How Television Influences Socio-political Debate for Generations

Television has significantly influenced socio-political debate for generations, challenging pre-established notions of race, gender, and our shared societal norms and values. However, despite the social significance of television, some may claim that storytelling does not maintain the substantial influence with Jason Holland claiming in the ‘Independent’ that television is a ‘pale substitute’ when compared to cinema and, therefore lacks the social impact. In this analysis, we will be exploring the socio-political influence maintained by one of the most diverse and progressive broadcasts of the 1960s-‘Star Trek’ (NBC, 1966-1969).

During the 1960s, at the time of ‘Star Trek’s’ release, Hollywood was dominated by Anglo-Saxon men, retaining a large portion of roles within movies and television. This absence of diversity leads to a considerable lack of roles to be given to ethnic minorities causing a considerable gap in representation against the thriving Black, Asian and Hispanic communities (contributing to 11%, 0.6% and 3.5% in the 1960s respectively). This, however, seemed to change with the introduction of the original ‘Star Trek’ series, portraying strong, independent characters who broke through the confines of race to be given a leading role: the seductive ‘Uhura’ (as played by Nichelle Nichols) to play the first black woman she saw on television that was not “a maid” and was even claimed to be an inspiration for youth of color, including the infamous Whoopi Goldberg, a now entertainment tycoon. In fact, ‘Star Trek’, excluding a racially diverse cast, was the first show to portray an interracial kiss in 1968. This was highly controversial since Hollywood had banned depictions of interracial relationships from 1930 to 1956 and U.S. laws forbade interracial marriages up until 1967. Although only being a small step in the right direction, it sparked debate amongst communities to challenge racial prejudices brought about by generations of systematic institutional racism and, henceforth, allowed for representation amongst developing communities to offer as inspiration.

However, despite this, many could argue that the diversity in some characters could be for a more detrimental purpose than originally expected. The character ‘Uhura’ could be said to go through a process of fetishization as explored by Marxist, Pietz, also known as commodity fetish, states that "false consciousness based upon objective illusions...[can turn] material objects into commodities concealing exploitative social relations, displacing value-consciousness". Additionally, this view of fetishism is situated as the point at which objective institutional systems are "personified" by individuals. In short, the idea that ‘Uhura’ is that of ‘forbidden fruit’ her strong role could just be diluted down to her is that of a sexual being, moreover a strong, black character.

In terms of social relevance, ‘Star Trek’ has always been pushing the envelope, as well as promoting people’s interest in science, many would claim that the focus of the show steadily deviated from that original intent and has moved away from its scientific, to encourage a more politically correct, with the show being centered a world where equality of gender and race was achieved. When the show was created, Altman notes, NBC was very much pushing for diversity in its casting, in such shows as the Bill Cosby-starring ‘I Spy,’ which started in 1965- in part as a push from the network’s Stanley Robertson, who was one of the few African American television executives. “Diversity was important to him and he was dealing with racism,” says Altman. “In a way, he was the Sidney Poitier of television.” The series included Nichelle Nichols, who played the communications officer Lt. Uhura, a rare position of authority at the time for a black, female TV character. This idea promoted, yet again the breakdown of established prejudices surrounding race and gender and largely affected the accepted social norms and values of the 60s, leading to further political discussion and debate and legislative reform.

On the other hand, the show did perpetuate ongoing thoughts and concerns regarding colonization and exploitation. The show's premise was of teams exploring the universe on a ‘civilizing mission’, whereby they indoctrinate other galaxies into their alliance, furthermore, those who did not comply were deemed to be that of the enemy of the states and fought within areas such as the ‘neutral zone’. This, despite ‘Star Trek’s’marvelous attempt to create a diverse cast is foreshadowed by their imperialistic characteristic, further perpetuating notions of colonization in a modern age, drawing the idea that, those who are not integrated into modern western civilization are savages and brutes. Furthermore, George Byron Koch, discussed the idea of the ‘Fear of the other’, whereby, like people, a key defining characteristic of human society is tribalism: its tendency to gather in groups which define themselves by certain common characteristics, and differentiate themselves with other groups and individuals who do not share these characteristics. The idea of ‘fearing the unknown’ from within ‘Star Trek’, however, could draw upon the social and political attitudes maintained by America in the 60s to foreign countries, as if acting like a metaphor by which individuals reflect and mask their ignorance of other cultures and the desire to conquer and Westernise third world countries.

