Stargate SG-1: Last Line of Defense of Our World that is Earth.

          The ideological world that the science fiction drama, Stargate SG- displays is actually of two worlds.  One world, Earth, represents the ideal American society, a democracy that is a melting pot of diverse cultures where everyone lives under the protection of the elite United States Air Force military.  This world that mirrors the ideal society is advanced in the latest technology.  Most of this technology is available and accessible for everyone to make their lives easier.  The other world is somewhat of an underdeveloped society that is ruled under the alien dictatorship of an elite government that hoards its technological advancements and uses them to intimidate the society that is underdeveloped.  The ideal world portrayed is that of utopia and the world ruled by aliens is that of dystopia.  The writers of this show use these two worlds to create conflict and also to prove that the utopian American society is not so different from that of the dystopian society ruled under the dictatorship of aliens.  In fact, it is better.

            Stargate SG-1 is a science fiction television drama that portrays the beliefs and values of an American society that collide with foreign worlds whose societies hold different beliefs and values.  The actual stargate itself serves as the gateway that separates planet Earth from foreign worlds.  Shaped in a circle embedded with hieroglyphics, travelers are able to select seven hieroglyphic symbols using a device that will open the gate to the desired destination.  The way the Stargate works is quite similar to the telephone, except instead of talking through the receiver, the sender (dialer) can use the Stargate to physically transport to the destination of the receiver.   The Stargate stands approximately 20 feet tall and is made of titanium.  In the pilot episode, this stargate serves as a doorway to the alien world called Abidos. 

Abidos is populated with humans and aliens of different cultures.  The aliens called The Guaold are more technologically advanced than our society as we know it. Their society mimics the Egyptian culture with a monarchy ruled by pharaohs.  The humans also mimic the society of ancient Egyptians who portray the role as Commoners.  The Commoners live a primitive lifestyle and have not progressed to the technology of The Guaold or even that of our own society.  The society set up of The Guaold pharaohs and Egyptian Commoners allows the viewer to become familiar with the society as it borrows from Egyptian culture.  By creating this type of scenario, viewers are able to easily accept the social habits and interactions of Americans Guaold, and Commoners  As a result, Stargate SG-1 pilot episode moral meaning can be interpreted in different ways depending on the audience’s viewpoint that is essentially based off their own individual social, cultural, and even spiritual background.  Incorporating alien beings that possess advanced technology displays the fantastic and also allows the viewer to distance themselves from reality as they know it and embark into the world of science fiction which, according to Stargate SG-1, is basically Earth, which apparently adopted the American culture exploring the alien world of Abidos.   

             The planet Earth is represented as the American culture.  The American culture is represented as the United States Air Force military.  The pilot series begins with a handful of military personnel guarding the covered Stargate that has been inactive for a year.  Suddenly, the Stargate becomes active, alien beings charge through the Stargate and kidnaps the female Air

Force officer, leaving the other officers for dead.  This opening scene of hostile aliens stealing an officer jumpstarts the adventure and also gives way to introduce key characters who make up the Stargate SG-1 team.

Colonel Jack O’Neill, the SG-1 leader.  O’Neill lives and breathes for the military and will do nothing short of making sure his team accomplishes assigned missions even if it means breaking the rules.  Dr. Daniel Jackson, archeologist of ancient cultures, he serves as the interpreter of ancient knowledge by teaching and explaining to O’Neill the ancient Egyptian cultures. Major/Dr. Samantha Carter, Theoretical Astro Physicist, an expert in all astrological science and holds the same responsibility as Dr. Jackson, except in science and she is also military personnel which makes her a soldier as well.   Teal’c, the alien, is of the Jafa culture who is enslaved by the Guaold, to do their evil bidding of possessing humans as hosts.  Teal’c later betrays the Guaold to save the SG-1 team from the Guaold clutches.  He is rewarded by becoming part of the SG -1 team and serves as a skillful warrior and knowledgeable liaison against Earth’s enemy, The Guaold.  So it can be said that the SG-1 team is a diverse component of diversified people representing American society; all serving a significant role for the U.S. military in order to protect their planet in addition to their country, thus modeling the ideal U.S. citizen.

