Mirror, Mirror: How TOS won the Cold War

[TiberiusK]

Is this article fair? Is the author reading too much into the episode Mirror, Mirror? Are you convinced, or is it crap?

Full article:

http://startrekdom.blogspot.com/2007/08/mirror-mirror-how-star-trek-won-cold.html

Teaser:

This is not the Enterprise we know. But, what is it really? What were the writers trying to say?

In this author's opinion, the message of "Mirror, Mirror" is unambiguous: We see the Communist version of the Federation, meaning that this alternate reality matched American perceptions of the Red Menace in the late sixties.

It was totalitarian, imperialistic, and savage. The writers saw no contradiction in mixing Fascist salutes with "Eastern barbarism," exhibited in fighting, clothing, and hairstyles. Many Cold Warriors at the time grouped fascism and communism together as "totalitarian" evils, both arising from the same dangerous and violent types of ideology and authoritarianism. And, in "Mirror, Mirror" we see the everyday realities of that evil, with its corresponding bloodshed, political purges, inhumane torture techniques, and "survival of the fittest" environment.

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*I'd like to see this topic left open, but if people start getting in heated debates about Vietnam, etc., it will probably be closed. So please try to stick to the topic of Trek and please do not flame.

 

[RookieBatman]

I was coincidentally planning to watch this episode tonight, so I'll keep an eye out for this element. I'm by no means an expert on Communism, though.

 

[Plum]

Well, fascism sure. Totalitarianism sure. But I don't detect any Communist references in the ep. Everything about the Mirror Federation is Imperial. It was Rome, and just as savage. imho.

 

[TiberiusK]

RookieBatman said:
I was coincidentally planning to watch this episode tonight, so I'll keep an eye out for this element. I'm by no means an expert on Communism, though.

Thanks Rookie. It will be an interesting discussion.

I don't think the writer (Bixby?) was an expert either, nor was the audience. But, I think that a lot of the images were familiar to viewers as representations of the Red Menace. It may have misrepresented reality, but I think it accurately represented perceptions of reality at the time, if that makes any sense.

 

[TiberiusK]

Plum said:
Well, fascism sure. Totalitarianism sure. But I don't detect any Communist references in the ep. Everything about the Mirror Federation is Imperial. It was Rome, and just as savage. imho.

That is a good distinction and a good point. I wonder though, since so many people at the time grouped all three together into one thing, if they saw it primarily through Cold War lenses, identifying the villains with the current Commi villains. And we have to remember that Communist was associated with Asians in the late 60s, not just the Soviets, and I see so many samurai/oriental indicators in this episode, like Spock's beard, and the fact that Sulu got so many lines in this episode.

 

[Plum]

^^^
Hmmm, that's interesting. But I'm not so sure people grouped all that together, even then. The style of oppression is rather different and has a different feel. Communism might be better applied to "Return of the Archons" for example. All the commie social elements were there. But to me 'Mirror, Mirror' was straight up Empire.

But hey, I can't deny, Spock's "Fu Manchu" beard can't be discounted.

 

[TiberiusK]

^^^You make great points Plum. Perhaps the Asiatic indicators were meant more as a reference to imperial Japan. You may be right. It's hard for me not to see it through the Cold War context though.

 

[Plum]

I think because people saw Communism as a social disease... it was something that crept into society and corrupted it (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for example). This feeling I'd guess comes from the McCarthy era. That's why Star Trek seemed to make communist references to social structures (Return of the Archons) as opposed to fascism, like in Patterns of Force.

Lumping all these things together isn't something I've noticed anyone doing really. Why would ya? As far as I know, totalitarianism and despotism merely describe the results of tyrannical leadership while Fascism, Communism, and Capitalism are more socio-economic structures that may, or may not, result in such. All three have.

I find that Mirror,Mirror hinges on Kirk's line to Spock. The line about 'waste'. Just like "The Doomsday Machine" the only relevance to our world is pointed out by Kirk (Bones, ever hear of a doomsday machine? That's what I think this is) but other than that Doomsday is another Horatio Hornblower yarn. Mirror,Mirror seems in this same vein... what did Kirk mean about the "illogic of waste"?

