Synopsis: Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are forced to participate in a battle between good and evil.
“The Savage Curtain” is another instance of Star Trek: The Original Series projecting values of the 1960s into the future, or seeing the future through the eyes of 1960s American culture. And because this story was partially written by Gene Roddenberry, we can infer that it belies his understanding of a kind of humanism that he was noted to have practiced. But what if we looked at this episode through the eyes of Excalbia, the inhabitant of this planet who speaks for the rest of those that are curious about our concept of “good” versus “evil” and wants to learn which is stronger. This idea of pitting good and evil against each other here on Earth is to some extent a result of thousands of years of the mindset of duality that was the product of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions.
Perhaps Excalbia and his race are curious about this because their culture is more akin to the polytheistic worldview of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Not only were these societies not limited to only one concept of god, the deities of these civilizations were neither all good or all evil, they all had positive and negative traits. Just as all of us do.
As an example of how perceptions can change, even here on Earth, Kahless the Unforgettable of the Klingon Empire, who is presented here as “evil,” is given much different treatment in the late 2010s in Star Trek: Discovery. In this series Kahless is explored from the point of view of the Klingons, who see his teachings as a unifying force, as well as that of humans as represented by the United Federation of Planets. The ability to see the universe from different points of view is one reason Star Trek: Discovery is so . . . fascinating.
Original post created 1 April 2021
mydailysoultrek 