The Star Trek Cosmos -Where Have the Beatles & Stephen King Gone?

If there was one thing I hated about classic Star Trek, and especially about The Next Generation, it was the apparent lack of pop culture in the 23rd Century, or for that matter, at any point in human history after 1952.

According to the mythology of those two series, human culture stopped evolving shortly before the advent of Rock and Roll and picked up some 300 years later just in time for future hams to chew up the scenery with Shakespeare performed in Klingon. There's nary a Stratocaster in the Star Trek universe. Nobody listens to the Beatles or reads Stephen King. Riker plays trombone in a holodeck jazz combo, Data favours the violin and Mozart string quartets, while Spock strums a Vulcan lyre (whatever that is) as Uhura improvises madrigals in the mess. The crew of the Enterprise-D lives out film noir and Western fantasies on the Holodeck, which is also the scene of a titanic struggle between Professor Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes.

One obvious reason for this state of affairs is the issue of copyright clearance. Sherlock Holmes, for example, is a staple of geek culture but is also in the public domain and therefore free to use. But practical considerations aside there is an apparent disdain for pop culture in Roddenberry's creation. For example, the only reference to rock music that I recall in The Next Generation is a scene in which a rebellious teen blasts cheesy made-for-television heavy metal in his quarters, suggesting that in the 23rd Century, rock music is still the eminent domain of uncouth juvenile delinquents.

Another reason for Star Trek's attempt to distance itself from pop culture may lie in a rejection of the pulp origins of science fiction, which started off as a poor cousin to serious literature (according to the nay-sayers). Although science fiction has soared far above its roots in space opera, it continues to be relegated to the literary dung heap of trash fiction (according to the selfsame nay-sayers) and this despite
its many practitioners who have gained mainstream and literary acceptance, winning critical, public and academic praise. Some such writers, like Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison--who insists that "he's
not that kind of writer"-- even try to distance themselves from the genre while continuing to work within its orbit, and this in order to maintain their apparent credibility. There are also mainstream writers--Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, and Kazuo Ishiguro, to name a few--who occasionally venture into the genre's territory but are not entrenched there, and others who recognize the stigma attached to writing the genre, and jokingly claim that they have been known to "commit" science fiction. Roddenberry and his cohorts may have taken the same approach, consciously or not.

But there's another element to consider: the identification of pop culture with mass media and the perceived nefarious influence of the latter. The predominance of mass media and/or pop culture is often
presented as the root of a dystopian future in science fiction.

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (published in the 1950s), high culture, in the form of books, has disappeared, replaced by short form videos presented on multi-walled giant screens, tabloid sex comics and music broadcast over in-ear seashell radios. (A reality which is not too far removed from today's HD flat panels and iPods.) Manhunts are played out on live television (O.J. anybody?) and Firemen set fires (to houses containing books) rather than putting them out. In this fictional world, pop culture exercises a narcotizing influence and is spoon-fed to a weary public that has all but forgotten the state of perpetual warfare
in which its country exists. We are told that the knowledge present in books has been banned by the government, at the behest of the populace, because it contains contradictory opinions and makes people sad. Pop culture, in this context is a balm against reason and responsibility. Is it any wonder that there's no room for it in Star Trek either? The pillars of Starfleet are, after all reason and responsibility as
engendered by science and progress.

Another view of pop culture is that it belongs to misspent youth and is something to grow out of. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess's novel and Stanley Kubrick's film) presents a vision in which gangs of
ultraviolent youth wreak havoc on a future England before settling down and becoming respectable citizens. A pivotal scene in the film version features a rape played out to the music of Beethoven and is perhaps a
reference to the popular Proms concerts held each year at London's Albert Hall, where classical music is presented to a working class audience in a riotous atmosphere that more resembles a soccer riot than
a symphonic concert. A Clockwork Orange warns against aligning the so-called high culture of the elite with the lowbrow pastimes of the masses at their worst, in the form of hoodlums and hooligans.

Another 70s sci-fi film (based on the novel of William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson) takes the misspent youth theme to its logical extreme. Logan's Run presents a world where the only form of culture
remaining is pop culture. The inhabitants of this future live in what amounts to a giant discotheque/shopping mall and commit ritual suicide at the age of thirty in the hopes of reincarnation. These test tube
babies live in a perpetual haze of sex, drugs and cheesy dance music, and are the ultimate self-centered consumers. Both of these visions echo Bradbury's take on pop culture in Fahrenheit 451: it creates an
existence that is free of responsibility.

