John Cho in 'Star Trek.'
I had to geek out about the just-released full trailer for the “Star Trek” prequel that’s coming out next year.
John Cho takes on the role of Sulu in the new “Star Trek,” which has has been lauded over the years as a forward-thinking show that had diverse casts (including Asian Americans) in all its iterations and offered a Utopian view of the future. I explored racial aspect of “Star Trek’s” view of the future for a story in The Spaces Issue of Hyphen.
While there’s been a better mix of races within the “Star Trek” world than in most other TV shows or movies, the portrayals of people of color are often stereotyped, according to Daniel Bernardi, author of “Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future,” whom I interviewed for the story.
The appeal of “Star Trek” for many fans has been the premise that humans can and will move beyond racism and conflicts that are keeping us back. Even so, “Star Trek” is still a Hollywood production and has its problems, as my story outlines.
Take a look at the trailer and my story. Is Bernardi is reading too much into “Star Trek”?
A version of this post is also on Hyphen magazine’s blog.