            The institutional factors that lie within the series is the reference of the U.S. Air Force military.  The filming of Stargate SG-1 is in a studio built similar to the actual interior of Cheyenne Mountain Complex.  The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is “the command, control, communication and intelligence center for coordinating and controlling North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Space Command missions” (Cheyenne Mountain Complex – United States Nuclear Forces p. 1) This facility monitors missile and space activities.  It stays in continual contact with the United States Air Force, The Navy, Army, and Pentagon and overall, serves as civil warning defense.  It is the ultimate military command center that was built in the 1960s as a fall-out shelter inspired by The Cold War.  Because of the heightened security of Cheyenne Mountain, it can be said that it raises a significant amount of curiosity from civilians.  Staging the primary shooting location of Stargate SG-1 in The Cheyenne Mountain makes logical sense as such missions of off-world encounters would definitely be considered classified.  Choosing this location also gives viewers the idea that they are getting a peek inside what used to be a heavily guarded military base.

Much of the military tactical procedures the SG-1 team performs are inspired by the U.S military.  The U.S. Air Force military also donated their uniforms to the actors.  The scripts are heavily influenced by U.S. military personnel.  With the help of the U.S. Air Force military, the creators of Stargate SG-1 are able to convey a type of authenticity that plays out some of the myths and theories behind Egyptian culture thousands of years ago and integrate them into the fantastic, creating the hit series phenomena that is Stargate SG-1. 

            The history of the phenomena behind Stargate SG-1 derived from the movie Stargate that aired in 1994 starring Kurt Russell as O’Neill and James Spader as Dr. Jackson.  Stargate SG-1, starring Richard Dean Anderson as O’Neill and Michael Shanks as Dr. Jackson, stretched across the media from the movie theater to television.  Oddly enough, the series got a greater response than the movie itself.  A number of factors attribute to the success of this sci-fi television show.  One major attribute is the Sci-Fi channel in which the series was able to air.  The success of other science fiction dramas such as The Twilight Zone and the ever-so-popular Star Trek proved to network executives that the genre of science fiction deserves more recognition.  The success of Star Trek crossing over to the movie theaters opened the possibility for movies like Stargate to cross over to the television circuit.

            Just as narrative conventions of The Twilight Zone can be identified as being tales acted out with a moral message and Star Trek being popular for the tactical procedures of embarking on several missions in outer space, it can be said Stargate SG-1 is identified for having the attributes of both science fiction shows.  For example, Stargate SG-1 does not have the first person narrative, but the point of views played out by each key character represents an idea, a culture, a class, gender, and even an attitude.  The SG-1 characters go beyond representing simply a society, culture, or belief.  The viewer gets a multi-sided view of the characters.          

          Unlike, Star Trek, the SG-1 characters are seen living their life outside of military life and integrate a civilian perspective into the world of military and fantasy.  From using the point of view of an average citizen entering military life and from military life into the fantastic, the audience can experience the Stargate adventures along with the SG-1 team.  At the same time, the quirkiness of encountering the paranormal in Stargate SG-1 as portrayed in The Twilight Zone, is alleviated by the SG-1 characters because their personalities are more developed.  In the scene where Teal’c betrays the Guaold, O’Neill coaxes him to escape the Guaold prison with the rest of the SG-1 members.  Teal’c simply says he has no where to go.  O’Neill responds by telling alien Teal’c that he can stay at his place.  Consequently, Teal’c follows and now there is the alien’s perspective of Earthly culture and society that is represented by the United States Military which supposedly, represents American society.

            Whichever worldly viewpoint the societal perspective is interpreted, the binary

opposition of good verses evil remains.  On the planet Earth, the binary opposition is The U.S. Air Force Military verses The Guaold.  On planet Abidos, the binary opposition is the Commoners verses The Guaold and even The Guaold verses Earth.  Scenarios of how our U.S. military may actually conduct certain procedures may be better played out in the role of The Guaold verses the Commoner’s society.  Overall, it is the us-against-them concept.  In the world of science fiction drama, someone can play the advocate of democracy and another character can act on behalf of an over-bearing government.  The viewer can detach themselves from the reality of real military procedures that may seem cruel and unusual.    In the end, the concept of good triumphing over evil prevails.