The show also explores notions of communism and a classless society. In the book ‘The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy: The Search for Socrates’ writers Kevin S. Decker, William Irwin, Jason T. Eberl all argue that the show challenges notions of materialistic possessions and a classless society as originally explored by Marx, arguing that the show discusses notions of ‘utopia’ and how, as a society we can transcend capitalist greed for the greater good of exploration and travel.

However, despite this, there still maintains traditional stereotypes and roles associated with race and gender, with no female lead ever taking charge of the ‘Enterprise’ in the original series retaining a white male lead to take the starring role as Captain. In conjunction, even though there were more progressive elements to the show from my modern day perspective, women still play a minimal role in the show, are often portrayed as weak or hysterical and emotional and supporting roles are occupied by the “people of colour” unlike the white male majority and two leading white males. There are not any racial slurs tossed about though there are more than a few jabs at women.

Furthermore, despite having a cohesive society with an abundance of different alien species, there still maintains a lot of prejudice amongst humans and their respective peers. Kirk often mocks Spock for not conforming to the human standards of humor and sarcasm, and even pokes fun at his dual heritage for the sake of comedy. This again relates to the ‘fear of the unknown’ that, despite the integration of different species, there still maintains a societal stigma against other cultures, offering an introspective function of how we view people as a whole.

The 1960s saw the Cold War reach new, and potentially cataclysmic, velocities. The Cuban missile crisis could conceivably have eradicated humanity. The economic and political ideologies which caused the conflict, Capitalism, and Communism, inevitably became attached to national identities; Russia for Communism and America for Capitalism. When the network forced Roddenberry to include a young male character, in order to attract a female audience, he created Pavel Chekhov. Portrayed by Walter Koenig, the character of Chekhov was an inherently contentious cast member. In the midst of the Cold War, an era where it was entirely potential and in some likelihood probable, that Nuclear Warfare could break out over the most minuscule of misdemeanors, the inclusion of a Russian character in an American show was innovative given the insatiable American desire to demonize and vilify their Cold War ideological enemies. Gordon Allport argues that, through a process of generalization and stereotyping, has suggested that people find it easier to understand ‘categorized information’, thus draw these conclusions to make sense of varying cultures and nationalities. However, ‘Star Trek’ tried to break through these prejudices, as not to alienate and progress the misconceptions regarding Russia, breaking down barriers in an extremely tense time.

In contrast, the show sometimes did not help in the way of progressing gender stereotypes, for example, the episode ‘Shore Leave,’ our heroes beam down to a planet which, unbeknownst to them, turns whatever fantasies they happen to be thinking of into a reality. For Yeoman Tonia Barrows, her fantasy includes being ‘dressed like a fairy-tale princess, with lots of floaty stuff and a tall hat with a veil.’ According to dialogue, she wants to be ‘a lady to be protected and fought for.’ Of course, the fantasies of the male members of the landing party are decidedly less passive (McCoy gets a parade of women, Kirk gets to fight his academy bully and bed an old flame, Sulu gets to fire an antique revolver, etc.). Eagly & Wood argue that gender stereotyping and role allocation ‘emerge during the preschool years and are deeply entrenched by adulthood’. This suggests that, to the audience, these are the maintained gender roles, with a considerable lack of challenge for more strong female characters which could both inspire and represent a generation.

So, to conclude, television drama can have an exponential effect on the socio-political debate, challenging notions of gender, race, and ideas of societal infrastructure. These had real effects on race relations within both Hollywood, with a steady increase in ethnic minorities receiving major roles in television, as well as breaking down preconceived stereotypes and notions of race established by outdated western values and sparking controversial conversation of the time.

Despite this, the show did perpetuate certain gender roles, which may have proved detrimental to the fight of equality of the gender, maintaining outdated forms of gender identity and femininity. As well as this, a large portion of the characters was still white and, although beginning to make strides, left a segment of communities unaccounted for and underrepresented.