I regularly get conned thinking that there is more MRA talking points being presented on TV than is real. But I think this time it's for real.

Warnings:

  1. Spoilers for S03E07 of Orville.

  2. Wall of text

The short version of what happened is the episode juxtaposed genocidal racism with misandry thereby treating them both as regressive and unenlightened.

For more context, here's what happened:

Orville is a sort of rip off from Star Trek. But frankly, I see it more as it true spiritual successor than the various actual Star Trek shows out there. It's a bit goofier but not too goofy.

I was quite suspicious of the show right from the start because on the first episode they forced a situation where a guy was forced to reconcile and become friends with his ex wife that cheated on him. There were some serious cuck vibes in there. Also, many of the men are regularly portrayed as buffoons while the women never are.

So I haven't been watching the show regularly. But that last episode contained clear and blatant anti-misandry in a way I don't think I've really seen on TV before (except a couple of times taking o the topic of sexual harassment against men by women way back in the 90s).

At the end of last season, a race of sentient robots declared war on the Union (Orville's equivalent of the Federation). A prominent member of the crew was part of that race and did a lot of damage before getting control of himself back. Many people died because of this.

He was eventually forgiven, in no small part because he was instrumental in repelling the robot's initial attack. But some of the crew and in particular an important female character never forgave him and still hates him (and his entire race).

This character arc started from the first episode up to the latest (so 7 episodes). In the last episode there were two parallel storylines.

In one, a small away team goes to investigate a life sign on a planet that was supposed to be deserted. There they find one of those robots and woman that lives with him. The robot had been modified to have emotions and empathy (which the others lack). We also that robot's history, it was initially constructed as a domestic robot, but it and many others like it, developed sentience and started to become disobedient. The company that produced the robots had prepared a contingency: a remote controlled device that can deliver debilitating pain to the robot at the push of a button. The population turned cruel and sadistic towards the robots. Eventually, the robots rebelled and killed everyone. They now want to rid the galaxy of organics. The robot with emotions explains this to the hate filled woman and points out the symmetry of hating all the members of a race for the actions of a few or even most. The woman then begins to forgive the robot.

In the second parallel storyline, the Orville (it's a ship, like the Enterprise) is attempting to form a defense alliance with an alien race against the robots (they've have been doing this this whole season). This particular alien race is a female supremacist race. To make it possible to start a dialog with them, they had the high ranking male crew present themselves as low ranks and the low rank women presented as high ranking. The whole subterfuge was supposed to come to an end during a dinner with the aliens and both the men and women present. At one point the aliens explain that males have a biological need for supremacy and that because of it they must be kept subordinates. Later on the same alien tries to claim one of the male crew as a mate, not understanding why she couldn't have him if no one has claimed ownership of him. Ultimately the female first officer explains that the male in question is the captain, and that their society functions just fine with both men and women treated as equals.

So in both storylines you find condemnation for attempting to smear an entire class of people for actions not done by everyone in that class. And in the second story line you find the classic Star Trek tactic of presenting a poor behavior found in society today (misandry) and showing how it no longer exists in the future utopia (the Union) while also having an alien race that has taken that behavior to an extreme just so that it could be condemned.

Star Trek did this in the original series with the Klingons and warmongering. And they did it again in Star Trek TNG with the Ferengi and greed/misogyny.

It's not like MRA talking points have never been presented on TV before. Sexual harassement against men in particular have seen a few rare appearances. But they are very rare. And this one was explicit anti female supremacy using modern misandrist talking points. I'm just hoping that it's the start of a new trend.

This just got me doing some wishful thinking. I've watched both the Captain Marvel movie (very misandrist) and the Ms Marvel series (not misandrist at all as far as I can tell). And it's confirmed that there will be a movie released next year with both superheroes. I can just imagine the heroine from Ms Marvel scolding Captain American for her misandry. It would be so perfect.