fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2739 ]

[ SECRET POST #2739 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2739 ⌋

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I think the problem is that SO many of her scenes revolve around Spock -- in the opening with the volcano, then when she talks with Kirk, there's a nice moment when they discuss Pike that immediately switches to talking about Spock (Kirk's fault there, but I'm talking about the context of the narrative). Then there's Kirk asking if she and Spock can work together. Then there's her discussion with Spock on Kronos. Then, later, she goes down to fight Khan with Spock.

All in all, I think there's three scenes of hers that don't revolve around Spock -- her briefly talking to Kirk about Pike, the Klingon scene, and then when Kirk talks to her right before he heads off with Harrison to board the vengeance. And, of those, only the Klingon scene has any real meat to it.

When you compare her role to, say, McCoy, you'll see what I mean -- McCoy is primarily Kirk's friend, but he still gets scenes with Sulu, with Spock, with Carol that exist independently of Kirk. And he's a less prominent character than Uhura (which I don't mind, just to be clear -- much as I love McCoy, I think this is a girlfriend).

I think a lot of the "Spock's girlfriend" talk has to do with the fact that SO MUCH of her role in STID is inseparable from Spock.

Edit to above: "much as I love McCoy, I think this is a girlfriend" should read "I think this is a good thing"

This is what happens when I erase blocks of texts and then don't go back and re-read. Sorry for the confusion.

Everyone's scenes revolve around Kirk & Spock. Everyone.

And not all of her scenes revolved around Spock. Her most memorable scenes do (ST), but that is the nature of the emotions in those scenes. We don't even know there is a connection between them at first, but we've already had three Uhura scenes (at least).

STID
She also had scenes with Sulu, Scotty and Kirk. She has scenes where she accomplished things unrelated to her relationship to Spock. These scenes don't matter to people because they are so busy examining her relationship, which does exist and should have some relevance, to care about them.

This is a character driven series about the relationships they have. Family was the theme of STID.

I would say, though, that Scotty and Uhura's especially are fixated on one person. For Scotty it's Kirk and for Uhura it's Spock. Sulu and Chekov get very little screen time, but Scotty barely interacts with anyone but Kirk while Uhura barely interacts with anyone but Spock. McCoy gets a bit more variety -- he has scenes with Khan, Kirk, Sulu, and Carol Marcus.

I think the reason the writing of Uhura's role gets picked on a lot is because she's being billed up there with Kirk and Spock (check any of the posters or promotional materials) while her role is basically equally to Scotty's (or even less so in some parts). In STID, for example, I'd say Scotty got a meatier role in terms of plot relevance than she did -- refusing to sign for the torpedoes, sneaking onboard the vengeance, stopping Marcus, letting Kirk and Khan in, then fighting alongside them. Uhura had some moments too -- like the Klingons and fighting Khan -- but they were fewer and the Klingons, in particular, didn't end up listening to her.

People are annoyed that they're playing her up without really giving her the substance that the promotional material is implying. I mean, in terms of backstory, we know more about McCoy than Uhura -- we know why he joined Starfleet, we know he has aviophobia, we know he was divorced and lost basically everything in that divorce. With Uhura, the most backstory she's been given is that she was Gaila's roommate. So I think a lot of fans feel cheated. At least, that's sometimes how I feel.

Has Uhura's role been improved. I think so -- hence why I said it was literally the only good thing to come out of the reboots. But it's still got a lot of flaws and room for improvement. And, unlike basically every other role, I don't think the writing of her narrative lives up to the promotional material.

My two cents for what they are worth.

In the first one, Uhura's clearly on Spock's side, but her plot was also focused on showing who Kirk was growing to be. She was right there for every step in his development from underachieving genius to captain.

In the second, while she was illustrating Spock's PTSD she was also, along with the other characters, highlighting Kirk's need to rely on his family. He was making rash decisions and most of them had a moment to show how much Kirk needs to rely on his crew. Her role in this movie was poorly written, imho, but it wasn't only UhuraxSpock. UhuraxKirk was there too.

"Has Uhura's role been improved. I think so -- hence why I said it was literally the only good thing to come out of the reboots. But it's still got a lot of flaws and room for improvement. And, unlike basically every other role, I don't think the writing of her narrative lives up to the promotional material." I agree with your position. She has been improved, but there is room for improvement.

I see what you mean. I just think that Kirk and Uhura didn't really get a chance to build a relationship on their own very well. I really like the scene where she asks him about Pike, but it irritates me a tad that this immediately transitions to talking about Spock although, on some level, I understand that this because he's the one they're both currently frustrated with. But I do wish they could develop their friendship independently.

One thing that does bother me about Kirk/Uhura, though, is that it seems like Kirk only really starts to respect her once he finds out she's Spock's girlfriend. As though now that she's claimed and "off limits" he's going to treat her like a friend and person instead of a potential conquest. In the commentary during the kiss on the transporter pad, for example, they even say that Kirk's thinking he's "lost." As though Uhura telling him "no" consistently over three years ago counts for nothing and it takes seeing Spock kissing her to let him know he doesn't have a chance.

I do agree that Uhura's role gets picked apart A LOT. In ways that the other characters aren't scrutinized. But I think that the writers do deserve some of the blame for not wholly delivering on what the marketing promised.

Her role does get scrutinized more than other characters and still people manage to disregard her role and contributions to the story.

Once people realized she and Spock were in a relationship, everything she contributed to Kirk's plot line and to move the story forward no longer mattered. It's as if it didn't exist.

That can't be blamed on the writers, or the director -- it's there. That rests solely with the viewer.

Hence why I said the writers deserve PART of the blame. Because I do think Uhura's role is picked apart much more than fair. But given that there are flaws in the writing some of it is, undoubtedly, going to be legitimate.

Her role gets scrutinized more than other characters -- I agree
People disregard her role and contributions to the story -- I agree
Once people realized she and Spock were in a relationship, everything she contributed to Kirk's plot line no longer mattered -- I agree and disagree. Yes, some people do this. But the handling of Kirk and Uhura's relationship is not perfect either IMO. Like I said, I really dislike that Kirk can't seem to treat Uhura like an actual person and they can't respect each other until AFTER he learns that she's Spock's girlfriend. Quite simply, it reminds me too much of men in bars who won't back off until they find out you're "taken." It reinforces the idea that a woman (Uhura's) "no" doesn't mean anything and only another man's claim is worth respecting.

That blame can and most definitely should be placed on the writers/director and not the viewer in my opinion.

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