clearspira wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:07 pm
I've heard it said the Cardassians could be an allegory for the collapse of the British Empire. Rekindling lost glory for his diminished people is Dukat's primary motivation besides getting himself some Bajoran T, A and V after all.
That's actually pretty interesting as far as what I've seen of Dukat and post occupation of Bajor.
As a Brit (I believe?), how do you feel about it?
I find the British Empire to be an endlessly fascinating thing to research - no empire has ever been larger yet has fallen from its prime so quickly. Believe it or not the BE was at its height in 1922 - which means that a man born in 1900 and was lucky enough to see 2000 would have witnessed the better part of its entire rise and fall. I can certainly see how such a man could become a Dukat (as in a seeker of lost glory), particularly as he stands by as watches America (AKA the Federation) overtake it to a ridiculous degree. And indeed, one common accusation toward Brexiteers is exactly that - trying to turn back the clock and ''Make Britain Great Again.''
One interesting example of a lost glory seeker would be Ian Fleming's version of James Bond (written between 1951 to 1964). Fleming was a passionate man of Empire and wrote Bond as exactly that - making it an interesting period piece nowadays. He deliberately made every American including Felix Leiter that Bond met subordinate in the early days. There was never any doubt that any gig that Bond was on was a British gig. And Bond had nothing good to say about American society and culture as a whole either. But as the years went by, and some say particularly Fleming's beloved Jamaica working towards independence, that hopeful patriotism faded and faded until the Americans were clearly equal partners. Of course, by this point both Fleming and Bond were dying alcoholics so that didn't help.
I would really recommend the original Bond books BTW, they are not what you would expect if you have only seen the films.
clearspira wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:18 pmOne interesting example of a lost glory seeker would be Ian Fleming's version of James Bond (written between 1951 to 1964). Fleming was a passionate man of Empire and wrote Bond as exactly that - making it an interesting period piece nowadays. He deliberately made every American including Felix Leiter that Bond met subordinate in the early days. There was never any doubt that any gig that Bond was on was a British gig. And Bond had nothing good to say about American society and culture as a whole either. But as the years went by, and some say particularly Fleming's beloved Jamaica working towards independence, that hopeful patriotism faded and faded until the Americans were clearly equal partners. Of course, by this point both Fleming and Bond were dying alcoholics so that didn't help.
I would really recommend the original Bond books BTW, they are not what you would expect if you have only seen the films.
I was actually kinda wondering about this even if tangentially when I was watching Casino Royale on Netflix a few months ago. I always used to watch James Bond as if MI6 and the UK were as big as US with its CIA in modern world-police history, or post WWII. So then now I was wondering just how strong MI6 would actually be compared to the CIA.
Leiter only joins the story and involves himself so far as Bond is actually the more capable agent in foiling Sharif's plans. Otherwise I'd imagine the CIA agent to be like "this is my jurisdiction, get your goons out of here," as you get in heated jurisdictional debates in shows involving multiple branches of government enforcement butting heads.
I think it's to Star Trek's credit that most of the (non-single-episode) races, while being allegorical in general, resist the simplicity of a single over-arching real-life equivalent. I think it's good that most of them reflect different aspects of Earth cultures and history. What a specific allegory may be drawn on changes from episode-to-episode or even scene-to-scene, but for the most part they still remain as consistent fictional races/cultures.
Some fare better in this regard than others (Cardassians versus the Kazon), but it's a much richer universe because of it when it does work.
Shit, no wonder SF Debris calls them a Moped gang all the time!
"A culture's teachings - and more importantly, the nature of its people - achieve definition in conflict. They find themselves, or find themselves lacking."
— Kreia, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
