Pt. 2 of DISCO, series

In my last post, I discussed what I liked and didn’t like about Star Trek Discovery (abbreviated as DISCO). Now It’s time to talk more generally about good, modern TV and what regular watchers like me expect to view. I’m making a list of what I like in a TV show as a precursor to a new rule I developed to use as a lens for my discussion of DISCO.

Also, if your too time pressed to read it all, I bolded the key words😊

• I love space sic fic. That’s a personal preference.
• For a show to be good it should be thoughtful, interesting, and have “swallow-able” philosophy I love it when the story is well told, and my mind blows after watching it. Star Trek has generally been good at this.
• A good modern show should have a good mix of characters. Characters who don’t identify as male who are of many races who identify with many sexualities and romantic orientations, people with intellectual and physical disabilities (also characters with mental health and chronic sickness) as well as people who have mental and physical exceptionalities, and the last big area of diversity to include to me is to have people of varying ages.
• Also, one character does not equal diversity. Troupes and stereotypes generally aren’t cool. There’s a lot of those to avoid. I’m particularly annoyed at the “White Savior” trope. You know, the white guy who gives a helping hand to give someone with less power achieve a goal, get a leg up, achieve a dream…I hate that.
• Characters should have different desires and flaws, and be unique, just as we are. One interesting woman is not going to have the same desires or for that matter, `story as another.
• I don’t want diverse characters to only be in supporting and side roles. No, there has to be people in charge who aren’t usually powerful to have power. There are a few exceptions. If the show is, for example, exploring the presidency in the United Sates, then only showing men as the president makes sense because only guys have held that title up to today. However, that is not an excuse to have only male characters with power.
• Put marginalized, oppressed, and ignored people at the center of the story, at the center of the story’s message. This is important because it does more to fight oppression, more than inclusion. DISCO actually doses an alright job at doing this. Putting Michael Burnham at the center of the story, puts a person of color at the center.
• Hope is important. Not only does it give you a reason to keep watching, hope is also a social justice tool. Having hope, aspirations, keep you fighting for a better future. If the characters in a story who are like you, especially in a show set in the future, have hope, that helps the you, the viewer keep hope alive in you.

Of course, all of this isn’t mine. Gosh, there’s so many people to thank for all this. So, some big ones. Credit to A Michael J. Dumas’s talk “Running out of Damns to Give: Refusing Antiblackness and Settler Colonialism in the Next 25 years” especially for the importance of centering, Bridging Barriers class for a lot, especially for informing me more deeply importance of hope, Yosso’s Who’s Culture has Capital, The Bechdel Test for inspiring my new rule. Speaking of which… That’s in the next post!