First Aired: October 12th, 1987
Summary
As a plague rages out of control among the people of Styris IV, the Enterprise heads to the planet Ligon II to create friendly relations and receive the only known vaccine for the plague. However, things become complicated when Lutan, the Ligonian leader, takes a strong liking to Lieutenant Yar and kidnaps her. When he reveals that he wants her to be his wife, his current wife challenges her to a fight to the death, which Lieutenant Yar wins. Doctor Crusher is able to revive Lutan's wife, she decides to marry his best friend and make him a secondary husband, and Lieutenant Yar is free to return to her post aboard the Enterprise--and Doctor Crusher is free to receive and distribute the vaccine.
At Least It's Not Blackface?
When I started this episode I was pleased to see that at last Star Trek had moved beyond white actors in blackface and hired actual Black actors. However, any hope I had for these characters (and there wasn't much, from their style of dress) vanished immediately when Lutan questioned Picard having a woman as his head of security.
Before I continue, I just want to say as a disclaimer that I am white and therefore by no means any sort of expert on racism. I warmly welcome any and all criticism about the commentary to come!
They Are Africa
The entire society of Ligon II is, at its core, a giant racist stereotype. Theirs is a society heavily entrenched in tradition and an emphasis on heritage and patriarchy. Women own land, but men rule over it, making women little more than a way to acquire property. Everything is about honor above all and image is everything.
Their culture is clearly meant to be similar to that of ancient African tribes. That would be fine except that this choice does not exist in a vacuum. The portrayal of Black people as primitive and tribal was not new even in 1987, and the Ligonian culture simply advances that stereotype. Even the way the crew of the Enterprise talks about "the precise, ritualistic way they do things" and describes how serious honor is for them suggests a sort of superiority that is anything but novel, considering almost the entirety of the bridge crew is white.
A Basic Male Image
Lutan is one of the most one-dimensional characters I have ever seen on television. Commander Troi describes him as "a basic male image" and if by "image" she means "stereotype," then I could not possibly agree more. His goals are simply to acquire wealth, power, women, and anything else he desires, at any cost. Aside from being poor character design, this is also incredibly racist character design when put into context.
Lutan is a mere caricature of a Black man, complete with kidnapping of a white woman with the intention of at some point having sex with her (as is implied by his repetition of her attractiveness). I was honestly surprised they didn't complete the picture and have him attempt to rape her. Lutan is brutish and concerned only with his basic needs and desires, as well as his need to display dominance through achieving honor. He shows no real care for either Lieutenant Yar or his wife, calling women "highly pleasant things, but unimportant--except for the land they own." He has absolutely no redeeming qualities and seems unrepentant for his actions even to the end, when he discovers that his former wife is alive and he has lost everything.
On A Different Note...
What on earth was Commander Troi wearing? I'm fairly certain that that's not Starfleet issue...
No comments:
Post a Comment