Thinky thoughts of a, you guessed it, slashy nature
I rewatched The Naked Time with my mom last night. It's always fun watching with her, because she's A.) the only one I know who actually loves Star Trek and B.) it's been so long since she's seen episodes that some things are new for her still. It's hard for me to watching particularly slashy episodes, because I want to flail and make dolphin noises when, say, Kirk and Spock holds hands for a bit as they're fighting.
See what I mean? So anyway, THE POINT. I was driving my niece to daycare when I had an interesting thought that once again puts a nail into the gay coffin.
A lot of analysis has been done on this scene in The Naked Time, because of how ambiguous and slashy it is. If you don't know the scene, it's basically Spock losing control of his emotions from this disease infecting the whole ship. Kirk comes in to get help because they're heading for a fiery death and he needs Spock, but Spock's too emotionally compromised to help and that makes Kirk mad and then we find out that Kirk has the disease too. Kirk talks about a yeoman he has and how Spock is allowed to notice her but he's not allowed. First of all, there is no regulation about dating suboordinates. In the episode Balance of Terror, the man who supposed to get married to his bride was her superior officer. There are other examples but they elude me, but basically it's never been stated that this kind of romance is forbidden. Plus, he's talking about Rand, and don't even get me started on that because he isn't interested at all. Then Spock talks about how he never told his mother he loved her and how he has spent his whole life suppressing his emotions. Kirk slaps him to try to get Spock to see reason because hey, we don't have time for this with IMPENDING DEATH and all (oh how this whole scene might have gone if they had the time.)
And this is where I have something new to add. Spock says that when he feels friendship, he feels ashamed. Now, I'll give you a minute to do what I do and substitute 'lust' for 'friendship.' Fun time complete! But seriously, wtf? So if you're to take this purely as text, Spock suppresses his emotions, so therefore he does things the Vulcan way. Therfore it logically follows that the Vulcan way is to not feel friendship for someone else, right? Except, well, Vulcans have friends. There are Vulcan words for friends. In Amok Time Spock can take his closest friends to his wedding party. T'Pau, after Kirk is presumed dead, says to Spock, "I grieve with thee." Okay, T'Pau is one of the most prominent Vulcans on the planet, one of the elders, and she express the emotion of "grief" over the death of Spock's friend. We're left with two distinct possibilities:
1.) In The Naked Time scene, Spock is ashamed for more than just mere friendship and perhaps, being a repressed little boy, the word 'friendship' was the best way to describe those feelings.
2.) The Vulcan definition of 'friend' is different than our conception and can be defined, logically, as someone you trust, have similiar interests, and hangs around a lot. Thus, when T'Pau said "I grieve with thee," she saw that what Spock felt for Kirk was above their concept of friendship was more along the lines of love or bonding.
I have no ending for this, so I take a small bow.
-George Carlin
See what I mean? So anyway, THE POINT. I was driving my niece to daycare when I had an interesting thought that once again puts a nail into the gay coffin.
A lot of analysis has been done on this scene in The Naked Time, because of how ambiguous and slashy it is. If you don't know the scene, it's basically Spock losing control of his emotions from this disease infecting the whole ship. Kirk comes in to get help because they're heading for a fiery death and he needs Spock, but Spock's too emotionally compromised to help and that makes Kirk mad and then we find out that Kirk has the disease too. Kirk talks about a yeoman he has and how Spock is allowed to notice her but he's not allowed. First of all, there is no regulation about dating suboordinates. In the episode Balance of Terror, the man who supposed to get married to his bride was her superior officer. There are other examples but they elude me, but basically it's never been stated that this kind of romance is forbidden. Plus, he's talking about Rand, and don't even get me started on that because he isn't interested at all. Then Spock talks about how he never told his mother he loved her and how he has spent his whole life suppressing his emotions. Kirk slaps him to try to get Spock to see reason because hey, we don't have time for this with IMPENDING DEATH and all (oh how this whole scene might have gone if they had the time.)
And this is where I have something new to add. Spock says that when he feels friendship, he feels ashamed. Now, I'll give you a minute to do what I do and substitute 'lust' for 'friendship.' Fun time complete! But seriously, wtf? So if you're to take this purely as text, Spock suppresses his emotions, so therefore he does things the Vulcan way. Therfore it logically follows that the Vulcan way is to not feel friendship for someone else, right? Except, well, Vulcans have friends. There are Vulcan words for friends. In Amok Time Spock can take his closest friends to his wedding party. T'Pau, after Kirk is presumed dead, says to Spock, "I grieve with thee." Okay, T'Pau is one of the most prominent Vulcans on the planet, one of the elders, and she express the emotion of "grief" over the death of Spock's friend. We're left with two distinct possibilities:
1.) In The Naked Time scene, Spock is ashamed for more than just mere friendship and perhaps, being a repressed little boy, the word 'friendship' was the best way to describe those feelings.
2.) The Vulcan definition of 'friend' is different than our conception and can be defined, logically, as someone you trust, have similiar interests, and hangs around a lot. Thus, when T'Pau said "I grieve with thee," she saw that what Spock felt for Kirk was above their concept of friendship was more along the lines of love or bonding.
I have no ending for this, so I take a small bow.
-George Carlin