Star Trek & Gender Sterotypes

The Star Trek television series was truly a groundbreaking show not just for its plot lines and ideological messages, but also for its revolutionary cast. Two of the main actors were Jewish, one main actor was a gay Asian, and of course, one was a black woman. Uhura was one of the first main black characters on a television show – and of course, her kiss with Kirk was the first interracial kiss ever on television. For a show in the 1960s, Star Trek broke many barriers across religious, racial, but most significantly gender lines.

From television to film, from music to advertising, men are often portrayed as strong willed and powerful, while women are often shown as submissive, powerless, and sexually promiscuous. Particularly in American film, however, these gender stereotypes are most evident. In many films, the main characters are heroic men, while the main female lead is primarily the love interest of the male lead. The 2009 film Star Trek did not echo the television show, but echoed the stereotypical tendencies of American film – particularly regarding the main female lead, Uhura. Although Uhura is presented as a strong figure because of her role in the Starfleet, in reality the film fails to break out of traditional gender stereotypes because of the eroticization of Uhura, her shallow dialogue, and her general role throughout the film.

In the film, there is an illusion that Uhura is a strong and powerful woman. She is a high-ranking officer on the starship Enterprise and is a part of every battle scene involving the starship. Indeed many women in the film are portrayed in similar fashions. Prior to investigating the anomaly on Vulcan, it is a woman officer who is giving commands to the soldiers. En route to the officer’s t...

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...characters are not depicted as strong as the male leads. Hermione Granger becomes emotional during high stress battle scenes. Elizabeth Swann shifts to mainly a love interest for the male lead. Queen Amidala becomes emotional and a love interest for Anakin Skywalker. To some, the illusion of strong women signals how far we have come as a society in the last half-century. In reality, however, the film industry has only progressed enough to be able to give off an illusion of strong women. The lack of female directors in Hollywood gives way to a male-centric ideology that eroticizes and demeans women in films – often just subconsciously because the director is male. It is time to welcome more Kathryn Bigelows. More Julie Taymors. More Sofia Coppolas. Only when a balance among film directors is reached can many films finally break out of traditional gender stereotypes.