Star Trek Overcame Censorship by using Science-Fiction to do Social Commentary
Roddenberry Overcame Censorship about racism, sexism, nukes, civil rights, and the Vietnam War
And Gene Roddenberry would also later directly admit that the whole reason he even did a sci fi show was that he wanted to, like, do social commentary without being censored,
10:47
Because like any time he wanted to talk about racism or sexism or or nukes or civil rights or the Vietnam War, he would get censored and the networks would shut him down immediately.
10:57
So instead he distracted them with short skirts and flashy lights and, and then talked about racism and sexism and nukes and the Vietnam War.
11:06
see, this episode is about how these aliens hate each other because these ones are half white and half black and the other ones are half black and half white.
11:14
civil rights. I don’t know what that is. I’ve never heard of that. so most of these shows wind up being a ragtag group of mostly humans,
QUESTIONS:
Are there other mediums of avoiding censorship or suppression, comparable to how Star Trek used Science Fiction?
What is the role of new genres such as Hip Hop and Rap in creating a space for new voices? Should we be on alert for emerging genres to host new ideas?
Are there forums, such as Substack, that are well-positioned to host these authors and artists?