Since Discovery, despite the Star Trek writers repeatedly beating us over the head with this, I still somehow didn’t catch onto the pattern. If there is a through-line to all the new shows, the notion that acknowledging one’s own vulnerability is a sign of individual strength, and that showing support when others are being vulnerable around you, is also a sign of individual strength.
This may not feel “woke” in the way it’s usually understood, but I really think it’s pushing a long overdue envelope, and one that is arguably more important to our times than a half-black half-white face representing the “illogical” nature of racism.
For example: when I read the angry tweets about the new series (ie; the “pussification of men”, etc.) I can’t even force myself to see them as coming from anything other than weak, scared people who are too afraid of what the world would think of them if they expressed their authentic selves. They want to scare the rest of us into being as scared as they are, because they believe it will make them feel less alone. But loneliness can only be fixed by showing vulnerability.
And that’s the root of the problems in our modern era, isn’t it? Deeply insecure people hurting others in a desperate effort to not be hurt themselves. They haven’t always portrayed this concept in a graceful way, but kudos to Star Trek for keeping up the tradition of asking its audience: “What is it you’re so afraid of?”
OK that’s fair.
Are you saying this “radical idea” spans all off the new shows or one specific show. I stopped watch the new shows at some point, it just wasn’t for me. I don’t know what you’re really talking about in this post cause I haven’t seen anything new or groundbreaking like you’re describing, its all been quite generic in my opinion.
Can you point or link to a specific scene or plot that shows what you mean?
Jay-Den and Darem’s recent scene together illustrates it well, I think. And the negative reaction to it from people online who described it with terms like “woke” and “cringe” illustrates that many people are so uncomfortable and so afraid of the concept of being vulnerable that they dismiss it out of hand.
But to be clear, I actually went out of my way not to describe this as “new or groundbreaking”. If anything the messaging I highlighted in my OP has been the consistent through line for the past decade in DSC, SWW, and SFC (and to a lesser extent Picard). But I do think it’s spot-on for our current cultural climate. I (and many others who thought the new series have been too timid with their politics) have been missing the forest for the trees.
We can laugh now at TOS preaching the “illogicality of racism” to be self-evident, but during the time of scientific racism and Jim Crow laws, stating that self-evidence was considered radical. TOS never had an episode about Uhura earning her right to be on the bridge. She was just there. Discovery never had a plot line about Adira coming out as non-binary, they just did.
“Vulnerability is strength” is the radical idea of our modern era where things like emotional insecurity and ability to tolerate loneliness are held up as examples of strength, and not the reality, which is that they are the beliefs of a fearful person.