But, I enjoyed it and look forward to a next one.
Now it’s interesting that there seems to have been more sexual chemistry between Spock and Uhura than anything Kirk got to experience. That’s a new one!
]]>As for the Freud—no, I don’t think Freud would really advocate becoming Datas or Spocks. In fact, he’d be glad to see them getting more in touch with their emotions. For Freud, the repression that civilization requires is a necessary compromise that the individual chooses to take on. It’s a delicate balance. You’re right that, psychoanalytically speaking, the new Star Trek is probably healthier. But I also think there’s a connection between the loss of a true sense of utopian community and the backing-down from totalizing repression. Maybe that’s a good thing. I probably should have been more ambivalent about it. But I miss my utopia!
]]>Still, for what it’s worth, I had to notice that when the Romulans are trying to interrogate the captured Captain Pike, they do not show him in the customary tied-to-chair position, but rather strapped down supine, over what seem to be pools of water and with dripping sounds in the air. Perhaps on some level imagery can’t help but change with our associations.
Lastly, I’m not sure about your use of Freud here, though I’m not an expert. Certainly, Freud saw civilization as depending on a good dose of repression, but that isn’t necessarily an endorsement — the title “Civilization and its Discontents” should signal a pretty strong ambivalence about the whole thing. Your analysis of the movie is great, but still, I saw the young-Spock plot as pointing to the illusory, temporary nature of repression — a very Hollywood theme, but one that Freud might not have rejected entirely, I think.
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