Ever since the newer incarnations of the TV series Star Trek evolved from the “recycled” prop and set portrayal of alien cultures in the original series only made the franchise better. But can it pass muster a cultural anthropologist’s peer review?
By: Vanessa Uy
The cultural anthropologist Franz Boas has shaped modern anthropology by emphasizing the collection of facts about primitive cultures, instead of resorting to mere speculation. But when it comes to the study of alien or extraterrestrial cultures that live on planets maybe light-years away from us, one can’t help but resort to mere speculation since the technology that allows us to travel to this worlds might still be centuries off. Yet this hasn’t stop science fiction authors from transforming mere speculation into one of the best-loved forms of literature in the past 200 years.
When the science fiction visionary Gene Roddenberry conceptualized the alien beings and their cultures populating on one of his famous works like Star Trek. He did so with an uncannily believable accuracy that many of Roddenberry’s fans probably think that he works as a university-tenured anthropologist as his day job. By just using the data collected by cultural anthropologists of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Gene Roddenberry populated his Star Trek universe with beings that are not only pass muster as speculative anthropological constructs of an organized culture. But also as accurate predictive models of our own still-existing-somewhat-primitive-cultures evolving without outside help into a space-faring civilization.
Take for instance the Vulcans, which Mr. Spock – the famous science officer in the first Star Trek series – is a good example, is based on a prediction on what if post-WWII Tibet and Bhutan were allowed to evolve into a space-faring civilization without outside help or interference.
A race in the Star Trek universe that could qualify as the polar opposite to the Zen-like society of the Vulcans is the one of the Klingons. The Klingon society is based on martial bravado epitomized by their motto “Today is a good day to die”. Despite their bloodthirsty attitude, the Klingon language is probably the only fictional language used in science fiction literature that has developed like a living language. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has even been successfully translated into Klingon. Unlike the more interesting language of the Romulans with its complex system of verb roots would serve as a formidable challenge for linguists that have a “Trekkie” streak to develop. Could make that German verb wheel seems like child’s play by comparison.
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Ferengi is also one of the most interesting alien races inhabiting Roddenberry’s fictional Star Trek universe. Probably one of the few extraterrestrial / alien races whose creation Roddenberry oversaw before his passing in 1991. The Ferengi may not be pretty by Madison Avenue fashion-ethic standards, but their society is shaped by a ruthless business / mercantile acumen where an individual’s self-worth is measured by how much gold-pressed latinum (the Ferengi monetary standard) they have or can earn. Except that they take their chauvinism to the extreme. Ferengi women are not only subservient they have to chew first the food of the Ferengi men they are indentured to. Also they do not let their women wear clothes which to other races tolerate since Ferengi’s keep their women sequestered in their homes.
But to me the most interesting alien race of all in the Star Trek universe is the Kreetassans. The Kreetassans debuted on the Star Trek TV 's (I hope not) final franchise Enterprise and are well-known for their relatively “eccentric” customs compared to ours like eating in public to a Kreetassan is taboo. Since most Star Trek writers at this point probably pass muster as university tenured cultural anthropologist, the way they created the Kreetassans’ homeworld’s architectural structure. Especially of their buildings is really reminiscent of what might have happened if Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest region were allowed to independently develop into a space faring civilization.
Sadly, Star Trek writers have not yet created an alien civilization who developed in the southern hemisphere of an Earth-like planet and possessing analog watches / steam gauges that move counter-clockwise. Sadder still, Enterprise was forced to end due to lack of viewer support and escalating costs of production. I wonder how Star Trek writers would have shoehorned into the Star Trek universe the recent Mecca Mean Time controversy as a launching pad for a very interesting Star Trek TV episode?
Showing posts with label Cultural Anthropology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cultural Anthropology. Show all posts
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Klingon Language: Another Useless Trekkie Extravagance?
First gained widespread popularity beyond the Trekkie fanbase due to the release of the last Star Trek Original Series motion picture titled The Undiscovered Country. Is the Klingon language useful in our everyday life?
By: Vanessa Uy
Being the last movie of the original series Star Trek, my first impressions of The Undiscovered Country was that William Shatner, who plays Captain James T. Kirk, and the rest of the original series cast, were allowed to have free reign to prove that they are as literate about Shakespeare as Patrick Stewart was. Given that the Next Generation captain was a well-known Shakespearean actor. But it changed further into the thick of things when the Klingons in the Undiscovered Country were unabashed Shakespeare fans and freely quoting his works in both English and Klingon. Given that English language has penetrated every corner of the world, why would anyone bother to learn another language, especially a supposedly fictitious one and not of this Earth?
If you’re concerned that during the last thirty years, half of the world’s 6,000 languages that we no of are either extinct (the native speakers have all passed away) or is dying due to the pressures of globalization to learn the English language at all costs. Or if you live in a “culturally despotic” country like the Philippines were teaching various dialects – especially ones spoken by ethnic Muslims – is about as illegal as making high explosives using household cleaners, then yes, you should be concerned. The good news is that in learning dialects spoken by ethnic Filipino Muslims is possible if you get enrolled in a CIA “spyschool” in Langley, Virginia or study for yourself in the US Library of Congress.
The question now is why learn – as the actors who played Klingon characters on a Star Trek set frequently describe it as - the guttural spit-spaying, made up language? Well, it does lead to authenticity even if it’s “only a movie” to someone who is naturally born for a penchant for languages, my ears (and brain) can easily discern a genuine language with real syntax and grammatical structure as opposed to mere gibberish used in very early Hollywood movies.
