Perhaps it's my own experience with serving on a military ship. That level of silly banter would get you thrown in the brig on bread and water.
Now Starfleet is sort of pseudo-military; with diplomacy, science, and exploration playing major roles as well. In times of peace the military aspect seems almost superficial. But in times of war …
Perhaps it's my own experience with serving on a military ship. That level of silly banter would get you thrown in the brig on bread and water.
Now Starfleet is sort of pseudo-military; with diplomacy, science, and exploration playing major roles as well. In times of peace the military aspect seems almost superficial. But in times of war (or any conflict for that matter) it is very much so the Federation's fighting navy in every respect.
Not only that, but the crew are all trained at Starfleet Academy...a very purposeful nod to our own US Naval Academy. And that means each crew member is not only steeped in all sorts of military training, but also behaves in a manner befitting a military naval organization. In short, they should look, talk, and act like any modern naval officer would.
TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise all adhered to this level of professional behavior in their normal daily interactions with each other...to varying degrees. But the new shows like Discovery, Picard, and STW all seem throw that formula out the window in favor of a much more informal, almost juvenile approach. There's much less respect for simple things like the chain of command or proper bridge etiquette, and a lot more random campy humor thrown in all over the place at times where it would otherwise seem inappropriate. Maybe I'm being overly critical here, but it feels like kids in a high school trading jabs with each other in the hallway between classes. It's like a cross between TOS and Saved By the Bell.
Modern dialogue is jarring and out-of-place in a setting like Trek - my theory on why they do it is because the dictates of Professionalism strikes most (ideologically lefty) TV writers as too similar to tone policing and respectability politics, which are Bad and reactionary. Arbitrary rules of decorum, formality and hierarchy are insufficiently radical. Therefore, the thinking is, "professionalism" is inconsistent with progressive characters and themes - they have to sound like a bunch of contemporary college students to be, ironically, politically correct.
Thank you for elucidating what's been lurking in the back of my head for some time now, and I really mean that. I thought I was the only one seeing this.
Two things I would dare push back on:
1) I would replace 'modern dialogue' with conformative progressive speech or something similar. Most people still don't normally talk like the SNW actors do, so I would say it's disingenuous to call it modern.
2) Those rules of decorum and formality are not really arbitrary, I think a lot of young people just think they are. They do have a purpose, and a good one.
Now...I think you are really on to something here, and it's quite depressing to say the least. If you're right, it means language itself is already well on its way to being captured by the 'woke', or whatever the hell anyone wants to call them. That is getting into dangerous territory here. And not only that, to so easily and casually discard language not considered 'progressively enlightened' enough is akin to denying your own humanity and identity...as much as I hate to use that word right here.
Thanks again for saying this Jordan...but it does scare me.
Perhaps it's my own experience with serving on a military ship. That level of silly banter would get you thrown in the brig on bread and water.
Now Starfleet is sort of pseudo-military; with diplomacy, science, and exploration playing major roles as well. In times of peace the military aspect seems almost superficial. But in times of war (or any conflict for that matter) it is very much so the Federation's fighting navy in every respect.
Not only that, but the crew are all trained at Starfleet Academy...a very purposeful nod to our own US Naval Academy. And that means each crew member is not only steeped in all sorts of military training, but also behaves in a manner befitting a military naval organization. In short, they should look, talk, and act like any modern naval officer would.
TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise all adhered to this level of professional behavior in their normal daily interactions with each other...to varying degrees. But the new shows like Discovery, Picard, and STW all seem throw that formula out the window in favor of a much more informal, almost juvenile approach. There's much less respect for simple things like the chain of command or proper bridge etiquette, and a lot more random campy humor thrown in all over the place at times where it would otherwise seem inappropriate. Maybe I'm being overly critical here, but it feels like kids in a high school trading jabs with each other in the hallway between classes. It's like a cross between TOS and Saved By the Bell.
Modern dialogue is jarring and out-of-place in a setting like Trek - my theory on why they do it is because the dictates of Professionalism strikes most (ideologically lefty) TV writers as too similar to tone policing and respectability politics, which are Bad and reactionary. Arbitrary rules of decorum, formality and hierarchy are insufficiently radical. Therefore, the thinking is, "professionalism" is inconsistent with progressive characters and themes - they have to sound like a bunch of contemporary college students to be, ironically, politically correct.
Thank you for elucidating what's been lurking in the back of my head for some time now, and I really mean that. I thought I was the only one seeing this.
Two things I would dare push back on:
1) I would replace 'modern dialogue' with conformative progressive speech or something similar. Most people still don't normally talk like the SNW actors do, so I would say it's disingenuous to call it modern.
2) Those rules of decorum and formality are not really arbitrary, I think a lot of young people just think they are. They do have a purpose, and a good one.
Now...I think you are really on to something here, and it's quite depressing to say the least. If you're right, it means language itself is already well on its way to being captured by the 'woke', or whatever the hell anyone wants to call them. That is getting into dangerous territory here. And not only that, to so easily and casually discard language not considered 'progressively enlightened' enough is akin to denying your own humanity and identity...as much as I hate to use that word right here.
Thanks again for saying this Jordan...but it does scare me.