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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[sizequeen.livejournal.com]

The original women's uniforms look like a one piece swimsuit from the 1940's. Sometimes you can see the lower curves of their asses.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Urgh. Figures. Weren't miniskirts coming into fashion right about then? Like, the ridiculously short kind that were practically gynecological gowns with waists?

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. Plus, like any showrunner ever?

"Der, how do I get men, who are the only important audience ever, to watch this show?

I know! Make the men in a full, sensible uniform and the women in uniforms that are a sneeze away from being indecent!"

Only reason Uhura in the the original series wasn't showing more was that it was at least a wrap skirt, so when she sat the flap fell over her thigh. My flatmate has a science uniform she made from a men's velour shirt.

Essentially, the key to it is that tights are pants, essentially. Without them on, she looks practically naked. With them and the boots?

Somehow, it DOESN'T look slutty. But only with tights and boots!

*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.

[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.

[sizequeen.livejournal.com]

Essentially, the key to it is that tights are pants, essentially. Without them on, she looks practically naked. With them and the boots?

Somehow, it DOESN'T look slutty. But only with tights and boots!

THIS. And you have to the fact that none of the men seem to notice that the women are half-naked, and the women seem to be perfectly comfortable in these outfits.

Also, we are all acting like this is all cheesecake, but for the women of the time, the miniskirt was liberating. The miniskirt said, "You can look, and if I decide to let you, you can touch. And I don't need a wedding ring."

[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.

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". :)

[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!"

[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.

[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.

[ladysorka]

Yeah, I was paying a lot of attention during the crowd scenes too and didn't find a single one - I swear, I spent my third viewing mainly looking at background legs.

[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! :)

[sizequeen.livejournal.com]

For the women of the time, the miniskirt was liberating. The miniskirt said, "You can look, and if I decide to let you, you can touch. And I don't need a wedding ring."

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.

[larcley.livejournal.com]

I can't say that I saw a big uproar about the things that did change in the movie, like Kirk's dad dying (he didn't in the original; he saw Kirk's initiation ceremony to become captain of the Enterprise), or Spock's mother dying (at least, I think she was alive. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

Because of the lack of reaction to the changes in the movie vs. the originals, I'm going to have to say that I don't think there would have been a huge reaction in the fanbase if the women had worn pants. In several of the later Star Trek series, in fact, they did wear pants. I think that most Star Trek fans would realize that the uniform had changed because of cultural changes in the real world, not the Star Trek universe. Again, there was no big uproar when this happened. :)

Honestly, Uhura's skirt didn't really bother me. What bothered me is that the vast majority military women wore skirts that were either mid-thigh (the red uniform) or longer (the gray uniform). What bothered me is that even in the "future", women are still wearing skirts as a regulation uniform, and seem to be not offered the choice of pants. Either that, or a lot of women really like skirts. Even though they're highly impractical, like the heels that many of them were wearing. (That scene where *SPOILERS* the drill came down to earth, and all the recruits were running around, and the women in their heels and skirts? Yeah. Um, do they never expect THEIR MILITARY BASE to be attacked? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME, STAR TREK?)

...I think I'm rambling now. Sorry for making this so long, haha. I get a bit angry about this, especially because Star Trek really did try hard to make their women equal in the series. I found them a good supporter of womens' rights, and I felt a little lost when the new movie went right back to the original's, "Equality? Lalala, whatever," approach (which was common for the time, but not now.)

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.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Even though they're highly impractical, like the heels that many of them were wearing.

As part of a dress uniform, though, it's not about being practical. It's for a dressy occasion, at least on some level. They're not fighting in those. They're wearing them to ceremonies or meetings, and even with Uhura wearing those skirts she did so in a job that didn't require a lot of running or walking, for that matter.

That scene where *SPOILERS* the drill came down to earth, and all the recruits were running around, and the women in their heels and skirts? Yeah. Um, do they never expect THEIR MILITARY BASE to be attacked?

No, they don't. They have a planetary protective grid of some sort, which is why Captain Pike gets that lovely slug down his gullet -- because Nero needs the codes to get past it and attack.