Michael Burnham Is The Protagonist

[lizbee]

(Imagine the clapping hands emoji between each word.)

(Or, "ensemble cast" is starting to sound a lot like a dog whistle.)

I tweeted on Sunday:

Funny thing: now Isaacs is definitely out of the show for realsies, the guys who insisted Lorca was the main character in Disco are now saying it's an ensemble series, and asking why Sonequa Martin-Green gets so much press.
5:01 pm - 22 Jul 2018

And followed up:

*chinhands*

I am quite certain they wouldn't have this problem if Michael was played by a white woman.
5:02 pm - 22 Jul 2018

(Link to original)

I need my Disco fix badly enough that I lurk around corners of the internet like Reddit, and I've seen this enough that I actually recoiled when I read Tom and Lorenzo saying, "...we’re struck by how fun this all looks and by how much the rest of the ensemble is being punched up a bit, making this seem slightly less like The Michael Burnham Story and a bit more like a classic Star Trek show."

See also: literally any journalist, blogger or below-the-lines commenter who describes Anson Mount as "the new lead".



The thing is, aside from DS9, Star Trek has never actually been very successful as an ensemble show. TOS had the Kirk, Spock, McCoy trio, and wow, if you wanna see some vitriol, check out fan reactions to Uhura taking McCoy's place in the reboot films.

(Funny, there's another WoC being criticised for having too large a role. *thinky face emoji*)

TNG did a sliiiiightly better job with a main quartet of Picard, Data, Worf and Riker, and also occasionally remembered to give the female and disabled characters something to do now and then. Voyager had Janeway, the Doctor and, eventually, Seven. Enterprise ... look, I only watched four episodes, but I'm told it settled in to focus on Archer, T'Pol and one of the other guys.

My point being, Star Trek's ensembleness has always been vastly overstated, and I honestly think Voyager, in particular, would have benefited from downgrading a bunch of characters to supporting and recurring roles rather than having nine regulars.

So in writing Discovery to revolve around Michael, the show has done something genuinely new for the franchise: it has a very clear main character. And she's not the captain -- she doesn't even have a rank for most of the series. But she's the sun around whom the narrative orbits.

And she's also ... look, Star Trek fandom came up with the label we give the original female character who turns up out of nowhere, is related to Spock, and singlehandedly saves the Federation*. So I'm gonna just quote Seanan McGuire:

Mary Sue is misunderstood. She's a cuckoo egg left in a starling's nest, hatching into something big and bright and demanding that doesn't belong where it is. In her own story, she would be something else altogether: she would be a protagonist, she would be the biggest, brightest thing in the room because that's what a protagonist is.

(source) (emphasis added)

Discovery is Michael's story. And I don't see that changing for season 2 -- yes, we'll get more time with the rest of the regulars, and hopefully some of the supporting characters like the bridge crew will get more development. Maybe the Space Lesbians will get names! Maybe Number One will get a name!

(Drive-by pie-in-the-sky wish: the Romulan Commander of "The Enterprise Incident" turns up and gets a name, and also flirts with Michael. Yes, Michael/T'Pring is an excellent pairing and I want nothing but the best for its shippers, but ROMULANS.)

(I digress.)

Anson Mount is not Discovery's lead, any more than Jason Isaacs was. It's Michael's narration that drives the trailer, and her face we see throughout. Sonequa Martin-Green is the lead actress, and that's how the rest of the cast speaks of her -- as the leader, and the person who sets the tone for the production. This has never been remotely ambiguous.

So it's telling that some fans ("fans") ask, apparently sincerely, why the show focuses so much on Michael, or why SMG is the focus of media attention. They act as if they genuinely believe that Discovery was conceived as an ensemble and the focus on Michael is an accident to be corrected -- but last year, they "genuinely believed" that Lorca was the main character, or at least the heroic figure they were meant to identify with.

(Side note: I love Gabriel Lorca a whole lot, but if you ever meet someone who wholeheartedly identifies with him: RUN.)

(Anyway, can I offer you a fortune cookie?)

At this point, my shoulders go up around my ears when I see the words "ensemble cast" in relation to Discovery. And, given that media coverage tends to disproportionately echo the concerns of male fans, I expect it's going to be a bit memetic going forward.

* It was a group effort, but you know what I mean.

Comments

[adelheid]

Sigh. I used to like TLo, back in the early Project Runway days...

[lizbee]

I adored their Mad Style posts, but I consistently find myself facepalming and generally disagreeing with their opinions on SF media.

[jesuswasbatman]

This is giving me slight worries about the fact that the first female Doctor will have more companions than anyone for over thirty years.

[lizbee]

Yeah, I love a crowded TARDIS, but the timing -- and the fact that it's two blokes and one woman -- makes it look like there were concerns that Whittaker needed a bloke to help her carry the show.

[ironed_orchid]

I also noted parallels to the Sarah Jane Adventures, which I utterly adore, but the comparisons sort of make themselves.

[jesuswasbatman]

Yes, and it's exactly the same gender/race combinations as later SJA as well - white female protagonist with white male, black male, and Asian female sidekicks. If Graham turns out to be gay it really will be a perfect copy of the cast.

[ironed_orchid]

A++++ ranting, would shout at the monitor again.

Michael Burnham is the reason I watch Discovery. I adore many of the other characters, but she is the heart of the show.

[lizbee]

RIGHT? As much as Kat Cornwell is my fave, that's partially because the story isn't about HER, and that gives me room to play in fic.

When Culber died, I had to ask myself what it would take to get me to stop watching Disco. And the answer was, killing Michael Burnham.

[monanotlisa]

What the FUCK is WRONG with PEOPLE?!?!?!

I understand you'd go anywhere for lively Disco discussion; it's so rare, for such a stunning series...but reddit is a no-go zone if you cherish diversity (perhaps, slowly, with the exception of queerness). I occasionally make the mistake of clicking "Men of Reddit" threads, or anything related to women or people of color...and then I ragequit the forums for a while. It's great for games, though! I prowl /r/projecteternity for Pillars of Eternity and have zero problems, because snark and snickering and silly questions are not related to gender or race -- oddly enough different species (!) do not trigger any averse reactions in White neckbeards.

[conuly]

What the FUCK is WRONG with PEOPLE?!?!?!

Welcome to the kyriarchy, I guess.

oddly enough different species (!) do not trigger any averse reactions in White neckbeards.

Unless they're played by nonwhites. See: Starfire.

[monanotlisa]

Ah, don’t know Starfire but believe you without a moment’s hesitation...

[conuly]

Teen Titans. She's an alien. I'm not 100% convinced she was explicitly written in her first incarnation as an alien who is actually racially coded as black (don't know enough about Teen Titans other than the better TV series) but... she's not human, so I guess the actor playing her can be any damn race, because we just want the best person for the job, right?

[lizbee]

I encountered Starfire in her original run, and I wouldn't say she strikes me as having been racially coded in any direction* (so, therefore, she was white-but-orange), but ... like you say. Alien.

* I'm not sure when the comic I had was from -- I used to buy them in second hand book stores -- but going by the fashions, I'd guess late '70s. All the black characters had Afros.

[conuly]

The picture montage I saw to, um, illustrate this argument did show her oldest incarnation with poofy afro-esque hair. And she does have a slavery backstory, so....

[lizbee]

I just went a-googling, and yeah, my memory was quite off!

Also, now I'm falling down a comics costume rabbithole, HELP

[conuly]

Do you want help stopping or help sewing?

[lizbee]

I find the Star Trek sub reddits are ... not great, but there's increasing pushback against racism and sexism.

For example, a commenter said something about hoping that Michael straightens her hair in season 2, because her Afro "was unkempt and more suited to a criminal". And it was white dudes who replied going, "That's actually pretty racist, here is some information about the politics of African American hair."

Which is great! But the "ensemble cast" thing feels more insidious. And I don't think it's exclusive to men, I am quite certain that if Michael had a white love interest, a lot of people on Tumblr would be remarking that they just don't look right together, and can't she be a strong female character without a man...

[conuly]

because her Afro "was unkempt and more suited to a criminal".

Ew, gross.

[conuly]

I am quite certain they wouldn't have this problem if Michael was played by a white woman.

Some of them, but I think a lot would be almost exactly as pissed. WHITE MAN OR NOTHING. (Also, no gays, because since when has ST ever been about social justice or representation or liberal values?)

I honestly think Voyager, in particular, would have benefited from downgrading a bunch of characters to supporting and recurring roles rather than having nine regulars.

I would've been very happy with the Janeway/Torres/Seven show - especially if they didn't throw away a perfectly good plot, twice, first by integrating the two crews so quickly and second by turning Seska into a backstabbing caricature of herself. Even freaking Gul Dukat is written more sympathetically, and he had way less potential.

[lizbee]

Some of them, but I think a lot would be almost exactly as pissed. WHITE MAN OR NOTHING. (Also, no gays, because since when has ST ever been about social justice or representation or liberal values?)

Yeah, true -- fandom seems a lot more reactionary than it was back in the day, and I've definitely seen recent comments describing Voyager as appropriation of nerd culture by radical feminists.

(If only.)

...especially if they didn't throw away a perfectly good plot, twice, first by integrating the two crews so quickly and second by turning Seska into a backstabbing caricature of herself. Even freaking Gul Dukat is written more sympathetically, and he had way less potential.

TEAM SESKA FOREVER.

I so desperately wish she had stuck around on Voyager as the devil on Janeway's shoulder. ...Rather like Emperor Georgiou, in fact.

[conuly]

TEAM SESKA FOREVER.

If/when I discover how to go to parallel universes, finding the universe where they did Voyager right is... pretty high up on my list, actually.

I so desperately wish she had stuck around on Voyager as the devil on Janeway's shoulder. ...Rather like Emperor Georgiou, in fact.

Hated by everybody, convinced she's done nothing wrong and her society is right... such. great. potential. SQUANDERED.

Yeah, true -- fandom seems a lot more reactionary than it was back in the day, and I've definitely seen recent comments describing Voyager as appropriation of nerd culture by radical feminists.

What.