Search Results for “media analysis”

How to Do Feminist Media Analysis: Star Trek Edition

by trekkiefeminist

Believe it or not, watching TV with a feminist lens can be fun, and it doesn’t have to be hard. When it comes down to it, it’s just critical thinking, asking questions about the media you’re looking at.

If we aren’t looking at media critically it can exercise undue influence on our views about people from different backgrounds, on what products we choose to buy, and on what behaviour we consider appropriate or inappropriate. The messages and images it contains can reinforce or subvert stereotypes that underpin inequality.

For example media can encourage us to feel insecure about our looks because we can’t live up to the beauty ideals in ads. Or it can show us new possibilities for our society, like Star Trek does.

When someone critiques representations in media, it’s not about them hating on your favourite show. In order to critique something to the level that I’m doing with Star Trek, you really have to love it and care about it enough to think it’s worth your time to try and change it for the better.

I operate from bell hooks’ definition of feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.” I also believe that we can’t achieve equality for all women without addressing concurrent forms of inequality and discrimination, such as racism, homophobia, trans phobia, ableism and classism. That influences the types of questions I ask and how I interpret the messages I see on TV.

Here are the types of questions I ask when I’m doing feminist media analysis.

General Questions:

Who are the main characters? What are their demographics (gender, race, age, sexual orientation)?
Do any of them have unique abilities or disabilities (e.g. Troi’s empathic abilities or Geordi’s blindness)?
What are their major character traits and what are their interests and hobbies? Do they reinforce or challenge stereotypes about their gender, race, etc.?
How much power do they have as individuals and within their intimate relationships, social group, workplace or organization?
How is their wardrobe used to define them?
How does a character change and evolve over the course of a series?
Watch the background of scenes: How diverse are the extras?
Do any of the characters or plot lines embody tropes and do particular tropes show up repeatedly? According to tvtropes.org: “Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.” Tropes are not necessarily bad, but several (e.g. the “Damsel in Distress”) are problematic, especially when used repeatedly.
Who is the intended audience? What assumptions does the content make about their interests?
Who created the show and why? Who is paying for it and who is materially benefiting from it?
How does the show and particular scenes make you feel? How might someone from a different background feel while watching? For example, how might someone who has experienced sexual assault engage with a show like Law and Order: SVU differently than someone who hasn’t?

Star Trek-Specific Questions:

What are the guiding principles and messages supposed to be for the main characters and for humanity in the future?
Are there cultures who are acting as a stand-in for or drawing from stereotypes of a real earth culture (e.g. the Ligonians borrowing heavily from negative stereotypes about Africans in “Code of Honor”)?
What does the show tell us we can achieve as humanity? Is that future more limited for any groups of characters?
When the characters travel back in time to Earth history, what cultures are represented and what ones don’t we see?
Which aspects of today’s society do the show’s creators expect will persist into the 23rd and 24th centuries?
Does the merchandising cater to particular demographics? How does it represent the women characters, characters of colour, etc.?

Bechdel-Wallace Test

Read more specifics about Bechdel-Wallace testing Star Trek here. The Bechdel-Wallace test isn’t a test of feminist representation, but if a piece of media can’t even make it past this most basic of standards, it’s a sign something may be limited in the way women characters are portrayed.

That gives you a pretty good idea about what I’m looking out for when watching and reviewing the episodes for this site.

I’d love to hear if you have questions to add to the list, or if you have a recommendation for an episode I should watch and review!

Star Trek: Voyager Bechdel-Wallace Test Results

by trekkiefeminist

Another series Bechdel tested! Particular thanks to Abby (cafekreludor) for the help on Seasons 5-7.

I am using the same method as I did with the Deep Space Nine results, as follows:

The first percentage indicates the result if you require that the two female characters clearly address each other, even in group scenes.
The second percentage (in brackets) indicates the adjusted pass rate if you include any episode where two women characters have back-to-back lines about something other than a man. This turned out to be much less important in Voyager as even in group scenes, female characters were often clearly addressing Janeway or vice versa.
An asterisk in the episode list shows which episodes pass under the second test but not the first.

Results

Voyager does really well overall. But one thing Abby noted is that there were hardly any women of colour recurring guest stars or named background characters, compared to TNG and DS9 where we had Guinan, Nurse Ogawa, Keiko and Molly, Kasidy, and several one-shot characters like Ensign Taitt. The Memory Alpha page on Voyager’s recurring characters confirms this.

Total: 87.5% Pass (89.2%)

Season 1: 93.8% Pass (93.8%)

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Caretaker	Pass	Janeway talks to Kes about how to get down to rescue Kim and Torres/Torres and Janeway argue about getting home.
Parallax	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about the job of Chief Engineer and geek out over the singularity and warp particles
Time and Again	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about tricorder readings
Phage	Pass	Seska, Torres and Janeway discuss engineering stuff
The Cloud	Pass	Janeway takes a stroll through Engineering and assures Torres it’s not an inspection
Eye of the Needle	Pass	Janeway and Torres discuss engineering stuff/Janeway and Kes also talk, but only about the Doctor
Ex Post Facto	Fail	Janeway is in scenes with Kes and Torres but they don’t really talk
Emanations	Pass	Janeway gives orders to Torres and Seska/Ptera talks to Janeway about what happens when people die/Kes and Ptera talk about the afterlife
Prime Factors	Pass	Janeway tells Torres not to steal the aliens’ technology/Torres and Seska try to figure out how the tech works and talk about stealing it
State of Flux	Pass	Kes asks Seska why she hasn’t submitted her blood for her medical file/Janeway and Torres talk about how long it will take to manipulate a containment field
Heroes and Demons	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about issues with the transporter and about the photonic beings they encounter
Cathexis	Pass	Janeway talks to Torres about the warp core and to Kes about an alien presence on the ship
Faces	Pass	The two sides of Torres talk to each other
Jetrel	Pass	Janeway talks to Torres about a containment field
Learning Curve	Pass	Janeway talks to Torres about the bio-neural gel packs and to the Beatrice hologram about needlepoint

