I don't care for posting two movie reviews in a row, but I promised last time that I would discuss some things in further detail, and so here I am.
This isn't a review to discuss the actual content of the movie, such as language/morality. Instead, I'm going to focus on a character development and originality aspect. So don't base your decision of seeing this movie on what I say, because I'm not here to tell you whether you should or shouldn't watch it.
**SPOILERS**
I will initially say I really enjoyed this movie, possibly as much as the first, and I would've liked to see it a second time (unfortunately, money protested and won). I did have a few issues with it, however.
I read this point on another blog and thought it was very interesting. Keeping in mind this movie takes place in the future, there was a scene where the Starfleet head honchos are meeting around a table to discuss their new threat, Khan; not one woman apparently was around that table. (**I thought I had seen a woman, but several people had said there wasn't and since I only saw the movie once, I'm going with that.**)
I am not a feminist. However, I'm not blind to the way the world is headed. We had a woman running for president, and it's obvious that in the future, more than likely women will be seen in more prominent roles in the world. This movie takes place in 2259; you would've thought there had been some women around that table as symbols of head of Starfleet. It's no big deal and doesn't bug me too much, but it's just a little fact that could've been taken into account to add a little something to the movie.
Now down to the real business. Each deal with women again, but it's not in a feminist way, but more of the development I had mentioned.
The movie ended and I found myself thinking, "...What happened to Uhura?" She was the strong female character of the group in the last movie -the one others could look up to- and in this movie she had a very small part, and most of it was spent complaining about Spock. The Klingon scene was her best scene, but other than that, I think more could've been accomplished with her character.
The one thing that REALLY, REALLY annoyed me, however, was the introduction of Alice Eve's character, Carol. Beautiful, smarter-than-you-attitude, seemingly strong...until she ended up having to be saved. Oh, and she was secretly the daughter of the Starfleet admiral... of course.
Gag me. Just gag me now.
Gorgeous woman. Wants to escape her mean daddy. I'm-more-capable-than-you-think-I-am. Have we not seen this character a million times before? So many possibilities of slight changes could've been made to make this character at least a little more interesting, as in what if she was unconventionally beautiful? A tomboy?
It seems today that if you're going to have a strong woman character, she either has to be gorgeous and sexually attractive or a lesbian. Don't get me wrong, I love a strong, determined character that can hold her own, but can we not be a little more creative?
As a writer myself, I hope to be able to accomplish what seems to be impossible these days: women characters who are beautiful and strong by what they do, not by how they look. Our jobs as creative writers is to be just that: creative. I'm getting bored by the stereotypical girl and think that if we can rack our brains and add a little spice back into a woman's character, your readers (or watchers, whatever audience you aim towards) will greatly benefit both with their own imagination and with their own confidence. We want to influence people with our writing, and we have to make sure that we are emphasizing the good things.
If you've seen the movie, what were your thoughts?
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