In the scenario in the pilot episode, the Air-Force must retaliate against the hostile alien force of The Guaold not only to retrieve the officer who has been kidnapped, but to prevent future attacks on Earth that will disrupt the harmonious existence of American society.  Stargate SG-1 places more emphasis on The U.S. Air Force being the last line of defense against hostile antagonists.  The society in Stargate SG-1 is led to believe that the civilians on planet Earth live in a world of utopia, being prosperous humans who live in harmony with each other and treated as equals who live under a stable government.  As a result, the U.S. military is to thank for this.  We are led to believe that the civilians’ world of utopia is threatened by The Guaold and if the government does not take the necessary procedures needed to defeat them, Earth’s world of utopia will crumble into a world of dystopia and consequently, face the same fate as the Commoners on Abidos.

In conclusion, the ideology that the science fiction drama Stargate SG-1 portrays is that The United States Air Force Military knows what is best for American people and that we should

trust our government.  We are to blindly accept there are situations the U.S. government deals with that we could not begin to understand.  We are to know that the U.S. government tackles foreign issues on a daily basis and literally put their lives on the line to sustain our utopian world that is America.  Lastly, the American people are to know and understand that although we may view our U.S. government as greedy and a cruel hoarder of economic resources, there is always the threat of dictatorship that our U.S. military extinguishes on a daily basis.

Straddling the Fence: The Religious Ideology of the Invisible Chapter in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

           The ideology of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is placed in a time where African Americans were not treated equal.  Even though slavery had been abolished, Africans were still discriminated against because of the color of their skin.  Now they were free to live their lives in America and take advantages of some of the opportunities.  Dated in 1911, the African American now lives in a society where they must still be very cautious to their social surroundings.  For the most part, they are safe in their own neighborhood but if they venture out beyond their community, their lives may be in grave danger because more often than not, some Anglo-Americans would take the liberty of physically harming African Americans out of pure hate.  In those times, justice was not served properly for black people.  This sets the stage for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. 

The plot is about an ex-deacon, Herald Loomis who, along with his daughter Zonia who are in search for Martha Pentecost.  Martha Pentecost is Loomis’s wife and Zonia’s mother.  As the story progresses, we learn that Joe Turner kidnapped Loomis and made him work in his chain gang seven years ago.  As a result, Loomis looses his family, his religion and his and his identity.  However, the actual story begins with Loomis searching for his wife and the audience is not told of Loomis’s past right away.  The way Wilson chose to reveal Loomis’s unfortunate past is by informing the audience of how Loomis lost his wife in the first place.  In the textbook, Textbook Writing through Literature, Umberto Eco confirms, “In other texts, there are gaps that are not so easily filled by the reader because the text wishes to create suspense and so information is deliberately withheld from the reader” (178).  These gaps Eco refers to is the entire mystery of Loomis’s arriving at Seth and Bertha Holly’s boarding house in Pittsburgh.  Irving Goffman’s character representation of Seth and Bertha reveals that they both are the overseer of the household.  As a result, the two of them make it their business to know their tenant’s personal background.  Yet when it comes to Loomis, The Holly’s are clueless to his past.  Therefore, the reader is left in the dark about Loomis as well.  As the reader continues through the story, they learn along with Seth and Bertha about Loomis’s adverse past.  However, Wilson did not write about the actual kidnapping event nor did Wilson write about the time Loomis spent working in the chain gang.  This style of writing according to Eco is referred to as the ghost chapter. 

Ghost chapters are necessary for story writing because it allows the writer to skip significant details of a story that are not relevant to the story’s plot.  According to Eco, the events in a ghost chapter are uneventful to the story in its entirety.  Being kidnapped and forced to work a harsh labor is quite relevant and may very well be worthy of an interesting story to write about.  The fact that a man exercises his liberty to steal someone else’s and makes them work for his own profit is considered to be a societal norm in the early 1900s.  The fact that this Joe Turner did not have to answer to the law for what he’s done is also considered a societal norm.   It is this type of normality that leaves the character of Loomis at a loss from his family and overall, his identity.

