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Come into My Space Dungeon and Let MePoke You with a Pogo-Stick

Review of J.J. Abram’s

Star Trek

, Part One

By Patrick McEvoy-HalstonMay 2009

It’s not exactly what

Star Trek

offers, but the film is perhaps most easily,if not most fairly, assessed as belonging to the bread-and-circuses school of societal extension. It offers a plot, a delineation of the way ahead, people canreadily imagine themselves participating in, readily imagine themselves

wanting

to participate in, which if followed by a similar national narrative couldat least help pave the way for a neat and orderly—if totalitarian—way of finishing all things off. The pro-offered life of adventure appeals; the sense of purpose, also very much so. But the best “drug” it provides comes from itallowing you room to imagine yourself playing a part in something like this, andthereby partaking in the dopamine-high of specialness counting yourself amongst the few select geniuses good enough for the Enterprise allows you. To be a member of the Enterprise means you are the best at your position; it meansthat though for the most part you will sit alertly but still placidly in place, every once in a while, when visited upon by, ostensibly, some miracle of realization/inspiration, all eyes will be drawn to you as you act up and save theday, and perhaps your species, and maybe the universe, as the prize rises so thethe high needn’t ever flag. To be a genius is never suggested to be anythingother than a rare and special thing in

Star Trek—

it is always noteworthy—but ismade to seem something most anyone with sufficient desire could imaginethemselves in possession of: you need to 1) be able to be brash, and in a way in which your brashness ultimately and for the most part immediately garnerspraise without any really ill-consequence and sometimes with further goodfortune (e.g., Kirk gets banished from the Enterprise for his acting out,something that leads very rapidly in succession to a quick high-speed chase, thesurprising discovery/recovery of great “treasure” within the recesses of a cave,and an enterprising way of taking charge of the Enterprise—i.e., the requisite

kind of stuff he needs to seem the One and Only), and to 2) know things, likelots of languages or whatever, or the select “impressive” fact, like, for example,some incident surrounding some aspect of your bio you’re unlikely not to have well attended to, not primarily because it’s associated with one of your parent’sdeath but because you’ve long seen how useful details in your tragic but unique bio are in garnering both sympathy and ready assessments of yourself asselected by fate for some special role. So if you’ve ever bullied your way,Uhura-like, to the head of the line, justifying your presumption as only appropriate considering your importance or the urgent relevance of yourconcerns,

and

as evidence that you don’t count amongst the pathetic sheepeople who stand about—you’ve managed to convince yourself—owing to theirdependence on group norms, if you’ve ever spent hours staring ahead at the TV, but also found it in you to do things like turn away from just

watching

TV toward using it as a site for violent wii/xbox control twitching (“Time to fret,Death Star—I’m going off auto-pilot and switching to manual”), if you know things, like, for example, the plotlines of the whole current panopticom of SFshows, or ever brought up some universe-in-a-nutshell fact garnered from your bachelor-arts education or handy philosophy “tract” that awed friendssuspiciously and frighteningly willing to cooperate with your need to be specialsmart, you’ve probably got it in you to see yourself readily, ably, maybeingeniously, serving as one of the Enterprise’s new crew.But if you would like to be part of something similar to the

Star Trek

trek, at least your purpose would be not just to wander about or boldly go, whereever, but to save civilization against rogue villains—that is, to work on behalf of humankind in a really obvious and immediate way. Well, yourconscious mind would never think otherwise, but in truth your core “you” wouldthrow one hell of a tantrum if

they

didn’t end up

serving

you

, your self-assessments needs (again), something they could in fact best do by beingdispatched or humiliated rather than saved. For demonstrating your ownprowess would have to go into exhausting, stressful overdrive if it wasn’t for thefact that everyone beyond your immediate crew is made to seem deficient, evendispatch-worthy retarded. For Kirk to seem the potent fighting cock, chock fullof potential, five trained soldiers have to end up seeming,

in sum

, just a bitmuch for him in a fight; for Uhura to seem more the wizard at translation, some

other has to be efficiently but ruthlessly dispatched as not up to snuff; forCaptain Pike and his prodigy Kirk to seem especially able captains, anothercaptain has to be shown as “thank you sir, may I have another?” eager-ready toaccent to the sadistic commands of terrorists; for the crew of the enterprise toseem Luke Skywalker able, and the ship itself, oh so fleet of feet, they have tosurvive when a whole slew of other ships are scattered about—a calamity and apity, but also their just deserts, for so easily finding themselves prey to theenemy’s trap.So if this is the sort of narrative that grabs the public’s imagination, thatsuggests some sense of how the future could provide purpose!, surely would-betotalitarians out there will intuit that the public will soon be in the mood torespond ever more enthusiastically to their typical offerings. Totalitarians would deliver: they would suit up and militarize the nation, offer everyonesome role to play against whatever pressing villain, organize them intocommunity groups where every resident, ordinary Jo/Jane could imaginethemselves as being part of—

really

—the most able contingent of freedom-fighters around, ensure they get a lot of praise, and—lest they forget!—give themroom to every now and then show some show of non-quiescence, air out someloud rebel yell: after all, people whose self-esteem is so dependent on externalsources likely sense the extent of their dependence, and need some louddemonstration of what is

still

not in fact their existing independence every oncein awhile so that the charge they get from the resulting muscular arousal assuresthem they could scatter everything before them as so much space debris, gotheir own way, and be that much more the happier.

