Star Trek and Shakespeare
Oct. 17th, 2010 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethIn rewatching Next Gen there's a lot of thins about me that have changed, and so I'm seeing different stories a lot. One thing is I've now seen and read a lot more Shakespeare, some texts in a lot of different performances. When I was studying Shakespeare I kept getting brain-hyperlinked back to Trek, among a bazillion other things, because often the time I'd seen those words with the most emotional resonance outside their source text was when I was watching Next Gen. Now I'm rewatching and it's all the other way. And not just direct quotes. I watch Picard in Sarek and think of it as his King Lear speech, because mad and old connects up. Sometimes such links enrich, sometimes they distract. Nobody watches quite the same text, got too many other texts in their head to look through.
There's some really solid character stuff and good acting bits in this season. I know I started season 1 wondering why I ever liked it, but by Measure of a Man they were up to the good stuff, and now in season 3 I'm not writing about things cause I'm busy watching the next one.
I think I like the themes in Sarek, the idea that age wears on everyone, that anyone can get mental illness, however highly placed they are, and that telling the truth is better because then they can make good choices to manage it. He was all making a mess when he thought he was well but he could get stable once he knew he was ill, even if it was only short term. That works better. The reactions of his nearest and dearest are probably realistic, but they wanted to hide the truth and hide him away from people in case they notice and they think it will take away his respect and honor, which is all rubbish stuff. Luckily the story agrees with me and Picard makes speeches about it, about how he did all that good stuff and that can't be taken away. I can't remember though what happens next - does Sarek retire into obscurity? Do we see how it works out? I want to know.
See, I'm up to caring what happens to the imaginary people in the little box. It's working.
There's some really solid character stuff and good acting bits in this season. I know I started season 1 wondering why I ever liked it, but by Measure of a Man they were up to the good stuff, and now in season 3 I'm not writing about things cause I'm busy watching the next one.
I think I like the themes in Sarek, the idea that age wears on everyone, that anyone can get mental illness, however highly placed they are, and that telling the truth is better because then they can make good choices to manage it. He was all making a mess when he thought he was well but he could get stable once he knew he was ill, even if it was only short term. That works better. The reactions of his nearest and dearest are probably realistic, but they wanted to hide the truth and hide him away from people in case they notice and they think it will take away his respect and honor, which is all rubbish stuff. Luckily the story agrees with me and Picard makes speeches about it, about how he did all that good stuff and that can't be taken away. I can't remember though what happens next - does Sarek retire into obscurity? Do we see how it works out? I want to know.
See, I'm up to caring what happens to the imaginary people in the little box. It's working.