Star Trek, Sci Fi, and pseudo-brainy late-night thoughts

I just got back from seeing Star Trek. It's late, my mind is rapidly shutting down. So why did it take me so long to see Star Trek?

(note, there may be some spoilers - I'm not sure. If you don't want spoilers, just don't read.)

First, I hate company and crowds at movies (I came to the epiphany today that I rather prefer watching movies by myself - even in theatres - ever since college), and rather than trying to watch a movie in the first week where the movie theatres are crowded, and if you get there late, the only seats available are way way in the front where you walk out of there and spend the rest of the day looking at the ceiling, by choosing to watch a movie at least a week and a half after opening, I am guaranteed one of the best spots in the house even if I walk in during the previews. Now, I realize that there is a whole field of study on audience response and group mentality, but let's just say I like watching my movies in peace without worrying whether or not the person or people you are with are enjoying it, or being dragged into a movie you didn't want to watch in the first place. I can fully enjoy the experience of the movie. (yes, movies and I have a bit of a love affair -it's rather complicated, you know. I should change my Facebook relationship status.)

Second, NYU has this voucher thing where I can go see a movie for $6.50. Which is dirt cheap in Manhattan. And possibly everywhere else nowadays too. The caveat is that I have to wait at least 10 days after a movie opens before the vouchers become valid. No problem. See above.

Ok, on to the actual movie.

I was thoroughly entertained. I am far FAR from a Trekkie. I doubt I have seen a single complete episode of Star Trek my entire life (I know, I shouldn't call myself a Sci Fi fan). And after I was led by the figurative ring in my nose for three years by JJ Abrams' sieve-like storytelling structures in Alias, I have dipped my toes tentatively into Lost recently upon hearing that Season 4 closes many of the loops left open the last few years of THAT series - only to feel that Lost takes itself way too seriously (I'm making the judgement reservedly because I'm only on episode 8 or so of Season 1), and I don't particularly care about the characters. So, needless to say, I didn't have much faith in Abrams' ability as a character-driven, story-satisfying filmmaker. He seems, however, to have taken a page from Joss Whedon's encyclopedia of witticisms and irony. Or maybe it was the writers. I don't know. It was just one page, but nonetheless...

I really really enjoyed Star Trek though. So much that I'm contemplating seeing it again, and have resolved to get the DVD. I'm not going to talk about how great it is though, as movie critics much wiser and more reputable than I have already beat that horse to death. I will, however, make one quick observation that hit me today with a lot of other thoughts.

John Cho was in Star Trek as a rather major character - the pilot of the Enterprise. He didn't have an accent, he didn't do kung fu (for one horrible moment, I was afraid his "experience" in hand-to-hand combat was going to be that, but it was FENCING), he was one of the crew. Hooray! Asian American activists on Asian American media representations rejoice! Here FINALLY is a character (probably not the first, but I'm not going to go back in history to see when else this has happened) who is clearly in the in-crowd, rather than being portrayed as the other. I mean, how many times have we forgotten to release our parking breaks? Then...visual assumptions were further turned on its head when it was the Russian (Russian, right?) kid who had the heavy accent that the computer couldn't understand.

Sci Fi TV shows and films, traditionally, I believe, have always had more diverse (racially) casts than others. I'm taking from a small sample, but Battlestar Galactica stars Grace Park as Sharon/Boomer/Athena with absolutely no thought or reference to her race. I loved it. That is probably one of my best examples of Asian Americans in mainstream media (if you can consider Sci Fi mainstream - maybe it's mainstream Sci Fi) along with Sandra Oh's character in Grey's Anatomy. Granted, she's a doctor. Moving on.

So, the question is, do we see more racially diverse actors in Sci Fi shows and movies because 1) Sci Fi places us in a fantastical setting where the Other is the norm, so the real-life Others in our society are normalized in Sci Fi where everyone is the Other? Alien, Asian, same difference type of attitude. Or 2) because the Sci Fi genre itself runs on the margins mainstream media, so the concept of using the visual image of the Other isn't as traumatic to the normalized image of a protagonist, especially when the audience for sci fi media is much smaller than mainstream, and therefore has less influence on any potential subversion of the dominant hegemonic framework already existing?

I don't know. I lean toward the latter option, since the first one lends itself a bit too much to textual analysis of media. And also, my grad school program has turned me into a bit of a cynic. I do see light in the tunnel though (not sure if it's the light at the end of the tunnel - more like someone's taking a jackhammer and letting light in these little holes all along the way, but there still isn't really a way out ahead...I think what needs to happen is jackhammering the tunnel so much in so many different places that it collapses completely), with characters portrayed by John Cho, Grace Park, Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim (not in Lost, but in 24, as an Agent Baker) and others that bring Asian AMERICANS into the spotlight rather than just heavily accented, desexualized (or, in the case of women, oversexualized), foreign beings to be dominated by Us.