"In Star Trek, where the impact of information technology, markets and consumer goods...is almost completely ignored. Did Jean-Luc Picard ever hope that a short, decisive battle with the Borg would restore consumer confidence within the Federation? For all his vanity, did James T. Kirk ever show the slightest interest in fashion? ... It is tempting to view the absence of consumer products and consumerist values from the series as just bad writing and failure of imagination on the part of the show's writers. But that would be too quick and easy a conclusion. Another way of looking at is is as political allegory, of an enlightened future in which the citizens of the Federation have found a way of being individuals without being rebels, of wearing uniforms without succumbing to a deadening existential uniformity...We live in a society that is the exact opposite. We are all, to an unparalleled degree, self-conscious about what we wear, and the counterculture has played an enormous role in heightening this self-consciousness...The competitive structure of this self-presentation is never far from the surface. Each item must be acquired at an exotic locale, or in an offbeat manner, or for an exceptionally low price. Each item must be unique; it must have its own special story".
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