Season 2: 92.3% Pass (92.3%)

Episode	Pass?	Notes
The 37s	Pass	Janeway talks to Torres about the bodies in stasis and to Amelia Earhart about Voyager
Initiations	Pass	Janeway talks to Torres about Kazon debris and has a quick exchange with Kes about a micro-generator
Projections	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about repairing the warp core
Elogium	Pass	Janeway and Kes talk about the elogium/Janeway and Torres talk about modifying the main deflector
Non Sequitur	Pass	Janeway and Torres have a quick exchange where Janeway asks Torres to boost the transporter
Twisted	Pass	Janeway, Sandrine, Kes and Torres talk about blowing out candles at Kes’; surprise party/Janeway and Torres talk about the anomaly
Parturition	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about rescuing Tom and Neelix and about the alien ship
Persistence of Vision	Pass	Janeway talks with Torres about a potential holodeck malfunction/Janeway talks with Kes about her visions
Tattoo	Pass	Torres and Janeway talk about finding polyferranide and issues with the fusion reactors
Cold Fire	Pass	Janeway asks Kes to act as an intermediary with the other Ocampa/Janeway also talks to Suspiria but mostly about the male caretaker
Maneuvers	Pass	Torres explains to Janeway her plan to use a transporter while travelling at warp. All other conversations between them are about Chakotay.
Resistance	Fail
Prototype	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about the prototype
Alliances	Pass	Janeway talks to Seska about a potential alliance
Threshold	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about transwarp flight
Meld	Fail	Janeway and Torres talk but only about Suder
Dreadnought	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about Dreadnought/Kes and Wildman talk about baby names
Death Wish	Pass	Janeway and Torres set up a containment field
Lifesigns	Pass	Denara apologizes to Torres for the time the Vidiians experimented on her/also talks to Kes but mostly about the Doctor
Investigations	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about engine core temperature
Deadlock	Pass	Kes coaches Wildman during labour/Janeway and torres talk about antimatter supply being drained, proton bursts, Kes disappearing, etc./Janeway 1 and Janeway 2 talk about who will sacrifice their ship
Innocence	Pass	Janeway and First Prelate Alicia make first contact and talk about her people/Janeway and Torres talk about the status of the transporter
The Thaw	Pass	Janeway and Kes talk about stasis tubes/Janeway and Kes talk to Torres about her and Kim going into stasis/Torres and Kes monitor Kim
Tuvix	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about what went wrong with the transporter/Janeway explains symbiogenesis to Kes
Resolutions	Pass	Torres lectures Ensign Swinn on the quality of her work
Basics Part I	Pass	Janeway and Torres create an illusion of Talaxian ships

Season 3: 65.4% Pass (73.1%)

Kes talks to her daughter Linnis in "Before and After"

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Basics Part II	Pass	Janeway and Wildman talk about the baby/Janeway recruits Torres to sprint
Flashback	Fail*	Borderline. Near the end Janeway talks to the Doctor and Kes about the virus. Kes clearly talks to Janeway but Janeway is talking mostly to the Doctor
The Chute	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about how to find evidence of how the explosion happened/Piri tells Janeway where the prison is
The Swarm	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about the shields, the particle wave, the anti-matter-reaction chamber and why the shuttle was attacked/Kes also talks to Janeway and Torres but only about the Doctor
False Profits	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about restabilizing the wormhole
Remember	Pass	Torres, Jessen and Mirell talk about the beauty of Enara Prime/Janeway and Torres talk about Torres’ dreams
The Q and the Grey	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about shield modifications/Torres talks about female Q about ship modifications (only counts if you consider Q her name)
Sacred Ground	Fail	Janeway talks only to unnamed women characters (like “The Guide.”)
Future’s End Part I	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about disabling Starling’s downlink
Future’s End Part II	Fail*	In a staff meeting, Janeway says to the room that she wants the timeship and Torres replies transporters are still down
Warlord	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about shields. The rest is debatable because it’s difficult to determine if Kes counts as male or female while possessed by Tieran
Macrocosm	Fail
Fair Trade	Fail
Alter Ego	Pass	Janeway and Torres try to figure out the problem with the ship’s propulsion, try to track down Marayna
Coda	Fail	Janeway talks to people she sees but they can’t see or hear her
Blood Fever	Pass	Only very brief exchange where Janeway orders Torres to stake a claim to gallicite on a new planet
Unity	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about Borg technology
Darkling	Fail	Janeway and Kes talk, but only about Zahir
Rise	Fail
Favorite Son	Pass	Torres asks Kes what she (Torres) is doing in sickbay/Janeway talks to Lyris about the Nasari
Before and After	Pass	Kes talks with daughter Linnis/Torres and Janeway talk about Kes’ jumps through time
Real Life	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about the transporters
Distant Origin	Fail	Five women have lines but none to each other
Displaced	Pass	Taleen welcomes Janeway and crew to prison/Janeway, Kes and Torres talk about their treatment
Worst Case Scenario	Pass	Seska hologram talks to Kes and Torres/Janeway talks to Torres about Seska’s holonovel
Scorpion Part I	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about transporting the away team/Kes tells Janeway about her premonitions

Season 4: 92.3% Pass (92.3%)

