Our president may be the most famous biracial man in America, but I'd like to talk about the second-most famous: Star Trek's Mr. Spock.
I just saw the new Star Trek movie again this weekend, since it was re-released in the IMAX theaters. And I was reminded that the fundamental emotional core of the movie centers around Spock and his struggle to reconcile his two... um, planetary backgrounds.
To me, Kirk's role in the movie was minimally interesting; he's a stock hero-type character, there practically as comic relief. Spock, however, lives a life of conflict. Not only from the external world (facing ridicule from his schoolmates, condescension from the elder Vulcans, and misunderstanding from his colleagues), but from within himself. His internal struggles to define himself not by his two races, but by the result of their combination, is the most interesting aspect of the movie.
I wonder how many members of our increasingly multiracial population were able to relate to Spock and his struggles. How different, really, is being half human and half vulcan from being half black and half white in our society today?
Science Fiction and Fantasy has always seemed to me inherently multicultural-- Star Trek from the very beginning was a pioneer in being actually multicultural as well, with a rainbow of skin tones and facial features on the crew. But because space travel and fantasy worlds are often about being a stranger in a strange land, the themes have always been multicultural even if the characters were not.
Of course, sci-fi and fantasy multiculturalism also has its problems, as groups tend to be separated into good/bad, and us/them. There's the multicultural crew of the Enterprise, but the bad guys are Romulan. Hobbits and Elves may work together toward a common goal, but they fight against Orcs and other "bad" groups. I'm not necessarily saying that this is a bad thing, I'm just saying that no genre is an "examplary" genre when it comes to multicultural representation. But despite the usual fantasy-race simplification, sci-fi and fantasy often reflect the same racial tensions and misunderstandings as we find here on our humble Earth.
I have often said that the most important thing a person can do to become a good global citizen is to travel. If our goal is to be truly interrcultural, then the fearless heroes of Star Trek have it right. We should all be so daring as to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
I just saw the new Star Trek movie again this weekend, since it was re-released in the IMAX theaters. And I was reminded that the fundamental emotional core of the movie centers around Spock and his struggle to reconcile his two... um, planetary backgrounds.
To me, Kirk's role in the movie was minimally interesting; he's a stock hero-type character, there practically as comic relief. Spock, however, lives a life of conflict. Not only from the external world (facing ridicule from his schoolmates, condescension from the elder Vulcans, and misunderstanding from his colleagues), but from within himself. His internal struggles to define himself not by his two races, but by the result of their combination, is the most interesting aspect of the movie.
I wonder how many members of our increasingly multiracial population were able to relate to Spock and his struggles. How different, really, is being half human and half vulcan from being half black and half white in our society today?
Science Fiction and Fantasy has always seemed to me inherently multicultural-- Star Trek from the very beginning was a pioneer in being actually multicultural as well, with a rainbow of skin tones and facial features on the crew. But because space travel and fantasy worlds are often about being a stranger in a strange land, the themes have always been multicultural even if the characters were not.
Of course, sci-fi and fantasy multiculturalism also has its problems, as groups tend to be separated into good/bad, and us/them. There's the multicultural crew of the Enterprise, but the bad guys are Romulan. Hobbits and Elves may work together toward a common goal, but they fight against Orcs and other "bad" groups. I'm not necessarily saying that this is a bad thing, I'm just saying that no genre is an "examplary" genre when it comes to multicultural representation. But despite the usual fantasy-race simplification, sci-fi and fantasy often reflect the same racial tensions and misunderstandings as we find here on our humble Earth.
I have often said that the most important thing a person can do to become a good global citizen is to travel. If our goal is to be truly interrcultural, then the fearless heroes of Star Trek have it right. We should all be so daring as to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
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