On page 1 of A Primer on Postmodernism, Grenz refers to Star Trek: The Next Generation as an illustration of how the reader might understand the 20th century societal shift from a modern to a post-modern worldview. Grenz says,
the creators of the [Star Trek] series discovered that the world of their audience was in the midst of a subtle paradigm shift: modernity was giving birth to postmodernity. As a result, The Next Generation became a reflection – perhaps even a molder – of the worldview of the emerging generation.1
I am struck by how, whether he is aware of it or not, Grenz presents the proverbial question of the chicken-and-the-egg: Did modernity give birth to postmodernity or did postmodernity give birth to itself? I raise this question because Grenz uses the word “molder” and is therefore talking out of both sides of his mouth. Modernity, according to Grenz, gave birth to postmodernism because postmoderns rejected the modern worldview in favor of something they were more comfortable with. By implying that The Next Generation somehow “molded” postmodernity, Grenz is suggesting that, as moderns became exposed to a postmodern worldview presented in the The Next Generation, their worldview “shifted” as they learned to look at things in a new way. The fact that “the creators of the series discovered that the world of their audience was in the midst of a subtle paradigm shift” indicates that the creators weren’t fully aware of the postmodern worldview that they were presenting. Instead, as they made this discovery, they responded to their audience’s new worldview by adapting the worldview they were presenting in the series. This in turn shaped, or molded, their audience’s worldview, further feeding the spiral. The more the audience watched the series, the more the audience changed, and the more they changed, the more the series evolved, sparking further change and requiring further evolution.
About Me
- Suzy
- I am a United Methodist minister. I was diagnosed with a recurrence of ovarian cancer in March 2013. I'm writing about my thoughts of navigating all of life in the midst of this recurrence.
Response from Emery Ailes
ReplyDeleteYes, Grenz uses Star Trek the Next Generation as an illustration to drive home his point regarding postmodernity. I am not sure if modernity gave birth to post-modernity, or if post-modernity was a deviation from modernity. The two seems to coexist as one unit with two interchangeable parts. Modernity and post-modernity as a worldview in my opinion are building blocks of a society evolving in a natural progression so to speak. If we believe in the theory of evolution, to the degree that man at one time existed in a pre-history sense. Cave men and barbarianism were the order of the day at one time in history. We evolved from pre-history into history and began to chronicle our life and time. As man began to explore new ways of doing things, labels came along with these new ways of doing. Thus we have the iron age, the middle age, the dark age, the renaissance, the Enlightenment (modern age), and now the information age or post-modernity. All of which are natural progression of mankind as mankind attempts to explore new and meaningful ways to define the world or worlds in which we not only exist but coexist. Hence, Star trek, “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Therefore, I would argue that society has evolved and is still evolving no matter what name we give it. It’s a natural progression that is taking place.
Response from Suzanne Cox Reedstrom
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say, I am not a Trekkie. The first remembrance I have of the “original” Star Trek is in reruns when I was in junior high school and I have never watched an episode of Star Trek, the Next Generation. Thus the great importance Grenz attributes to the two Star Trek series is somewhat lost on me. To suggest that Star Trek, the Next Generation might be a molder of the worldview of the emerging generation is, then, in my opinion a stretch. While the viewership may be large, it certainly does not encompass the whole of those who embrace and espouse the postmodern world view.
Based on Grenz’ writings, however I would agree that the two iterations of Star Trek are a reflection of the move from a modern world view to the post-modern world view, at least in terms of inclusive language, if nothing else. Of course, the move from “man” to “no one” is more about including non-humans than the inclusion of women! I was interested to note the language used in Emery’s response as he wrote of the progression of “mankind.” As the post-modern worldview has become more prevalent, feminist have reminded us that the use of language is incredibly important in terms of how we view the world and the role of women in the world. Language that refers solely to “man” excludes the view that women have contributed in any way to the “progression” of the world. While women have, for the majority of history, been ignored, further investigation reveals the many and varied ways women have contributed and helped to shape the thoughts and progress of humankind. Emery’s continued use of mankind to refer to humanity is an example of how far we still have to go to see everyone as contributors to the evolution and progression of our world.