Janeway talks to Seven of Nine shortly after separating her from the collective

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Scorpion Part II	Pass	Janeway negotiates with Seven/Kes and Janeway talk about Kes sensing the Borg
The Gift	Pass	Janeway talks to Kes about her new powers and to Seven about becoming human/Torres talks to Seven about Borg technology
Day of Honor	Pass	Janeway talks to Seven about the Borg/Torres talks to Seven about Borg atrocities/Torres and Janeway talk about the warp core
Nemesis	Pass	Janeway orders Torres to check a system/Karya and Marna also exchange lines but it’s about a group of men who have kidnapped other men. So overall barely a pass
Revulsion	Fail
The Raven	Pass	Janeway talks to Seven about pottery and relaxing/Torres and Janeway discover a Borg data link
Scientific Method	Pass	Torres confronts Seven over changes to power relays/Janeway and Seven talk about science stuff/Janeway argues with Alzen and Tazar about their experiments
Year of Hell Part I	Pass	Torres and Seven talk about the turbolift/Seven talks with Janeway and Torres about astrometrics readings
Year of Hell Part II	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the astrometric database and leaving the nebula/Janeway and Torres talk about the nacelles
Random Thoughts	Pass	Nimira questions Janeway and Torres/Seven and Janeway talk about Starfleet’s principles on first contact
Concerning Flight	Pass	Torres and Janeway talk about the diagnostic assembly
Mortal Coil	Pass	Naomi and Ensign Wildman talk about bedtime/Seven and Wildman talk about Naomi growing/Seven and Janeway talk about socializing
Waking Moments	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about a dampening field/Seven and Janeway talk about collective unconsciousness
Message in a Bottle	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the relay network
Hunters	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about a transmission/Torres and Janeway talk about an anti-thoron burst and a singularity
Prey	Pass	Janeway and Seven argue about what to do with the Hirogen ship and species 8472
Retrospect	Pass	Janeway talks to Seven about how to discipline her for hitting Covin
The Killing Game Part I	Pass	Janeway orders Seven to freshen up (alternate identities) and they talk about resistance efforts/Janeway and Torres (alt) talk about layout of Nazi HQ
The Killing Game Part II	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the Hirogen
Vis a Vis	Fail
The Omega Directive	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the Omega Directive and the Omega molecule’s significance to Seven
Unforgettable	Pass	Kellin talks with Seven and Janeway about her situation
Living Witness	Pass	Holo-Janeway orders Holo-Seven to destroy the Kyrians
Demon	Pass	Torres and Janeway talk about a science experiment and preparations to land the ship/Janeway talks to Seven about beaming deuterium from the planet
One	Pass	Seven talks to Janeway about a nebula and about being left with the Doctor while everyone else goes into stasis
Hope and Fear	Pass	Janeway and Seven play velocity and talk about the results/Janeway and Torres talk about the Dauntless/Seven and Torres talk about getting back to Earth/Seven and Janeway talk about how to escape Arturis and the Borg

Season 5: 100% Pass (100%)

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Night	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk in astrometrics/Torres and Seven refuse to let Janeway sacrifice herself/Janeway also hails Engineering and Torres responds
Drone	Pass	Torres and Seven talk in the shuttle and astrometrics/Janeway and Seven talk about the drone and what to do with it
Extreme Risk	Pass	Seven talks to Janeway about the Malons’ activities/Janeway talks to Torres in Sickbay
In the Flesh	Pass	Janeway talks to Seven about preparing for war and cultural diplomacy with Species 8472
Once Upon a Time	Pass	Naomi and Wildman talk over the comm line/Seven and Naomi talk in the Mess Hall/Torres speaks during the staff meeting but to the entire group
Timeless	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the phase corrections Kim sent. Barely a pass
Infinite Regress	Pass	Some parts are debatable because Seven acts as other characters including a male Ferengi and an unnamed wife. But Seven also talks to Naomi, Torres and Janeway in different scenes as herself
Nothing Human	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about downloads from the alien ship/Janeway and Torres talk about Janeway’s decision
Thirty Days	Pass	Debatable. The Delaneys talk with each other in the Captain Proton holoprogram but we don’t know which one is which just by this episode
Counterpoint	Pass	Seven and Janeway talk about rematerializing the refugees/Janeway and Torres talk about a pulse from the arraytd>
Latent Image	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about individuality and the unknown alien species/Torres and Jetal talk over the comm in a flashback/Torres and Janeway also talk but only about the Doctor
Bride of Chaotica	Pass	Janeway, Seven and Torres have a conversation about the “subspace sandbar” and the holodeck fluctuation
Gravity	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about going to warp and about the countdown/Janeway asks Seven some quick questions/all three have lines but either directed to everyone or not acknowledged verbally
Bliss	Pass	Seven and Naomi talk about the Delta Flyer and people acting weird/Seven and Janeway talk about the wormhole
Dark Frontier	Pass	Seven, Janeway and Torres talk to each other several times (e.g. on the Borg ship debris and the away mission)/Seven talks to the Borg Queen/Naomi talks to Seven and Janeway
The Disease	Pass	Seven calls Janeway to astrometrics/Torres and Janeway talk about plasma couplings and microfractures
Course:Oblivion	Pass	Duplicate Torres and Seven talk about work and relationships/Duplicate Torres and Janeway talk about the overall situation/Duplicate Janeway and Seven about modified nanoprobes
The Fight	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about chaotic space
Think Tank	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about long-range scans
Juggernaut	Pass	Torres and Seven talk about the control room/Janeway and Torres talk about storage tanks
Someone to Watch Over Me	Pass	Torres confronts Seven about her activities/Janeway talks to Seven about dating and the fight with Torres
Eleven Fifty Nine	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the Millennium Gate and Shannon O’Donnell
Relativity	Pass	Torres talks with Seven about temporal distortions and to Janeway about warp drive/Janeway asks Seven about the briefing room
Warhead	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about Seven’s plan/Janeway asks Torres about the AI in engineering
Equinox Part I	Pass	Naomi welcomes Gilmore on board/Janeway’s conversation with Seven is all about Ransom

Season 6: 88.5% Pass (88.5%)

