Star Trek took the world by storm with its futuristic scenarios and outlandish ideas, which opened up the doors for science fiction in America as it gained recognition and popularity all across the world. It started as a television series in the 1960’s to becoming a multi-billion dollar franchise including 5 television series, 12 movies, and selling a magnitude of merchandise (Star Trek). People tend to look past the fact that Star Trek was so influential on the world, all they see is men and women in weird suits fighting aliens in space. But, what people don’t see is the how Star Trek inspired people and events that have drastically impacted not only America, but eventually the whole world. Things like the non-vehicular cell phone, iPad, …show more content…
They even consider themselves part of the Star Trek family, calling themselves ‘Trekkies’ or ‘Trekkers’ (Star Trek). Star Trek fans have even gone as far as of learning to speak Klingon and use the Vulcan salute as a symbol to recognize another fan (Star Trek).
The 1960’s were a memorable time, even now. Riots over war, women's rights, racial rights, technological advancements, and it being the height of the space race all shaped the main purpose of the show (Pop Culture Forever). At the time of the filming and showing of Star Trek: The Original Series NASA was creating Apollo, which would be the first rocket to send men to the moon. “The show played to our obsession with space flight and what might be cut out there,” admits Daniel Bernardi, a professor at San Francisco State University (Pop Culture Icon). At the time and even now
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Most people compared it to the british Twilight Zone but only Star Trek was the first science fiction series to have a steady cast. But once it was started multiple shows and movies formed. Babylon 5 was a 1990 television series that was at first denied but then was given the chance to air (Star Trek). After three script writers from Trek’s Original Series started writing for Babylon 5. After a lot of feuding between the fans, Roddenberry's widow Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and Star Trek actress decided to do a guest appearance on Babylon 5 to get the feuding to end (Star Trek). The show was up an running for five series which at the time was the longest running science fiction television series besides Star Trek. That wasn’t the only place we were seeing Star Trek. In season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we see a tribute made to Star Trek by using the scenario of two Captain Kirk used in episode “The Enemy Within” (Star Trek). A more modern example of how Star Trek has so widely affected Science Fiction was in NBC’s Heroes, when character Hiro Nakamura explained his ability to teleport “like Star Trek” (Star Trek). He is even seen doing the vulcan salute and his father played in Heroes is George Takei who played Sulu in the original Star Trek series (Star Trek). Other T.V. series such as Stargate and movies like Crimson Tale with Denzel Washington, all paid tribute to, or used Star Trek in
Epstein, Dan. 20th Century Pop Culture: The Early Years to 1949. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. Print.
The Levin Institute - The State University of New York. "Pop Culture." Globalization101. The Levin Institute - The State University of New York, 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
Gene Roddenberry once said that he had “no belief that Star Trek depicts the actual future, it depicts us, now, things we need to understand about that.” He helmed a show that, in its very first episode, promised to boldly go where no man had gone before... and go there it did. Throughout its run and multiple spinoffs, Star Trek made powerful social commentary in line with its creator’s vision.
Pardon J. Revisiting a Science Fiction Classic: Interpreting The Day the Earth Stood Still for Contemporary Film Audiences. Journal Of Popular Film & Television [serial online]. Fall2008 2008;36(3):141-149. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 22, 2012.
Delaney, Tim. "Pop Culture: An Overview." Philosophy Now. Philosophy Now, 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
To fully appreciate Star Trek’s influence, you have to understand its enormous scope. Although the first series only ran for three years, the show gained popularity in syndication. It would go on to spawn five new series with a total of 726 episodes, 12 films, 31 Emmy Awards and 149 nominations, one Academy Award and 15 Oscar nominations, 120 CDs, 40 video games, 70 million books in print and one invented language, estimated to be spoken by over 100 people.
