Comments on: 2001: A Space Travesty

By: brotherpeacemaker

brotherpeacemaker — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:13:27 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Cliff Burns,

But I think coming to blogs and expecting people to see things through your own narrow tunnel of vision and then criticizing when things fail to meet your narrow expectations is quite asinine. It has always been most popular to simply accept things like racism as little more than the way things are. We are supposed to simply accept a future full of white people as the natural state of being and anybody who notices the exclusion of black people is the separatist. It’s popular to call the black kettle a wannabe separatist but let the white pot of exclusion be because of the “universality of a message”. If the movie 2001 shows us anything it is that the future was to be an exclusive white domain that had stereotypically dismissed minorities. White tribalism and mistrust has already colored our perspectives. People who defend this way of thinking are not helping to develop a more universal approach.

Peace

By: Cliff Burns

Cliff Burns — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:11:25 +0000

I think viewing a film like “2001″ through a gender or racial perspective is ludicrous–the movie begins with the birth place of human ingenuity and intelligence and the setting is, y’know, AFRICA. I know it’s a hallmark of post-modernism to approach subject matter from a variety of splintered perspectives but one then fails to see the universality of a message and approach big picture ideas from a narrow, blindered viewpoint. That methodology starts us down the long, dark road to emphasizing the things that separate us as members of the same species, which leads to tribalism, growing mistrust, racial stereotyping and, eventually, genocide.

By: brotherpeacemaker

brotherpeacemaker — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:32:17 +0000

Thanks for the feedback umbrarchist,

I read 2001, 2010, and 2061. But that really was a long time ago and I might need a refresher. Your observation is noted and I should not be blaming the author for someone else’s take on the movie.

Peace

By: umbrarchist

umbrarchist — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:26:45 +0000

{{{ In Mr. Clark’s imagination only white people made it to 2001. No people of African descent, no people of Asian descent, no people of Hispanic descent, and nobody of any other descent but the European. As a social commentary, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was a sad reflection of the racial sentiment of America at the time of its development.}}}

You need to read Arthur C. Clarke’s books instead of trying to judge him by a movie. How many other people were involved in deciding on the actors?

If you check out his book A FALL OF MOONDUST from 1961, before 2001: A Space Odyssey, you will fine non-White characters.

By: Deirdre Saoirse Moen

Deirdre Saoirse Moen — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:22:53 +0000

I’m glad you brought up science fiction, and especially the role that Star Trek played, but it might be bigger than you think.

I have to admit that I was completely unaware of the effect of Star Trek on non-dominant communities. In 2000, my husband and I attended the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, and I saw a panel entitled “The Ebony Age of Science Fiction.” That was really the beginning of my awakening. Here’s a few things I remember from that panel, none of which are news to you, but which happened to be news to me:

1) On television, blacks were given top billing only in comedies. (Hearing this has utterly killed my ability to watch such comedies, which is a shame because they were getting top billing and being paid, which is a start.)

2) The first hour-long drama where a black actor got top billing was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In other words, Hollywood doesn’t take black actors seriously, but considers them only worthy of being jokes. This has changed with a very few black actors getting top billing in dramatic films, but it’s a slow change. The racism is reinforced from the top.

So, imagine my surprise when Andromeda (yet another Roddenberry show) came on, and had Keith Hamilton Cobb was not only a very good actor (though not the one with top billing), he belonged to a genetically engineered race and was considered superior. The first couple of seasons had him as a great character — and then Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Majel Barrett Roddenberry were sacked. The show got stupid, and Cobb’s character became a cardboard villain. So what had turned out with an interesting (and complex) racial portrayal became stereotypical cardboard. I couldn’t even be in the room any longer if it was on, I was that offended by it. However, I do recommend the first two seasons.

There are many really good writers of color in science fiction these days, and two anthologies that would be of interest to your readers: Dark Matter and Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. Octavia Butler and Samuel Delaney are probably the best-known black science fiction writers, but there are many, many good ones. I highly recommend Nalo Hopkinson, and not just because I went to grad school with her. N.K. Jemisin is another I’ve studied with, and I also highly recommend her work (most of her fiction is available online).