Patrick Stewart made morality seem cool
Long before the idea of using your privilege for good became a mainstream concept, the man behind Jean-Luc Picard and Charles Xavier instinctively walked that walk.
Photo: Trae Patton/Paramount+
As the midterm election’s “Blue Tsunami” redraws American political lines, there’s been a parallel swing on social media. All the earnest liberal art that’s been written off as cringey or out-of-date since the 2016 election suddenly started to feel a little more uplifting again. Celebratory West Wing clips flooded the internet. The Democratic Party’s official accounts posted election montages set to Hamilton and The Greatest Showman. The Hamilton tour cast got in on the fun. Even Glee was reclaimed as something empowering. If the insidious, irony-poisoned, amoral past few years can be summed up by “Anakin Posting,” this new dawn of “libbing out” is embracing the idea that maybe trying to have an earnest impact on the world doesn’t have to be embarrassing.
In a weird way, it’s a perfect tribute to the late great Patrick Stewart, whose most famous roles and personal politics were both defined by a classic, unwavering sense of right and wrong—and the ability to look cool while imparting those moral lessons. Onscreen, Stewart defended marginalized teens as Professor Charles Xavier and championed intergalactic diplomacy as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Offscreen, he advocated for women experiencing domestic violence and spoke out for LGBTQ+ rights. He capped off his star-making seven-year run on Star Trek: The Next Generation by taking a supporting role in the AIDS-focused gay indie rom-com Jeffrey. And after 2016, he considered becoming a U.S. citizen specifically so he could have a greater role in the opposition to President Donald Trump.
While it’s not that unusual to see a Hollywood actor speak up for liberal causes, it does feel a little more notable coming from a straight, white British man born two months after Winston Churchill first became Prime Minister. Long before the idea of using your privilege for good became a mainstream concept, Stewart instinctively walked that walk. He first opened up in 2004 about the domestic abuse he witnessed against his mother growing up. “At that time, it was unusual for a man, particularly someone as famous and respected as Patrick, to speak so openly about domestic abuse,” human rights lawyer Cherie Blair told The Guardian after his death in October. “His courage in sharing such painful personal experiences helped to break the silence surrounding domestic violence and reminded us that its consequences extend far beyond the immediate victim to the children who witness it.” Back in 2013, Stewart explicitly called on men to join the movement to end violence against women, explaining, “In the same way that it was white men confronting white men in issues of civil rights in the United States, it needs to be men confronting men in the same way, on the issues of domestic violence.
In his work, that bold moral backbone is best embodied on The Next Generation. While Professor X fits the traditional archetype of a caring mentor who helps young people find their heroic purpose in the X-Men films, Captain Picard embodies that same sense of wisdom in a lead role, which is a much rarer combination. Where William Shatner’s Captain Kirk was a swashbuckling golden boy who paired his own sense of morality with a cowboy swagger, Captain Picard is an erudite European diplomat who loves tea and archeology. It’s the sort of character you’d expect to be prissy comic relief, not a dashing leading man. But Stewart’s Shakespeare-trained gravitas turned Picard into one of the defining TV icons of the ’90s—a heartthrob for some generations and a beloved father figure for others.
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