Evangelicals Now
Christian news worldwide
magnifying glass Search archives
home Home check the archives Archives Subscribe Subscriptions Advertising Information & booking of classifieds Adverts Find a local evangelical Church Find a church for the search engines and extremely curious! About us Contact us Site Map
Printable
Version

Star Trek - Insurrection

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION
Cert. PG

This is the ninth installation in the Star Trek film franchise, a whole future worldview which appears to have become part of the late 20th-century pop culture, for better or worse.
In my view, for the better, for two reasons.
First, Star Trek presents a picture of the future which is in stark contrast to the nihilism of much post-Armageddon-type sci-fi, which is nothing if not depressing, and depressingly repetitive.
Second, the storylines of both the films and the several series on television, tell stories which are usually strong on ethical content, and often have some comment to make about our morals and mores. Sometimes the philosophical subtext is quite complex. Star Trek: Insurrection follows this trend, with a story which involves no explicit sex scenes, and where almost no one is gratuitously disposed of - a rare event in today's film market. (One friend with whom I saw the film, and who had last been at the cinema a colossal 30 years before, was staggered at this, expecting far more that was unpalatable.)
The story itself revolves around a group of settlers on a small, remote planet. These people remain forever young, due to a peculiar radiation emitted by the planet's rings, and, inevitably, a story of exploitation and the search for eternal youth results.
It is interesting that Star Trek continues to re-turn to this idea of immortality being achieved this side of the grave (films 1-3 and 7 all have something to say on this theme). Is this a reflection on the decadence and superficiality of the pre-occupation for the 'body beautiful' that has infected our society? Moreover, the subtext about exploiting cultures which appear less advanced, but have traditions and values outstripping those of the decadent Starfleet, echoes the Western arrogance in dealing with developing countries this century.
It also has something to say about the contradictory nature of cultural (and perhaps, religious) pluralism. Are the values of pluralism merely a cipher for those the West (read Starfleet in the film) wishes to foist on the rest of the world (the settlers in the film), a kind of cultural imperialism smuggled in under the guise of political correctness? Food for thought? I think so.
Beam me up . . .

Oliver Crisp