No matter how advanced we think we are, there's one thing for certain—people in the future will look back at us as legit barbarians. Just look at Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. In this film, the crew of Enterprise goes back in time to a primitive era: 1980s America. Shudder. Whether they're critiquing nuclear power, decrying the brutality of modern medicine, or railing against environmental pollution, the crew members' hilarious reactions to our time period help us see it from a different perspective.
Questions about Primitiveness
- In what ways do the crew's opinions of 1986 relate to your own opinions about the past?
- How is technology used to illustrate the differences between the two time periods we visit?
- Why is McCoy particularly horrified by the primitiveness of the past? Explain.
- In what way is 1986 depicted as culturally primitive?
Chew on This
By depicting technology we see as advanced as primitive, The Voyage Home illustrates the evolving nature of society.
McCoy is particularly horrified by "primitive" modern medicine because it involves invasive procedures that, from his perspective, seem violent.