Synopses & Reviews
What could possibly account for the scope and longevity of the
Star Trek phenomenon? With legions of impassioned fans and a life span of 30 years and counting, the
Star Trek television and film corpus has made Gene Roddenberry's creation nothing less than an American mythology.
Deep Space and Sacred Time examines for the first time in book-length form the many ways
Star Trek has served as a mythic reference point for American society—and suggests that an understanding of this might help us to see ourselves more clearly as a culture. Moreover, this thoughtful and thought-provoking work posits that
Star Trek offers its audience a sense of hope and, in the setting of an orderly cosmos, the possibility for empowerment.
Written to appeal to thoughtful Star Trek viewers, as well as teachers and scholars, Deep Space and Sacred Time examines Trek's humanist creed, with its faith in the human capacity for compassion, growth and self-guidance. Roddenberry's optimistic vision stressed the tolerance of diversity, the central role of friendship and loyalty, an opposition to prejudice, and the rejection of organized religion and divine authority. Employing the framework of contemporary social analysis, authors Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen reveal the evolving tension between Star Trek'S≪/i> liberalism and its subliminal messages of gender, race and class hegemony; yet they also take issue with the recent wave of critical scholarship that finds only homophobia, sexism, racism, and other oppressive forces dominating the Star Trek mythos. Citing hundreds of examples from the first eight Star Trek feature films and the four television series, the authors consider the ways in which Star Trek invites its audience to explore the nature of the self, the essence of humanity, the construction of gender, the possibility of utopia, and the role of narrative in shaping an intelligible cosmos.
Review
Must read. Exceptional.Hugo Award
Review
[A] compelling analysis of those elements that account for the scope and longevity of the four television series and nine feature-length motion pictures.h_Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Review
Wagner and Lundeen have written a lively and fascinating book that will appeal to 'Trekkies' as well as scholars of the 'Trek phenomenon.' With critical insight and appropriate good humor, the authors have charted the far-reaching effects of Star Trek on our culture and have explained why it continues to be such a resilient mythic device for helping us understand ourselves.William G. Doty Auburn University
Review
Wagner and Lundeen's thought-provoking volume takes a middle ground between a scholarly and a popular anthropological assessment, and is an impressive, especially valuable addition to this corpus....and a detailed but highly readable narrative adds immeasurably to our understanding of the [Trek] phenomenon. Their book surpasses the vast majority of superficial analyses and syntheses of the Star Trek phenomenon that have appeared during the past decade.H-Net Reviews
Synopsis
Deep Space and Sacred Time examines for the first time in book-length form the many ways Star Trek has served as a mythic reference point for American society--and suggests that an understanding of this phenomenon can help us to see ourselves more clearly as a culture.
Synopsis
What could possibly account for the scope and longevity of the Star Trek phenomenon? With legions of impassioned fans and a life span of 30 years and counting, the Star Trek television and film corpus has made Gene Roddenberry's creation nothing less than an American mythology. Deep Space and Sacred Time examines for the first time in book-length form the many ways Star Trek has served as a mythic reference point for American society--and suggests that an understanding of this might help us to see ourselves more clearly as a culture. Moreover, this thoughtful and thought-provoking work posits that Star Trek offers its audience a sense of hope and, in the setting of an orderly cosmos, the possibility for empowerment.
About the Author
JON WAGNER is Professor of Anthropology, Knox College, Galesburg, Ilinois. He has published books and articles on Islam, utopian societies, gender, and contemporary myth.JAN LUNDEEN teaches nursing in the Division of Allied Health at Carl Sandburg College. She has researched and written on the sociology of health care and gender in nursing education.
Table of Contents
Preface
Mirror, Mirror: Myth and the Human Condition
Who Mourns for Adonais? Heroes Without Gods
Galaxy's Child: The Human Estate
Demons and Doppelgangers: The Inexorable Self
Celestial Femininity: Gender in the Trek Cosmos
The Perfect Mate: Family, Sexuality, and Male Bonding
This Side of Paradise: Utopian Visions
Up the Long Ladder: Evolution, Progress and Destiny
Code of the West: Racial and Cultural Mastery on the Final Frontier
Decentered Cosmos: Trekking Through Postmoderism
Phoenix Rising: Reclaiming Humanism
Prospero's Wand: Owning the Mythic Legacy
Selected Bibliography
Index