First Impressions

A few days ago I watched an episode of Orville (S1, E3: About a Girl, Airdate: September 21, 2017). Orville is a comedy-drama that lovingly revisits the Star Trek series and nods in passing to other similar sci-fi sources.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with this particular episode: The Moclan male crew member and the ship’s Lieutenant Commander and Second Officer, Bortus, lays an egg (that's right) and incubates it for 21 days. To the horror of Bortus and his mate Klyden, the infant is a female, which is an aberration to the Moclan mind. Accordingly, Bortus asks Dr. Finn to perform ‘sex-correction surgery’ on the infant, and when she refuses, applies to Capt. Mercer to order her to do it. Mercer and his crew react with horror and outrage at this blatant display of gender prejudice and try their best to convince Bortus of the error of his ways. But though they succeed with Bortus, Klyden maintains the surgery is a must, and appeals to the Moclan government for help. The case is heard in a Moclan court and the crew do all they can to insist that the girl should be allowed to remain unchanged. They even produce a star witness in support of their arguments, but the court rules against them and upholds Moclan ways. Bortus has to accept the decision and the ‘sex-correction surgery’ is performed as planned. The infant is named Topa and the crew returns to the Orville. (Bortus and Klyden’s relationship takes a beating, though.)

(PC: https://images.app.goo.gl/9g3Nd5rrRN6cFMnM6)

I found the episode interesting and it set me thinking. Not only did it discuss an important issue, it also revealed to me my own prejudices. The first reaction of the Orville’s crew was also mine: In a culture that routinely disallows the birth of female infants, it would be the reaction of every right-thinking person. So, let's all right-thinking persons to protest loud and long against the Moclans and their horrible sexist society.

Ah, but there’s the rub. The Moclans have stated clearly, and calmly, that theirs is an all-male society. The males lay eggs, incubate them and the infant is always male. (An episode in S2 reveals that the birth of females is much more frequent than is generally known in Moclan society. But as this only S1, we are not to know that yet.) If the Moclan males do all this, they seem to be right in saying that a female would be an aberration in their culture. She would have no part to play in the social, economic or cultural spheres. She would be shunned as a freak. One of Capt. Mercer’s arguments is that neither Bortus nor Klyden has any right to make such a momentous decision on her behalf. But as the Moclans ask, will the child thank her parents later when she is shunned everywhere? Will she not blame her parents for their decision to condemn her to a life of loneliness when they could so easily have authorised a routine procedure to make her ‘normal’? The star witness, Heveena, produced by Capt. Mercer (as mentioned earlier) turns out to be a female Moclan who is a writer the Moclans revere above all others. But she writes under a male pseudonym and lives alone in the mountains, and professes herself ‘happy’, and voices such thoughts as “The blackest abyss is a pock in the flesh when one has gazed in solitude upon the infinity of self”.

So, all in all, this episode of Orville was rather interesting, for it gave me furiously to think. Like the Union, which is meant to connect all life forms on a common platform, my thinking seems to run largely on a homocentric plan. The human arrogance is seen in Orville in that all aliens speak English (US) and seem to find acceptable human solutions to their problems. From the few episodes I have watched as yet, though set at least four centuries into the future the humans seem set on the same 21st century mind-sets. No significant change in gender and race relations seems to be in evidence. The captain of the Orville is a Caucasian male (American) and his First Officer is his ex-wife. His best friend is his Caucasian helmsman, Lieutenant Gordon Malloy. The African American group is represented by the presence of Dr. Claire Finn and navigator Lieutenant John LaMarr. So, all seems in order.

While I explained away the language efficiency by the application of a Babel fish or something similar, what I found rather amusing was the tired, or sometimes contemptuous, tolerance given to human presence. It reminds one of the indulgence accorded to the whims of a rather precocious child. Bill Watterson’s opinion seems justified: “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”

But I digress. The point I was trying to make was that the crew of the Orville (with humans ruling the roost) is guilty of the human arrogance of thinking that everything should function in keeping with what they find acceptable. This intolerance seems hard-wired into us, and if we cannot accept difference in human cultures, it is small wonder that Orville’s crew cannot accept it in an alien culture either.

But before we beat ourselves up for our intolerance, we need to think some more. There are some more prejudices to examine. Klyden, who is so adamant that the sex-correction procedure be performed on the infant was actually born a female and was changed to a male by his/her parents. Bortus, born male, is at least willing to accept the possibility of a different way of existence. Klyden has himself been unaware of this part of his biological history (it was only revealed during the medical examination mandatory for those intending long-term occupancy of a Union ship), so he has been accustomed to think of himself as male. Those wishing to take a kind view of Klyden’s demand may justify it by claiming that he wanted his child to escape the fate of a social outcaste and that as a responsible parent he wanted to make the same decision for his child as his parents did for him. On the other hand, there may be a ready argument here for those so inclined: the perpetuation of male dominance is made possible by female collusion.

Another point to consider is that Moclan society seems to show an almost human-like lack of acceptance towards any deviation from the norm. Like Procrustes, they insist on everyone adhering to what is accepted socially, and there’s simply no space for any alternative way of life. Their ultra-masculine culture manufactures and supplies weapons to the Union. Is this a hint at the worrying effects of a tendency to thump chests, carried to extremes?

So, in sum, here’s how I see it. If I side with the (mostly human) crew of the Orville, I would be taking a non-tolerant view of the alternative beliefs and practices of a culture and biology totally at variance with any on earth. Yet, siding with the Moclans is simply not the answer because that would mean agreeing with a culture that has found a way to surgically ensure conformity in all aspects. If females are born on Moclus and not reported, there seems to be a conspiracy of silence that is rather sinister in its object and methods. Members of this culture are seemingly brainwashed into believing that fitting in is an imperative and anything else would be simply too horrible to contemplate.

There are no easy answers, I guess.