Rome certainly is the seed to all three forms of society you mention, so I don't think it's so off to make a connection, but if there is one thing we'd seen constantly in 'M,M' is the wasting of life. Perhaps the message here is less specific and more general in it's judgment of society.

Still, Star Trek is a product of it's time and making these connections, especially noting the social atmosphere of the time, is a fine old tradition.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

We see the Communist version of the Federation

Feh. The Commies were never that sexy. And they certainly weren't having that much fun!

The Mirror Universe looks to me like America run amok. (Check out the MU logo sometime and note which continents are represented - well, I guess the Paraguayans might have been responsible). It's the ultimate in individualism, capitalism and unchecked hedonism.

A true Commie or Fascist society would be a lot less colorful, since those systems were obsessed with controlling what people think so that they adhered to the party line. The MU gang didn't give a shit what anyone thought, only that they behaved themselves in a way that the boss approved of, that is till someone knifed him in the back and made themselves the new boss... There was no ideology except the ideology of pushing everyone else out of the way to get ahead.

The best parallels to the MU I can think of in human history are the hordes of Ghengis Khan, Vikings, pirates of the Caribbean, the old West, gangster organizations - all of which were unstable societies that couldn't last. All driven by greed, with no interest in ideology.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Dominion (or the Borg) - no greed, no individualism, all ideology. (I guess this makes my current av highly ironic or perhaps the perfect synthesis of Star Trek.)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's crap.

I grew up during the Cold War. Trek did some stories that were relevant to that aspect of the times, but they were more evenhanded - generally symbolic stories about the arms race itself, which was the aspect of the East-West situation that most average Americans were anxious about by the time "Star Trek" premiered.

"Mirror, Mirror" is nothing but the Nazi version of Starfleet, and there's not as aspect of the story or visual design other than Spock's beard that doesn't relate pretty directly to that ("Sulu's head of Security - like the ancient Gestapo!").

 

[Terra Pryme]

UWC Defiance said:

"Mirror, Mirror" is nothing but the Nazi version of Starfleet, and there's not as aspect of the story or visual design other than Spock's beard that doesn't relate pretty directly to that ("Sulu's head of Security - like the ancient Gestapo!").

Sometimes I wonder though, in the savage universe, was human racism eliminated on Earth? Under Nazi rule, there would have been major ethnic cleansing, leaving a mostly Caucasian population. Any remaining non-whites would either be slaves or in extremely sub-servient roles. Maybe there, when the Terrans learned of the existence of alien life, they decided to regard them as inferior, deciding to wipe them out instead of their fellow Terrans (save for those who violate laws and such). The latter would be more likely since alternates Sato, Mayweather, Sulu, and Uhura were just as high-ranked officers as their counterparts in the regular Trek universe.

 

[TiberiusK]

Terra Pryme said:

UWC Defiance said:

"Mirror, Mirror" is nothing but the Nazi version of Starfleet, and there's not as aspect of the story or visual design other than Spock's beard that doesn't relate pretty directly to that ("Sulu's head of Security - like the ancient Gestapo!").

Sometimes I wonder though, in the savage universe, was human racism eliminated on Earth? Under Nazi rule, there would have been major ethnic cleansing, leaving a mostly Caucasian population. Any remaining non-whites would either be slaves or in extremely sub-servient roles. Maybe there, when the Terrans learned of the existence of alien life, they decided to regard them as inferior, deciding to wipe them out instead of their fellow Terrans (save for those who violate laws and such). The latter would be more likely since alternates Sato, Mayweather, Sulu, and Uhura were just as high-ranked officers as their counterparts in the regular Trek universe.

^^^ I agree. The multiculturalism of the mirror universe makes it questionable that they are really going for a Nazi comparison, especially considering that Patterns of Force associated genocide and ethnic cleansings directly with fascism. It leads me to believe that MM critiques imperialism and totalitarianism, not specifically Nazism. And, it the context of the Cold War (as Communism spread through Asia), I see a lot of indicators here.

