Star Trek: Sure Would Be Nice To Cheat
Was mulling over the thought that other Trek adventures appealed to current events and causes of the time, and the new Trek seems rather absent of any such statements. On further thought, I think it’s tapping in to a specific fantasy that is very appealing to modern times, and hence its wide mainstream appeal.
This fantasy is the “cheat.” The desire for a “do over.” To blatantly wheedle one’s way out of the grim situation, get away with it, and come out on top.
We’re currently in, to put it lightly, a disillusioning time as a nation — facing a national “no-win” scenario. It seems no matter what we do, the America dream will be harder to achieve than just a few years ago. And this larger national one is made up of smaller “no-win” scenarios everywhere we look.
I’ll outline a small “no-win” scenario in particular: this Tuesday California has a special election for budget measures. If they pass, California still faces a $12 billion dollar budget deficit. If they fail (which they most likely will, based on polls), the budget deficit increases to something like $21 billion. Either way, California loses and the state is essentially, bankrupt, resulting in drastic layoffs and cuts in services.
Meanwhile, the new Star Trek movie presents two “heroes” faced with insurmountable odds, and essentially give them the finger. Kirk, who doesn’t believe in a no-win scenario, reprograms a computer to pass the no-win Kobyashi Maru scenario, dodges being reprimanded, and goes on to save lives and win promotions and the respect of his peers. Old Spock also cheats — he goes back in time chooses to alter history to save Earth, destroying his own timeline in an ultimate “do over.”
Such drastic action would be to only way to save California’s budget (think going back in time and obliterating Prop 13), but many of us would love to cheat and fix our own, personal past mistakes: don’t buy that overpriced house. Don’t spend so much on pointless crap we’re now selling because of job loss. I’d personally not have spent so much time thinking good times could last indefinitely and prepare more for a worst-case scenario. The Kobayashi Maru test is everywhere we look, and so many of us have failed, while others just haven’t realized it yet. And we can’t cheat our way out of these situations by going back in time or believing they don’t exist.
While past Trek adventures presented messages of environmentalism or tolerance, today’s Trek is somewhat troubling in that it presents an escapist fantasy. Past Trek celebrated an optimistic future that seemed likely (think back to the space race), while the new Trek believes the only way to create that brighter future is to alter the past — a obvious impossibility for our timeline’s bleak present and likely future.