Translation: I voted for Trump but totally not for racist or bigoted reasons. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I believed his tariffs tariffs tariffs plan would be great for the economy.
Looking forward to seeing Project Hail Mary, although it can’t compare with his performance on SNL as an alien abductee.
(Congratulates self for not making pervy comment about Ryan Gosling, who is young enough to be her nephew - if she had a much older sibling - or possibly young enough to be the son of a friend - if that friend got pregnant in high school. Is dirty old lady but harmless.)
I truly loathe this term. For one, it's a lie. Republicans haven't been fiscally conservative for my entire lifetime of 51 years. They blown up government spending, cut taxes, increased deficits, and ballooned the national debt to the point where it will likely exceed our national GDP within the current regime.
It is a meaningless term. A fiscal conservative would raise taxes when appropriate to help balance the books. A fiscal conservative would look at our Defense budget and start cutting. A fiscal conservative would avoid starting wars that cost trillions of dollars. A fiscal conservative would not cut taxes when their predecessor was actually on track to pay down the national debt.
All "fiscal conservative" means now is "I don't want to pay taxes and I only want the government to blow up brown people and their shit, and give money to corporations that don't pay taxes instead of helping Americans."
I can't upvote your comment enough! "Fiscally conservative" is indeed a lie. It's propaganda designed to make the party of the wealthy seem financially responsible when they are most definitely not. It's a lie from the party that brought us the "trickle-down theory", which has been disproved so many times it should be forever stricken from the language.
A true fiscal conservative should be loudly advocating for more renewable energy sources. A true fiscal conservative should be advocating for universal health insurance for all. A true fiscal conservative should be advocating for a path to citizenship for immigrants, as their work enhances GDP.
THX 1138 featured a great take on fiscal conservatism. The pursuit of THX ran over budget and was called off even as he was in the Robo-LAPD's line of sight.
If he comes back and makes a pest of himself, we'll revisit. In the meantime we balance the books.
Art made is an entity unto itself. People attribute aspects to it that the artist may or may not intend, but these takes become part of its history. If Weir eschews the political content of Star Trek or his own work, that’s his prerogative, our own takes are no less valid. His work doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
But for Weir to be uncomfortable with the overt anti-war views expressly articulated in Star Trek is to not only miss point point; it ignores or dismisses the conflict that drives the plot. That makes for limited enjoyment of the whole Enterprise.
"In the same 2018 interview, Weir says, “I deeply dislike social commentary. For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues. I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.”
This is like the "fans" complaining about shows like "Starfleet Academy" as 'contrived and irredeemably woke' while longing for the simple days of TOS.
He's either the shallowest possible 'lifelong Star Trek fan', or he's lying. To himself as much as us...
All art is political. I think Weir is just saying he doesn’t want blowback from anyone who disagrees with the politics. I agree with the commenter here who says we should interact with the art not attempt to find authorial intent. The politics embedded in the work are usually not subtle, as your analysis of Star Trek shows.
As a DS9 fan, I often think of Damar, who saw what the war was doing and decided to switch sides. I have a screenshot somewhere of him saying "what kind of state tolerates the murder of innocent women and children?" (and kira's rebuttal)
all art is political indeed because it is a mirror of us
Maybe when people say that they don't like politics, or social commentary, or morals, or religious views in their art form, they mean those that they disagree with. Those that they agree with are just part of the story, because, well, it's what they believe.
ETA: Any of these four mentioned above, or a combination of them can be overt to varying degrees or covert, but they are there. Not having read Weir's works, I can't say how overtly his personal views are presented in his books, but from reading your post, it seems that they are more covert than overt. If this seems confusing, I am sorry, it's clear to me what I mean, but I am not sure if I'm expressing it well.
One of my favorite quotes in one of Weir’s books was in The Martian when one of the team that had to leave the stranded astronaut says to the captain, “He’s going to survive this. Have faith,” and she says, “You know I’m an atheist right?” The team member says, “No, I meant have faith in [the astronaut]. He’ll find a way to survive!” (Paraphrased) Oddly, it was not in the movie where they were encouraging school children to pray for the astronaut. Funny that.
You can put any message you want into your art, as long as it's presented in a way that glues eyes in place. "Birth of a Nation" and "Triumph of the Will" are templates for story telling, ghastly as the content remains.
Project Hail Mary sends a positive message about overcoming prejudices for the sake of mutual cooperation. When I read the novel my first thought was, this is like one of the better Trek scripts. Weir let the story breathe so the "let's try to get along" message isn't sledge hammered. I liked the way the human hero was more of an everyman rather the usual hyper-competent Navy SEAL/Top Gun protagonists who have overrun the genre.
It was a gut punch for me when Weir went on the Critical Drinker's show for a mutual tongue bath. Will Jordan-AKA-The Critical Drinker is the king of bad faith art criticism. Anything he doesn't like is WOKE, and therefore lacks artistic merit. Jordan's racism and misogyny are loud and proud: How dare a new Star Trek series feature plus-size women as anything but punch lines? By appearing with, and seeming to agree with Jordan, Weir legitimized the miserable Scottish crank's position as a cultural gatekeeper.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but still plan to. Unfortunately the Weir/Jordan interview will be playing out in my head at the same time.
Weir reminds me of when William Faulkner insisted his “A Rose for Emily” wasn’t about race or when Georgia O’Keeffe insisted her flowers weren’t sexual. Ok. But the meaning of a text never just lies with the author. The first thing you learn in grad school is how little authorial intent matters.
“fiscally conservative and socially liberal”
Translation: I voted for Trump but totally not for racist or bigoted reasons. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I believed his tariffs tariffs tariffs plan would be great for the economy.
Looking forward to seeing Project Hail Mary, although it can’t compare with his performance on SNL as an alien abductee.
