Reference no: EM132190701

Question:

" I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don''t live on Starship NCC-170... or own a phaser. And I don''t know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock. And no, I''ve never had green alien sex, though I''m sure it would be quite an evening. I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt''s, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me ''Live long and prosper'', I seriously mean it when I say, ''Get a life''. My doctor''s name is not McCoy, it''s Ginsberg. And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!"

Aside from the humor of this quotation by William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek, it alludes to several themes in our course in California history. One is that of myth and reality and the recurrent difficulty of telling the two apart in California (American?) history. Another theme is the importance of the mass media in modern society, a media still centered in Los Angeles (where Star Trek was created, taped, and franchised). A third theme is the importance of immigrants to California history. Are there other themes embedded in the quote that I'm missing?

Using this quote and its themes as a point of departure, analyze its meaning. Then discuss and illustrate the themes embedded in it by using as many of the works we have studied in our course as possible. Be specific (as ever) and cite your sources.