Masculinity in the Star Trek Reboot: Are you noticing a trend here?
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Despite the fact that the Star Trek reboot offends many of my Trekkie sensibilities, I’ll be the first to admit that it was fun. I think the whole cast was superb (even if some of the casting choices made me cringe—it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment to make viewers wish Benedict Cumberbatch wasn’t in your movie). And I think setting it in an alternate reality was absolutely brilliant; it gave the writers a certain amount of artistic freedom while also getting Leonard Nimoy to don pair of pointy ears again, a stroke of creative and financial genius.
So just to be clear: I don’t mind that the reboot is different from the original. What I mind is how (and, perhaps more importantly, why) it’s different. I appreciate it when creators try to put their own spin on something instead of being slavishly loyal to the source material. However, I also think it’s important to note that many (if not most) of the ways that the Star Trek reboot departed from the original series are about glorifying traditional masculinity at the expense of the feminine. The treatment of women in the reboot has, of course, been extensively discussed, but I’d like to put it in a wider context that includes the characterization of the male characters, as well as the overall themes in the reboot.