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Equinox Part II	Fail
Survival Instinct	Pass	Torres and Seven talk about Seven’s new haul and feelings about the past/Janeway and Seven talk about the ex-Borg/Seven also talks to Naomi and Marikah
Barge of the Dead	Pass	Torres speaks with Janeway several times and the image of her mother, Miral
Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy	Pass	Torres and Seven talk about a warp core breach (in the Doctor’s fantasy) but all other conversations between women are about the Doctor
Alice	Pass	Janeway talks with Seven about where Tom was headed/Torres and Janeway talk but mostly about Tom
Riddles	Pass	Seven and Janeway talk about isotopes and the Ba’Neth
Dragon’s Teeth	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the stasis pod, and at the end about the overall situation
One Small Step	Pass	Seven and Janeway talk about the dangers and the Delta Flyer/Torres and Janeway talk about retrieving the Delta Flyer
The Voyager Conspiracy	Pass	Torres, Seven and Janeway talk about the photonic fleas/Seven talks to Janeway about her various suspicions
Pathfinder	Pass	Barely passes. Seven talks with Janeway over the comm about the micro-warmhole
Fair Haven	Fail	Janeway chats with Frannie but about Michael, as well as with an unnamed female vendor, again about Michael. In the scene in astrometrics the women don’t converse with each other
Blink of an Eye	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk to each other about the planet in a scene that includes Chakotay/Seven and Naomi talk about “the weird planet”
Virtuoso	Pass	Janeway talks with Tincoo about repairs/Seven talks to Janeway about fan mail, though a bit of the discussion is about the Doctor
Memorial	Pass	Barely passes. Janeway and Seven have three lines of dialogue with each other at one point in astrometrics. The other times are in group scenes.
Tsunkatse	Pass	Barely passes. Seven and Torres direct one line to each other about Tsunkatse. Torres and Janeway also have one line but in a scene with Chakotay and it’s not clear they’re talking to each other specifically.
Collective	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about the Borg children/Janeway and Torres talk about the away team and knocking out the tractor beam
Spirit Folk	Pass	Janeway asks Torres for a report. Torres and Janeway talk about whether the holodeck characters could’ve turned violent. All other lines are directed to the group as a whole
Ashes to Ashes	Pass	Ballard and Janeway have several long conversations/Seven reprimands Mezoti/Torres and Ballard talk about the dilithium matrix
Child’s Play	Pass	Debatable. All of Janeway/Seven/Yifay’s dialogue is about Icheb. Most of Janeway’s dialogue with Seven is also about Icheb but they also discuss Icheb’s and Seven’s parents
Good Shepherd	Pass	Seven talks to Janeway about Tal Celes/Janeway chats with Tal several times
Live Fast and Prosper	Pass	Janeway talks with Dala in the brig about being impersonated/Torres and Janeway talk about the problems cropping up
Muse	Fail	Torres talks with Kellis’ girlfriend but she’s unnamed/the actresses playing Janeway and Seven have dialogue in the play but we don’t know the actresses’ names
Fury	Pass	Past and present Janeways talk to older Kes/Past Torres talks to Kes about getting familiar with the ship/Past Janeway talks to Past Wildman about a plan to fight the Vidiians
Life Line	Pass	Seven talks to Janeway about the data stream/Troi and Haley chat, but mostly about Zimmerman
The Haunting of Deck 12	Pass	Seven accuses Celes of causing a problem/Janeway and Seven discuss the life form’s motives
Unimatrix Zero, Part I	Pass	Seven, Torres and Janeway talk about Unimatrix Zero, Seven talks with Laura inside Unimatrix Zero, Borg Queen tries to negotiate with Janeway

Season 7: 83.3% Pass (87.5%)

Admiral Janeway talks to Captain Janeway in "Endgame"

Episode	Pass?	Notes
Unimatrix ZeroPart II	Pass	Borg Queen continues to negotiate with Janeway/Seven and Janeway talk about Unimatrix Zero/Torres and Janeway talk about the Borg cube
Imperfection	Pass	Mezoti and Seven say goodbye/Janeway and Seven talk about Seven’s damaged node and her place on the ship/Seven and Torres talk about death
Drive	Pass	Seven and Torres talk about the next race (also about Tom, which doesn’t count)
Repression	Pass	Torres and Jor talk about the planet and evacuating the Stafleet crew
Critical Care	Fail	Janeway and Torres only talk about the Doctor/The other female characters Janeway talks to are unnamed
Inside Man	Pass	Troi interrogates Leosa/Seven talks to Janeway briefly about the shields
Body and Soul	Fail*	Debatable. Seven talks to Jaryn and Janeway, but only when her body is being controlled by the Doctor.
Nightingale	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about the impulse upgrades
Flesh and Blood	Pass	Torres and Kejal talk about stereotypes/Torres and Seven talk about a feedback surge/Torres and Janeway talk about the holograms
Shattered	Pass	Janeway has four short conversations with adult Naomi/Janeway addresses Borg Seven but Seven’s replies are directed at the group as a whole
Lineage	Pass	Janeway congratulates Torres and offers her time off/Torres and her female cousin talk (she is not named in the show but in the credits is named Elizabeth)
Repentance	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk about how Seven’s feeling, the Nygeans, and warp core analysis
Prophecy	Pass	Janeway talks with Torres about the Klingons’ hunger strike
The Void	Pass	Seven and Torres talk about what to do with the additional power/Seven and Janeway talk about the “theft”Janeway compliments Seven’s cooking
Workforce Part I	Pass	Brainwashed Janeway talks to Seven about the input error. Only one line each so barely passes.
Workforce Part II	Pass	Brainwashed Janeway and Seven talk about Janeway removing equipment from the premises
Human Error	Pass	Janeway and Seven talk several times about work-related matters
Q2	Fail	Torres directs lines to Janeway a few times but she doesn’t reply directly to Torres
Author, Author	Pass	Jenkins orders Torrey-Torres to decompile the EMH’s program/Seven talks to Aunt Irene
Friendship One	Pass	Barely Passes. Seven and Torres speak up during the meeting but Torres only has one line directed to Janeway/Torres and Janeway work with Otrin to neutralize the radiation
Natural Law	Pass	Janeway and Torres talk about finding the frequency of the barrier (in a scene with Tuvok)/Janeway and Seven talk about what to do with the people
Homestead	Pass	Seven and Janeway talk about disrcharges in the asteroid field/Seven talks to Dexa about the image of Talax
Renaissance Man	Fail	Torres, Seven and Janeway have a few lines together and all about the Doctor’s program.
Endgame	Pass	The two Janeways talk about coffee and Admiral Janeway’s new plan/Both talk to Seven/Admiral Janeway and Seven talk to the Borg Queen (at different times)/Admiral Janeway talks to future Torres and Miral

