Mir Ramblings

thisfeliciaday:

You are officially spoiled if you read below, NO COMPLAINTS!

Up front I will say I enjoyed this latest Star Trek movie a lot. It was super noisy, but enjoyable, beautifully executed, and I particularly like some of the secondary characters, Spock was excellent, etc etc. I just want to share an…

Disclaimers: Spoilers. 

Also, I am primarily a Star Wars fan, so if I have made mistakes below, feel free to politely help clarify!

This is a different reality. If you’re going to reboot Khan as a white male you should feel welcome to step outside of the typical casting for other characters, too. I thought Benedict Cumberbatch did an amazing job as Khan, however I felt like other characters could also have been cast in this Star Trek alternate reality to reflect the fact that it has always been in many ways a pioneer of diversity. In my opinion, you are more than welcome to cast someone you find fits the role just as Benedict Cumberbatch did for Khan in “color-blind casting,” but this could be reflected as well in traditionally white male characters, such as Christopher Pike or Admiral Marcus. Historically, while sadly lacking in other than cis-gendered non-heterosexual relationships and orientations, Star Trek has always welcomed cast members from many backgrounds, and shows a truly global, let alone intergalactic view of its universe. And it owned that. Again. And again. So why did this incarnation not? Were those Starfleet meetings supposed to be comprised of members of all of the United Federation of Planets? If so, why do I not recall there being any representatives of note besides white, human males? 

The role of women in the film, as Felicia Day says in the post above, is also extremely disappointing. Though Uhura shows bravery with, “Then Let Me Speak Klingon,” besides that, most of her conversations revolve on her relationship to Spock. And while Alice Eve does a commendable job in the narrow role of Dr. Marcus, despite her intellect and her possession of tenacious curiosity and drive to place herself aboard Enterprise, her gratuitous lingerie scene with Kirk and the use of her relationship to her father as her largest contributions to the film are disheartening. (We also don’t know why we can’t see her face.) Even if the two characters had spoke, it is unlikely that the film would pass the Bechdel Test. 

This is the future, and in the future, we should all hope that those sitting around the Starfleet roundtable preparing to make important decisions are more diverse. That the people who “boldly go” are much bolder than this. 

batfish:

You’re looking at a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft being refueled by the 151st Air Refueling Wing over southern Idaho last week. But those are just details. What you’re really looking at is a shock of beautiful, caught at a moment of technological awesomeness. [Flickr]

I’ve been aboard refuelers who were giving the drink to my fighter jets, but that was daytime.  This is awfully pretty.