Media Representation

I will start this with I don’t hate Star Trek Voyager, in fact, even before new Trek started to come out, which I am not a fan, I didn’t hate it. It wasn’t my favorite, my favorite Series is always going to be Deep Space 9. It has mediocre and bad episodes, but when it slaps, it slaps hard. That is slang for it’s really good.

What I want to focus on, however, is how media and characters matter. How representation matters. And that overall it doesn’t matter to much if the character doesn’t look like the person. Growing up and trying to understand yourself, and trying to figure out who you are, that is the hardest thing to do. It was around High School, or maybe late Middle School, that I started to describe myself as a Vulcan. Like to see characters who you resonate with, that you can use to describe yourself, it’s wonderful actually. It gives a sense of grounding, it helps to make sense of the world, and to explain to others who you are.

And why it doesn’t matter if it’s not a perfect one for one representation, is that the Vulcan that I resonated with the most, was Tuvok from Voyager. Not to be to rude, but I am not a black man, so it wasn’t the skin color. But when I listened to him talk, how he responded to those around him, how he hid his anger. That was me, 100%. Like I have changed since, I have grown, I have worked on myself, every ten years we change. Generally. But at that time, I was struggling, and school-life was hard. I to felt trapped on the other side of the galaxy.

I think this also explains why I have no trouble with the idea of changing a character, like when they introduced Miles Morales as Spider Man (yeah, we all like to forget how that was a toxic mess with the fans). Because I grew up with Star Trek, and it showcased humanities better qualities, and the character that I resonated with the most was the black-skinned Vulcan. Don’t take that wrong however, I to am still going to make mistakes, but I am trying to explain where my mind starts not where it finishes. No one is perfect, we are a bunch of apes trying to make sense of the world.

I have ADHD, and I’m An Ace in the Hole, which is very much a Vulcan to be fair. But that anger, that pure primal rage, only Tuvok really had that sort of pain. That is what it is to, there are flash backs to his childhood, which also made me gravitate towards him.

The episode that really cemented the way that I felt, were Gravity and Random Thoughts. Even now as a teacher, I realize I am very much still Tuvok, and that I can be very rigid. Very much like the episode Learning Curve, honestly there are a lot of things he does in that episode that I also do. There are other characters that I grew up watching and either resonating with, or wanting to be like, but again representation matters.

Art is about telling everyone’s story, not just one story, over and over. Humanity is diverse, and our stories should reflect that. It can bring comfort, and support. It can shape a young adult, give them solace by showing them what they can become. To be fair the other character, also from Star Trek, that I resonate now as an adult is Julian Bashir, so, that’s another story. But there are some similarities there.