The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by nerdycellist:

KeithS is reading my mind.

Why yes, in real life being someone's girlfriend doesn't relegate you to existing as some sort of peripheral "love interest", however the way this film was written, that was Uhura's primary character trait. Part of this I will chalk up to the fact that with that huge a cast, not everyone gets to be featured, but the other dudes who get the short shrift pretty much all get a highlight - Sulu kicks some ass with a sword, Chekov figures out how to lock onto someone moving very fast with the transporter, Scotty's just all around cool... Uhura does make an important discovery, but we don't actually see her do that; she tells her underwear-clad roommate about it while she's taking off her top all sexy-like. At the moment this information becomes relevant, it's used to prove how valuable Kirk is.

I would hope the next film gives her a bit more to do, and I'd love to see the romantic subplot either dropped or so far in the background it's just another aspect of the character, like her brown eyes, and not her main characteristic.

But Keith is right - these are action flick tropes, and it's unlikely that they'll change too much in the next film. It's one of the reasons I prefer TV sci-fi over film.

And again I say, give the women some damn leggings. Or put one of the main men in a minidress.

Xopher -

I'm with Summer... as far as sexism is concerned, a couple of maddening moments onscreen (probably less than 3 minutes) didn't negate the rest of the film for me. (there was more egregious misogyny in the Transformers trailer shown before the film.) However, I am only a casual-to-midrange fan of TOS so my lack of objection to treadmarks left on the canon may be taken with a grain of salt.

Overall I really liked the film, but I mentioned some of my issues with sexism in the open thread.

Yep, miniskirts are stupid.That scene with the two roommates was right out of a Frank Miller comic. I found Zoe Saldana underwhelming.

And frankly, while I like that little was made of the Uhura/Spock relationship, can a woman only exist in a sci-fi action flick if she's somebody's fucking girlfriend? Underwritten as the original Uhura was, at least her character wasn't defined by her relationship with a man.

All in all, just a couple of infuriating points in an otherwise enjoyable film.

That puppy matrix link is like a graphic representation of my "happy place" - completely swarmed by corgi puppies.

My roommate informs me that puppies actually have needle-sharp teeth, but for the sake of my happy place, I will continue to imagine soft snouts and gentle paws.

*sigh*

Lee -

Overall, I liked the movie, but I have to agree with debcha that gur va syntenagr fprar jnf bireqbar naq cbeavsvrq. Ahzore bar, vs n jbzna trgf vagreehcgrq ol na harkcrpgrq ebbzzngr, cebonoyl gur svefg guvat fur'q qb (nsgre uvqvat ure oblsevraq) jbhyq or gb teno n furrg sbe pbirevat, be cbffvoyl yrnc hc naq cergraq gb or ybbxvat sbe pybgurf. Ng nal engr, fur jbhyqa'g or ybhatvat frqhpgviryl va irel frkl haqreguvatf juvyfg ubyqvat n pbairefngvba jvgu gur ebbzzngr. Nyfb, fgenvtug jbzra qba'g haqerff nyy frkl sbe bgure jbzra - jvgu gbffvat unve naq nepurq onpxf, snpvat gurve ynql-sevraqf nf gurl jevttyr bhg bs gurve pybgurf. Yvxr gur pyvpur lbhat jbzna va gur ubeebe zbivr, ehaavat nobhg va n guva gnax gbc, ab oen naq cnagvrf jrqtrq va ure ohgg be fyvqvat bss ure uvcf, guvf vf ba svyz bayl gb gvgvyyngr.

Vg zneerq na bgurejvfr uhzbebhf - naq vzcbegnag - fprar sbe zr.

Plus, idiotic tunic dresses. You could practically see the women on the Enterprise worrying about peeling their thighs from the plastic/leather chairs.

Nonetheless, I adored the over the top gratuitous beefcake in Wolverine. If about 193 more films do that in the next couple of years, we might be even with all the dumb chick cheescake we've seen in the last 6 months.

I was a slacker kind of kid who was bored to tears with most of junior high and high school. When we moved from Utah to Illinois between 7th and 8th grades I found that my new school did not have different levels of english and math, as my previous school had, but instead had a double period for Language Arts. After about two weeks, I surmised it was remedial. Very few kids who had grown up in that district thought of reading as anything other than a chore.

I got called into the principal's office in 8th grade for allegedly plagiarizing a paper on WWII. Some rather disgruntled sarcasm from me and an emergency conference with my Language Arts teacher (who confirmed that yes, I was a lazy thing who rarely did homework, but also, I was able to write a passable 8th grade level essay on the fly) got me off the hook.

TNH -

Thanks so much for the Sister Dottie S. Dixon link. I visited her website and listened to several "potcasts" and she's a hoot. I'm thinking of sending a link to my mom, but I'm not sure she'll get certain, ah, aspects of the performance.

Never thought I'd say this, but it's a shame I can't be in Utah on such short notice. I'd love to see her show!

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