News Harberts: The Klingons Are Americans

[Lieut. Arex]

Some conflict did occur 10 years prior to the DSC/Cage era, the inconclusive battle of Donatu V (20 years BTWT)

 

[BillJ]

Duras is selling America to the Russians!

 

[Spider]

As long as there are no orange Klingons, I'm good.

 

[psCargile]

In 2010 or 2011, the local Christmas Parade had a Fair Tax float. The day after, I was walking to work, and I started counting discarded pamphlets.
I stopped at 357.

Anyways, the fact that Americans are willing to come to virtual blows when discussing which negative qualities fictional space aliens will embody thus proving their analogous relationship to the world's dominant culture shows that the DSC showrunner/writer might have had the right idea after all...

And you suggested those "blows". So. . . .

 

[C57D]

I think now I'll read The Final Reflection and take pride in rooting for the Klingons.

Kai kassai Komerex!

 

[fireproof78]

Kinda wished they would've allowed audiences to figure it out for themselves instead of announcing it.

But analogy is so nice when its on the nose, right? Then we wouldn't have all these jokes...

 

[mattyhugh]

But analogy is so nice when its on the nose, right? Then we wouldn't have all these jokes...

Whatever, the OP is Fake News anyways. Star Trek Discovery is alternative canon anyways. Make Sarek Great Again!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So if the Klingons are America, who's the Federation supposed to be?

 

[fireproof78]

So if the Klingons are America, who's the Federation supposed to be?

Clinton's America.

 

[Psion]

Clinton's America.

[blows cola into his nasal passages]
Holy mother of Zod, no! I'd think of it more as a flattering view of the European Union.

 

[Timo]

Both Kirk in "The Infinite Vulcan" and Carol Marcus in The Wrath of Khan assert that the Federation has been at peace for a hundred years.

Carol is actually saying that "Starfleet has kept the peace". Which is synonymous with Starfleet winning all its wars, really. (And possibly, just possibly not launching any on its own volition. But that's not required under the current usage of "keeping the peace" at all.)

And "The Infinite Vulcan" in fact establishes a war with the Klingons - Keniclius claims there was one, and Kirk offers no contradiction. We are just left wondering whether this would have been before the war with the Romulans and therefore before the century under discussion (Kenicilus' list then continues to the Kzinti, whose one known conflict or series thereof decidedly came before the Romulan one).

But by current reckoning, a Klingon war before the Romulan one is impossible. And Kenicilus specifically says the Klingon war contradicts Kirk's pious claim about a century of UFP peace (Although he also says the Eugenics Wars contradict that claim - did those, too, continue past the 2160s?).

(Although that might be problematical if Lorca's "You started a war" line in the Discovery trailer is literally true. Well, maybe it's a civil war between Klingon factions? Or it's a brief enough war that it's not considered a major breach of the peace. We'll see.)

That we will. But for Klingons, "war" might be a concept too alien to comprehend, and indistinguishable from "peace" - and rewriting of history might not be practiced only by the Klingon Empire. There are enough nuances to that in the Trek context and in the real world that a conflict that results in the blowing up of a dozen planets might count as "peace" and a bitter grinding of teeth (but not too loud lest they grow unbearably hot) as "unremitting hostilities".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nyotarules]

So if the Klingons are America, who's the Federation supposed to be?

The European Union? lol

 

[Jedi_Master]

I find it's amusing that a robot started this thread...
Robots really are trying to kill us...

 

[Mudd]

So if the Klingons are America, who's the Federation supposed to be?

Everyone's Americans.

It's not the producers who are dealing in one-for-one analogies here, but the fans. The producers are talking about the thematic material that they're working with where the Klingons are concerned, based of course on responding to the world that they really live in right now. All the characters are going to be more reflective of the writers' experience.

The Klingons were never Soviets - they were a simplistic 1960s American view of the Soviets that the writers either subscribed to or believed that the viewers would respond to.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I think we're about due for some hard truths and self-reflection. I totally welcome this approach.

 

[Spider]

So if the Klingons are America, who's the Federation supposed to be?

America is rather divided right now, so I'd say the Klingons are the red states and the Federation are the blue states. Which means Klingons are actually rednecks from East Texas.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

If the DSC Klingons are a hybrid of Klingons, Ferengi, and Pakleds, I think that would be a very on-the-nose depiction of contemporary America.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The European Union? lol

That's truth in and of itself.

 

[Kor]

With stuff like this, for some of the audience it would simply reaffirm the viewpoint they already have, while some of the audience would have an angry knee-jerk reaction, and the rest wouldn't even get the point at all as it just goes over their heads.

I think it's too much to expect general audiences to do any real reflection based on pop entertainment.

Kor

 

[Balok's Decoy]

With stuff like this, for some of the audience it would simply reaffirm the viewpoint they already have, while some of the audience would have an angry knee-jerk reaction, and the rest wouldn't even get the point at all as it just goes over their heads.

I think it's too much to expect general audiences to do any real reflection based on pop entertainment.

Kor

This is sometimes the case, but I do believe shows like Star Trek have the power to make people examine themselves or their society. Of course, there are small numbers of racist, sexist, and otherwise bigoted so-called Trekkies, so you're right that some people will just take away whatever they want, even if it doesn't make sense.