INS: Oh, those wacky Ba'ku

[Timo]

Yet the message in the end seems to be "I'm better than ordinary people and loving it, I won't give up being a super-cyborg for mere social pressure". It's not about being disabled, it's about clinging to a peculiarity for the sake of being different.

Heck, LaForge volunteers to be in pain rather than regain his sight! Sounds pretty perverse. Although I can see the attraction of having X-ray vision...

Should disabled people be encouraged to shun remedies and cling on to their old prosthetics as if they were pets or lovers?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[jaime]

Yet the message in the end seems to be "I'm better than ordinary people and loving it, I won't give up being a super-cyborg for mere social pressure". It's not about being disabled, it's about clinging to a peculiarity for the sake of being different.

Heck, LaForge volunteers to be in pain rather than regain his sight! Sounds pretty perverse. Although I can see the attraction of having X-ray vision...

Should disabled people be encouraged to shun remedies and cling on to their old prosthetics as if they were pets or lovers?

Timo Saloniemi

But that wasnt the point in 87 when the character was created as a positive depiction of a disabled person suitable for television at that time. And the message still holds. The whole point of the sunset scene is that even with super Geordi vision, he doesn't get to see sunsets. I think the early books had a line like 'i can see a hot coal burning through 8 sheets of titanium deck plating, but I can't see a woman's eyes burning with passion 4 feet in front of me'
For Geordi, later on, the prosthetic may be a choice, but for the audience he was designed to inspire and reach out to, it is not a choice. (and it's why, more often than not, Geordi's own is not choice.)
It's a fundamental part of the character, and if you take that away, then he could be anyone.

If there was an original series episode that made uhura white would this conversation happen? Because she was designed as a role model character back then. In a lot of obvious ways the two things aren't comparable, but in that one simple 'this character is here to inspire people who don't always get to be represented on tv' way, it is.
To make Geordi 'normal' is to do a disservice. His message becomes 'dony worry, once you get cured you can be like everyone else' which is useless, as opposed to 'you have a disadvantage, but it also makes you unique, and you are still a part of this team/society'
It is as simple as that. (with the occasional trek muddle of warning about dependency of technology taking away humanity admittedly)
They could only ditch the visor for film simply because you could easily see something was still different about his eyes, and because levar was sick of the haircare.

 

[jaime]

That previous post should have ended on hairband.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Ocular_implant

This suggests fully 'normal' implants weren't an option in trek, and the biography for Geordi on the same site suggests that other versions, possibly until first contact, would have been a step backwards in terms of usefulness to him.

I also note that it refers to Geordi's dialogue in INS, which infers that the harvesting of the radiation is the only thing that would allow the chnge to be permanent, at too high a price to the Baku.

 

[Timo]

For Geordi, later on, the prosthetic may be a choice

But in-universe, it's a choice from the get-go.

In "Encounter at Farpoint" already, LaForge chooses to be in pain, apparently just because.

In the early second season, after he gets a second opinion in "Loud as a Whisper", he chooses not to have natural eyes, or even a less noticeable type of prosthetic device, apparently because the VISOR offers better-than-human vision. Even a device looking like human eyes and offering 80% of VISOR performance won't cut it.

LaForge being a well-adjusted and productive member of the society * despite having been born different is a diminishingly small part of the message here. LaForge flaunting his difference is what shows to the surface - in that sense, it's more like a pro-gay message than anything having to do with disabilities or fateful things one cannot exert any choice upon.

I also note that it refers to Geordi's dialogue in INS, which infers that the harvesting of the radiation is the only thing that would allow the chnge to be permanent, at too high a price to the Baku.

Significantly, LaForge's unfounded speculation is the only element in INS that hints at nonpermanence of effects. What would he know about it? And why doesn't anybody in the know (or being misled into being in the know, like Dougherty) bring it up, for obvious gain?

Timo Saloniemi

*) It doesn't help much here that LaForge is also the designated misfit in the team, cracking jokes nobody else gets, having no luck dating, and typically working either in isolation or with a machine. How about giving the disabled or pseudo-disabled character the personality traits of, say, Riker (who may be annoying as hell but at least is stereotypically successful in all of his socializing)?

 

[jaime]

But in-universe, it's a choice from the get-go.

In "Encounter at Farpoint" already, LaForge chooses to be in pain, apparently just because.

In the early second season, after he gets a second opinion in "Loud as a Whisper", he chooses not to have natural eyes, or even a less noticeable type of prosthetic device, apparently because the VISOR offers better-than-human vision. Even a device looking like human eyes and offering 80% of VISOR performance won't cut it.

LaForge being a well-adjusted and productive member of the society * despite having been born different is a diminishingly small part of the message here. LaForge flaunting his difference is what shows to the surface - in that sense, it's more like a pro-gay message than anything having to do with disabilities or fateful things one cannot exert any choice upon.



Significantly, LaForge's unfounded speculation is the only element in INS that hints at nonpermanence of effects. What would he know about it? And why doesn't anybody in the know (or being misled into being in the know, like Dougherty) bring it up, for obvious gain?

Timo Saloniemi

*) It doesn't help much here that LaForge is also the designated misfit in the team, cracking jokes nobody else gets, having no luck dating, and typically working either in isolation or with a machine. How about giving the disabled or pseudo-disabled character the personality traits of, say, Riker (who may be annoying as hell but at least is stereotypically successful in all of his socializing)?