And believe it or not, there is already a plethora of Klingon language learning schemes. Plus books like the Klingon Dictionary by Pocket Books, also, an audio-tape by Simon & Schuster on how to learn Conversational Klingon. And also correspondence courses like the Philadelphia-based Klingon Language Institute. Lawrence Schoen, a linguist, psychologist and founder of the Klingon Language Institute has described many of the Institute’s members as those who want to be more authentic while role playing in Klingon persona. Though some of them had played as extra Klingons on an actual Star Trek set, most of them are just happy to wow their fellow Trekkies in Star Trek conventions by performing works of Shakespeare – like Hamlet - in the Klingon language or by giving lessons to interested parties. Lawrence Schoen summarizes their work in the Klingon Language Institute akin to that of a typical linguist approach it’s study to that of a dead language with no living speakers.
The foremost authority of the Klingon language – given actual involvement on an actual shooting of a typical Star Trek episode – is linguist Marc Okrand. He created Klingon for Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, a time before Trekkies dressed as Klingons were performing Shakespeare in their native tongue at Star Trek conventions. Marc Okrand created the Klingon with a much-increased lexicon for Star Trek III based on snippets of Klingon heard in the Original Series and the first Star Trek movie and went from there. By combining sounds heard in Arabic, Yiddish, Japanese, Native American / First Nations tongues, and more. Okrand picked real human sounds, but mixed them in a way that is kind of “ergonomically difficult” for us native earthlings to utter. According to Okrand, the still-limited Klingon vocabulary will keep on expanding as is normal on a still-living language. Or as long as Klingons stay active in the Star Trek universe. Even Klingon enthusiasts are using the existing lexicon to write Klingon fiction based on the anthropological background and history of the Klingon race portrayed in Star Trek. Given the current progress, anthropologists and sociologist thousands of years in the future might probably conclude that the Klingons are a real and distinct race with their own culture if existing records doesn’t state that they are just works of late 20th Century science fiction.
By: Vanessa Uy
Being the last movie of the original series Star Trek, my first impressions of The Undiscovered Country was that William Shatner, who plays Captain James T. Kirk, and the rest of the original series cast, were allowed to have free reign to prove that they are as literate about Shakespeare as Patrick Stewart was. Given that the Next Generation captain was a well-known Shakespearean actor. But it changed further into the thick of things when the Klingons in the Undiscovered Country were unabashed Shakespeare fans and freely quoting his works in both English and Klingon. Given that English language has penetrated every corner of the world, why would anyone bother to learn another language, especially a supposedly fictitious one and not of this Earth?
If you’re concerned that during the last thirty years, half of the world’s 6,000 languages that we no of are either extinct (the native speakers have all passed away) or is dying due to the pressures of globalization to learn the English language at all costs. Or if you live in a “culturally despotic” country like the Philippines were teaching various dialects – especially ones spoken by ethnic Muslims – is about as illegal as making high explosives using household cleaners, then yes, you should be concerned. The good news is that in learning dialects spoken by ethnic Filipino Muslims is possible if you get enrolled in a CIA “spyschool” in Langley, Virginia or study for yourself in the US Library of Congress.
The question now is why learn – as the actors who played Klingon characters on a Star Trek set frequently describe it as - the guttural spit-spaying, made up language? Well, it does lead to authenticity even if it’s “only a movie” to someone who is naturally born for a penchant for languages, my ears (and brain) can easily discern a genuine language with real syntax and grammatical structure as opposed to mere gibberish used in very early Hollywood movies.
And believe it or not, there is already a plethora of Klingon language learning schemes. Plus books like the Klingon Dictionary by Pocket Books, also, an audio-tape by Simon & Schuster on how to learn Conversational Klingon. And also correspondence courses like the Philadelphia-based Klingon Language Institute. Lawrence Schoen, a linguist, psychologist and founder of the Klingon Language Institute has described many of the Institute’s members as those who want to be more authentic while role playing in Klingon persona. Though some of them had played as extra Klingons on an actual Star Trek set, most of them are just happy to wow their fellow Trekkies in Star Trek conventions by performing works of Shakespeare – like Hamlet - in the Klingon language or by giving lessons to interested parties. Lawrence Schoen summarizes their work in the Klingon Language Institute akin to that of a typical linguist approach it’s study to that of a dead language with no living speakers.
The foremost authority of the Klingon language – given actual involvement on an actual shooting of a typical Star Trek episode – is linguist Marc Okrand. He created Klingon for Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, a time before Trekkies dressed as Klingons were performing Shakespeare in their native tongue at Star Trek conventions. Marc Okrand created the Klingon with a much-increased lexicon for Star Trek III based on snippets of Klingon heard in the Original Series and the first Star Trek movie and went from there. By combining sounds heard in Arabic, Yiddish, Japanese, Native American / First Nations tongues, and more. Okrand picked real human sounds, but mixed them in a way that is kind of “ergonomically difficult” for us native earthlings to utter. According to Okrand, the still-limited Klingon vocabulary will keep on expanding as is normal on a still-living language. Or as long as Klingons stay active in the Star Trek universe. Even Klingon enthusiasts are using the existing lexicon to write Klingon fiction based on the anthropological background and history of the Klingon race portrayed in Star Trek. Given the current progress, anthropologists and sociologist thousands of years in the future might probably conclude that the Klingons are a real and distinct race with their own culture if existing records doesn’t state that they are just works of late 20th Century science fiction.
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