Reconciling the Not-So-Tragic Mulatta of Star Trek: Voyager

• In Event: Popular Culture in the Ambivalent Construction of Race and Hybridity

Abstract

Screenwriters have long painted mixed race characters as afflicted stereotypes. The “tragic mulatta” is among the most prominent of these. Much scholarship exists on the tragic mulatta in film, but little is available on recent subversions of the stereotype. This paper analyzes B’Elanna Torres of Star Trek: Voyager, who superficially fulfills the stereotype. Drawing on Gloria Anzaldúa, this paper demonstrates that B’Elanna not only subverts the stereotype, but she also succeeds in reconciling its dualities.

Author

• Katie Ramos, University of Wisconsin, Madison