  Before Africans were brought to America during the slave trade, they had their own culture and society. They had their own language and dance.  They also had their own religion.  History tells us that the Europeans justified their abuse toward the Africans as helping them become more civilized because the Africans lifestyle appeared primal to them and not as developed and industrialized as theirs.  J.M. Roberts explains in his book, The Penguin History of Europe, “Explorers, missionaries, and the campaigners against slavery early nineteenth century had encouraged the belief that extension of European rule in the “”Dark Continent”” was justified by spreading blessings of civilization there” (441).  As a result, Europeans preached the Christian faith attempting to convert them from their African rituals.  What is often overlooked is that even though Africans were taken from Africa and Americanized and have been stripped of their religion, culture, language and even their name, the very essence of the African as a people did not go away.

Take religion for example.  Some African American slaves rejected Christianity’s religion because they saw it as the “white man’s religion”.  History informs us American Slave Masters abused the Africans by whipping them like animals and raping their women among other inhumane acts.  The fact that these slave masters wanted the African American to worship their god was unacceptable for some because they could not fathom why they should worship a god who allowed people to be so badly treated.  Some Africans accepted Christianity’s religion and faith by identifying with Jesus Christ, the son of God who according to The Bible, was innocent of sin and yet he was beaten, bruised and crucified for the sins of the world.  In the Bible, II Timothy reads: 

            10  Therefore I endure all things

            for the elect’s sakes, that they may

            also obtain the salvation which is in

            Christ Jesus eternal glory.

            11  It is a faithful saying:  For if we

            be dead with him, we shall also live

            with him:

            12  If we suffer, we shall also reign

            with him:  if we deny him, he also will

            deny us: (1499)

 The Africans who identified with Jesus believed that they themselves represented a type of Christ and saw it to be an honor to have been mistreated, possibly even dying as a sacrificial prodigy.  They believed by suffering as Jesus suffered, they would obtain a place in heaven once they died.  The hope of reigning in heaven with Jesus is considered the ultimate reward for suffering life’s trials and tribulation and is the faith of the African Americans who accepted the religion of Christianity.  Some African Americans could not get past the treatment from the people who called themselves Christians.  As a result, they rejected the religion in its entirety and immersed themselves in the traditions of the African religion which is referred to as a shamanic ritual according to James R. Keller of the African American Review.

Bynum’s character is introduced by practicing these rituals.  He cuts open pigeons and spreads its blood onto him as a type of cleansing to communicate with spirits.  Bynum represents the African American who chose to remain faithful to the religion of his heritage.  Others who have chosen the faith of Christianity have viewed the shamanic rituals as demonic.  This was a also the perspective of the Anglo-American Christian.  For the African American Christian, the perspective can sometimes be quite gray. 

Some African Americans wanted to remain faithful to their heritage yet did not agree with the shamanic practices anymore.  Seth Holly’s character is a good example of conforming to the economic prosperity of America which was founded by Christians.  Anglo-Christians therefore, enforced Christian beliefs, values, and some practices based on the Anglo-American’s interpretation of Christian text.  Consequently, Seth develops a kind of hatred for his own people proving that he has truly adopted the practices of white America in the early 1900s.  “Niggers coming up here from the backwoods…coming up here from the country carrying Bibles and guitars looking for freedom.”  Seth says.  “They got a rude awakening” (6).  Seth signifies the African American who resents assimilating to the white American culture.  At the same time, he too attempts to connect with his heritage by simply allowing Bynum to live in his home and blessing it with his shamanic rituals.  Seth also participates in an African dance ritual called the Juba. 

Loomis walks in on this dance and falls out in Seth and Bertha’s boarding house and has a vision of seeing skeletons emerge from a body of water.  “LOOMIS:  I done seen bones rise up out the water.  Rise up and walk across the water.  Bones walking on top of the water” (53).  This vision is considered the anagnorisis in Loomis’s life.  Anagnorisis is term Aristotle created to refer to the recognition of ignorance to knowledge that ultimately leads to a new way of thinking, dianoia.  Bynum serves as a supporting character reacting to Loomis’s trance.  “BYNUM:  They walking around here now.  Mens.  Just like you and me.  Come right up out the water” (56).  Loomis’s trance and Bynum’s interpretation of it is a turning point in the story. 

