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Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment

Beauty, Justice, and Popular Culture

by George A. Gonzalez (Author)
©2023 Prompt VIII, 112 Pages

Summary

Drawing on Hegel’s model of aesthetics and beauty to analyze the Star Trek franchise, this book puts justice at the center of the "beauty"—and entertainment value—of popular culture. The author, George A. Gonzalez, shows that plot—revolving around justice and injustice—often determines the artistic success and popularity of TV and films. He argues that Star Trek is the most popular franchise in history because it puts the pursuit of justice, and therefore beauty, at the heart of its world.
Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment also offers a major corrective to the prevailing academic treatment of popular culture, demonstrating that Star Trek and other shows consistently challenge class rule and other forms of oppression based on race, gender, and nationality. In the world of Star Trek, justice is represented by a modern, classless society, totally free of ethnic and gender biases.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Chapter 1 A Philosophy of Entertainment
  • Chapter 2 The Cases of Nazi Cinema and the American war in Vietnam
  • Chapter 3 The Progressive Politics of 1950s Sci-Fi Movies and Star Trek of the 1960s
  • Chapter 4 Star Trek (Original Series) at the Center of the Justice (Values) Revolution of the 1960s
  • Chapter 5 Star Trek and the Progressive Dialectic: The Depiction of the Marxist Ontology of Justice
  • Chapter 6 The Boys and Justice League Unlimited: The Super Hero as Metaphorical of Global (In)Justice
  • Conclusion Popular Culture as Prime Political Terrain in the Struggle for Democracy/Justice
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • Series Index

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gonzalez, George A., author.

Title: Star Trek and the philosophy of entertainment: beauty, justice, and popular culture /
George A. Gonzalez.

Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2023004316 (print) | LCCN 2023004317 (ebook)
| ISBN 9781636671550 (hardback) | ISBN 9781636671567 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781636671574 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Star Trek television programs. | Star Trek films–History
and criticism. | Justice, Administration of, on television. | Justice,
Administration of, in motion pictures. | Popular culture–Philosophy. |
LCGFT: Television criticism and reviews.

Classification: LCC PN1992.8.S74 G655 2023 (print) | LCC PN1992.8.S74
(ebook) | DDC 791.45/75–dc23/eng/20230316

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023004316

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023004317

DOI 10.3726/b20623

 

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
The German National Library lists this publication in the German
National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Cover design by Peter Lang Group AG

ISBN 9781636671550 (hardback)
ISBN 9781636671567 (ebook)
ISBN 9781636671574 (epub)
DOI 10.3726/b20623

© 2023 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne
Published by Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York, USA
info@peterlang.com - www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilization outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the
publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and
processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

About the author

George A. Gonzalez (Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1997) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He is the author of Star Trek and Popular Culture: Television at the Frontier of Social and Political Change in the 1960s, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars: The Enlightenment versus the Anti-Enlightenment (both published by Peter Lang).

About the book

Drawing on Hegel’s model of aesthetics and beauty to analyze the Star Trek franchise, this book puts justice at the center of the “beauty”—and entertainment value—of popular culture. The author, George A. Gonzalez, shows that plot—revolving around justice and injustice—often determines the artistic success and popularity of TV and films. He argues that Star Trek is the most popular franchise in history because it puts the pursuit of justice, and therefore beauty, at the heart of its world.

Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment also offers a major corrective to the prevailing academic treatment of popular culture, demonstrating that Star Trek and other shows consistently challenge class rule and other forms of oppression based on race, gender, and nationality. In the world of Star Trek, justice is represented by a modern, classless society, totally free of ethnic and gender biases.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Contents

Details

Pages
VIII, 112
Publication Year
2023
ISBN (PDF)
9781636671567
ISBN (ePUB)
9781636671574
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781636671550
DOI
10.3726/b20623
Language
English
Publication date
2023 (October)
Keywords
Star Trek popular culture television movies Nazi Cinema anticommunism American conflict in Vietnam President Donald J. Trump politics Georg Hegel Karl Marx Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2023. VIII, 112 pp.

Biographical notes

George A. Gonzalez (Author)

George A. Gonzalez (Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1997) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He is the author of Star Trek and Popular Culture: Television at the Frontier of Social and Political Change in the 1960s, as well as Star Trek and Star Wars: The Enlightenment versus the Anti-Enlightenment (both published by Peter Lang).

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Title: Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment