Why is there no pop culture in the Star Trek universe?

Why is there no pop culture in the Star Trek universe?

Think about it, whenever a character has some free time in the shows, they recreate a period piece in the holodecks, or listen to some classical music, or read an old book the audience is familiar with. You never see them enjoy something that is actually contemporary to their time outside of work.

After hunger, poverty corruption and all that jazz were essentially eradicated on Earth, there should have been an explosion of the entertainment industry even compared to today, as it was the only people had left to do. So where did all of that go? I honestly have a hard time imagining how people on earth occupy themselves.

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Star Trek portrays humanity as evolved that they don't do things that plebs do.

Everyone is civilized and act like patricians. It's very unrealistic.

the galaxy is so diffuse, no one's into the same shit

long tail theory in the far future

I think the point they were trying to make is that humanity in Star Trek made it as far as they did because they stopped caring about and doing stupid shit.

Making movies and tv series is stupid shit in the 24th century? That's pretty hypocritical.

>Stopped doing stupid shit

So they stopped fucking each other as well?

Scientific advancement became the driving force in Federation society so they only have cultural works from the past. There are a few outliers like Jake Sisko and the Doctor but for the most part, people aren't creating new art, literature or other forms of cultural representation.

That doesn't make any sense.

How can there be a society without cultural works? Culture identifies the society. The way people think and act. Art and literature does that.

The whole ST universe being science driven is bullshit. Humans are still primitive and want to belong to a certain tribe. Every tribe have their own cultural ways how they act and behave.

its easier to take works from the public domain then create fake forms of art to use in a tv series.

besides patrick stewart was classically trained and pushed for the inclusion of shakespeare

Sound pretty hellish to me. I don't know why people keep saying Earth is paradise.

I think this is why people like Rick & Morty, because they spend several episodes actually showing how lived-in the universe is.

They kind of do in DS9. Sort of.

The Cardassians were certainly creating more cultural work as they kept going, what with their kino repetitive epics.


Oh, and in Voyager there's an episode where the crew enjoys what they thought was a Holonovel written by Tuvok, when it was actually a training simulation in case Chocolaté and the Maquis tried to take the ship. Probably because it was the first contemporary bit of recreational culture they had received in years.

In case you haven't noticed there's no pop culture in our universe either

The only profitable movies are adaptations of 50 year old comic book stories, there are no "new" pop musicians and apparently the decade old Bieber, Gaga, Kanye and Perry are the last generation that will ever appear, video gaming has been replaced with micro transaction riddled digital theme parks and even pop print fiction seemingly came to an end with Fifty Shades and The Hunger Games.

Name something that's actually "from" the 2010s. You can't. It's the decade where nothing happened and it shows no signs of reversing.

*tips fedora*

Was it intentional to portray Federation as incompetent organization?

Everyone violates the some Federation law or mostly the Prime Directive. Why even be part of some organization where none of the members don't give a fuck about the rules.

Make a counter point to any of it, faggot.

notice, no one follows the prime directive except for star fleet.

Inception

every decade was heavily inspired by the past. Everybody has the "good ol days" mentality to a certain degree and will copy things he already knows and likes

I assume so, because it's just Galactic Communism without a proper dictator.

>Society where every human wants to better themselves

What about those people who just want to party and fuck every day for vanity reasons? Those people don't exist anymore? Are they forced into labor camps?

I want to see Data dab.

all died in WWIII mate

Also notice how humanity isn't 90% Muslim like it will be if the current course is followed without interruption

number one film of 2010 was The Social Network. Seems kinda pop to me with music by Nine Inch Nails.

Inception wasn't exactly a new concept. Dreamscape with Dennis Quaid from the 80's told a similar story.

Because that's not a point that can only be defended with heavy confirmation bias.

Just look at something like VR, that's a huge step in the entertainment industry.

If you're gonna say "Virtual Boy" then you're fucking retarded because that just means there has been no advancement according to you in the last 100 years because everything has already been tried in some similar form.

>Humans don't have any religion
>Other races do

What gives?

>Inception

Without going that far, you can have Enlightened Beings™ like Picard be the norm for the human race while still letting them enjoy something other than british plays from a time where black people weren't considered human.

>It's a 'fat Frakes' guest appearance episode

Obviously means Bajor is the one true religion.

no they say they believe in a bunch of stuff.

Inception is a fucking rip off of an Uncle Scrooge comic with visuals stolen from Paprika.

The fucking aliens took out the dominion fleet m8. that shit is REAL.

They never really show the average Pleb in Star Trek shows. It could humanize the series and make it more memorable.

>Nobody drinks real alcohol
>Nobody smokes
>No casual sex
>No reckless drug use

>Humans don't have any religion
>The Enterprise accidentally crosses paths with a God-equivalent a dozen times

Lets face it, Star Trek was just a mystery of the week with no depth and barely any continuity.

