Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Deep Space Shows Deeply Seeded Wishes for the Future

Jon Wagoner's and Jan Ludeen's article "Deep Space and Sacred Time" uncovers some of the most basic desires for the future of the human race. Wagoner and Ludeen use the popular, $2Billion cult series Star Trek to bring to front the desires for the future.

Many people have heard of the classic series Star Trek, whether they are faithful followers or even if they have never seen an episode. Wagoner and Ludeen believe that the series has been able to gain a large following due to the optimistic undertones of the series. In Star Trek there are no prejudices, a passionate sense of humanism, and an extreme sense of loyalty and belonging that sometimes seem to be non-existent in modern society. Watchers of Star Trek subconsciously pick up on these themes and adopt them. Becoming comfortable with the series and with the hope that one day these themes of compassion and belonging will apply to the real world in the same way Star Trek employs.

Star Trek is able to cross the boundaries of society due to these factors, because every human being desires to belong. Every human being desires a bright future in which there is unity. Although in the real world there are many perceptions and different approaches to achieve this unity, in the series of Star Trek the unity is achieved. Sometimes there are battles to get this unity, but in conclusion of an episode all the edges are wrapped up neatly and peace (for the time being) is achieved.

I myself am not an avid follower of Star Trek. However after reading Wagoner's and Ludeen's article I can begin to see how Star Trek themes correlate with modern society. Due to the correlation with modern society, the series has been able to become deeply ingrained into society.

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