom. Maybe the writing is worse, or maybe I’m just old now. Who’s to say?

      • RamenJunkie@midwest.social
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        2 months ago

        I think some of it is that the “political element” of the past became mainstream. Partly because it was a political element once.

        People now, who most likely watched Trek in reruns 20 years after the fact don’t see Uhura or Chekov or the Black Flag Admiral as political, because it no lomger really was when they watched.

        But then they see a gay character on modern Trek and flip out. But others just see, another character. And in 20 years, maybe no one will even think it is or realize it was polotical.

        That sort of thing.

        Even on your futurama example this applies to some extent, though we do kimd of still have a garbage problem.

      • presoak@lazysoci.al
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        2 months ago

        Popular political tropes are low hanging fruit for writers and easy for the common folk to digest. Throw in some spaceships and you have something that looks like sci-fi if you squint your eyes.