hellotailor: thetrekkiehasthephonebox: Sources:Star Trek (2009) Bechdel TestStar Trek Into Darkness
hellotailor: thetrekkiehasthephonebox: Sources:Star Trek (2009) Bechdel TestStar Trek Into Darkness Bechdel Test Interview with Gene RoddenberryStar Trek (2009) BudgetStar Trek Into Darkness Budget Because I’ve been thinking about all of this a lot lately, and I decided I should probably channel that thought into something. TOO MANY DICKS ON THE ENTERPRISE. It’s interesting that this post came across my dash today because I just rewatched The Search For Spock and I was actually going to make a post about how it portrays female characters compared to Reboot. The Search For Spock (made in 1984, written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Leonard Nimoy) does not pass the Bechdel Test. It is most definitely a movie about dudes, but (imo) what makes it so strikingly different from the Reboot franchise, is that while there are only a few female characters, they are not sexualized or objectified in any way. There are only two female characters of note - Uhura and Saavik - and both of them are Starfleet officers who wear uniforms identical to the male officers and both remain fully dressed at all times. (There is one female Klingon with a few minutes of screentime who wears a dress that shows quite a bit of cleavage, but the majority of her shots are framed from the neck up, so it doesn’t come across as a gratuitous male gaze thing. There is also a female Vulcan healer at the end who wears robes nearly identical to the male Vulcans, as well as a handful of female Starfleet officers here and there wearing the same uniform as the men.) There’s a scene with McCoy in one of those shady intergalactic bars popular in space movies, which feels like the perfect opportunity for a bunch of half naked exotic lady aliens with five breasts or whatever, but there is no noticeable difference in how the female background characters are dressed compared to the male characters. The waitress is dressed in a spandex outfit, but like the Klingon in the beginning, her speaking shot is framed from the neck up, and McCoy does not flirt with her or make any comments about her appearance. So while this film does not pass the Bechdel Test, it doesn’t give me any skeevy feelings wrt the portrayal of female characters. The film is about the lengths that Kirk (and secondarily, the rest of the Enterprise crew) will go to in order to save Spock, and that’s the focus of nearly every scene. For all his reputation as a ladies man or a playboy, Kirk does not flirt with any women or make any sexualized comments about women in the entire film. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gendered or sexualized comment made by anyone, and the only relationship that gets any significant attention is the one between Kirk and Spock. The Search For Spock does not achieve the equal gender representation that Gene Roddenberry talked about, but the women who are in the film serve roles equal to the men and are not depicted as objects of desire. Uhura is awesome in this film and I desperately wish she had more scenes, but her supporting role is equal to that of Sulu, Scotty, and Chekhov. She gets her moment to be the hero, and it’s not sexualized in any way. Saavik intervenes when the shell-of-Spock is going through pon farr, but it’s not remotely sexual, which is actually pretty amazing when you consider what pon farr is all about. She remains fully dressed, and the scene is one of grim determination rather than sexytimes. I’m pretty sure JJ Abrams’ version of fuck-or-die would not be two fully clothed people awkwardly touching fingers while keeping as much distance as Vulcanly possible between their bodies. So yeah, needs more ladies, but the ladies who are in this film are not sexualized and serve similar purposes to the male supporting characters. The women are not depicted as objects of desire to either the male characters or the audience, and the only character who gets (sort of) fridged is a man. This is such a perfect example of why JJ Abrams is an idiot for throwing in gratuitous scantily clad ladies in order to appeal to the “rather large male fanbase”: The Search For Spock did not objectify women, and yet somehow the Star Trek franchise continued on for seven more films and four television series before the Reboot. Imagine that. It’s possible to make a film about all those dicks on the Enterprise without being a giant dick yourself. -- source link