Elaan on the transporter pad in her sparkly purple cut-out bodysuit

“Elaan of Troyius” – TOS 3X13

by trekkiefeminist

According to TOS producer Fred Freiberger, “Elaan of Troyius” was an attempt to draw in the lady viewers. And so they think, what do lady viewers want? I know! Romance! I’m assuming when writer and director John Meredyth Lucas heard the idea and thought “romance” he thought “Taming of the Shrew…in Space” because that’s basically what this episode is.

The Enterprise’s mission: to deliver Elaan, the Dohlman of Elas, to the planet Troyius for an arranged marriage. On the way she is to be taught the proper customs of her new planet by the Troyian ambassador, Petri.

Even before Kirk beams the Elasians on board, it’s clear they’re going to be a handful, because characterizing an entire race by attributing sweeping personality traits is totally kosher in TOS:

Uhura, over the intercom: Captain, I have a signal from the Elasians. They’re ready to beam aboard, and they demand an explanation for the delay.
Kirk: Demand? What delay? All right. Beam them aboard.
Spock: Sounds typical of the Elasians. The scientists who made the initial investigation reported the men were vicious and arrogant.
McCoy: That’s just the negative part, Mister Spock. I’ve been over those records. Now the women, they’re supposed to be something very special. They’re supposed to have a kind of subtle, mystical power that drives men wild.

Oh yeah, you can practically hear Kirk and McCoy’s brains say.

Elaan is preceded on board by her three male guards/servants in costumes that take Roman-inspired fashion to the next level, primarily by replacing leather and metal with sequins and lamé.

But as you saw above, that are nothing compared to the extreme purple glitteriness of Elaan’s outfit. Just to make sure you really notice it, and how much skin it shows, the camera pans all the way up from her silver sandals…

…to her bikini line…

..to her décolletage…

…before we finally get to see her face…

Elaan's face, with Cleopatra-esque hair, Egyptian-inspired eye makeup, and a purple tiara

I want to pause here to note that this technique showing women’s body parts separately, before or instead of showing her face, is a classic example of objectification. This type of “dismemberment” depiction (as part of a larger culture) encourages men and women to see women as a collection of parts, rather than of a whole.

According to Kacey D. Greening, “In other words, if every body part is not flawless, then the possibility for beauty is ruined.”

Back to the story. It turns out Elaan is notable not only for her beauty, but also her temper. She’s portrayed as a spoiled princess who immediately starts by bossing everyone around and demanding they recognize her as their superior.

Petri is anxious that Kirk take his time getting back to Troyius so he has time to teach her “civilized manners” and says he’ll try to “soften her mood” in the meantime by taking her the gifts he’s brought.

A bit later, Kirk comes to her quarters to find her throwing the gifts back in Petri’s face – something I actually moderately appreciated since I would’ve been plenty annoyed too.

She yells at both Petri and Kirk, complaining about the softness of her quarters (usually Uhura’s) and Petri’s demands that she become less aggressive. Kirk starts to get fed up, and out in the corridor he tells Petri he’s going to have to try a different tack:

Petri: But if she won’t listen to me
Kirk: Then make her listen, Ambassador. Use a different approach. Stop being so diplomatic. She respects strength. Go in strong.

What really struck me at this point is that no one has once asked why she’s so angry or upset. It’s enough merely that she is, and that it’s frustrating to others.

Everyone takes as a given that her aggression is a problem to be corrected, not, say, an understandable response to being forced to marry your enemy and asked to change your entire way of life.

A bit later, Elaan and her team of sparkly guards tour Engineering and seem to be interested in the ship’s combat capabilities. Kirk comes down and lectures her again when she refuses to be nice about being given the tour.

Kirk: Courtesy is for everyone around here, and you’ll find you won’t be able to exist on Troyius without it. Mister Scott, our Chief Engineer, has shown you his engineering department. That’s a courtesy. You respond by saying thank you.

Elaan and her guards walk away, annoyed. Just then, Kirk gets a message that a Klingon ship has turned up. But he barely gets time to get to the bridge to look at it before he’s summoned to Elaan’s quarters, only to find she’s stabbed Petri in the back. I actually also appreciated this – not that he got stabbed, but that Kirk’s advice to dominate Elaan clearly didn’t work.

In sickbay, Chapel asks a recovering Petri why men are so attracted to Elasian women if they’re so aggressive. Petri says: “It’s biochemical. A man whose flesh is once touched by the tears of a woman of Elas has his heart enslaved forever.”

The whole man can’t resist a woman in distress idea isn’t new, but this tears as a literal weapon idea certainly takes it to another level.

Kirk goes to Elaan’s quarters to have words with her. She is disappointed Petri will recover and she proclaims her loathing for the Troyians, but also she’s eating…with her hands!

And Kirk seems to figure this is something that couldn’t possibly be okay in any culture (thank goodness he never sat down for a Klingon feast).

