To Boldly Go...Backwards
I can't remember wanting to love a movie as much as I wanted to love the new Star Trek.
I grew up watching the original series in re-runs, entranced by the hard-charging, womanizing captain of the Enterprise, his coolly logical (but underneath the exterior, tormented and passionate!) first officer, and its egalitarian vision of the future.
I watched every episode. I went to all the movies. I devoured every paperback that detailed the further adventures of the Enterprise's crew. When I was thirteen, I even -- oh, this is painful -- convinced my parents to take me to a Star Trek convention in downtown Hartford. (My parents were not the most socially adroit people, but even they somehow realized that this was a severely nerdy undertaking. They dropped me off at the corner).
When the ads for the new film started running, I should have been suspicious. "Not your father's Star Trek?" What was wrong with my father's Star Trek? I liked my father's Star Trek! But still, there I was, on opening day, with a bucket of popcorn, surrounded by what looked like the entire staff of several area comic-book stores.
There was much to love about the movie. Kirk was hot, and Spock was cool, and their relationship felt just right, at once edgy and familiar. Unlike the earlier outings, where a shaken camera connoted a collision, danger, and/or black holes and time warps, the special effects were, indeed, special.
I'm not so much of a nerd that I couldn't handle the way the film chucked continuity and ignored some of the original show's rules of the road (although, note to J.J. Abrams: if a Vulcan is bonded and his spouse suddenly dies, he either dies, too, or ends up in mortal agony, and should not be depicted just calmly hanging out on a transporter pad. Okay, fine, maybe I am that much of a nerd).
I was even okay with the way the plot recycled Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (in "Khan," the villain deploys a Doomsday weapon because he believes Kirk was responsible for the death of his wife. In "Trek," the villain deploys a Doomsday weapon because he believes Spock was responsible for the death of his wife....and let me just add that, in the all-important categories of "pecs," and "scenery chewing," Eric Bana is no Ricardo Montalban.)
Honestly, I didn't have a problem until about midway through the film...at which point I realized that every single lady on screen was either a mother, a ho, or an intergalactic hood ornament.
We begin with mama Kirk. As the film opens, she screams and grunts her way through labor, pops out young James T., bids her doomed husband a weepy farewell, and is never seen or heard from again. How does she feel when her reckless son runs off to join Starfleet? We don't know. The movie doesn't ask.
Next up: the luscious Andorian Kirk beds at Starfleet Academy. She's green. That's about it...except somewhere, Eddie Murphy is smiling (I'd link to his bit about the dubious hygiene of green-faced girls, but it's filthy. Filthy!)
Even though Romulan war ships were, in the original series, frequently commanded by women, there's nary a chick aboard rogue Romulan Nero's vessel. This, perhaps, explains why he and his crew are in such a bad mood.
The film throws the ladies a few bones in the form of a couple of female members of the Vulcan High Council. There's a woefully underutilized Winona Ryder as Spock's human mother, and a tossed-off reference to Leonard McCoy's ex (the bitch took everything, don'tcha know, leaving him with just his...well, never mind).
Finally, there's Uhura...and what Abrams and company do with the Enterprise's communications officer will not be warming the cockles of any feminist hearts.
We first meet her at a bar, all ponytail, miniskirt, and long legs. Kirk hits on her. She brushes him off. He persists, prompting Uhura's fellow cadets to mop the floor with him (couldn't she have kicked his ass herself? Probably. So why didn't the movie let her?)
We are told, rather than shown, that Uhura is an extraordinarily capable linguist. We are told, rather than shown, that she's intercepted an important transmission, the plot device that jump-starts the film's action...as soon as Kirk tells Captain Pike about it. But Uhura's primary function isn't professional. Her job, in this brave new universe, is to look cute in a red dress, and to humanize (and by "humanize" I mean "mack on") her coolly logical, eminently reasonable mate.
In other words, she's Michelle Obama in outer space.
I'm willing to be patient here. I understand that, to attract an audience glutted on testosterone-heavy summer flicks, you need a certain amount of the old ultraviolence to get butts in seats, and that the lofty, utopian ideals of the original have to make way for a few brute shoot 'em ups. I understand the value of simply showing audiences an (allegedly) strong black woman, even if most of what she does is stand around looking worried; the same way I know that Michelle Obama has to tread carefully as she makes the role of First Lady her own. And hey, maybe organic gardening and pairing J. Crew twin sets with kicky belts and cute pins aren't bad places to start. Baby steps.
