Where We Have Gone Before: Star Trek Into and Out of Darkness

Star Trek functions as a religion though its universe is explicitly humanistic and secular. Star Trek Into Darkness offers an interpretation of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the creators may not have intended the film as a religious text, it offers an analysis of what happened, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ammon, Laura ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox [2014]
In: Implicit religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 17, Issue: 4, Pages: 379-393
Further subjects:B Science fiction films
B RELIGION & literature
B STAR Trek Into Darkness (Film)
B Star Trek
B Secular Humanism
B SEPTEMBER 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001, in motion pictures
B 11 response / 9
B Science Fiction
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Star Trek functions as a religion though its universe is explicitly humanistic and secular. Star Trek Into Darkness offers an interpretation of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the creators may not have intended the film as a religious text, it offers an analysis of what happened, a set of responses, pointing to a path forward, incorporating those events into the Star Trek (and ultimately our own) universe. I will offer a close reading of Star Trek Into Darkness that explores the negotiation of what it means to be human and our place in the post- 9/11 world. My thesis is that the film can be read as implicitly religious in two senses. First, it offers a vision of what is human in the face of questions of terrorism and pre-emptive strikes, duty and honor, life and death. Second, it offers viewers a reflection on possible responses to 9/11 and the aftermath, pointing forward. It is a secular homily on being human in the past, present, and future.
ISSN:1743-1697
Contains:Enthalten in: Implicit religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/imre.v17i4.379