Elaan: Tell me, what can you teach me?
Kirk: Table manners, for one thing. This is a plate. It contains food. This is a knife. It cuts the food. This is a glass.

So even though no one has ever seemed to care, Elaan at this point does offer her feelings on her situation. But I’ll be damned if Kirk is going to let a little thing like a woman’s right to control her own body get in the way of his mission.

Elaan: I will not go to Troyius, I will not be mated to a Troyian, and I will not be humiliated, and I will not be given to a green pig as a bribe to stop a war.
Kirk: You enjoy the privileges and prerogatives of being a Dohlman. Then be worthy of them. If you don’t want the obligations that go along with the title, then give it up.
Elaan: Nobody speaks to me that way.
Kirk: That’s another one of your problems. Nobody’s told you that you’re an uncivilized savage, a vicious child in a woman’s body, an arrogant monster!

At this point, Elaan slaps Kirk, so he slaps her back, presumably because any woman who’s that unladylike must deserve it.

Kirk anticipates that the next time he goes to teach Elaan a lesson, she won’t let him in. So he has Spock there to help him overpower her guards.

Spock: Captain, your analysis of the situation was flawless, anticipating that she would deny you admittance. However, the logic by which you arrived at your conclusion escapes me.
Kirk: Mister Spock, the women on your planet are logical. That’s the only planet in this galaxy that can make that claim.

Wait, this episode was supposed to make women like Star Trek?

I really wasn’t clear where the whole “romance” thing was supposed to come in until the next scene, where Kirk busts into her quarters and – seriously – threatens to spank her.

Elaan: You are warned, Captain, never to touch me again.
Kirk: If I touch you again, Your Glory, it’ll be to administer an ancient Earth custom called a spanking, a form of punishment administered to spoiled brats.

So at first I thought this was my modern viewer’s mind reading more innuendo into that line than was intended. But then Elaan starts crying and Kirk (of course) wipes away her tear, thereby enslaving his heart.

They start to kiss, big time, and then she looks at him coyly and says:

Elaan: Captain, that ancient Earth custom called “spanking”…what is it?
Kirk It’s…er…er…We’ll talk about it later.

If that’s not intentionally dirty, Vulcans aren’t intentionally logical.

Anyway though, I don’t have a problem with Kirk sexy-time discussions per se, but the fact that he started talking about spanking as a threat, after he’d already slapped her earlier, makes it a little skeevy.

Kirk gets paged away after they find Elaan’s main guard, Kryton, had sent a signal to the Klingons from Engineering. Rather than have Spock pull out his secrets via mind meld, Kryton vaporizes himself.

Kirk goes to get info from Elaan and she tries to distract his enslaved heart with her feminine wiles. Kirk’s struggling but says they have to forget what happened.

Elaan: Could you do that? Could you give me to another man?
Kirk: My orders and yours say that you belong to another man.

Yay, women as property!

So Elaan tries to convince him that instead she could destroy Troyius and rule the system with her. He resists the idea but makes out with her some more.

Until Spock and McCoy catch them. McCoy gets Kirk out into the hall and asks if Kirk touched her tears. Kirk says yes and McCoy says he’ll get to work on an antidote.

Meanwhile, the Klingons are closing in and they figure out Kryton got up to some more Engineering shenanigans that leave the Enterprise in a particularly vulnerable position, without warp drive.

Elaan follows Kirk to the bridge but after a gentle nudge from Spock, he agrees she should go to sickbay instead. He still insists she must marry the Troyian leader, but admits he isn’t happy about it.

It seems his resistance is finally wearing down hers. In sickbay she is clearly upset and finally agrees to wear the wedding clothes Petri has brought.

When she comes back to the bridge she’s in her wedding dress (if you can call it that) and necklace, which Spock soon figures out is made of dilithium crystals. Elaan says they’re common around the system and finally the crew figures out why the Klingons want to control the area so much.

At the last minute Scotty is able to get what he needs from the necklace to outmaneuver and cripple the Klingon ship.

Kirk and Elaan say goodbye in the transporter room. She gives him her dagger as a memento, saying she understands it won’t be permitted on Troyius.

She asks Kirk to remember her and he says, “I have no choice.”

“Nor have I. I have only responsibilities and obligations. Goodbye,” she replies, making me grateful that it’s finally sorta acknowledged how crummy this situation is for her.

As for Kirk, his heart is unshackled before McCoy even figures out the antidote, with Spock noting, “The antidote to a woman of Elas, Doctor, is a starship. The Enterprise infected the Captain long before the Dohlman did.”

So clearly I’m not the biggest fan of this episode. Any relationship involving violence and biological manipulation is no “romance”, as far as I’m concerned. And attracting women viewers is usually better done without drawing on all kinds of sexist stereotypes.

But there are two things I did appreciate. First, Uhura actually has a few important things to do in this episode, such as translating a coded message that’s crucial to the plot.

Second, I think France Nuyen does a great job as Elaan. She has a great deal of intensity and range and helps us get from being afraid of and/or repulsed by Elaan to starting to empathize with her by the end.

It’s also rare to see women of colour as TOS guests, and especially as romantic interests. Even though she ultimately doesn’t get her way, she is a powerful character who commands a posse of guys and manipulates Kirk, and I appreciated the amount of screen time she was given.

Elaan looks over Kirk's shoulder and smiles at him

But digging a bit more deeply into that, we encounter other issues. France Nuyen is of French and Vietnamese descent, although playing an alien in the episode she’s presented as more generically “ethnic” or an “Oriental” other, with hair and makeup that initially reminded me of Cleopatra, a forehead decoration that looks a bit like a sci-fi bindi, and those Romanesque sandals.

This is problematic as it literally makes these cultures “alien” (and this is reinforced by the distance created through objectification). Further, Daniel Leonard Bernardi in Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future says Elaan exemplifies two stereotypes about Asian women, starting off as a manipulative “dragon lady” and ending as the “submissive female slave”.

