Sci Fi in DiverseLandia

There’s a big difference between casting ‘diversely’, and diverse representation: a quick review of two Netflix shows, Altered Carbon and Star Trek Discovery, will demonstrate what I mean.  Both Altered Carbon and Star Trek Discovery envision a possible future for humanity, however, where Star Trek Discovery offers a representation of diversity, Altered Carbon, it seems, failed to read the memo!

The series Altered Carbon is based on a novel by Richard Morgan.  The premise here is that human consciousness resides in ‘stacks’ which can be removed from one body and inserted into another body, transferring this consciousness to a new ‘sleeve’.  Altered Carbon’s lead character, Takeshi Kovacs (of Japanese heritage), is transferred in this way into the body of (white man) Elias Ryker.  A pretty appallingly tone deaf premise, but one which could have been managed were we, the audience, to view Kovacs as he sees himself, in his original body, with occasional reveals (in the mirror?) of this white ‘sleeve’.  Then there might have been some opportunity to confront the device and its ramifications.  But alas, Will Yun Lee, who plays ‘Original’ Takeshi Kovacs, remains steadfastly locked in flashbacks alone, and Elias Ryker (played by Joel Kinnaman) is allowed to white-wash Kovacs’ story.  Given that it is Kinnaman-Kovacs’ story we follow, this bestows agency on the white male body, while the person of colour is confined to the past, where choices can only be remembered, not revisited and changed.  Problematic, no doubt, but as Erik Kain points out, there are other people of colour in the story, and plenty of women, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that casting diversely, isn’t the same as diverse representation.  The characters of colour that populate Altered Carbon are confined by class and offered limited agency, they also all serve to facilitate Kovacs’ story – as embodied by (white) Kinnaman.  To emphasise this,  consider the next premise: Kinnaman-Kovacs is enlisted by infinitely wealthy and powerful Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) to find his murderer (of a previous sleeve and stack, luckily wealthy Bancroft can back up his consciousness, thus avoiding ‘true’ death).  This narrative allows for the explicit delineation of class, whereby the powerful are portrayed by white bodies and ‘diversity’ is found in the powerless.  Troubling.  In a future where any body can hold any consciousness, this is a deliberate statement.  Furthermore, the difficulties the characters of colour encounter are presented as stumbling blocks for our white hero’s narrative.  Kinnaman-Kovacs must solve their problems to enlist their help with his, primary, crisis.  In this way, the white man is packaged as hero, and the crises of the characters of colour are subordinated to the greater, white male, narrative.

The women fare worse, if possible.  They all conform to Hollywood’s unrealistic and damaging beauty standards, and are presented uniformly as bodies to be desired.  The male gaze is firmly in place behind this camera.  While we do see occasional naked male bodies in Altered Carbon, male nudity is used as a dominating tactic, a power-move.  Women, however, are routinely seen naked, from the strippers Kinnaman-Kovac visits, to Kovac’s sister Reileen Kawahara (Dichen Lachman), who must endure an epic fight scene, involving repeated violent deaths, totally nude.  Even ‘clothed’ Kristin Lehman (Miriam Bancroft, one of the only women characters from the ‘powerful’ class) is given such revealing costumes she is permanently objectified.  One of the powerless women characters, Ava Elliot, is also swapped out for a white male ‘sleeve’, who predominantly plays the character in this season.  Furthermore, the ‘strong women’ Kain identifies, are offered up in regressive stereotypes, tropes of the iron maiden and the seductress: sexually alluring warriors.  This problematizes their power in two ways: it confines it to male terms of dominance based on physical strength (warriors), and makes it contingent on heterosexual male power (the seductress is only powerful because of her ability to manipulate truly powerful heterosexual men).  When a woman with power is sexualised, this automatically compounds her sexual allure with her power, implying the ultimate power is heterosexual and male.

Season two of Altered Carbon appears to have re-sleeved Kovacs again, this time with (African American) actor Anthony Mackie playing the new sleeve. One can only hope this move means the series is recognising the distinction between casting diversely and diverse representation.

In contrast, the darker and more showy addition to the Star Trek family, Discovery, offers diverse representation on multiple fronts.  Sonequa Martin-Green plays Michael Burnham, who (initially) is Number One to Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).    Michael Burnham sounds like the name of a middle aged white male accountant, but here is a Starfleet officer, and embodied by a young African American woman, Martin-Green.  Immediately this subverts expectations, both regarding the traditional protagonist, as well as gender-norms.  A comment is made about the strangeness of a female ‘Michael’, but only in passing, then this is dismissed as insignificant – as it should be.  Our need to box people into safe categories is limiting – Discovery has no truck with that.  Burnham is a capable, intelligent and strong female lead, who also makes mistakes and must confront her flaws.  Furthermore, women are not confined to ‘Hollywood’ beauty standards, and female power is not sexualised, or limited to displays of physical strength, in Discovery.  Martin-Green is the first woman of colour to play the protagonist in a Star Trek franchise, though not the first woman (Kate Mulgrew) or the first person of colour (Avery Brooks), even so this step is thrilling. 

The representation of men is equally diverse.  Ash Tyler, played by Shazad Latif, has had his DNA spliced together with Klingon warrior, Voq, which allows for flashback scenes of Voq’s life and choices, which torment Tyler.  This narrative, not wholly distinct from Spock’s, explores the challenges of existing in two separate worlds, genetically connected to both, but never truly belonging to either.  Unlike Altered Carbon’s body-swapping characters, Tyler-Voq repeatedly confronts and grapples with his dual personhood.  The Klingons in Discovery have come under fire for their ‘new look’, slightly modified in season two, but it is their ‘Remain Klingon’ dogma that is critiqued in season one – a direct comment, say writers, on Trumpsters’ ‘Make America Great Again’ psychology.  In this way, Discovery tackles contemporary factions, and in true Star Trek fashion, posits peaceful solutions.  Tyler also has a romantic relationship with Burnham.  The other romantic relationship explored is between Lt Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz).  In this way both romantic pairings cross racial lines, and the Stamets-Culber relationship places homosexual love at the heart of Discovery’s story. 

Star Trek has always explored themes of identity and society, and, most famously through the character of Spock, has allowed for the representation of neurodiversity, and further the consideration of the false dichotomy placed between rationality and emotion.  Discovery accepts this mission alongside her others.  An orphan, Michael Burnham is raised on Vulcan by the Graysons, with a young Spock as her adopted brother.  In addition to exploring the love and interconnectedness of adopted families, this also allows for another perspective on Vulcan culture.  As with Spock, Michael Burnham’s story illustrates the ways in which neurodivergent characters (and people) can be misunderstood.  Although hyper-rational, Vulcans, and Vulcan-raised Burnham, are no less capable of empathy, and emotion.  Through Burnham’s narrative, and young Spock’s in season two as well, neurodiversity is celebrated for its gifts, and not stigmatised for its stereotyped associations.

In short, peppering a white male dominated production with objectified women and sidelined people of colour, does not count as diverse representation!  Rather, intersectionality should interact with narrative to offer an empowering representation of diversity. Although season two of Altered Carbon does appear to be making an effort toward diverse representation, it’s season three of Discovery I’m eagerly awaiting!

- This blog originally appeared on the Intersectional Critic blogspot.