— Spock’s Humanization Project —

Review of J.J. Abram’s

Star Trek

, Part 2

But no film can fairly be critiqued as simply playing to people'sinsecurities and damned for doing nothing other than help playing a part,however small, toward a societal shift toward militarism, would ever risk showing an audience up, draw attention to their own lack of authenticity by showing them what a human being with real substance is like, draw attention to

of 00

t1mber_wolf

Ummmmmmmmmmm, okaaaay...

reply08 / 24 / 2010

uploaded a new revision for this document (#12)

01 / 25 / 2010

Star Trek Review

Review of Abram's Star Trek. Comprised of two parts: 1) Come into my space dungeon, and let me poke you with a pogo; and 2) Spock's humanization project.

First paragraph:... (More) Review of Abram's Star Trek. Comprised of two parts: 1) Come into my space dungeon, and let me poke you with a pogo; and 2) Spock's humanization project.

First paragraph: It’s not exactly what Star Trek offers, but the film is perhaps most easily, if not most fairly, assessed, as belonging to the bread and circuses “school” of societal extension. It offers a “plot,” a delineation of the way ahead, people can readily imagine themselves participating in, readily imagine themselves wanting to participate in, which if followed by a similar national “narrative” could at least help pave the way for a neat and orderly—if totalitarian—way of finishing all things off. The pro-offered life of adventure, appeals. The sense of purpose—also very much so. But the best “drug” it offers comes out of allowing you room to readily imagine yourself playing a part in something like this, and thereby partaking in the dopamine high of specialness counting yourself amongst the few select geniuses good enough for the Enterprise, affords one. To be a member of the Enterprise means you are the best at your position—it means that though for the most part you will sit alertly but still somewhat placidly in place, every once in a while, when visited upon by, ostensibly, some miracle of realization, inspiration, all eyes will be drawn to you, as you act up and save the day, and perhaps your species, and maybe the universe, as the prize “rises” so that the high doesn’t ever have to flag. To be a genius is never suggested to be anything other than a rare and special thing in Star Trek—it is always noteworthy, but is made to seem something most anyone with sufficient desire could imagine themselves as being in possession of: you need to 1) be able to be brash, and in a way in which your brashness ultimately and for the most part immediately, garners praise without any really ill consequence and sometimes with, further good fortune (e.g., Kirk gets banished from the Enterprise for his acting out, something that leads, very rapidly in succession, to a quick high speed chase, the discovery/recovery of great “treasure,” and an enterprising way of taking charge of the Enterprise—i.e., the requisite kind of stuff he needs to seem the One and Only), and, to 2) know things, like lots of languages or whatever, or the select, “impressive” fact, like, for example, some incident surrounding some aspect of your bio you’re unlikely not to have well attended to, not primarily because it is associated with one of your parent’s death, but because you’ve long seen how useful details in your tragic but unique bio are in garnering both sympathy and ready assessments of yourself as being selected by fate for some special role. So if you’ve ever bullied your way—Uhura-like—to the head of the line, legitimating your presumption as only appropriate to one of your self-import, and as evidence that you don’t count amongst the pathetic sheepeople who stand about—you’ve managed to convince yourself—solely out of fear of what others might think; if you’ve ever spent hours staring ahead at the TV, but also found it in you to do things like turn away from just watching TV toward using it as a “site” for violent wii/xbox control twitching (“Time to fret, Death Star--I’m going off auto-pilot and switching to manual”); if you know things, like, for example, the plot lines of the whole current panopticom of SF shows, or ever brought up some the universe-in-a-nutshell fact garnered from your bachelor arts education or handy philosophy tract, that awed friends suspiciously and frighteningly willing to cooperate with your need to be special smart; you’ve probably got it in you to see yourself readily, ably, ingeniously, serving as one of the Enterprise’s “new” crew. (Less)

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Upload Date:	05/28/2009
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Tags:	Fiction literary criticism Star Trek j.j. abrams film criticism american film Fiction literary criticism Star Trek j.j. abrams film criticism american film (fewer)