Analysis of Klingons as presented in Star Trek and especially in DISCO

Klingon Culture

First, before I just dive into Klingon culture, I think I should give you a resource for if should you have more questions. I go to Memory Alpha for my in-world Star Trek questions. It is generally a good (and detailed) resource. If you want to understand who Klingons are in the world of Star Trek DISCO in particular, this Memory Alpha article is a good place to start. I’ve written about what my out-world perspective tells me about Klingon society.

At the point of Star Trek’s time-line that DISCO is set (shortly before Kirk gets captainship), Klingon power and prestige, i.e. its social hierarchy, is determined more loosely than in series that where made earlier. The Klingon empire is non-existent. Houses are present, there’s the prestige of being a warrior. Klingon society is fractured. We see the fights for power. A fight over ideology. The different groups of Klingons want Klingon strength, but how to do that, what it means and who gets to top the social hierarchy are up for debate.

Klingons and race.

In DISCO there are varying skin tones, but I don’t think the Klingons generally treat people differently because of that, therefor I don’t think Klingons are racist. And just because Klingons in-world generally aren’t racist, that doesn’t mean that Klingons and race isn’t a worthwhile topic to examine. Not only because of the fact that Klingons do discriminate based on race in the case of albinos, who are outcasts  as can be found here and as shown in DISCO Battle at the Binary Stars and in DS9 in Blood Oath. Klingon society is quite possibly sexist at this point and definitely sexist later. Where are the female Klingon warriors, space-farers, diplomats… apparently there aren’t many because most stay home. We actually don’t get to view much of their society, ever. This is why it is important to look at how Klingons behave in all the series and compare that to what we see in DISCO.

When fans analyze past Star Trek series it is generally agreed that Klingons are a stereotypical representation of communists and black men (there are lots of sources but here are two that explain this alright: black men and communists).Klingons also display a good representation of toxic masculinity. For humans, if a man where as violent and aggressive as Klingons we would say his behavior was outside of norms of masculinity. Correct me if it is normal for a man to have his friends poke him with (what are in essence) cattle prods and behave like you’re angry all the time and that is your only emotion, and having sex involves tearing your partners skin open and choosing to die instead of using a wheelchair and so on. These are all things Worf does in TNG to prove his Klingonness. While Worf is proving his connection to his species and not his manliness per se, these things are examples of toxic masculinity. If a human man did any of these things, that would be toxic masculinity. Worf may be different from other Klingons, but when he is trying to prove his Klingonness and when we meet other Klingons, you can see that toxic masculinity is present in all these characters. If you want to know more about toxic masculinity, I suggest the documentaries “Tough Guise” and “Tough Guise 2”.

A fact about DISCO Klingons is that they are made to look like pythons. This is a minor detail, but goes in our tradition of making enemies more like animals. This is done so the viewer finds it easier not to sympathize with the Klingons—a short cut to making a villain.

Politics of the day.

Anyway, the out-world politics and its effects on Klingons. The writers of Star Trek are American, generally writing for an American audience.  The Klingons are a predominate adversarial, villainous species. In the 60’s, communism is the enemy, so Klingons represented communists. In the 90’s and oughts, post-cold war politics was on people’s minds, and today people fear (a lot of things including) fascism and white supremacy. Since we currently fear white supremacy, the adversarial other fighting the federation will be the Klingons, who currently embody fascism and who spread across the universe like a cancerous tumor.

DISCO Klingon society has some aspects of fascism and supremacists. Here is a list of what fascists do and believe. While key aspects are missing from DISCO’s Klingon society, we can see that Klingon society hits some aspects in the head, pulling at our fears.

Klingons have a lot of Klingon pride. Klingons believe Klingons are the best and will fight to defend themselves. If every time I wrote “Klingons” in the above sentences, you replaced it with whites or Westerners, you get white supremacist language.  Klingons are also a very militaristic society. It is the most admirable thing to be a warrior and die in battle.

There are a few key differences between supremacists and Klingons. Klingons currently (DISCO S1) don’t have a strong leader- T’Kuvma was meant to be that. Klingons don’t suppress art and culture, either: they have opera, Shakespeare, and culinary arts. And I don’t know what Klingon mass media is like, and I don’t know if they suppress human rights. There is a state religion, but that is more of a Star Trek worldbuilding flaw. Most species are monocultural; Humans are all atheist, and all Bajorians believe in the Prophets.

Klingons behavior is edging on fascism, which is what many Americans are afraid is happening in America. Klingons are violent and harsh, which makes us uncomfortable. Klingons make us think about one of our most hated topics: race. Klingons aren’t human, instead looking more look like python-humans. These factors work together to make Klingons villainous villains

The snake is pencil on paper, the Klingons are pastel on paper. All art is my original, along with the article, unless sighted.