"RE; The Improbable Diversity of Distant Colonies" Topic

I love sci-fi, and Firefly is one of my favourite series. The boys got me the series on Blu-Ray and I was watching it when I thought about something

In all of the sci-fi series showing distant human colonies, by and large they are pretty diverse – the Asian kids, the black couple, the blond-haired woman in the local tavern – which got me thinking – really? Many of these distant local colonies seem to have pretty limited transport and tech, and given genetic drift it seems to me that pre-industrial or medieval villages in Asia, Africa and Europe all had one thing in common – the villagers looked like each other

So at the risk of being politically incorrect

1) There's more movement of people than you might think!
2) It sells better to the audience
3) This makes no sense to me
4) So what?

It's sci-fi. Deal with it.

2) with some Hollywood PC thrown in

It's sci-fi. Deal with it.

Actually, as I tell my daughter, "Because it's TV! "

Such homogeneity would take a few generations. Most 'colony' world's are pretty young so folks still look more like where mom and dad came from.
It's also a nice visual clue for the audience.

Although in the Firefly universe, centuries from "Earth that was" humanity would all be pretty intermixed unless there was some seriously ugly racial segregation going on.

The time frame is a good point – especially for the Firefly 'verse where I think the colonies are pretty new

Sadly, I think it was just to pander to diverse audiences. Nothing wrong with that, but I dont think you should read anything else into the series 'history'.

It makes sense to me, based on what I have seen growing up in a former British colony.

Settlers are recruited from various places, but are likly to form associations with people of similar backgrounds or cultural heritage. They will be linked by religion, language, culture and will (at least for the first few generations) maintain those links for comfort and as a reminder of where they came from. This can be seen in Canadian and American cities where you can find a Chinatown, a Little Italy, Calle Ocho or similar. Even if there is no conscious segregation, these sub-communities will develop, and for at least some members of those communities there will be pressure to marry within the community.

And at the same time, living in the same colony/city/community as other cultures or races there will gradually be intermarriage and other links breaking down the barriers.

So to me the Firefly 'Verse with all its racial and ethnic diversity makes perfect sense. Same for Galactica's diversity (although that is explained in-universe with the forced consolidation of refugees from twelve, rather diverse colonies).

It helps emphasize the rag-tag nature of the setting and that it's about humans from all walks of life.
It's a storytelling mechanism.

To take it a step further – how come there aren't MORE Asians on Firefly? Everyone seems to speak at least a little Mandarin, but how often did the show give a speaking part to an Asian character?

Sadly, I think it was just to pander to diverse audiences.

Like white people.

"To take it a step further – how come there aren't MORE Asians on Firefly? Everyone seems to speak at least a little Mandarin, but how often did the show give a speaking part to an Asian character?"

The Piper raises a good point, and although the government of the Firefly 'Verse is an Anglo-Chinese alliance, I suspect that there are a lot more Asian people on the Core Worlds (i.e. the more habitable, richer planets) than out in the colonies on the fringe – which is where Serenity flies

At least, that's how I think Josh Whedon would say

It's an American universe. We all left behind the mother country to get here.

Besides wasn't Firefly, like Star Trek, just an American western with fancy horses?

Vince

2

Im reminded of a '60s scifi movie where the aliens were male japanese actors wearing bright yellow pageboy styled wigs.
cant remember the title.

Alan Baldwin(Jayne) was asked 'where are the Chinese'-he stated, 'They're the top 2%'.

It's an American universe. We all left behind the mother country to get here.
Besides wasn't Firefly, like Star Trek, just an American western with fancy horses?

Sometimes with rather knackered ones! some of the colonies we saw in the series were very run down and backward with a 19`th century American West look to them, including the technology and population.
When the series got to a more populated world things seemed to be a bit more diverse.
The Persephone world had a sort of late 18`th, early 19`th British feel to it and there was a strong hint that the dominant hi-tech Alliance culture had a strong Chinese element to it.

Looks to me like the Chinese built the majority of the starships, terraformed and colonised most of the prime real-estate and the Americans/Westerners were latecomers that settled round the fringes?

The lack of diversity in a dark age village doesn't say a damn thing about what the racial makeup of off world colonies would be. All first world countries in the present day are increasingly diverse, and becoming more so. So the best bet is that (unless some racist SOB creates a "racially pure" colony), if we ever establish settlements on other planets, they will be quite diverse.

Nor would "genetic drift" re-homogenize a colony, at least not in the relatively short timespan contemplated by Firefly or similar.

There is always the possibility that there are (What ever passes as the "Next UN") based colonies that strive for diversity of races/ethnicities.

As for modern examples – IIRC (If I Remember Correctly) from my days as the Singapore/Malaysia/Brunei analyst days – I believe Singapore really strove to mix the representative groups of the Chinese/bumiputera/East Indian ethnicities in the public housing. Nothing sinister for you conspiracy types * but Singapore, since pre-partition from Malaysia, is aware of the potential problems of groups never interacting outside of government activities (Driver's License type settings.) I am an apologetically rabid ethnocentric America but I like what I saw about Singapore from aspect from my analyst days. Yes people like to associate with "like" peoples but it helps when some of your neighbors are "unlike" yourself.

My youngest East Indian daughter loved downtown Chicago (especially the Miracle Mile) because she didn't "stand out as the token Token" in the crowd.

So larger colonies should have a representative mix of races/ethnicities.

*Never assign to conspiracy what can be explained by serendipity, dumb luck, and bureaucracy.

Edit: In my 'childhood' days I was one of the "dark" kid in the neighborhood but today my neighborhood is dominantly Mexican/Mexican-American/Asian – completely reversal of the 1950s and I would be the "anglo/white looking" guy. That is what – 66 years?

Star Trek was renowned in its day as one of the first American TV shows to feature a racially diverse cast, with regular speaking parts for Uhura and Sulu. That's still unusual casting, not seen on the average sitcom. Maybe the sci-fi writers feel an obligation to carry the diversity torch forward.