Not much of a revelation, just an observation, but how much of sci-fi pushes the ideal that Humanity's path forward is unification?
Star Trek is a major one, and many would state it was a progressive show, and it earnestly was.
It also stated that in its ideal future, there's a Federation of like-minded extraterrestrials, and as a member species, Humanity lives in a united, post-scarcity society under a single government.
To that end, how many alien species in these stories are so inhuman, in that they have no differences, a world-wide government, a single language?
It's laughable how direct the propaganda was, and continues to be.
I kinda like "The Orville" take on the whole confederation thing... Like the humans are allied with some races mostly due to convenience, rather than true fellowship. In fact, one of them in particular is presented mostly in a negative connotation... Their gimmick is that they are only a "male" species, and they make sure of this by forcing a sex change in their young in the very rare cases a female member is born. And this is obviously presented as barbaric, even if due to politics it is allowed to happen to a child in one of the episodes. I thought it was a GREAT commentary/parody of today's insanity.
If they projected any harder, you could open an IMAX theatre using them.
Probably yeah, it was still presented in a negative light, and I liked that the message was grey (respecting a races customs, not imposing your own rules even if you don't agree, respect differences, etc... And that all of that is moot behind political gains). Also the "Moclan" hate women, so you would like them a lot haha.
It's also heavily implied in that episode that the cultural differences between the Moclans and Humans are large enough as to jeopardize their being in the Planetary Union. Which is probably true given how the reaction of so many of the Human crew was declaring the practice "barbaric". I know I wouldn't want to be in a political union with a bunch of people who considered me and my values "barbaric". But no doubt the Planetary Union much like the Federation it's modeled on hoped that through a continued political alliance they could "civilize" the Moclans.
Yes! That's what made it so interesting to me, the Orville is surprisingly clever sometimes!
I see your video, and raise you a video: https://youtu.be/6VhSm6G7cVk?t=92
The thing is, they're conflating "male" with "masculine", and the two are NOT THE SAME (though the latter is based on the former, of course).
Think of Namekians - they "present" as masculine. Deep voices, male-ish body shape. But they're kind of reptilian-looking, and they reproduce asexually, by sporing an egg out of their mouths (and can even control the traits of the offspring within, apparently.) So they're not male. They're asexual "its". But it's just polite to refer to them in the masculine, as if they were male.
Moclans are similar, somehow, but still mate sexually. Maybe like snails, but without impregnating each other at the same time. They're masculine, but not "male". The "feminine" variant is likely just that. Can they breed with each other, like the masculines? Can masculines and feminines interbreed? If the latter is not true, but the former is, then they're DIFFERENT SPECIES.
There's a European crustacean that spawned an asexual species about 25 years ago or so. One day, a double-X with the ability to clone itself was born, but this creature - and its clones - can't breed with its own father (or creatures like its father.) So, different species.