While you're all climbing McCoy like a tree, I think I'll just keep Scotty to myself.

[apocalypsos]

So I went to see Star Trek earlier, and thanks to a comment I saw somewhere, I spent the entire time paying attention to what the female characters were wearing.

So there are unfortunately only a handful of female characters in the movie major enough to be noticed. However, I was paying closer attention to what the women wore due to someone -- I can't recall who -- mentioning that it looked as if the women of the Federation all wore skirts.

Actually, not so much.

Uhura's the one we see the most of and except for one scene, she wears a skirt in every scene. In the Kobayashi Maru scene, it appears as if everyone involved, including Uhura, is wearing the same one-piece blue-gray overall jumpsuit. (That might be incorrect, however -- I was paying close attention to Uhura and I never saw a perfectly clear picture of her legs, but it did look like she's wearing pants or a jumpsuit there.)

Gaila is only seen in her underwear or the red Federation dress uniform, which appears from looking at the background characters to only have a skirt for female cadets.

Spock's mother wears dresses, but to be fair, she's not a Federation member and also many of the Vulcan males can also be seen wearing either long tunics or robes.

Kirk's mother wears a hospital gown for obvious reasons.

However, many women in the Federation can be seen wearing uniform pants or jumpsuits, including:

-- The female officer who orders McCoy out of the bathroom and into a seat in the shuttle.
-- The alien medical officer who delivers Kirk.
-- The female cadet whom the captain of the Kelvin passes on the stairs on the way to go meet the Romulans.
-- At least one of the female officers on the main deck of the Enterprise.
-- Many background cadets seen working on the Kelvin and Enterprise are wearing black uniform pants.
-- The red dress uniform for cadets appears to only feature skirts for female cadets, but the dark gray uniform (the one Spock's wearing when confronting Kirk over his cheating) appears to only have pants for women to wear.

So ... yes, they wear pants. It's just Uhura who seems attached to the skirt/dress uniform, which as the only major female crew member in a summer action movie ... well, perhaps we should just be grateful they didn't keep her in her underwear for the entire movie rather than just one scene. *sigh*

In other news, I feel fat and lazy and unproductive. BAH. The rainy day ... not helping my mood so much, actually.

Comments

[impertinence.livejournal.com]

her costume was a direct copy of the original uhura's, which admittedly is pretty crap. i hope they put her in pants in the next movie.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Exactly. And yeah, I hope they put her in pants in the next movie, too, although I suspect it might take Uhura needing to go on an away mission for that to happen.

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm not bothered by the lack of female characters in it, seeing as it's a reboot using the same characters. Yes, they could've put in Number One or Janice Rand or Chapel. But they wouldn't have fit with this, as they WEREN'T main cast members, and that was the focus.

I mean, really. Even Scotty didn't get that much screen time. Uhura got MORE than she usually got in the previous movies.

And the skirts are CANON. I, personally, as a costumer, was pleased to notice that the skirts are LONGER than they were back in the show. Although I have NO idea where I'm going to find that fabric. HONESTLY. The more I look at it, the more frustrated I get, though I am amused that's it's a tiny print version of the badge.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

But they wouldn't have fit with this, as they WEREN'T main cast members, and that was the focus.

THIS. As much as I would have liked more female characters, the only options here are either to drag in minor female characters the average person wouldn't recognize, make one of the male characters female in the reboot like Starbuck was in BSG, or introduce a new female character and hope the fandom which invented the Mary Sue wouldn't cry foul.

I was wondering about the skirt length myself. I'm not a big enough fan of TOS to recognize how short they were, and I thought they looked shorter than regulation probably should be.

[alicamel.livejournal.com]

There could have been women in speaking roles in the first action sequence. The main Romulan could have been a woman. They could have swapped the roles of Kirk's parents. The people speaking at Kirk's inquiry could have been women. There are so many places were they could have thought to put women in, if they didn't want to do a genderswap - which I actually wouldn't have liked, though I would have prefered to this.

They could have not killed Spock's mother, pointlessly, or they could have put Kirk's mother in more than one scene. The could have shown Uhura as more than just a romantic interest for Kirk to flirt with and Spock to kiss. They could have let us see Uhura doing her job, instead of just telling us she was good at it.

I hate that the miniskirts are slightly longer. Because they knew that the miniskirts weren't an appropriate uniform, but didn't want to go as shockingly far as putting all of the women in practical outfits.

I'm sorry to go off on a rant at you, I'm just so frustrated that a movie based on a show that was so progressive and forward-thinking for its time, hasn't made any improvements on it.

[jim-smith.livejournal.com]

The skirts were going to be a given just because they wanted to stay close to the original show's uniforms. Kudos to them for finding ways to work pants in where they could, but female officers were always going to wear skirts. Maybe in the next movie it'll turn out that Spock changing history causes Uhura to switch to trousers.

The important thing to me is that the skirts at least go down to about mid-thigh, which is a whole lot better than the ones from the '60s that barely covered the ass.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Maybe in the next movie it'll turn out that Spock changing history causes Uhura to switch to trousers.