 

[Plum]

UWC Defiance said:
It's crap.

I grew up during the Cold War. Trek did some stories that were relevant to that aspect of the times, but they were more evenhanded - generally symbolic stories about the arms race itself, which was the aspect of the East-West situation that most average Americans were anxious about by the time "Star Trek" premiered.

"Mirror, Mirror" is nothing but the Nazi version of Starfleet, and there's not as aspect of the story or visual design other than Spock's beard that doesn't relate pretty directly to that ("Sulu's head of Security - like the ancient Gestapo!").

Gotta agree largely. I went with 'Rome' though. I almost said Nazis but I was thinking, suddenly, the flip side of the US (the Federation) would be Fascism (Mirror Universe) but didn't wanna get into that.

Besides, when I think of the show the characters actions seem more Roman than Nazi. Though sorta two sides to the same coin, the characters seemed far to wild to be the stiff, slyly murderous, sadistic, Nazis. Just a feeling.

 

[M'Sharak]

TiberiusK said:

Plum said:
Well, fascism sure. Totalitarianism sure. But I don't detect any Communist references in the ep. Everything about the Mirror Federation is Imperial. It was Rome, and just as savage. imho.

That is a good distinction and a good point. I wonder though, since so many people at the time grouped all three together into one thing, if they saw it primarily through Cold War lenses, identifying the villains with the current Commi villains. And we have to remember that Communist was associated with Asians in the late 60s, not just the Soviets, and I see so many samurai/oriental indicators in this episode, like Spock's beard, and the fact that Sulu got so many lines in this episode.

(emphasis mine)

Then, as now, most people wouldn't have been able to find their own asses in a dark room with both hands and a flashlight, so far as world politics went.

The Mirror Universe and the Empire were intended to be foreign, without question -- that was the whole point.

Evil? Maybe... or maybe not -- it was pretty ambiguous.

But Communist? No. I watched it then and I've looked back at it from here, and there's nothing about the episode at all which holds up a sign that says "COMMIE" on it.

 

[Unicron]

Temis the Vorta said:

The Mirror Universe looks to me like America run amok. (Check out the MU logo sometime and note which continents are represented - well, I guess the Paraguayans might have been responsible). It's the ultimate in individualism, capitalism and unchecked hedonism.

I agree. The impression I've always had of the Terran Empire is that it's a far more ruthless, "survival of the fittest" organization. There are benefits to working together, which is obviously a necessity for such an empire to be as powerful as it seems to be in MM. But there's also a greater emphasis on personal power, and so if you deem it necessary to take command of the ship by force, it's fine - any glory for the empire. It sometimes seems to me that for humans in this universe, the Empire itself is a larger reflection of the individual - it will attempt to survive by any means, just as the individual will do whatever they consider valid to ensure their own success. This fits in nicely with some of the unofficial origins given for the Empire before ENT (like in the Mirror Universe Saga, in which the Empire arose on an Earth that was defeated by the Romulan War and annexed briefly.)

 

[Plum]

^^^
Starting to sound like a corporation.

 

[M'Sharak]

Plum said:
^^^
Starting to sound like a corporation.

You do a good job, you stay alive. You do a really good job, you could get to be Captain.

Screw up... well...

How's that for a bottom line?

 

[EnsignHarper]

Diane Duane's Dark Mirror says right out that the MU was literally rotten to the core - Picard is very shocked to see Shakespeare different and more brutal, for example. Look at Spock's statement in MM on man how he was able to detect
the counterparts 'so easily' - stating how the counterparts had no 'core of humanity' to fall back on. One can imagine the mirror Kirk flipping the intercom in the transporter room, and ordering the phaser barrage on Halka..or McCoy going into sick bay and letting somebody suffer...or Scotty smacking one of his assistants...has anyone ever written fanfic on this angle?

And the title sequences of "Through the Mirror, Darkly from ENT seem to confirm this...

But to get back to the point - IF the MU IS at the core more brutal, things such as equal rights and such would have been won very violently - perhaps the MU's Martin Luther King won his people's freedoms or whatever by EXREMELY violent means...