Picard (no spoilers)

[mothwing]

I am home sick. A tummy bug my daughter brought home which nobody got knocked me flat, so I should listen to my body when it tells me to stay TF home and get some rest.

I had a very pleasant weekend, though, with watching Picard, which turned out to be surprisingly unhorrible. What I had missed dearly in ENT and the eternally godawful Disco is finally back - something approaching an ethical backbone within a universe that is again closer to Trek than Wars inspite of the Blade Runner influence.

Even though I enjoy a good morally grey character, I'm heartily sick of their ubiquity. Not everything needs to be dark and gritty, visions of utopian societies are permissible now as necessary as before. Utopias, even though they always become Dystopias when they are out-dated, show us what we can dare to hope.
And I'm saying this as someone who does even not exist in Gene Roddenberries original utopia. Anyway, rant over, I had a good time and enjoyed watching Patrick Stewart as much as ever and will be very unhappy once the dark-and-gritty-crown mess this up, as they do.

Comments

[therealsnape]

I hope you'll get well soon! And I hope the warrior didn't suffer too much from the tummybug. Tell her that if you bring something home for Mummy, a drawing or some such is always welcome. A tummybug, while original, is not a universally pleasing gift. One cannot learn these things too early. Yep, that's me talking like a Dutch Auntie to the wee 'un. Well, she has a Dutch auntie.

[mothwing]

I'm happy she has a Dutch auntie and passed on your advice, she said "there!" as a reply and pointed at the loudspeakers, so it's obvious that she understood every single word.

[tetleythesecond]

I hope you're better now & so is the daughter!

I can relate to the feeling that sometimes we just want to watch something pleasant. At the same time, I have to say I'm glad filmmakers are moving towards shades of grey. I have yet to see the first utopian scenario that isn't built on constructing an "other" that "deserves" to be assimilated or even annihilated. Or am I thinking of the wrong examples?

[mothwing]

I can only think of Dytopias with an Other which deserve to be assimiliated/annihilated. I can think of plenty... pretty fucked up Utopias, though (CAMPANELLA'S!!! first and foremost, that man had ISSUES. Utopia. Cockaigne (HOW would that even work...). Bellamy's "Looking Backwards" I actually have a very soft spot for, as I do the Star Trek universe).

I don't mind shades of grey, but I find the "everyone's a bastard and except maybe not deep, deep down" just as frustrating as the white hat/black hat dynamics from the Spaghetti westerns my grandfather adored. And Utopias/Utopian elements have gotten so rare altogether, I miss them.

EDIT: Warrior just puked down my shirt, so... I'm better, but she's unfortunately not. We'll get there.

[tetleythesecond]

Ouch, the poor kid! May she get better soon!

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong kind of utopia. To me, they're scenarios that suggest there can be homogeneous societies (and homogeneous in the way that the viewer wants them to be). Whatever the narratives say, this can't be had without totalitarianism, and probably not without mass killings or at least severe repression.

Then again, just about every commercial narrative makes me grumpy except Babylon Berlin, where I'm almost able to suppress my nitpicks. *g*

[mothwing]

She's better today, even though she still naps a lot, which is of course for the better.

I'm not sure that they necessarily need be so homogenous. The examples I mentioned all were, and promote homogeneity as a means to fight the inequalities they are aimed at, but I do not think that this is necessarily at the genre's core.

Good point about the commercial narratives, though, and thank you for the recommendation of Babylon Berlin.

[cranky_x_crocus]

I sure hope you're faring better now - tummy bugs are no fun. 'Surprisingly unhorrible' is enough a rec for me! Will certainly have to give it a watch.

Utopias, even though they always become Dystopias when they are out-dated, show us what we can dare to hope. ~ Great line there. (Cracking up over the Dutch Auntie, "there!" speaker interaction ='D )

I'd love more utopian tales - and ones almost precisely opposite the homogenous ones. My favourite assignment back in high school was to write about "our utopia". I wrote it in fictional verse with footnotes, but it all came down to essentially... diversity, culturally-sensitive inclusion, accessibility & care for sensitivities - with a priority on education. Shock, I'm sure.

*Now* I hope the bae is doing better! I'm very slow at catching up for now.

[mothwing]

I really enjoyed the first episode.

"There!" is here most productive word at the moment as she happily points out things that she wants to draw our attention to.- <3

The idea of utopias has always fascinated me and I made my students do projects on them several times. Usually, they wound up portraying Dystopias (they could choose). Utopias are harder, you have to reveal more of yourself, and cynical, worldweary despair is sexier to teenagers somehow.

Baby is doing better, but now Crocky's sick. Never a dull moment.

[cranky_x_crocus]

I'm watching DS9 currently but need to find a place I can watch Picard. How did you two watch it?

"There!" is a very valid way to draw attention to something immediately! Good thinking, Warrior.

I love a good Dystopia too, but when life feels too much like one it doesn't feel much like an escape... You're right about Utopias being more revealing - almost vulnerably so. Perhaps that's why so few get portrayed, let alone enough to have life imitate art & fiction. And never a dull moment indeed! As I said earlier (still getting the hang of daily LJ/email), my best wishes to Crocky!