"But it stinks, and it's enormous! It's stepping on everything!"
"Shh! We don't talk about it."
The elephant in the living room: This metaphor was created by people involved in drug and alcohol recovery to describe the phenomena typically observeable in the dysfunctional family. Family members focus closely on Mom's moodiness, brother's poor academic performance, and sister's bedwetting, while ignoring Dad, who starts drinking when the alarm goes off in the morning and doesn't stop until he passes out on the couch at the end of the day. Dad's "little problem" is never spoken of. Trekkies are like a dysfunctional family, in that they too have an elephant in the living room....
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ST4: So, the whole movie is about Kirk and Spock getting home to San Francisco together. That's why it's called, THE VOYAGE HOME. At the end, they joyfully frolic in San Francisco bay, together.
Note that Kirk is ALL WET and in LAVENDER. His shirt was lavender through both ST3 and ST4, but when it's wet, it's reeeeeally obvious that it's reeeeeally ~lavender~.
For those of you who don't know, San Francisco is not only home base to Star Fleet, but is also the Gay capital of the Western world. Also, lavender is generally famously understood to be "a Gay color", in fact it is THE GAY COLOR.
Think about it: The whole ST4 movie is about Kirk and Spock coming home together. Kirk risked his career and life and even lost a son, and dad-blast it, it was all over Spock! Now he's got his man back, and he's bringing him home - come hell or high water.
As it turns out, they get both.
They have to time travel, save the world, and save the whales first, but by gum, they finally do get home in the end! Kirk sacrifices/destroys not one but two ships in the process. Kirk sacrificed the stolen/borrowed Enterprise to get Spock, then crash-lands their stolen/borrowed Klingon vessel into San Francisco bay at the climax, and they are home! Drenched to the skin and covered in glory!
Doncha love the symbolism?
"HONNEE, I'M HOOOOOMMME!"
And Kirk did it all IN LAVENDER.
The breakdown: ST2: boy loses boy, ST3: boy (in lavender) gets boy back, ST4: boy (in lavender) brings boy home with him to _San Francisco_. SUBTLE, huh!?
So much for the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or the one! When the one is JIM KIRK, and the other one is SPOCK, then hell yes it's OK to turn the whole galaxy just a little to the left, for one, and the many can go fuck themselves!
At the end of ST4, Kirk faces the tribunal, and he's got this look in his eye like: go ahead and say something. So I did all of this for one man. WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!?
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[NOTE: Kirk's ~too fabulous~ to be straight.]
The judges are all, I'm not saying anything about that. Nobody is saying anything about that. We understand your MOTIVE Jim, that's not the question!
NOBODY questions or even mentions Kirk's motive. Didja ever notice that? Obviously Kirk's motive just goes without saying!
Or does it? After all, in a voiceover early in ST3, Kirk does say he feels that he left his "more noble half" (in other words, his better half!) on Genesis. And later, in a conversation with a top Starfleet administrator, Kirk frankly tells the guy that he feels responsible for Spock's soul as if it were his very own. Hey, in ST2 at Spock's funeral Kirk said Spock's soul was human. Well, if Spock is Kirk's more noble half, and if Spock's soul is Kirk's responsibility as if it were his own soul, then of course Kirk should know if Spock's soul is human or not. Maybe that's why, in ST3, Sarek assumed Spock's katra would be residing with Kirk - after all, they are tight like that, and it's not like it's a big secret, either.
*Why* Spock radiates disapproval at Jim, and acts rude to everybody when he returns to the Enterprise in TMP is not commented upon, although you'd think it certainly should be. Normally when something is that obvious *and* that spectacular in effect, somebody says something about it. Instead what we get is: Spock returns to the ship and takes his place at his old station in a very peculiar manner - he seems completely pissed off - even though he is welcomed very warmly. Kirk especially is looking at Spock with pure love in his eyes. He's all: Thank God you're back. I knew you'd come back. Thank God you are here. OTOH, Spock is all: Oh, fuck you, Jim Kirk! Fuck you, and fuck your friends, and fuck your fucking starship, too!
There are times when silence is as good as a scream, and IMHO that is one of those times. One is given the feeling that everybody on the bridge at that moment understands the real reason Spock is pissed, understands why Kirk is so warmly welcoming despite Spock's bad behavior, *and* that they think it would be ~insensitive~ and pointless to comment on it. Everybody is all: Don't say a WORD. I'm not saying a word. Nobody say a WORD.... like to them it's obvious what it's all about.
To many of us fans in the audience it seems obvious enough. Odd that so many other fans can't seem to figure it out.
In ST4, everybody just understands why Kirk went to such extreme lengths for Spock's sake. I mean, it just goes without saying. WHY DOES IT GO WITHOUT SAYING? Lives were lost, the ship was lost, Kirk risked everything - and his most loyal friends risked everything to help him. It's a totally extraordinary situation, so WHY DOES IT ALL JUST GO WITHOUT SAYING?
