Thoughs on (nu)Trek fic tropes
Dec. 30th, 2016 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoBeen reading a lot of KS fanfics lately, and coming across a lot of common tropes that got me thinking about just how justified they are by canon. Figured I'd jot down some of my ramblings so I can keep my thoughts straight. =P
1. Spock strangling Kirk on the bridge being a big deal.
I've seen a few fics where Kirk convinces the rest of the bridge crew to lie about that whole scene where he emotionally compromises Spock in the 2009 movie, because otherwise, Spock would get into trouble with Starfleet Command. This is also commonly used as a tool to start the process of getting the two of them to be friendly.
But I gotta say... really? *That's* the scene you choose to say Spock might've gotten in trouble over? Rather, than, say, shooting Kirk out in that escape pod? And even then... well, let's all remember that Kirk was already trying to incite mutiny and then threw the first punch at the security guys before Spock decided to throw him off the ship. Also, anyone going over the bridge footage of the strangling scene would just have to hear the stuff Kirk was saying to provoke Spock, and the charges would've been dropped.
Furthermore, if you want to take into account the rest of Prime Timeline canon, fisticuffs doesn't seem to be something that stands out as some huge issue in Starfleet crews. I mean, remember all the times in TOS where Kirk and Spock got into serious fisticuffs? There was the "Naked Time" where Kirk tries to beat up (and gets beaten up in turn by) Spock to snap him out of the technobabble induced funk. There was "This Side of Paradise" where Kirk insults Spock to the point of another fight to snap him out of some alien spore induced funk. There was "Amok Time" where Spock strangles Kirk. "The Enterprise Incident" where Spock pretends to kill Kirk. Yeah... At least in that respect, the 2009 movie is in good company.
Also, a good number of fics tend to bring up the strangling incident as a way to make Spock feel retrospectively guilty (after the pair gets together). But IMO that shouldn't be the case. If we're talking logic over emotion, then Spock is smart enough to understand what Kirk was trying to do and there would be no reason to feel guilty for doing what the other guy wanted you to do. If we're talking about emotion leaking out from under the logic, then I can't see him divorcing that incident into just the strangling part and ignoring the words Kirk was spewing beforehand, in which case, the guy was asking for it. The most I'd see is Spock being embarrassed at *being* compromised, which has nothing to do with Kirk.
2. Pon Farr
I know, I know... in most cases, pon farr is just a plot device to get a pairing together or to induce drama, and as a plot device, it doesn't serve much purpose to analyze it.
Still, I just want to call out the fact that aside from Amok Time, the issue comes up twice in Voyager. Tuvok resolves his with meditation and sex in the holodeck. Vorik resolves his with combat, but in that episode, Tuvok also says that the condition is survivable through meditation. So it's not entirely 'fuck or die', but rather 'fuck, fight, meditate or die'.
Of course, one way to explain why meditation didn't come up for Spock in TOS is because, unlike the vulcans on Voyager, he was within range of his intended, so the other option didn't come up to his (already-compromised) mind. Also, it's possible that he didn't have enough training for the meditation option... which might also explain why he went off to Gol prior to the TMP movie. ...which also means that nuSpock is probably not going to have the meditation option available either, unless he gets lessons from his alter-self.
3. Vulcans and life-long pairbond/monogamy
Fandom has some odd views of vulcans, a lot of it negative (thanks for nothing, ENT). But this one is kinda odd in that it seems to be made up entirely by the TOS slashfic fandom, that when you really think about it, has no basis in canon.
I mean, yes, we know that vulcans are often engaged in childhood. But then we also see T'Pring very clearly dumping Spock for Stonn. If we take the fact that the actress was pregnant at the time to mean that T'Pring was also pregnant at the time, then she obviously cheated on her betrothal. And then never told her fiancee to call off the engagement *before* he went into rut. Where's the logic in that?
In ENT (yes, ENT), T'Pol comes onto her doctor when she goes into pon farr, even though he's married. And onto Reed, who she otherwise has no emotional ties to. Also, she later gets married purely to save her mom's career, to a guy she's obviously reluctant to marry before because she fell in love with someone else. And Then after her mom dies, she immediately gets a divorce. So yeah, divorces exist for vulcans.
I mean, sure I can see that vulcans might not do the casual hookup/one-night-stand thing because they're just so repressed about sex. But IMO they ought to be perfectly capable of marrying for reasons other than personal preference, and then later have those reasons/conditions change, or simply being wrong about a compatible mate (or their parents being wrong about a compatible fiancee), and thus going through divorce and remarriage and all that jazz, just like humans do. I can see them being monogamous in their relationships for the same way that most human main characters would be monogamous -- because it's the right and honorable thing to do (ie cultural imperative), than any kind of biological imperative.
Speaking of biological imperative, the most common reason I see in fics attribute vulcan monogamy to some kind of mind-link where you "feel" it if your spouse cheats. I...don't think this is how vulcan telepathy works in canon, at all. I mean, Sarek was able to hide several heart attacks from Amanda. And even in a hands on mind meld, it's possible to hide things or try to hide things (see the interrogation meld between Sakonna and Gul Dukat, the interrogation meld between Spock and Valeris). So yeah. If vulcans are to be monogamous within an established relationship (that part I'm not arguing against), it's not because of their telepathy. Just saying.
