There’s been a divide in America, long before President Trump took office, but it’s only now that Hollywood seems interested in capitalizing on that divide – after eight divisive years of Obama.
Star Trek: Discovery is the latest show to use this “new” divide – which they of course blame the Trump administration – as a theme for the show. Showrunner Aaron Harbert told Entertainment Weekly the 2016 election was still fresh on their minds when they started developing the series for the streaming network CBS All Access. When CBS got wind of Harbert’s comments, they contacted TheWrap.com on Monday, telling them Harbert’s “interpretation” was somehow incorrect.
Harbert spoke on “racial purity” and “isolationism” were the main focus. The show takes place 10 years prior to the timeline of the original Star Trek, which debuted 51 years ago.
"The Klingons are going to help us really look at certain sides of ourselves and our country. Isolationism is a big theme…Racial purity is a big theme. The Klingons are not the enemy, but they do have a different view on things…It raises big questions: 'Should we let people in? Do we want to change?' There's also the question of just because you reach your hand out to someone, do they have to take it?” Sometimes, they don’t want to take it. It’s been interesting to see how the times have become more of a mirror than we even thought they were going to be.”
Star Trek hasn’t shied away from political and social commentary in their syndicated versions. Harbert seemed to suggest that later in the season, the shows would parallel much of the current situation between relations with the United States and North Korea. He boasted they would hit a new stride as the show “provides a backdrop to how we want to be as a society, and that analysis and self-reflection is new for Trek. They've done it in certain episodes in the past, but this is a true journey for the institution in itself.”
They also boasted this new show will have the "first openly gay officer" on the show. Hollywood can't help but encourage Americans how to think (and who to despise) in the real world, even in Space Age science fiction.
Earlier: New Star Trek Boldly Goes Godless