It's the "friendship" that not only dares not speak its name, but no one dares to even speak (directly or indirectly) of it! If all it *is* is what a really good friendship ideally should be, then why the hell don't they simply say so? Consider this: TPTB missed a golden opportunity to have Jim deliver an eloquent and passionate speech about what a great guy Spock is, and about the nature and value of true friendship, and etc. Instead, the whole topic of why he did what he did, the way he did, is left untouched. It just goes without saying.
I'm like the kid who blurted, "Hey look! The Emperor is naked!" Everybody around me going "Shh!" like it's somehow disrespectful for me to point out that Kirk and Spock look TOTALLY GAY. It looks like they are IN LOVE. Like THEIR LOVE is A HUGE, ALL-CONSUMING, MAD AFFAIR.
The closer I look at it, the more it looks like Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock of the original Star Trek were intentionally portrayed as Gay lovers, albeit in an ambiguous and non-overt way. There is no way all of that could be accidental or unintentional. No way.
It's well documented that Gene Roddenberry wanted to introduce overt Gay characters into later Treks. What is not generally acknowledged, but perhaps should be, is that he had Gay characters artfully concealed in the original Star Trek - and they were a devoted couple.
Kirk's lavender shirt is intentional. What if its implied underlying message is also intentional? What if we ARE meant to see Kirk that way - as Gay? What if that *is* the unspoken truth? How will I know when it's finally OK to speak of it? After all, there are liberal, in some cases *explicit* hints, throughout the show and movies regarding the Gay nature of their relationship. Plus, everybody in their universe seems to understand and accept it.
Consider this: In the Episode AMOK TIME, Spock goes into heat, and we learn he must return to Vulcan to mate, or die.
Spock confided in Kirk about his needs, then he invited Kirk to come with him to his wedding, where he gets into a big fight with Kirk. He "kills" Kirk. After his fight with Kirk he suddenly comes to his senses, and his fiancée says _she had a feeling that neither Kirk nor Spock would want her_ (which is why she's glad that another fellow, Stonn, is there). Then Spock goes back to the ship, without mating with her, nor with anyone else. As far as we know, at that point he's still in mortal danger: in desperate need of a mate. When Spock discovers that Kirk is in fact alive, he grabs Kirk and gives Kirk a big smile, acting wildly emotional, which McCoy comments on. So it's not just us seeing it: he sees it, too. Then Kirk and Spock run off together...and that's the HAPPY ENDING of the episode, literally.
What's _in the script_ is intentional, yes? Spock rejecting T'Pring and joyfully embracing Kirk instead wasn't a blooper, was it? No, it was intentional. It's in the script, and it aired, and that makes it canon, my dears.
After that, they live (more or less) happily ever after, without either one of them ever marrying a woman. OK, they weren't always totally happy with each other, but they did stick together until death did them part. That's how their story ends.
Kirk and Spock love each other, and it's a fierce, whole-souled, unconditional love. They are always there for each other. They go to extraordinary lengths for each other's sakes, and then shrug it off like it's no big deal. I have never seen one turn to the other and say: "Thanks, I owe you one." Nobody's keeping score. There's no quota, and there are no limits. It goes without saying that they both will give the other their best, their all, or any portion thereof, whenever needed, and also just for the fun of it. They have fun together. They enjoy each other, they appreciate each other, they are each other's favorite person in the whole universe. That is no exaggeration. Kirk explicitly says as much in one episode.
Those two probably are the most spectacular example of Gay characters that slipped in under the censor's radar, to date. They have been hiding in plain sight for nearly forty years, and still haven't received their proper due. This is shameful, since they are probably the most heroic and positive Gay characters that ever appeared on TV to date. Their story is not only a ripping adventure yarn, but it's also a great love story - that is, the story of a Great Love.
For Kirk and Spock, their relationship with each other is the primary love relationship for both of them. It spans decades, withstands incredible trials, and defies even death.
As a Trekkie and a parodist I started documenting K/S "evidence" as a joke a few years ago. The more I do it, the less funny it seems. The truth is that the evidence in favor of K/S outdoes opposing evidence, both in quality and quantity, by a huge margin. I'm not joking anymore, I'm serious.
If I'm wrong about this, it doesn't hurt anybody. But if I'm right, it's earthshaking: it's stop-the-presses monumental. These guys are not one-offs; they are not background characters: they are the front and center stars of the show.
If I'm right about this, it makes "the first interracial kiss on TV" an insignificant achievement by comparison. If I'm right about this, it makes Star Trek (which spawned an international fan phenomenon that is as yet unmatched) probably the most significant Gay milestone in entertainment history, and one of the top most important TV shows of all time.
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In that case, don't you agree that it's time that somebody should say something about it?
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