(Congratulates self for not making pervy comment about Ryan Gosling, who is young enough to be her nephew - if she had a much older sibling - or possibly young enough to be the son of a friend - if that friend got pregnant in high school. Is dirty old lady but harmless.)
People are political by nature. We are a social animal. There is nothing that we do that is not political.
[fiscally conservative]
I truly loathe this term. For one, it's a lie. Republicans haven't been fiscally conservative for my entire lifetime of 51 years. They blown up government spending, cut taxes, increased deficits, and ballooned the national debt to the point where it will likely exceed our national GDP within the current regime.
It is a meaningless term. A fiscal conservative would raise taxes when appropriate to help balance the books. A fiscal conservative would look at our Defense budget and start cutting. A fiscal conservative would avoid starting wars that cost trillions of dollars. A fiscal conservative would not cut taxes when their predecessor was actually on track to pay down the national debt.
All "fiscal conservative" means now is "I don't want to pay taxes and I only want the government to blow up brown people and their shit, and give money to corporations that don't pay taxes instead of helping Americans."
I can't upvote your comment enough! "Fiscally conservative" is indeed a lie. It's propaganda designed to make the party of the wealthy seem financially responsible when they are most definitely not. It's a lie from the party that brought us the "trickle-down theory", which has been disproved so many times it should be forever stricken from the language.
A true fiscal conservative should be loudly advocating for more renewable energy sources. A true fiscal conservative should be advocating for universal health insurance for all. A true fiscal conservative should be advocating for a path to citizenship for immigrants, as their work enhances GDP.
THX 1138 featured a great take on fiscal conservatism. The pursuit of THX ran over budget and was called off even as he was in the Robo-LAPD's line of sight.
If he comes back and makes a pest of himself, we'll revisit. In the meantime we balance the books.
Man, I wish Paramount didn't hold all the ST properties
;(
Only people embarrassed by their own politics balk at being seen as 'political'
Art made is an entity unto itself. People attribute aspects to it that the artist may or may not intend, but these takes become part of its history. If Weir eschews the political content of Star Trek or his own work, that’s his prerogative, our own takes are no less valid. His work doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
But for Weir to be uncomfortable with the overt anti-war views expressly articulated in Star Trek is to not only miss point point; it ignores or dismisses the conflict that drives the plot. That makes for limited enjoyment of the whole Enterprise.
"In the same 2018 interview, Weir says, “I deeply dislike social commentary. For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues. I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.”
This is like the "fans" complaining about shows like "Starfleet Academy" as 'contrived and irredeemably woke' while longing for the simple days of TOS.
He's either the shallowest possible 'lifelong Star Trek fan', or he's lying. To himself as much as us...
Yep and it always has been. Because what gets considered to be art is political. Awesome article.
All art is political. I think Weir is just saying he doesn’t want blowback from anyone who disagrees with the politics. I agree with the commenter here who says we should interact with the art not attempt to find authorial intent. The politics embedded in the work are usually not subtle, as your analysis of Star Trek shows.
Great piece, as usual!
As a DS9 fan, I often think of Damar, who saw what the war was doing and decided to switch sides. I have a screenshot somewhere of him saying "what kind of state tolerates the murder of innocent women and children?" (and kira's rebuttal)
all art is political indeed because it is a mirror of us
Thanks! Deep Space Nine was hella "woke"!
And Star Trek has been an exceptionally large and bright mirror throughout it's many incarnations.
Maybe when people say that they don't like politics, or social commentary, or morals, or religious views in their art form, they mean those that they disagree with. Those that they agree with are just part of the story, because, well, it's what they believe.
ETA: Any of these four mentioned above, or a combination of them can be overt to varying degrees or covert, but they are there. Not having read Weir's works, I can't say how overtly his personal views are presented in his books, but from reading your post, it seems that they are more covert than overt. If this seems confusing, I am sorry, it's clear to me what I mean, but I am not sure if I'm expressing it well.
One of my favorite quotes in one of Weir’s books was in The Martian when one of the team that had to leave the stranded astronaut says to the captain, “He’s going to survive this. Have faith,” and she says, “You know I’m an atheist right?” The team member says, “No, I meant have faith in [the astronaut]. He’ll find a way to survive!” (Paraphrased) Oddly, it was not in the movie where they were encouraging school children to pray for the astronaut. Funny that.
You can put any message you want into your art, as long as it's presented in a way that glues eyes in place. "Birth of a Nation" and "Triumph of the Will" are templates for story telling, ghastly as the content remains.
Project Hail Mary sends a positive message about overcoming prejudices for the sake of mutual cooperation. When I read the novel my first thought was, this is like one of the better Trek scripts. Weir let the story breathe so the "let's try to get along" message isn't sledge hammered. I liked the way the human hero was more of an everyman rather the usual hyper-competent Navy SEAL/Top Gun protagonists who have overrun the genre.
It was a gut punch for me when Weir went on the Critical Drinker's show for a mutual tongue bath. Will Jordan-AKA-The Critical Drinker is the king of bad faith art criticism. Anything he doesn't like is WOKE, and therefore lacks artistic merit. Jordan's racism and misogyny are loud and proud: How dare a new Star Trek series feature plus-size women as anything but punch lines? By appearing with, and seeming to agree with Jordan, Weir legitimized the miserable Scottish crank's position as a cultural gatekeeper.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but still plan to. Unfortunately the Weir/Jordan interview will be playing out in my head at the same time.
Weir reminds me of when William Faulkner insisted his “A Rose for Emily” wasn’t about race or when Georgia O’Keeffe insisted her flowers weren’t sexual. Ok. But the meaning of a text never just lies with the author. The first thing you learn in grad school is how little authorial intent matters.