It’s only a “bigoted stereotype” if you think their portrayal was an intentional effort to make them look bad. I do not agree that was the case.
Like so much TV of that era, it was the trope of throwing two completely incompatible things into a room and watching hijinks ensue.
But in Star Trek fashion, at the end of the episode, both sides gained a little awareness about themselves and developed a little tolerance for the others. (Also, I really like the leader of the group because he connects Star Trek to Doctor Who.)
“The Irish are drunks” is pretty damn bigoted. And that was the implication.
I’m far from the only one who thinks so. Colm Meany agrees.
Colm Meaney (Transporter Chief Miles Edward O’Brien) was reportedly not too thrilled by the story’s depiction of Irish characters. Being little more than a bit player, he had no say in scripts. Years later, in If Wishes Were Horses (1993), Meaney was a series regular, and was given a script focusing on O’Brien’s Irishness in a condescending way. He had the “Wishes” story rewritten to eliminate, or at least mitigate, that slant.
Ugh, season 1 of Deep Space Nine is another matter entirely (and a completely different production staff).
My take on the TNG episode is THOSE Irish were drunks. Just like THOSE Irish were farmers. Or like Picard’s family. THOSE Frenchmen were vintners. Another stereotype that seems to bother fans less than Picard’s British accent.
Almost 40 years have passed since then, and we’ve certainly matured about how we represent ethnic groups. But the primary motivation of the production staff back then was ‘how little money can we spend to make an episode?’
I still want an indepth explanation of the people who work on his farm picking grapes. They have access to every necessity and luxury for free but they’re doing manual labour on a giant vineyard. I think Picard even says they’ve worked for the family for generations, did they do this before the post scarcity economy? Do the not have land of their own? Which brings up the question how does inheritance and land sale work if as Picard says to cryogenic-Johnny Cash they’ve moved beyond money?
Honestly it seems a nice life, role-playing preindustrial farming with zero stakes because you’ll never go hungry no matter what happens. I think those peoples lives are probably more interesting than most the stuff that happens on the enterprise.
It’s only a “bigoted stereotype” if you think their portrayal was an intentional effort to make them look bad. I do not agree that was the case.
Like so much TV of that era, it was the trope of throwing two completely incompatible things into a room and watching hijinks ensue.
But in Star Trek fashion, at the end of the episode, both sides gained a little awareness about themselves and developed a little tolerance for the others. (Also, I really like the leader of the group because he connects Star Trek to Doctor Who.)
“The Irish are drunks” is pretty damn bigoted. And that was the implication.
I’m far from the only one who thinks so. Colm Meany agrees.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708838/trivia/
Ugh, season 1 of Deep Space Nine is another matter entirely (and a completely different production staff).
My take on the TNG episode is THOSE Irish were drunks. Just like THOSE Irish were farmers. Or like Picard’s family. THOSE Frenchmen were vintners. Another stereotype that seems to bother fans less than Picard’s British accent.
Almost 40 years have passed since then, and we’ve certainly matured about how we represent ethnic groups. But the primary motivation of the production staff back then was ‘how little money can we spend to make an episode?’
I still want an indepth explanation of the people who work on his farm picking grapes. They have access to every necessity and luxury for free but they’re doing manual labour on a giant vineyard. I think Picard even says they’ve worked for the family for generations, did they do this before the post scarcity economy? Do the not have land of their own? Which brings up the question how does inheritance and land sale work if as Picard says to cryogenic-Johnny Cash they’ve moved beyond money?
Honestly it seems a nice life, role-playing preindustrial farming with zero stakes because you’ll never go hungry no matter what happens. I think those peoples lives are probably more interesting than most the stuff that happens on the enterprise.