In spite of my disappointment, I've still got high hopes for the new Trek franchise. In a few years, my daughters will be old enough to watch TV and movies the way I watched them: for entertainment, yes, but for inspiration, too, for a vision, or a series of competing and overlapping visions, of how their future could look.
Plus, if the guy who gave us Sydney Bristow and Kate Austin can't serve up any kick-ass, take-charge ladies, then who can? It's only logical.
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(cont'd from previous comment)
As for the telling vs showing - how much more showing do you need than having transmissions she picks up be INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT? How much more showing do you need than having her REPLACE AN OFFICER WHILE ONLY A STUDENT? How much more showing do you need than having her tell her boyfriend that protecting appearances isn't as important as her getting her due?
Even the Orion girl deserves more credit than you gave her. Yeah, she's sleeping with Kirk (that's what Orions do), but we also see her in uniform in STARFLEET. We've never seen an Orion in Starfleet, and that was extremely telling - here's this extremely sexual young woman from an extremely sexual species, and she's training to be an officer in Starfleet!
You seem to equate strong women with women who "kick-ass", and that isn't always the case. I strongly recommend you give this new film a second viewing. I think you missed a LOT.
PS - Kate Austen hasn't been a "strong female character" since season 1 of Lost. Her entire character since then has been "Let's go back for Jack! Sawyer! Let's go back for Jack! Sawyer!"
Jennifer,
I love your books, but I don't think you and I saw the same Star Trek movie. In the Star Trek movie I saw, Uhura was a woman who could handle and even found amusement in being hit on and didn't NEED her "honor" defended. Those guys "protecting" her were never asked to, and were totally doing it out of their own misguided sense of maleness. She didn't need protecting, nor did she feel like her honor was besmirched. Despite the fact that she wasn't interested in Kirk, she was giving as good as she got and having FUN with it! (God forbid, right? After all, women are supposed to be INSULTED when they get hit on in bars, right?)
The Uhura in the movie I saw went up to her boyfriend who put her on a ship she didn't want to be on and told him "Look, just cause we're dating doesn't mean you have the right to put me on a ship i'm TOO QUALIFIED TO BE ON. I'm on the Enterprise." She knew how much she was worth, she demanded her place, and she got it.
When they needed someone who spoke Romulan, she said she spoke all three dialects. Captain Pike then removed the Lieutenant at communications, and replaced him with this FEMALE CADET who was more qualified to do the job. (to be continued...)
Yeah, and I was watching In Her Shoes the other day, and I was appalled by the lack of strong male characters. Can't we make Cameron Diaz a male who rescues endangered animals on Mt. Hood or something? Why can't evey single work of fiction have characters in it that match my own personal world view?
Or, alternatively, Jennifer can write her chick lit books with flat male characters who and Abrams can continue to to knock out hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales every time he makes a movie.
Q: "If the guy who gave us Sydney Bristo and Kate Austin cant serve up any kick-ass, take-charge ladies, then who can?"
A: Joss Whedon. Or Ron Moore.
Also .... "ladies"?? How about "women"? It would give the article more credibility. As would dropping the Michelle Obama comparisons.
Whedon is almost as big a hack as Abrams, and is almost as overrated as Apatow.
BROMANCE & CAST AWAY CHICKS- This outplayed scenario has been going on since "Smokey and the Bandit "car chases, until Sally Field glossed the screen and momentarily freeze-framed the guy thing. On the other extreme there are the infamous James Bond divas, whose sultry ways sent me hiding under a rock.
From the cover-girl Charlie’s Angel's to Pam Greer's "Coffee" franchise we've seen the role-reversal tough kick-fanny Mama's, who have nothing to do on a clear-headed day with Michelle Obama - Our First Lady consciously raising two young daughters.
Preparing your daughters for films you like...hmmm. Some hard-road to Star Trek.
MerrieWay would like to offer up 'Media Smarts 4 Young Folks' as a jump-smart for learning critical viewing skills for birth- 8- years-old. Monitoring the images blasting kids brains will be a life saver, mostly for you, mom - It was for me.
Love your writing style Jennifer Weiner...it flashes a perky discussion.
Haven't seen it yet, but I think that Michelle Obama reference was out of line.
Unacceptable.
1.) You seem to assume because women were in this movie that they had to be your type of lady.
2.) That you can take two random black women, one real and one fictional, and compare their ability to present the kind of woman you feel like you can be proud of. Are there any black women who are meeting your standards, real or fictional?
