Overcoming Barclay
You know, when I was young, I remember seeing this episode in first-run. Like the best of Science Fiction, be it Rod Serling or Gene Roddenberry or Jordan Peele or Seth MacFarlane, the episode was a thin layer of futuristic science spread across a large surface of moral, ethical and human drama.
As a young nerdling, I paid attention. The lessons of these things sunk in. Especially Barclay. While I had periods of my life that I didn't feel like I fit in, the types of struggles with social anxiety that this character experiences is quite foreign to me. I've always had a strong sense of self, place and privilege and never struggled this way.
The character was so real, so well written and so well acted that it gave me a reference point though. It enabled me to see the struggles that some people overcome in order to be part of the world. It makes me appreciate those people even more. It's not just that they are running the same marathon that I am, it's that they are also running into the headwinds of a hurricane while doing it.
And Barclay is one of a cast of thousands that the best types of art have presented me with. I think of it like a primer. Good SciFi, or good fiction in general, can help us learn to understand each other better. To see the unspoken background that we marched through to get to this place, this here and now.
I wish we made more space in our society for entertainment that was also "high brow". Space to expose the viewer to characters that have unique backgrounds. I want to see more Barclay and less Riker roaming the scripts. I want to see stories that make me uncomfortable, stories that make me have to grow to understand the plot. I want The Orville and not Discovery.
I think a lot of my super progressive views that have developed in the last couple of years are traceable right back to Star Trek, especially it's first two forms. They showed a humanity that was trying hard to overcome itself and be something bigger. And you know what makes me angry?
We have the imagination to invent a version of our peoples that strives for these ideals, but not the collective ambition to actually try to do it.
As a young nerdling, I paid attention. The lessons of these things sunk in. Especially Barclay. While I had periods of my life that I didn't feel like I fit in, the types of struggles with social anxiety that this character experiences is quite foreign to me. I've always had a strong sense of self, place and privilege and never struggled this way.
The character was so real, so well written and so well acted that it gave me a reference point though. It enabled me to see the struggles that some people overcome in order to be part of the world. It makes me appreciate those people even more. It's not just that they are running the same marathon that I am, it's that they are also running into the headwinds of a hurricane while doing it.
And Barclay is one of a cast of thousands that the best types of art have presented me with. I think of it like a primer. Good SciFi, or good fiction in general, can help us learn to understand each other better. To see the unspoken background that we marched through to get to this place, this here and now.
I wish we made more space in our society for entertainment that was also "high brow". Space to expose the viewer to characters that have unique backgrounds. I want to see more Barclay and less Riker roaming the scripts. I want to see stories that make me uncomfortable, stories that make me have to grow to understand the plot. I want The Orville and not Discovery.
I think a lot of my super progressive views that have developed in the last couple of years are traceable right back to Star Trek, especially it's first two forms. They showed a humanity that was trying hard to overcome itself and be something bigger. And you know what makes me angry?
We have the imagination to invent a version of our peoples that strives for these ideals, but not the collective ambition to actually try to do it.