>Galactic Communism without a proper dictator.
The proletariate dictator is only temporarily necessary according to traditional communism. You're only supposed to need one during the transition phase.

yeah needs some jedi rock

I always figured this is what the everyman looks like in Star Trek, but I suppose a CO and former soldier is still the elite compared to average people.

They don't want to date the series by making anything contemporary. Star Trek itself is mostly very timeless.

>>Nobody drinks real alcohol
Bullshit. Andorian and romulan ale, and blood wine are all real alcohol. And you can get real booze from the replicator or 10-forward.

Synthahol isn't bad for you, and while you get a nice buzz from it, it wont get you sloppy.

In TNG there is the episode where data finds those 3 cryogenically frozen people from the 20th century and everyone makes fun of them for their self destructive behavior.

>jedi rock
>not Lapti Nek

I dont understand why people didnt worship Q as god

He is the closest thing in all of ST right?

DS9 had all the great ideas to make Star Trek great but they never amplified it.

>Not making the Federation entirely a militaristic organization with fascist intentions
>Federation not having a huge propaganda campaign to portray the Federation as the good guys
>Not making Federation officers and soldiers nationalistic and having contempt for non-Federation members
>Military outfits than jumpsuits.

What does god need with a starship?

Yeah, I remember in TNG there was an episode with a new VR game that came out everyone got obsessed with

It was just throwing an untexured CG ball in an untextured CG cone, shit aged horribly

>but I suppose a CO and former soldier is still the elite compared to average people.
People still don't understand o'brien. He was a red shirt that managed to not be killed on an away mission in a warzone. Starfleet figures if youre a noncom and live through a dozen away missions then they consider you functionally immortal. O'brien is the luckiest man in the universe.

>He is the closest thing in all of ST right?
Except for literally every other omnipotent race of godlike energy beings. And dont forget he was afraid of guinan and her race.

But there is.

We literally see cultures/planets whose culture is based entirely on the pursuit of art/music/philosophy.

We even see space pirates who are rascally types who cavort, drink and cause merry chaos where ever they go.

Star Fleet does not represent the whole of humanity. They are 'military' people the same as now albeit softer around the edges.

...

Contemporary to the series, not contemporary to real life.

Take Picard's brother, Robert. He lives in a past he never knew. When he was born, poverty and famine were alrady gone for a long time, and yet he keeps rambling about "you youngsters and your replicators" and lives in a house that looks outdated by 20th century standards. I get that they were trying to sell the idea of a down to earth guy, but in the context of the show, it's as if Picard's family were a bunch of Mormons who still live in the 18th century.

>Talking shit about a LaFleur episode
Muh waifu

>everyone makes fun of them for their self destructive behavior.

Because self destructive behavior hasn't existed since the dawn of man. What makes ST writers to think that human stupidity wouldn't exist in the 24th century?

Leftists believe culture needs to be destroyed in order to achieve their utopia, not that Marx or other theorists before the 60s did mind you.

I know its more Sup Forums related but damn, it was a good story

OO NEE TEY

YOU'RE RIGHT

It's like this is a tv show with budgetary restrictions and limits to the crew's writing abilities!

>What makes ST writers to think that human stupidity wouldn't exist in the 24th century?
Literally the entire point of the franchise. They're Human+. The human race survived WWIII and the remaining people had enough of war and stupid short sighted bullshit and began to evolve as a society. Also post scarcity necessarily means that a lot of contemporary problems couldn't exist.

Earth is a paradise now and everyone left on earth takes pride in that and does their fair share to maintain it.

You'd like plebshit too if it injected you with cocaine every five minutes.

You see star fleet doing star fleet things 99% of the time. You have no idea what goes on on earth.

>from a time where black people weren't considered human.

They were considered human, just dumb enough to be owned by rich people

From what they did show of earth it looks like a pretty sad place. See

Culture is way more fluid than you think it is. Star Fleet has its own culture. Its just not based on their favorite reality shows and what memes image boards use. People that can't read, that have never looked at art, and don't know shit besides tilling dirt have a society. You drank the Sup Forumsade too hard.

A successful vineyard. Truly a locus of despair.

But that's bullshit. Even if WW3 would wipe out 90% of the human race, there would still be wars over primitive reasons.

There will be a one world government but it will be enforced by strength and honor. Not Peace and love.

Star Trek feels like it was written by a male feminist.

>O'brien is the luckiest man in the universe.
Literally every episode of deep space nine that he is a key character in begs to differ.

>it looks like a pretty sad place.
I dont know user. You only ever see picard's brother and sisko's dad, and they're both balls deep in doing what they love and living on their own terms. And if you're looking for more of a challenge there are infinite new worlds being discovered and colonies being founded all the time.

>space hipsters

It was written by a communist. But that's not the problem; the problem is that is was poorly thought out.

They run into more than just Q as far as omnipetent super beings go. And just being an omnipetent super being doesn't mean you deserve worship either. Q had an entire race of equally powerful Q. Its just another alien in a universe full of them.

