“Nyota Uhura is Not a White Girl”

Abstract

This essay examines the online debate surrounding representation of the Black/African character of Lt. Uhura in the 2009 prequel film, Star Trek. Some fans, particularly those viewing the film from a gender/race intersection, applauded her portrayal, while others, including many “slashers” who espouse a homoerotic reading of classic Trek from an ostensible gender/sexuality standpoint, disapproved—especially of Uhura's romantic storyline. Virtual observation and appraisal of these discourses demonstrate the adaptability of Patricia Hill Collins' intersectionality framework to studies of media reception, especially in terms of hegemonic and interpersonal domains of power and cultural studies notions of articulation. Accordingly, the investigation finds the first fan faction's rhetorical efforts more authentically and pro-actively oppositional.

Keywords:

• Star Trek (2009)
• intersectionality
• audience
• ethnography
• gender
• race

Notes

1. TOS and its reboot are not the only cases in which the franchise has feminized and/or racialized communication-related job functions. In Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), counselor Deanna Troi was half alien. In Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (1993–1999), communications specialist Ezri Dax was an embodied female alien symbiotically linked to a disembodied male alien. In Enterprise (2001–2005), communications officer Hoshi Sato was Asian.

2. Virtual ethnographic observation was the primary data collection method. Keyword web searches were employed to specifically locate discussion of Uhura's depiction in the 2009 film on any publicly searchable blogs and forums between the dates of 8 May and 16 August, 2009. For more on virtual methods, see Christine Hine (2000).

3. TOS initiated a multimedia franchise now spanning forty-five years, inspiring perhaps the most visible, influential, and studied media/fan cultures. For an overview, see Jeffrey Sconce (2004).

4. The Internet Movie Database's page devoted to the film (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/) displays reactions under “User Comments.”

5. For instance, some TOS fans envision Spock with Nurse Chapel, a white, recurring character who evinced unrequited longing for him. They were chagrined that Chapel was absent from the 2009 film and that Spock was linked with Uhura. Chapel's white portrayer, Majel Barrett, played first officer in the series' initial pilot, a role devised by Roddenberry for a Black woman. The network wanted her and Spock excised before striking a deal. Roddenberry relented only with respect to the former. Eventually, NBC sought to marginalize Uhura (Pounds 1999, pp. 51–53).

6. Much of this speculation was based on evidence that the first interracial kiss on a US TV series between Uhura and Kirk, the result of alien mind control, was initially written to involve either Spock or Kirk (see Allan Asherman 1988, p. 164).

7. As of July 2009, only about a quarter of the forty-seven Six Feet Under stories on Fanfiction.net featured David and Keith.

8. Examples of non-slash fanfic authors upgrading female characters are observed on the webpage “Where No Woman Has Gone Before” (2009) and in scholarly analyses, including Jenkins (1992) and Christine Scodari and Jenna Felder (2000).