So whether her presence is a net positive or negative is debatable.

Bechdel-Wallace Test: Fail

“Man of the People” – TNG 6X3

by trekkiefeminist

If you’d asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would’ve written off “Man of the People” entirely as another Troi rape episode that makes women look hysterical and portrays older women especially as objects of revulsion and/or pity.

In case you’re not familiar with the episode, in a nutshell it tells the story of Alkar, a mediator whom we find channels all his negative energy and emotions into women (whom he calls “receptacles”) in order to prevent them interfering during negotiations.

When his current “receptacle” (who’d been passing as his elderly mother) dies, he switches to using Troi, convincing her to participate in a ritual that he says is a funeral meditation.

Troi then takes the place of his emotional “receptacle” and becomes territorial, jealous, irresponsible, aggressive and hypersexual. She also ages so rapidly that her life is clearly in danger.

I still think the episode has serious issues, but reading Robin Roberts’ Sexual Generations: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Gender (which I’m planning on reviewing soon separately) convinced me to give it another try and try to see other potential layers.

In her book, Roberts writes of this episode:

“[Alkar’s] exalted title suggests that behind every successful man there is a woman. However, this episode shows, in horrifying detail, the cost to the woman behind the man.”

She continues:

“This episode’s feminist message is more obvious than in previous episodes because the male is not a sympathetic character here. Instead, he is depicted as a vampire who destroys likeable women.”

Re-watching the episode I don’t agree that it’s feminist overall, but I can see where Roberts draws her analysis, and there are a few scenes that I could appreciate.

First, I liked how Dr. Crusher was the one to raise concerns about Alkar’s “mother” and pursue them doggedly even when Picard was reluctant to breach protocol. Ultimately she’s the one that comes up with the solution to “kill” Troi and force Alkar to break the link.

This makes it a decent episode for Crusher. She can see that something’s not right way before anyone else can, she puts the victims first, and she doesn’t give up. Really, if anyone should get snuggles at the end for sticking by Troi, it should be Bev, not Will.

Second, I like the conversation Picard has with Alkar on the planet, once Picard is finally convinced of Alkar’s crimes. The actor playing Alkar could have maybe been a touch more convincingly deluded, but it’s the overall debate and the way Picard clearly shuts down Alkar’s attempts to moralize his assaults.

Picard: So then you deliberately used Deanna.
Alkar: She’s an empath. I was reasonably certain I could establish a link with her. Frankly, I was amazed when I saw how quickly she’d aged. Usually my receptacles survive for years.
Picard: Receptacles?
Alkar: Come now, Captain. Surely you can see there’s a broader canvas here. If I came to these peace talks hindered by unwanted emotions, the Rekags and Seronians would be condemned to go on fighting
Picard: You cannot explain away a wantonly immoral act because you think it is connected to some higher purpose.
Alkar: Captain. do you know how many people have died on this planet in the last forty eight hours? Thousands. Deanna Troi is just one individual.
Picard: That does not justify brutalising her, nor any of the others you have used.

Compare this to the end of “Violations”, where Picard practically empathizes while talking to the attacker’s father because “Earth was once a violent planet, too.”

Which brings me to the ending, where Alkar is killed by his own negative emotions rebounding. So at least Troi gets a modicum of justice and Alkar’s punishment is dramatically shown for the audience.

There are also a number of nice details in the episode, including the casket-shaped box where Alkar keeps the stones to link him to his “receptacle”, and the fact his original transport ship is called the “Dorian”, a la Dorian Grey.

Side note: the Dorian is also super phallic. Get a load of this:

But these aspects of the episode can’t make me put aside my earlier analysis. I’ll reiterate my main problems:

The fact that we only see women living with this extreme emotional transference makes it hard for us to separate Troi and Alkar’s mother’s possessiveness, neediness, paranoid jealousy and hysteria from the fact that they are women, especially as these traits coincide with negative feminine stereotypes.
Showing extreme negative emotions leading to someone looking old is pretty ageist. Plus it doesn’t really make sense, and even if it did, why would only the outside of their bodies age while their hearts, lungs, bones and other major systems show no effects? And how do all those physical effects reverse when Alkar dies?
Most significantly, the episode is one of several that show the writers’ had difficulty thinking up plots for Troi that didn’t involve her being raped or otherwise victimized.

Bechdel-Wallace Test: Pass. Crusher and Ogawa talk about Troi.

“Catspaw” – TOS 2X7

by trekkiefeminist

I’ll be honest: this episode made it on my priority list because it had a cat in it. Luckily it proved to have interesting fodder for feminist analysis, in addition to being fun and entertaining.

How could it not be, with Enterprise crew members on an away mission to what appears to be a haunted castle right out of a Halloween-themed B-movie?

Something’s feeling eerie to Kirk right out of the gate, as we open on the bridge. Kirk and Uhura are trying to contact Scotty and Sulu’s away team, which hasn’t been in contact in quite some time. After a minute, another away team crewman, Jackson hails them and says he’s returning on his own, but offers no explanation.

Kirk and McCoy meet him in the transporter room, but as soon as he materializes, he collapses and falls off the transporter pad. McCoy immediately declares him dead. I was shocked because I’d predicted him having at least a line before he died mysteriously, a victim of EATMS (Expendable Away Team Member Syndrome).

Suddenly, a disembodied voice is heard telling Kirk there is now a curse on the ship and they must leave “or else all will die.”

Dun dunn dunnnnnnn….

So what I would totally do in Kirk’s situation is take go with my top officers after the other away team members without taking any time to try to figure out what killed Jackson or what’s going on on the planet.

No, wait, that would be fairly stupid.

Yet Kirk goes ahead with this plan, beaming down with Spock and McCoy, leaving the Enterprise in the charge of….Assistant Chief Engineer DeSalle!

