People sometimes say Star Trek's "alien races" (how's that for loaded language?) stood in for Cold War-era powers. The received wisdom is that the Klingons were the Soviets, though I'm not sure they line up quite right. The Vulcans and the Romulans were projections of the Inscrutable Asian that existed in the 1960s Western mind-- the Romulans specifically representing the hostile Chinese. (Does that make the Vulcans Japanese?) Jim Kirk, of course, played for the Home Team. So, maybe the Chinese Turandot is actually a Romulan, like the commander from "The Enterprise Incident" (botttom row, below).
Oh, fascinating. :D I had heard about the Klingon=Russian connection, which is pretty obvious in some episodes and less so in others, but had never made the jump to Romulans= Chinese. And I rather like the Vulcans as Japanese! Allies, but not always on the best terms...and with the warlike background that they've renounced...interesting indeed.
ReplyDeleteT'Pring and the Romulan commander are just gorgeous in those shots!
I had never heard anyone compare Vulcan/Japan before until I read Zen priest Brad Watson who says he thinks Vulcans are a kind of American misrepresentation of Zen, and I thought that made a ton of sense, and then the political relationship seems about right too--as you say, allies, but not really entirely sympathetic to each other...
ReplyDeleteThe Klingons on TOS seem to me a mishmash of American fears, not just the Soviets. Though they become more clearly the failing USSR in ST VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The Romulan commander is one of my most favorite characters ever on ST.