>that episode where they make him live 20 years worth of empisonment within the span of a few hours

Pretty horrible desu.

Not really user. If he was anyone else he would have died a million times over. When people talk about the luck of the irish they dont mean they have "lottery luck" they mean that despite the universe's persistent attempts to shit all over the irish, they manage to survive through it.

Its lucky like "you're fucking lucky to have survived that shark attack" kind of luck.

The answer is pretty simple. It has no significance. Why would they show Ensign Jones or Crewman Ft'rik sitting in their quarters reading a new book or listening to the latest available Proto-electro Folk album?
Another easy answer rooted in the medium is that it wouldn't make any sense to us, the audience, even if it might have significance to the story. For that reason, they just don't bother writing any. The only thing that would make sense to show anyway would be a holonovel and there are a few instances of holonovels set in the current era.

Its "you survived the shark attack, but he bit off your dick" kind of luck. Its not the kind of luck people should be envious about. Its surviving but suffering horribly anyway.

>there would still be wars over primitive reasons.
Like what? The majority of human conflict has been a resource struggle with various layers of abstraction piled on to justify it. Take that away and you have to actively seek trouble just for the sake of being a shithead. And if you want to do that then fuck off to turkana IV and enjoy the local rapegangs.

Also the vulcan first contact changes the game

The real question is why aren't more sex holodeck simulations hinted at. They did a couple times in DS9 but I know I would be dumping gallons of semen in the holodeck on a daily basis if I had access to one.

more like locutus of despair, am i rite

Worfs life was 10x harder than Obriens

At least Obrien wasnt cucked 4 times
>Klingon waifu died
>Dianna left him for Fatty
>Dukat kills Good Dax
>Shitty Dax leaves him for Muhammad

>Is left with a shitty gay son
>Is exiled from the Klingon empire twice
>Has to wipe his own brothers memories since Sisko won't let him kill him
>His foster brother has to be left behind on a pre warp planet to never be seen again

>wore a red shirt for 20 years
>never died

What's pop culture today?

Rehashes of past works and memes commenting on current events

In Star Trek they grew out of memes

That's a bit silly. Your idea is pure conjecture just as much as his is. Just because you think it's unlikely doesn't mean it's no good as a fictional setting.

we found the right answer within those digits

star trek is communism but it works perfectly
everyone comes together and unites, nobody has to work anymore because of robots n sheet the list goes on

>I honestly have a hard time imagining how people on earth occupy themselves.
In the twenty fifth century they have evolved beyond the need for memes.

"Computer, delete all programs"

"...except program 9"

Penn Teller is a space-magician in Babylon 5
which is better than star trek tbf desu desu

youtube.com/watch?v=1fMM5CksAo0

Friendly reminder that Dukat did nothing wrong.

COMM
AN
DER

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Because period pop culture is used in Star Trek as a vehicle to explore a moral issue or scientific quandary. Making the entertainment contemporary to the time period places more emphasis on the spectacle than the actual philosophizing in the episode. Also, it's a lot cheaper and easier to make from a production standpoint (hence A Fistful of Datas).

Star Trek's Earth is a weird place where money no longer exists and everyone joins a galactic military full of corrupt admirals to explore their quadrant of the Milky Way.

Entertainment for everyone may be the daily volume of information that comes in from different planets from infinite discoveries.

Without a monetary incentive it makes sense that periphery entertainment suffered. The only future entertainment I remember is that video game the TNG crew played that gave them orgasms and three dimensional chess.

Does anybody have the episode sheet saved? You know the one that ranks them for the TNG?

True, look at the amount of media created with marketing, as in its popular because someone invested the money to make it popular. With money there is no incentive to shovel shit down the common citizens throat. Its a fascinating concept, imagine what a world like that would be.

Money isn't a good intensive for originality

See everyone complaining how everything released these days is some kind of re- boot/ hash/ imagining/ release

?

So people in the 24th century are not allowed to be interested in anything BUT science stuff?

Fuck Rick and Morty. Check out Space Dandy.

"Commander, tell me about your sexual organs."

Possibly. The Federation is pretty all-encompassing. Potentially totalitarian in nature. Homosexuality even seems to have been eliminated or outlawed.

Other than depraved sexual encounters with virtual beings in holodecks/holosuites it seems fun and interest in anything else is discouraged.

>homeward and masks
>bad

No. Every major character has their own non scientific side interests. Look at the regular poker games, odo liking pulp detective novels, data talks shit about picard's painting in the art class, and there is always a play or recital happening on the enterprise. All those plays aren't just Shakespeare either, because riker is in that play where he thinks hes going crazy. Data writes poems about his cat. Sisko loves baseball.

Its ultimately a question of scale though, remember the teraformer from DS9. why bother with a canvas when you cancreate entire worlds.

Oh... And klingon opera.

Notice how like OP stated none of these things are contemporary to the character's time period. Hell, baseball doesn't even exist anymore as a sport in the 24th century, at least on earth. Sisko is forced to recreate a game in the holodeck.