Star Trek
Star Trek is an American media franchise based on several science fiction television series and movies. It first appeared in 1966.
The franchise is known for its "progressive" political messages. This especially in comparison to the prevailing culture at the time the different series were originally shown. In the fictional future setting, humanity lives in a socialist, multicultural utopia ("the Federation") where poverty and human group conflicts have mostly disappeared. How such human group conflicts disappeared is unexplained. Eugenics is prohibited. Women are often in non-traditional occupations, such as engineering and security. Many of the major actors in the early series were Jewish. In the later series, various other non-White minorities became increasingly prominent.
One of the main characters in the series was Mr. Spock, portrayed by the Jewish actor Leonard Nimoy, who adopted an ancient Hebrew hand sign to communicate “live long and prosper."[1] A later adaptation of the hand sign would become the "V" for "Victory" during World War II[2] and again in the 1960s when it became the "peace sign."
The "Ferengi" species has sometimes been claimed to be an offensive caricature of Jews. However, Star Trek writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe has stated that "Ferengi is, after all, the Persian word for foreigner, particularly for Europeans."[3]
See also
Notes
- ↑ The Hebrew Origins of the Vulcan Hand Sign of Spock
- ↑ The Beacon Light, November 1941, Vol. 9, No. 11, page 9
- ↑ Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 114
