Comments on: Warning: does not remotely resemble a perfect feminist

By: JL

JL — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:49:58 +0000

Reading your self-description immediately brought this post to mind. You could call it the opposite perspective.

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/terrible-bargain-we-have-regretfully.html

By: Sam H.

Sam H. — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:20:56 +0000

When you talk about being more aware regarding the language you use, the music you listen to etc., is it enough to just have that awareness or is it necessary to take it a step further? Am I allowed to love the line, "I like your pants around your feet" if I tell myself that it's misogynistic? This reminds me of the "I'm just joking" argument. Anyone can get away with anything as long as they say it's a joke or that they understand how wrong it is (while acknowledging they don't really think that way). But can we really expect to remove all bits of misogyny from our lives (is it even fair to call these things misogyny?)? What do we make of the feminist who finds things like "smack my bitch up" amusing?

By: Franki

Franki — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:21:30 +0000

Oh, don't get me wrong; I absolutely loved Uhura in the film, for many of the reasons you stated here (though I would argue the taking advantages of privileges afforded to women thing, because many of those privileges are afforded for the convenience/titillation/pleasure o males). I would add that she is the only character (other than possibly Kirk) who we see promoted to her position by a Starfleet official based on merit. I see the video as a statement that there need to be more women, not better ones. In Star Trek TOS, for example, Pike's first officer was a woman, referred to only as Number One. While I'm not surprised that we didn't see Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand, Number One could feasibly have been inserted into the script. Winona could have been yelling at Jim on the comm when he stole that car. Star Trek is going to be highly male-centric because it's a narrative focused around Kirk and Spock, but there's room in the story for women as well.

Also, I will be upset beyond belief if Nurse Chapel doesn't make an appearance in the next movie.

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:29:33 +0000

Re: Star trek:

I saw Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Uhura as very Feminist. She's dismissive of Kirk, pushy in advancing her career, and portrayed as super-intelligent, sophisticated and superior. She almost always has the classically Feminist glare of disapproval cast in Kirk's direction. I suspect that people like Socks and Silverstein don't even see that because it just seems so natural and necessary, given today's climate. And I don't get the disapproval of the miniskirt -- do the writers actually have eyes to see how young, empowered women are dressing these days? If anything the sexualized appearance seemed particularly contemporary to me, in light of the current mores around dress.

In practical terms, I'm not quite sure what else Abrams could have done without introducing new characters. The original Trek did not feature prominent women, and the one Woman it did feature was thoroughly made-over in this film as an empowered Feminist Woman.

I'll note in closing, as I commented there, that the Uhura/Spock relationship is used to communicate – again with subtlety – the phenomenon of attractive women leveraging personal relationships to further their careers. In the film, Uhura confronts Spock about her ship assignment (not to the Enterprise) and he comments that he recommended another ship so as to avoid the appearance of favoritism. That comment doesn't make much sense at that stage in the film, because we do not know the nature of their relationship yet. Hence the subtlety. But later on we learn that there is indeed a personal, romantic relationship between Uhura and Spock, and she used it to leverage her way onto the Enterprise. The film also notes that Spock was one of her instructors, which raises the issue of personal relationships between teachers and students, which are almost always considered inappropriate. Again, Abrams is being subtle here by tucking it in at an earlier stage when we do not know the relationship exists, but when you step back and look at the bigger picture, there are a lot of things concerning about the relationship between Spock and Uhura, and which would raise eyebrows in classrooms and workplaces alike. And as I said in an earlier comment, taking advantage of privileges afforded only to women is an essentially Feminist act.