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JOURNAL OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE INTRODUCTION PAGE 87
A boost to the wide acceptance of science fiction appeared on the 1960s scene when a TV show boldly took a step away from standard genre fare, and embraced contemporary cultural problems in the form of an allegorical series. Star Trek is one of the most important mythological and pop cultural phenomena of the modern age. Issues such as, racism, war, imperialism, sexism, species rights, and authoritarianism are examined in TV series, movies, novels, comic books, computer and video games, and other forms of media. Creator Gene Roddenberry based the central trio of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Leonard McCoy on classical mythological motifs.
Left: William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Middle: Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. Right: DeForest Kelly as Dr. Leonard McCoy.
Star Trek parallels mythic purposes of mysticism, cosmology, sociology, and philosophy. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock continue the motif of the epic hero and his companion, exemplified by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, or Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; though, where Kirk is a space age Horatio Hornblower, Spock is a space age Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Djoymi Baker is a scholar of the School of Art History, Cinema, Classics and Archaeology. In her dissertation, Broadcast Space: TV Culture, Myth and Star Trek, she connects the series with ancient mythology in characterizations and storylines; in its over forty-year history, the series has adapted myths, creating modern myths---Modern Mythology. "Even in ancient Greece," Dr. Baker states, "myths evolved to suit changing times."
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