Star Trek Next Generation is an example of a space opera. Space opera includes a lot of romantic elements such as love stories, space battles, oversized heroes and villains, exotic locations, and gorgeous women. Anyone with even just some exposure to Western pop culture has heard of at least one of the Star Trek series. The series predicted many technological mainstays such as the tablet, automatic doors, mobile phones, and natural-language AI programing long before their commercial-market debuts. It is set about 71 years after the first series, in 2364. The show’s overarching focus is human exploration; i.e. humanity vs. alien, the discovery of new life, humanity as savage, and social/political relationships with alien cultures. The show also displays some examples of progressive gender politics. However, the show itself puts more focus on humans (the human condition) that any on any other/alien race and could have done more in the promotion of gender politics and equality.
[4] Joseph P. Kerwin, “Report to Admiral Truly”, [online], Washington, DC.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, July 28, 1986 [cited March 16, 2010], available from World Wide Web:
George Lucas' Sci-Fi multi-film Star Wars saga has had a significant impact on modern popular culture. Star Wars references are deeply embedded in popular culture; references to the main characters and themes of Star Wars are casually made in many English-speaking countries with the assumption that others will understand the reference. If you go to Comic Con you will at least two princess Leias a few Luke Skywalkers and a whole bunch of Han Solos it just gives you an overwhelming sense of pride and joy that you belong to this great
Most myths have a common pattern between them. Today, this pattern is often seen in some of our most beloved motion pictures. Joseph Campbell-a respected 20th century American mythologist, lecturer, and writer- observed this and created a theory based off of the similarities he saw. He showed the world that almost every story with a hero follows the three stages in his theory he called “Monomyth” (Campbell). The monomyth, often times called “The Hero’s Journey” or “The hero with a thousand faces”, includes the departure, initiation, and return stages (Campbell). In these stages the hero leaves his normal life behind, fulfills him/herself in some activity, and returns as a hero (Campbell). These stages can be applied to a smash hit released in 2009, a science-fiction film titled Star Trek. James T. Kirk in Star Trek closely follows Campbell’s theory as he departs from his childhood home in Iowa, fights a rogue Romulan enemy, and returns to Earth as a Starfleet captain.
The United Space endured a long, competitive, tumultuous, and primed-to-explode relationship with the Soviet Union since its inception. The Space Race was perhaps the greatest spectacle of scientific engineering in the first 5.755 millennia. The U.S. had to reclaim its superior status after the Soviets launched Sputnick I into orbit on October, 4, 1957, and launched Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961 as the first human in space. Kennedy knew that the American people wanted a victory in the space race, and realized that, being so far away, the United Space could achieve it. Then, on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy gave the “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”. This address is best known by this paragraph:
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
It is within man’s blood and nature to explore, and space is our next New World. Man’s first achievement in space travel was the launch of the Sputnik on October 4, 1957. For the next decades, space travel was roaring like a rocket, fueled by man’s desire to explore, man’s desire for knowledge, and man’s desire to beat his enemies. However, these impulses have died out as the well of government funding has been diverted to wars and debts, and the interest of the American people has been diverted to wars and debts. Amidst all these issues it is debated as to whether or not space travel is worth the money and the attention of scientists, particularly since humanity faces so many issues on earth currently. However, because of the past inventions, current services, and future benefits, space travel is indeed worth the money and attention of governments and people. It is within our hands to control man’s advancement, and space travel is the next venue to do so.
Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change” (John Podhoretz). It encompasses the advertisements we see on T.V, the clothes we wear, the music we listen too, and it’s the reason Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar yet. It defines and dictates the desires and fears of the mainstream members of society; and it is so ingrained into our lives that it has become as natural as breathing. Moreover, adults never even bat an eyelash at all the pop culture and advertising that surrounds them since it has become just another part of everyday life. Pop culture is still somewhat seen as entertainment enjoyed by the lower class members of society; but pop culture standards change over time. A notable example of this is the sixteenth century author, William Shakespeare, since his works were considered pop culture, entertainment that could be enjoyed by everyone, but now they are considered literary classics. While pop culture encompasses most aspects of our lives, its influence is most obvious through each generations reaction to media,