Boy, these TOS command structures make no sense to me. Was there something wrong with Uhura?

Down on the planet, Away Team #2 encounters a trio of wailing and cackling witches calling Kirk’s name and warning him to leave.

Spock is getting life sign readings coming from the nearby haunted castle so they head in. Almost immediately they encounter a super hissy and yowly black cat (see picture at top of post).

Back on the ship, Away Team #2’s lifesigns disappear. DeSalle and the others are shocked! This should not have happened! Sure it just happened to the first away team, but still!

AT2 falls through a comical hole in the floor and are knocked unconscious. When they awake, they are shackled in a medieval-looking dungeon.

They talk for a bit about why it would be that all the eerie things around them come from Earth culture. Like whoever made it knows what scares the pants off humans.

Their conversation is interrupted by Scotty and Sulu, who enter, glassy-eyed and pointing phasers at the group.

Sulu unlocks them veeeerrrry slooooowwwly and they are escorted from the dungeon.

Outside the dungeon Kirk goes to punch Sulu and try to escape, but the lights come on, revealing a bald guy with a goatee in fancy orange robes and with a sort of wand/sceptre and the black cat at his side.

His name is Korob and he knows who they are. During their conversation, it seems like he’s talking to the cat. He apologizes for being a terrible host and magics a banquet on the table. He says all he wants for them is to eat and enjoy the food. They sit but do not eat.

Korob says he arranged the witches and such to test the away team. He tells the cat to “go at once” and it runs away into another room. A few moments later, a woman in a black dress and amazing sea-foam green eyeshadow enters. Korob introduces her as “my colleague, Sylvia.”

Sylvia says she killed Jackson by creating an image of him and then thinking about it dying. She holds up a chain with a miniature model of the Enterprise and waves it slowly over a candle, then tells Kirk to hail his ship to prove her power. DeSalle and an extremely sweaty Chekov confirm how hot the ship is getting.

Kirk pulls the Enterprise free of the candle flame, acquiescing that Sylvia does have incredible telekinetic powers. He suggests away teams might come for them and Korob seals the Enterprise model in a plastic block. The real ship becomes trapped in a force field.

Sylvia orders them back to their cell but keeps McCoy with her. Back in shackles, Spock speculates that Sylvia and Korob haven’t actually been able to fully probe their minds – that’s why the images around them are more nightmare than reality. Spock and Kirk agree the two must be stopped.

A now “controlled” McCoy enters and escorts Kirk to meet with Sylvia. Keep in mind, Sylvia is an alien appearing to be a beautiful woman. Kirk is Kirk. Guesses where this is going to go?

If you guessed this, bonus points for you!

Sylvia is intoxicated by the physical sensations she’s experiencing in her new body. She also seems to have picked up some retro gender norms from probing the Enterprise crew’s subconscious minds. And has fully embraced them as her own. Luckily, Kirk is perhaps the best tutor one could have in this area.

Kirk: A woman should have compassion, but I forget you’re not a woman.
Sylvia: But you’re mistaken, Captain. I am a woman now. I come from a world without sensation as you and I now know it. It excites me. I want more.

She turns herself into different beautiful women to show she can be any woman he wants. As Kirk is flirt-arguing with her, she calls Korob a fool, not knowing he’s watching from behind a fluorescent pink screen.

Kirk asks why she doesn’t just probe his mind to get the knowledge she wants (what exactly this is is not clear).

Sylvia: No, not that, not for you. What I want is a joining. My mind to yours willingly. Think of the secrets you could learn. Think of the power that would be yours. Anything you can imagine, I can give you.
Kirk: You’re very persuasive. What happens if I go along?
Sylvia: Then everything would be ours together. I’ve never conceived of the idea of togetherness before. It excites me. You excite me. Why?
Kirk: For the same reasons you excite me. You’re a very beautiful woman.

His manly Captain charms winkle a secret out of her: her people are adrift without a device called the transmuter.

But she quickly realizes he’s using her and she casts him away. Even though she’s taken the form of a woman it’s unclear why she’d actually possess extremely stereotypical human female emotions. But she seems to – getting hysterical and threatening them. Her woman-scorned-ness puts them all in danger.

Luckily, Korob knows she’s gone too far. He helps Kirk and Spock escape but is crushed by a falling door. As they run through the haunted castle, they are pursued by a snarling house cat. Spock says she’s chosen the form because “the cat is the most ruthless, the most terrifying of animals, as far back as the sabre-toothed tiger.”

Sadly no one thinks to use the phasers as laser pointers to distract the cat (who is clearly Sylvia, in case that wasn’t clear). Instead, Kirk figures out the transmuter is Korob’s staff.

Suddenly they’re ambushed by McCoy, Scotty and Chekov. They defeat them all in an epic cheezy fist-fight but Sylvia uses her pendant to transport her and Kirk back to the banquet room, where she makes one last desperate plea for him to stay with her.

Sylvia: You fool. Don’t you know what you’re giving up? Everything that your species finds desirable. Look at me. I am a woman. I am all women.
Kirk: I don’t know what you are but you’re not a woman. You’ve tortured my men and taken their minds from them. You ask for love and return pain instead.

Kirk bashes the transmuter on the table and it shatters. Everything disappears around Kirk and the rest of the away team members stagger up behind him, looking normal again.

At their feet are two tiny aliens that look like the offspring of Cookie Monster and Cthulhu. They keel over and the away team returns to the ship.

Korob and Sylvia as two tiny, blue aliens

What we learned from this episode:

Robert Bloch (the writer) evidently had difficulty conceiving of an alien who looked like a woman and didn’t have stereotypically feminine behaviours and emotions
Real women are compassionate. Also, they don’t generally turn back and forth into cats.
It is very difficult to make the shadow of a house cat scary

Bechdel-Wallace Test: Fail