Splicetoday

Pop Culture
Jan 21, 2009, 06:51AM

Gene Roddenberry, the Civil Rights Pioneer

In the ten years between Forbidden Planet (1956) and Star Trek (1966), sci-fi became much more inclusive.

And this brings me back to one of my personal favorite subjects: Star Trek and to a broader extent the science fiction and futurism of from the 1960s. Now if you go back just a few years earlier to 1956 and look at the film Forbidden Planet it represents a very monocultural view of the future — in fact the crew of the C-57D starship could have been identical to an Elizabethan naval vessel from the 1600s. While the film looks good the cultural setup of it feels like its trapped in the 50s.But then just ten years later with Star Trek we see an international and multicultural crew — and to me this was a direct result of both the civil rights struggle and the world itself becoming a smaller place. And this shift didn’t happen by accident: In the case of Star Trek it was because Gene Roddenberry stuck to his vision of an inclusive future even if it put his show at risk.

Discussion

Register or Login to leave a comment