            Both Loomis and Bynum have tapped into their ancestral religion.  The difference between the two characters is that Bynum represents the African who never renounced his religion and Loomis is the African-American who backslid from his shamanic religion and converted to the faith of Christianity so much that he was promoted to a deacon.  After having his life taken away from him, thanks to Joe Turner, Loomis has questioned his Christian faith and as a result, his identity.  By walking in on the ancestral ritual of Jubal, it can be said that Loomis literally walked into what he had actually been looking for, his religion, consequently, his ancestral identity and this is why he fell out in the trance.

 “Both Bynum and Loomis possess qualities associated

with this shamanic legacy.  However,  Bynum’s power is

that of a fully realized medicine man, while Loomis is

experiencing the agonizing transformations that will lead

to his own shamanic vision” (Keller 473).

The trance scene also represents Loomis’s character transforming from the state of peripetea.  Peripetea is another term of Aristotle’s which means, the reversal of the hero’s good fortune.  Of course, there can never be an anagnorisis or a dianoia without Wilson manipulating the characters of Loomis, the protagonist and Joe Turner, the

antagonist to execute the plot which could not be done without creating the ghost chapter of peripetea.

The reader is lead to believe the literal plot Wilson creates is Loomis needing to find his missing wife.  As it turns out, Martha Pentecost is not the one who was lost.  Loomis was the one who was lost, wondering around from town to town, searching.  It could be said that Loomis was looking for his wife to find his identity.  Actually, Loomis came into the state of dianoia when Bynum helped him translate his vision.  That vision represented Loomis going back to his ancestral shamanic religion.  Loomis needed to find Martha Pentecost simply to say good-bye to her.  Up until this point of the story, the reader is lead to believe that Loomis needed to find his wife so they could live out the rest of their lives as husband and wife together.  On the contrary, it is revealed to us that this was never Loomis’s intentions.  “That goodbye kept me out on the road searching,”  Loomis says.  “Now that I see your face I can say my goodbye and make my own world” (90).  Martha Loomis Pentecost, a woman of Christian faith, represents the African who assimilated into white America’s culture and Loomis needed to find her to say good-bye to the Christian faith.  Martha stands by her Christian faith by accusing Loomis to have “gone over to the devil” (91), which is a belief of the Anglo-American that only coaxes Loomis to reject her all the more.  “LOOMIS:   Great big old white man…your Mr. Jesus Christ.  Standing there with a whip in one hand and a tote board in another, them niggers swimming in a sea of cotton” (92). 

In conclusion, the society in this play depicts a type of submission of black people toward white people.  If a Caucasian man physically took a black man off the streets and put him to manual labor for his own benefit, he would be tried and most likely, convicted of kidnapping among other charges.  Yet, this is what happened to Herald Loomis.  Herald Loomis lost his family and faith in his duty as a deacon consequently losing his faith as a Christian and identity of self altogether.  To get his identity back, Loomis went back to his ancestral shamanic practice invoking a type of familiarity that restored his identity.  It can be said the “proper authorities” were well aware of Joe Turner’s business ventures and nothing was done about it.  This play could not have been written in any other time than the early 1900s because the story would not have been believable—it wouldn’t have existed because the author would not have been allowed to read or write much less have a book published.  The time of the story could not have been placed in the 21^st century either.  African Americans has more freedom now.  So the overall result is this: the ideology of unequal treatment toward the African American and why society accepted they way of life, must be understood in this story of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in order to understand the overall plot.

Works Cited

The Bible.  King James Version.  Thomas Nelson.  1990.

Comley, Nancy R., Scholes, Robert, Ulmer, Gregory L.  Text Book Writing through Literature.  3^rd Ed.  Boston.  New York.  2002

Eby, Clare.  “Slouching toward Beastliness:  Richard Wright’s Anatomy of Thomas Dixon”.  African American Review   Vol. 35, No. 3.

Keller, James, R.  “The Shaman’s Apprentice:  Ecstasy and Economy in Wilson’s Joe Turner.”  African American Review  Vol. 35, No. 3, 2001.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary, Home and Office Edition.  Philippines. 1995.

Roberts, J.M. The Penguin History of Europe.  Great Britain.  1996

Wilson, August.  Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.  New York.  1988.

A Journalist’s Duty to The Public

            Communication is an important aspect of how people interact.  It is how we understand each other and grow as a society.  The career I plan to focus on within the broader spectrum of mass communications is journalism.  Journalism is one of the most memorable forms of communication that is responsible for advancing society.  From cave drawings to symbols and signs to the Gutenberg Press, the art of writing and distributing information will always be the backbone of communication, regardless of its social and technological advancements.