Science fiction in its utopian form is all about responsibility and in the Star Trek universe, responsibility is embodied by Starfleet, a militaristic entity dedicated to the expansion of knowledge and human
horizons through exploration. As a reflection of the turmoil of the 1960s, is it any wonder that Star Trek pits the military against the pop culture that rejected the Vietnam War, while at the same time embracing
its ethnic diversity and sexual freedom? (It should be noted that Roddenberry served in the U.S Air Force before turning his talents to television.) And what of the other dystopias? Are they still relevant
in a world where the Rolling Stones continue to tour and Led Zeppelin is reforming. The members of these two bands are now in their sixties and part of the establishment. Rock and Roll is no longer dangerous or
shocking. Pop culture and high culture intersect and coexist on a regular basis.

The rest of the world has grown up and that's why I'm looking forward to the reboot of Star Trek by Lost and Felicity creator J.J. Abrams, who will surely bring the franchise up to speed and infuse it with some
serious street cred. After all, using a cover of a sappy Rod Stewart ballad as the theme of Enterprise did little improve Star Trek's pop culture sensibilities. Abrams can't possibly do worse.

Posted by Christos Tsirbas.

Related Galaxy posts:

NASA's Search for the Planet Vulcan
Star Trek XI -The Movie, a Preview
The Quest for Spock's Origins


http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/06/quest-for-spock.html

 

Comments

[Rebecca]

The reason why Star Trek the Original Series as well as the Next Generation were so popular were because they distanced themselves from inane pop culture themes. They catered to 'geeks,' that is, intellectuals who prefer to think for themselves and be stimulated by television instead of being spoon-fed whatever is simply trendy. Star Trek was, and remains, all about provoking people to think about controversial and complex ideas. Pop culture rarely does that.

[Daniel Appleton]

Another reason why pop culture - anything after the 1950's or 60's - may be somewhat absent from the TOS or TNG universe may lie in the context of the series background. In the late 20th - early 21st century, we apparently had a nuclear war which stopped just short of reducing humans back to primitive hunter - gatherers or " Mad Max " type roving bands of survivors. Much culture from the 70's through the 90's may have been lost or forgotten, even with computer storage protected from EMP's. The highlights of human culture, Classical music, plays by Shakespeare, Greco - Roman & other art & even Jazz / R & B would have more staying power because it's been around for centuries. The Beatles, Three Dog Night, Star Wars, Superman / Batman, Indiana Jones, Coca - Cola, Tarzan, Chuck Jones & Mickey Mouse cartoons, " Kung Fu " & Bruce Lee movies are fairly recent. ( & they have patents & copyrights. )

Hence, unless Paramount's Legal department wants to double - check with the managers of these properties & open the corporate purse strings a little more, there ain't gonna be many references to these kinds of things in the series or movies. I thought it was unusual & refreshing that " First Contact " had Zefram Cochrane playing a CD of " Magic Carpet Ride " when the Phoenix launched. I hate to say it, but I think that the Golden Goose that is Star Trek is terminally ill, too.

[mlcorcoran]

I think Star Trek avoided pop culture to avoid being "dated". I don't think it had anything to do with the premise of the show.

A pop culture reference on the original Star Trek would have been considered topical and current when the show first aired 40 years ago, but now would be considered obsolete.

By avoiding pop culture references, the creators of the show are able to keep the show "timeless" so that it can be enjoyed by multiple generations of fans.

[Gothamalleyviper]

An observation that I have noticed is that most Trekies tend to be high brow intelectuals, and as such they tend to regard most pop culture with a general distain. Trekies also tend think them selves smarter than fans of other Sci-Fi. Becuase of this they fall into many of the same pitfalls of academics; popmedia is garbage, the masses need smart people to take charge, the current craze will never last, and people are too stupid for their own good.

Don't believe me? Why are the Eugenics War so important? Because Rodenberry knew that already there were many people trying engineer a leadership caste to take over running the planet. Harvard Scientists are trying to geneticly engineer a leadership caste as we speak.

The last point of why Trek lacks any Idol Bands is because it is a pain to keep coming up with more and more of them every week. And the Continuty desk already falls asleep.