Heh. I think if they sent Uhura on an away mission in the next movie they'd put her in pants without hesitating. Regardless of how silly the rest of the movie could be at times, I'm hoping they could at least be sensible in that arena at least.

*sigh*

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

People are really getting het up about this? Honestly? There were things that the movie could have done better, like at least giving Chapel a cameo rather than just making her a name shouted offscreen, but Uhura goes from the pretty receptionist to a linguistic genius made entirely of awesome. That skirt ought to be a footnote on a movie riddled with big gender issues, and this...really wasn't.

Re: *sigh*

[larcley.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I made a reply down below about why I feel it's fine that people make an issue out of this. I didn't click reply, though, I clicked "add comment". :)

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it might have been cool to swap a couple of the characters gender's. Scotty & Checkov would have made excellent women.

However, can IMAGINE what kind of a flame war that would have caused?

I'll take what I can get.

And try to figure out how long until they start selling the uniform shirts. Because you know I'd buy one.

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

There's a really terrible costume version of the shirts available at my local iParty, and there's a mail-away shirt you can get off Kellogg's cereal products.

And if you ask me if I bought a box of Mini-wheats today for the shirt token, all I have to say is I also bought a box of Rice Krispies for the toy today.

[larcley.livejournal.com]

...Uhura was never a receptionist. She was a communications officer. As she was in this movie. Except she was later promoted to full commander in the later movies.

And, in the original, she was the only one who could play the Vulcan lyre. Linguistic, not really. Awesome, yes.

The movie may not have been riddled with big gender issues, but that's why the skirt issue is a big deal. The original was created in a time where the uniform of mini-skirts was seen as okay. We've come a long way since then, but we can't even put our women in pants for an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE movie? It's not a big fucking deal; that's why it's so galling that they didn't bother to change it.

[ficangel.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I shouldn't have implied that I have the right to tell people what they can and cannot get upset about, my apologies. (And "receptionist" was me being sarcastic.) However, I still agree with the point that trollprincess is making, that women are wearing pants in this movie, literally and figuratively, with a side of tending to judge a piece of media on the whole picture that it presents at the same time that I'm dissecting the parts. Shows that have a bad history with gender get scrutinized very hard on even their minor flubs; since this movie did damned well with gender in the face of the oldest and one of the most rabid fandoms on the planet that would have screamed bloody murder over a uniform change, I'll let 'em slide. If they had expected Uhura to do an action sequence in that skirt, maybe not, but a skirt coming down to mid-thigh doesn't seem impractical for being seated most of the time at the bridge.

[ladysorka]

Frankly, I was just sad we didn't get any of the men wearing the mini-skirts, like we occasionally got on TNG - showing that it wasn't a gender-restricted uniform, just a "hey, you want to wear skirt? We have a skirt option!"

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was watching for that, too. I kept checking during crowd scenes, but I couldn't see anybody who looked like a guy in a skirt.

[shadowhuntress.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thanks for compiling this list.

Also...::points to icon:: Yes, Uhura wears a one-piece jumpsuit during the Kobayashi Maru.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Thought so. Thanks! :)

Sleevelessness is worse than bare legs

[sizequeen.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the miniskirts in nuTrek aren't all that appalling. We may not like it but we all understand that it's a callback to the original series and a turn on for the coveted young male demographic.

What's truy appaling is the fact that the women's outfits are sleevless. In the old uniforms, the officer's rank insigia is on the sleeve, so if you have no sleeves, then how can anyone determine your rank?

At least the women on Trek classic had reconizable ranks.

Re: Sleevelessness is worse than bare legs

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

They're not all sleeveless -- I was paying such close attention, I would have noticed. The red and dark gray dress uniforms all have sleeves, all of the female medical officers that I can remember seeing had sleeves, the jumpsuits had sleeves ... in fact, the only ones that didn't have sleeves were a few of the day-to-day uniforms, and like the ones with skirts, many of the women in the background weren't wearing those either.

Uhura's uniform has no sleeves but she started out the movie as a minor cadet who swaps in with the previous linguistics officer, and considering the emergency it's possible she has no time to change. (Although admittedly, I can't remember if she had sleeves in the final scene.) There were a few women in the background entering and exiting the main deck who had no sleeves on their outfits, but for the most part they had sleeves.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the movie so I can't speak to the substance of the post; I just came here to say that I will fight you for Scotty. :D

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

OH IT'S ON NOW. :D

[affectingly.livejournal.com]

Who says I don't want Scotty too?

At any rate, yeah, I just went to see it in theater AGAIN and I was paying very close attention to that as well. The only female uniforms that are wildly different from their male counterparts are the shipboard ones, which, as was pointed out already, was merely drawing from original canon.

As far as further female characters, I have a feeling Nurse Chapel will be in the next movie, especially because McCoy calls out to her in one of the scenes. (PLEASE LET HER BE IN THE NEXT?)