The impression I always got was that not only would ocular implants continue to look different, just not as different, they also wouldn't allow him to see like a normal human either, just like the visor doesn't, but also not as well as a visor. So basically a downgrade, but less noticeable and with no advantages.
Don't forget we didn't even have decent digital cameras in those days lol.

Interesting point about the gay standpoint, though I think there is definitely an element of 'this is how I am, it's a part of me' to Geordi and his visor, I am not sure it's quite the same.

Fundamentally though, his eyes are part of his character, and a part theat remains unchanged apart from the visor to ocular implants, throughout the run.

In terms of why couldn't he be the riker? Well, he shares some traits and later a beard, but I think that decision is related to things other than his visor. Helmsman and later engineer is a step up from his planned school teacher job they mention on memory alpha, and I have heard some supposition that it would have made the American viewing public or the execs of the day uncomfortable to have a black dude actually do well with the ladies and be a hero back then.
For me, Geordi was on of the most relatable and normal guys in the crew, despite me being neither disabled nor black.

 

[Timo]

I can easily get the part where LaForge says "To hell with those who think I shouldn't be different!". But that only ever happens in "Masterpiece Society", and ST:GEN, sort of, and both times it just highlights that the opposing players are villains. This is also good for the audiences, on both sides of the issue of how (if at all) to deal with disabled/different people.

What is more difficult to get is LaForge's obsession with his VISOR, when almost equally good technologies are available and would eliminate the user-hostile features of the VISOR, mainly the constant pain and the fact that he keeps losing the device. This makes disabled people look unrelatable and irrational, if the idea is to have them be represented by or through LaForge.

What seems just weird is why he would refuse medical treatment to his pain. Is it just that Crusher is a poor salesman, using tainted terminology such as lobotomy to describe the supposedly quite effective and efficient procedures? Martyrdom and downright masochism a plausible real-world reaction from somebody who thinks life has dealt him with a poor set of cards, but it's a minority reaction from what I gather, and probably not something to be encouraged in the audience.

What may swing either way is his interest in natural vision. Isn't it just a matter of filtering? He clearly doesn't want to be disabled by being deprived of his unnatural vision - he merely wants to experiment with human-style vision on occasion, but is frightened of any mention of permanence (such as in "Loud as a Whisper"). It seems odd that a fellow engineer couldn't arrange for a simulation or emulation, and odder that either LaForge or the people around him would treat this as a deep-rooted character issue rather than a technical triviality.

For me, Geordi was on of the most relatable and normal guys in the crew, despite me being neither disabled nor black.

Ditto. Until O'Brien came along, at least...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[jaime]

I can easily get the part where LaForge says "To hell with those who think I shouldn't be different!". But that only ever happens in "Masterpiece Society", and ST:GEN, sort of, and both times it just highlights that the opposing players are villains. This is also good for the audiences, on both sides of the issue of how (if at all) to deal with disabled/different people.

What is more difficult to get is LaForge's obsession with his VISOR, when almost equally good technologies are available and would eliminate the user-hostile features of the VISOR, mainly the constant pain and the fact that he keeps losing the device. This makes disabled people look unrelatable and irrational, if the idea is to have them be represented by or through LaForge.

What seems just weird is why he would refuse medical treatment to his pain. Is it just that Crusher is a poor salesman, using tainted terminology such as lobotomy to describe the supposedly quite effective and efficient procedures? Martyrdom and downright masochism a plausible real-world reaction from somebody who thinks life has dealt him with a poor set of cards, but it's a minority reaction from what I gather, and probably not something to be encouraged in the audience.

What may swing either way is his interest in natural vision. Isn't it just a matter of filtering? He clearly doesn't want to be disabled by being deprived of his unnatural vision - he merely wants to experiment with human-style vision on occasion, but is frightened of any mention of permanence (such as in "Loud as a Whisper"). It seems odd that a fellow engineer couldn't arrange for a simulation or emulation, and odder that either LaForge or the people around him would treat this as a deep-rooted character issue rather than a technical triviality.



Ditto. Until O'Brien came along, at least...

Timo Saloniemi

Ah. Miles. Between me and an old friend we could have staged a ds9 fan film. Curly haired brothers represent, especially the non slim of us.

But all of that with Geordi is down to variable writing. I think the intent was there and more often than not works. There were Geordi stories where it wasn't at all to do with the visor after all.
From a character perspective, perhaps he likes hiding behind the visor, like people who hide behind their glasses. And the pain thing is easy enough to understand, with arthritis for instance we often suffer a background noise level of pain all the time, and just sort of tune it out unless it's flaring up, without really wanting or needing any special treatment or wanting to take painkillers that have their own drawbacks (increased dependency, addiction, damage to body, increased tolerance to the need for stronger painkillers to deal with a headache because tolerance to the analgesic is high from regular use) and I think that, and the fact that certainly early on it really was just a case of 'this will look normal' rather than 'we have made you some normal eyes that will work'
There's than element to his character that rings true. He gets to hide behind the visor, he's used to it and any discomfort.
Throw in the way the sheer amount of data he has to filter through and you are also borderline looking at autism.
All of these things, if handled well by a writing team, would be of great value to the story as well as the writer. Whether they were is a different question, but I do think taking them away after establishing them would be a disservice to both. If only one disabled fan identifies with Geordi and gets hope and inspiration, then it's enough to justify not giving him magic new eyes for anything longer than they did.
Besides which...I find it weird seeing his eyes. Am too used to not seeing them. I could barely get used to the steampunk sinatra look from first contact onwards.