Star Trek and the Philosophy of Entertainment: Beauty, Justice, and Popular Culture

by George A. Gonzalez

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636671550
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	10/12/2023
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.86(h) x (d)

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).

Table of Contents

A Philosophy of Entertainment – The Cases of Nazi Cinema and the American war in Vietnam – The Progressive Politics of 1950s Sci- Fi Movies and Star Trek of the 1960s – Star Trek (Original Series) at the Center of the Justice (Values) Revolution of the 1960s – Star Trek and the Progressive Dialectic: The Depiction of the Marxist Ontology of Justice – The Boys and Justice League Unlimited: The Super Hero as Metaphorical of Global (In)Justice – Popular Culture as Prime Political Terrain in the Struggle for Democracy/Justice – Bibliography – Index.