Document Type
Article
Abstract
[First paragraph]
Due to its very nature as a science fiction series set in the future one would assume that Star Trek's stories have no connection with contemporary storytelling; that its narrative is as futuristic as its ethos. However, by highlighting how Star Trek uses traditional literary methods to communicate with its audience it can be shown that only a minimum number of "exemplary narratives" are used to build and develop its ever increasing future narrative of human endeavor in space. Scholars such as Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen (1998) have examined in close detail Star Trek's mythical underpinnings, building on work by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence in The American Monomyth (1977). Daniel Bernardi (1998) has also scrutinized the representational and narrative functions of race, dissecting Star Trek's fictional history, yet, apart from its mythical and historical tradition, Star Trek's narrative structure has not been fully explored. In my analysis of Star Trek's method of telling future stories I employ the work of Hayden White and his typology of rhetorical figures of speech, which govern the way we operate language. In addition, I draw attention to Star Trek's links with other popular television shows, in particular how they use the forms of narrative construction articulated by White to perpetuate their success. By way of drawing together my analysis of Star Trek's literary structure, I emphasize how Star Trek uses traditional narratives to create twenty-fourth century stories for a twentieth and twenty-first century fanbase.
Repository Citation
Geraghty, Lincoln. "Telling Tales of the Future: Science Fiction and Star Trek's Exemplary Narratives." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 3, no. 2, 2003, pp. 1–15. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol3/iss2/3