Why Journalism?

            Writing has always been an outlet through which I could fully express myself.  I am able to articulate my emotions.  This world is made up of individuals with different cultural backgrounds.  Interpretations of verbal and physical messages can be misunderstood and sometimes, downright offensive.  By writing my message, the receiver has no choice but to interpret the written message at face value, and decide whether or not the message is something he or she wants to retain–they can then decide if what I am writing is offensive.

            When it came to choosing a major within the area of mass communications, it can be discussed that it is better to choose a field that is flexible and has various concentrations.  For instance, mass communication can be broken down to such areas as public relations, broadcasting, and electronic media.  Given all these areas within mass communications, there are many opportunities within the job market.  The fact of the matter is, journalism is the root to all three of these branches of communication. By learning the foundations of journalism, it is my opinion that I will be the one who advances mass communication, rather than myself, who

advances with it.

            To communicate one on one within your own social circle is an everyday practice, yet it is an entirely different situation to communicate to a mass audience.  Careful consideration of word choice and  social and cultural diversity is the key element in the world of journalism.  Above all, knowledge of demographics trumps all before placing a pen to the paper and fingers to the keyboard.  In other words, a journalist needs to know the audience to whom he or she is writing.  Who are they?  What is the age range and what interests them?  As a writer, it is easy to ignore all of these questions and get sidetracked with what you want people to read.  As a reporter, a biased perspective can take over with and what the writer believes is newsworthy may not be for his or her audience.

            It is the journalist’s duty to recognize that he or she has a social responsibility.  In the book, “Media Ethics, An Introduction to Responsible Journalism,” the author, Johan Retief, makes reference to a case study regarding an article printed in the South African newspaper, Sowetan.  In the September 1999 issue of Sowetan, it displayed a front page story of a man who murdered his18-month-old infant and committed suicide by hanging himself.  The story was indeed newsworthy, however, Sowetan also posted a picture of the man and his son hanging from the noose.  An article with this content matter incited controversy and definitely attracted many readers who either supported or boycotted the newspaper.  However, the end result, is that journalists must learn to use sensationalism in a dignified manner that caters to the sensitivity of the public.

            While it is important to consider the public’s feelings, the journalist also has the responsibility to play the role of the government.  At the same time, journalists must be careful to avoid turning the news into a commercial circus.  For there is yet another sect who has the right to be heard.  This group consists of religious organizations that branch off into countless denominations.  In the book, “Media, Profit, and Politics: Competing Priorities in an Open Society,” Tanni Haas and Linda Steiner write in the chapter titled, A Public Philosophy for Public Journalism, “Public journalism advocates are regularly accused of failing to consider how the increasing commercialization of news organizations significantly constrains journalists.” (p. 33)  Organizations are simply a governed structure presented as a business or a political party.  The structure itself is made up of individuals, as noted earlier, with their own perspectives based on social influences like capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and several other aspects.  So, it appears as though the journalist actually plays the role of the mediator between Republicans, Democrats, and Liberalists.  Journalists must present information to the public in an organized manner in attempts to avoid chaos.  Chaos can not always be avoided, but a good journalist knows how to control and subdue it.

            The career of a respectable journalist requires delivering information to the public with finesse and tact.  Although it is American’s constitutional right to be heard, it is also the journalists constitutional duty to enlighten civilization as well.  Perhaps Slavko Splichal said it best when he referred to journalists as watchdogs in his book, “Principles of Publicity and Press Freedom.”  Splichal writes, “…social functions of the media refer to the exercise of power and control in society…(p. 35)  It is the journalist’s responsibility to serve society with relevant information that creates a universal picture for all to accurately interpret, discuss, and evolve as an organized state for the good of humanity.            

Bibliography

Haas, T. & Steiner, L. (2001).  A public philosophy for public journalism.  Harper, Joseph &

            Yantek, Thom, (pp. 33-52).

Retief, J. (2002).  Media ethics an introduction to responsible journalism.  New York: Oxford.

Splichal, Slavko (2002).  Principles of publicity and press freedom.  Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.