I liked this movie because it was a bromance. The writers' focus was Spock and Kirk. Spock Prime gave that clue early and stated it late in the movie.
Sometimes as a woman, it is difficult to appreciate and understand buddy movies when we see them. I've come to accept that sometimes it is not about us as women. Sometimes it is about men coming to terms with themselves.
The Trek Universe has had plenty of strong women if you feel like this is a cheap and trashy franchise, make one for all of us women with your shining example right out front.
Just thought I'd make an observation if no one has as yet: In your article yoyu reference Kirk's bedmate at Starfleet Academy as a luscious Andorian with green skin. If you are a long time watcher of the franchise, you should have caught that mistake: Andorians are blue skinned; it was/is the Orion slave girls who were/are green skinned. somebody messed up along the line. Perhaps someone will mark it off to the lady in question being a hybrid/mixed blood :) ?
Uh, I'm sorry, you said "Uhura is Michelle Obama in outer space", why?
One awesome black woman does not equal another awesome black woman. I object in the strongest terms on behalf of Michelle Obama! In this film (and of course this is OMO), Uhura was nothing more than "bridge candy". She talked about her qualifications instead of lived them, whereas Michelle O doesn't have to spout her resume to anyone! If anything Michelle O is more like the original -- and irreplaceable -- Nichelle Nichols.
I think that the whole Spock/Uhura thing was badly done, and too "on point" in terms of plot. It would have been so much better if they never sucked face, but it was merely implied and caused you to wonder until the sequel. It's nice that the nerd gets the hot girl, but it is hardly the groundbreaker of Kirk and Uhura in 'the kiss that broke America' in "Plato's Stepchildren".
Basically, J J Abrams dropped a lot of his trademark subtlety in favor of overt violence and sex, and that disappointed me.
But Uhura as metaphor for the First Lady? Uh no. I do not agree.
Oh dear, a boys-own flick with too few girls in it. Gee whiz, that's bad.
More interesting to me were the incessant slip-pans and jump-cuts: either the film was edited for an audience with the attention span of a fruit fly or there was not enough excitement in plot, character or action to keep people interested.
Best of all, was the moral core of the film: only Chekov and Sulu earned their slots on the Enterprise. Uhuru got hers because she was Spock's squeeze, while Spock (the younger), Kirk and Scotty got theirs because Spock (the elder) cheated - giving them information from the deus-ex-machina seats.
Don't try to reduce UhurA to a love interest without brains or merit. She is at the top of her class and unmatched in her area of study. She was the caliber of officer the Enterprise required and she almost lost the commission of her choice because she and Spock were involved. She spoke up and demanded her due, which is what a man would have done. Good for her. Obviously, she can separate personal from business.
This was done by JJ Abrams, so sucking hard is all it could do. Anyone expecting an iota of aesthetic merit or profundity is hopeless.
JJ Abrams rocks...to have your name attached to THE best show on TV (that would be "Lost"), you have to be doing something right.
It must be easy going through life with such low standards.
Give me a break. Save that battle for something more legit. I had a blast!
Who are you to decide what's legit? I certainly resent excluded from the stories that are important to me and my culture. Paying my money and spending my time on what turns out to be entertainment that makes me invisible-- again-- kinda sucks.
It's something you will probably never experience, white male dude.
ditto to you, Shawn - i'm with you
(apparently, invisible - again)
You and your "culture"? Huh? One movie cannot be expected to relevant or even comprehensible to every country, tribe and culture on the planet.
By the way, the very reason Star Trek was considered out of gas as a franchise is because it had become bogged down - immobilized, really - in political correctness. Too many all knowing, all wise female leads in every show, and every off-color, butt-grabbing Captain Kirk types (and macho Hispanic types, or sexually-expressive Black American types) had evidently been outlawed or brain-wiped. The new Star Trek is a blockbuster because it brought back genuine humanity and yes, authentic maleness, back to the franchise.
That's a hard Roe to ho.
Jennifer Weiner posting on HuffPost! How cool! I love your books!
Not much of a fan of Star Trek, though. As a child I was paralyzed with fear if I watched the show so never got hooked. Oh well.
"Ho"? Who's being all retrosexist here? Uhura acted on her sexuality. So did Kirk. Do we get condemnation of Kirk for being a...uh, wait, there really is no masculine equivalent of "ho" is there.
Gigolo? Skanky guy? Guy?
You're right - "guy" about covers it ;-)
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