1. Spock strangling Kirk on the bridge being a big deal.
I've seen a few fics where Kirk convinces the rest of the bridge crew to lie about that whole scene where he emotionally compromises Spock in the 2009 movie, because otherwise, Spock would get into trouble with Starfleet Command. This is also commonly used as a tool to start the process of getting the two of them to be friendly.
But I gotta say... really? *That's* the scene you choose to say Spock might've gotten in trouble over? Rather, than, say, shooting Kirk out in that escape pod? And even then... well, let's all remember that Kirk was already trying to incite mutiny and then threw the first punch at the security guys before Spock decided to throw him off the ship. Also, anyone going over the bridge footage of the strangling scene would just have to hear the stuff Kirk was saying to provoke Spock, and the charges would've been dropped.
Furthermore, if you want to take into account the rest of Prime Timeline canon, fisticuffs doesn't seem to be something that stands out as some huge issue in Starfleet crews. I mean, remember all the times in TOS where Kirk and Spock got into serious fisticuffs? There was the "Naked Time" where Kirk tries to beat up (and gets beaten up in turn by) Spock to snap him out of the technobabble induced funk. There was "This Side of Paradise" where Kirk insults Spock to the point of another fight to snap him out of some alien spore induced funk. There was "Amok Time" where Spock strangles Kirk. "The Enterprise Incident" where Spock pretends to kill Kirk. Yeah... At least in that respect, the 2009 movie is in good company.
Also, a good number of fics tend to bring up the strangling incident as a way to make Spock feel retrospectively guilty (after the pair gets together). But IMO that shouldn't be the case. If we're talking logic over emotion, then Spock is smart enough to understand what Kirk was trying to do and there would be no reason to feel guilty for doing what the other guy wanted you to do. If we're talking about emotion leaking out from under the logic, then I can't see him divorcing that incident into just the strangling part and ignoring the words Kirk was spewing beforehand, in which case, the guy was asking for it. The most I'd see is Spock being embarrassed at *being* compromised, which has nothing to do with Kirk.
2. Pon Farr
I know, I know... in most cases, pon farr is just a plot device to get a pairing together or to induce drama, and as a plot device, it doesn't serve much purpose to analyze it.
Still, I just want to call out the fact that aside from Amok Time, the issue comes up twice in Voyager. Tuvok resolves his with meditation and sex in the holodeck. Vorik resolves his with combat, but in that episode, Tuvok also says that the condition is survivable through meditation. So it's not entirely 'fuck or die', but rather 'fuck, fight, meditate or die'.
Of course, one way to explain why meditation didn't come up for Spock in TOS is because, unlike the vulcans on Voyager, he was within range of his intended, so the other option didn't come up to his (already-compromised) mind. Also, it's possible that he didn't have enough training for the meditation option... which might also explain why he went off to Gol prior to the TMP movie. ...which also means that nuSpock is probably not going to have the meditation option available either, unless he gets lessons from his alter-self.
3. Vulcans and life-long pairbond/monogamy
Fandom has some odd views of vulcans, a lot of it negative (thanks for nothing, ENT). But this one is kinda odd in that it seems to be made up entirely by the TOS slashfic fandom, that when you really think about it, has no basis in canon.
I mean, yes, we know that vulcans are often engaged in childhood. But then we also see T'Pring very clearly dumping Spock for Stonn. If we take the fact that the actress was pregnant at the time to mean that T'Pring was also pregnant at the time, then she obviously cheated on her betrothal. And then never told her fiancee to call off the engagement *before* he went into rut. Where's the logic in that?
In ENT (yes, ENT), T'Pol comes onto her doctor when she goes into pon farr, even though he's married. And onto Reed, who she otherwise has no emotional ties to. Also, she later gets married purely to save her mom's career, to a guy she's obviously reluctant to marry before because she fell in love with someone else. And Then after her mom dies, she immediately gets a divorce. So yeah, divorces exist for vulcans.
I mean, sure I can see that vulcans might not do the casual hookup/one-night-stand thing because they're just so repressed about sex. But IMO they ought to be perfectly capable of marrying for reasons other than personal preference, and then later have those reasons/conditions change, or simply being wrong about a compatible mate (or their parents being wrong about a compatible fiancee), and thus going through divorce and remarriage and all that jazz, just like humans do. I can see them being monogamous in their relationships for the same way that most human main characters would be monogamous -- because it's the right and honorable thing to do (ie cultural imperative), than any kind of biological imperative.
Speaking of biological imperative, the most common reason I see in fics attribute vulcan monogamy to some kind of mind-link where you "feel" it if your spouse cheats. I...don't think this is how vulcan telepathy works in canon, at all. I mean, Sarek was able to hide several heart attacks from Amanda. And even in a hands on mind meld, it's possible to hide things or try to hide things (see the interrogation meld between Sakonna and Gul Dukat, the interrogation meld between Spock and Valeris). So yeah. If vulcans are to be monogamous within an established relationship (that part I'm not arguing against), it's not because of their telepathy. Just saying.