[alicamel.livejournal.com]

:) I did want to go and see it again, and double check about the pants vs skirts thing, but I didn't like it enough to see it twice, so this post was very helpful. I don't think it makes it any better that Uhura wears skirts when other women wear trousers. (Why would a military-type group have such impractical uniforms, when at any time they could have to fight boarding groups, mend equipment or evacuate?) I'm used to media being rubbish at writing women, but I've always expected more from Star Trek, given Roddenbury's original utopian ideas. I guess from now on I'll have to reevaluate that, and approach Star Trek with the same attitude that I approach other mainstream films. And that makes me sad. :(

Also, I'm sorry I came and was cross at someone in your post.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

I always wear skirts. Would fandom reject me as hating my own gender because I dislike pants?

Answer: YES!

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

It's summer and I look stupid in shorts.

You will drag my skirts and dresses FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS.

[squirrelarmy.livejournal.com]

That makes perfect sense for a military. Many services have a skirt option with their uniform, and if a woman chooses to purchase one, they tend to wear the skirt most of the time, if not always. And I say this as someone working in the Navy, where we are given a little more freedom in regard to which uniform we choose to wear on a daily basis. (Also, it's the service that the Federation is based off of, as far as I can tell -- the movie stole tons of Navy terminology, which made it extra enjoyable for me.)

(Interestingly enough, as a side note, the Navy (and presumably the rest of Armed Forces, though I can't say for sure) is planning to phase out the skirt option of the uniform altogether in the next couple of years, so I've heard. Which I personally think is a good idea.)

[squirrelarmy.livejournal.com]

And just to add onto my comment, because I just read some of the comments above: in regard to "dress" uniform vs. working uniform, a lot of times it's not just a ceremony vs. every day kind of concept. For example: the Navy has multiple uniforms, ranging from coveralls, utilities, service uniform (of multiple varieties at the moment, though I won't get into that), and dress uniform. The dress uniform itself has multiple variations to determine which event you are wearing it for. I mention this because both the service uniform and the dress uniform have skirt options, and I have seen (and worn) both on a daily basis.

So the point made above about how it was unrealistic for females to be wearing their skirts and heels on the base or ship is false. It's perfectly realistic, especially at the training school with the cadets, because they are studying all day. On a ship, most of the people we saw in skirts were on the bridge or in a location where it wasn't likely for them to have to do manual labor. The only uniforms that don't have a skirt option (for the Navy, but I'm assuming the Federation is similar) are the coveralls and utilities, and that's because those are the uniforms worn when a person's job is to do active manual labor. You will never see someone painting on a ship in their dress uniform, and you'll never see someone at a computer console in their coveralls.

TL;DR: the women wearing skirts was not sexist, it was in keeping with current military customs. Although I felt that the skirts were too short to actually be within regulation (much too short), but I imagine that was more of a callback to the original series. Besides, Uhura's hot and clearly needs a shorter skirt. ;P

[scribewraith.livejournal.com]

ok, and I love the debate but I was just going to comment on how amused I was in the second watching to notice how often the girls in red dresses had their hands in their laps when they were sitting down :)

[mizuno-caitlin.livejournal.com]

Here from trek_news and just wanted to ring in that I found the gender power balanced more disturbing than the freedom of uniform options. Of the 5 women who were mentioned or featured prominetly, 3 were mothers and 2 were lovers of more important male characters. Don't get me wrong, I loved how Uhura was a take charge kind of fiercly intelegent lady. But, the others? Spock's mommy was there to be a doting mommy, nothing more. Kirk's mommy was there to have him and leave. Nero's wife was there to be helpless barefoot and pregnant and die. Gaila was there to be sexy and sleep with Kirk. Generally the role of a woman in this Trek was to prop up the more important men and to disappear or die helplessly after they'd served their purpose. I don't really hold a sexist grudge against the film, but the statistics are pretty sad.

Ok. Shutting up now. :/

[angelinaii.livejournal.com]

I just got back from watching the movie on IMAX, and I spotted several women in red cadet uniform in pants. I think that maybe looking at uniforms in tightly packed crowd situations is that it is easier to spot the female extras in skirts than the women who aren't, but I saw as many women in pants at the academy as I did on the ship. As far as the extras went, for every female I spotted in a skirt there was one in pants. Sometimes I spotted the same extra in both. For example, there was a blonde on the bridge with a really funktastic ponytail (it looked like she had a tube of hair on her head) that I spotted in a blue shirt/black pants in one scene and then in the blue dress/thigh high boots later in the movie.

Which makes me think that much like the time I spent wearing Army green, there are situations in which wearing the 'feminine' version of the uniform is optional. And I'll be honest, if I had a chance to wear something that not only let me stand out from the crowd instead of blending in (which I think is why so many think there weren't females in pants in the movie), felt comfortable carrying out my duties, and I looked good wearing it, I sure as hell would (and did).

[eh-notsomuch.livejournal.com]

If I had Uhura's legs, I'd wear skirts all day everyday too!

[wyldkyss.livejournal.com]

TNG at one point made mention that federation allows men and women to wear pants or skirts. But then they just moved on to everyone wearing pants shortly afterwards.