Cenuri and narms

[ajac]

I LOVE THIS SERIES but it just hit me on my like 100th rematch of hte series... are the narm suppose to be Africans/slave races of Earth and the Centuri suppose to be the rich man taking there land? it just seems so.

 

[JoeD80]

It's more of a general sense of history. These themes manifest in different places and times. I've seen Joe describe the Centauri concept as Roman, Japanese, and British, and I'm sure there are many other interpretations out there.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

The Centauri seemed rather Roman to me, or perhaps Italians from late dark ages to the early Renaissance.

The Narns seemed sort of Japanese, (as with the samurai of my avatar,) but also kind of African, especially in decor. And, the Japanese as a whole hadn't been subjugated, as had the Narns.

I think JMS drew on many sources for his depictions, and we aren't really meant to take the B5 races as close analogs for any human races, or cultures. But, there are often obvious parallels.

 

[Alioth]

It's definitely a good thing, IMHO, that JMS didn't make the alien races clearly analogous to any particular human culture or civilization, avoided obvious or direct historical analogs, and in general avoided making episodes synching with current political or social events and whatnot (for the most part I get that impression, although I didn't view the show at the time it aired in the 90s so I'm not sure if there may have been one or two eps like that, but various ST franchise shows were--sometimes annoyingly--riddled with these). There are strands of it that resonate or "rhyme" with our history, but other strands in the same depicted character or culture or event that make it in other ways very different from that same history we wish to try comparing to. In other words, we're forced to see it for what it is itself, and not always judge with the benefit of hindsight from our own history.

And history itself never completely "repeats", but it can rhyme--and we need to be on our toes to notice the significant differences in the new, as well as the similarities, in order to deal with the new situations favorably.

 

[RW7427]

I always thought of the Centauri like the French of Napolean's time.

 

[Kara Baxter]

There's a theme??

I just notice the weird clothes.