SHAKESPEARE IN STAR TREK SLASH FICTION

LAURA CAMPILLO ARNAIZ UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA

1. AIMThe aim of this paper is to discuss the way Shakespeare has been appropriated in the Star Trek (ST) slash fandom. In order to do so, I will analyse two ST slash fan fiction examples (video and macro story) to determine (1) what Shakespearian texts have been appropriated and (2) what role Shakespeare plays with regard to the Kirk/Spock slash dynamics.

2. INTRODUCTION

2.1. FANFICTION AND SLASH

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fan fiction can be defined as: “Stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet”1. Typically, this fan labor originates in a feeling of admiration for characters appearing in TV shows or movies, and explores themes and ideas that are not developed in the originating medium. These works are almost never authorized by the owner of the original work, so although they relate closely to its fictional canonical universe, they exist outside it. Fan fiction hardly gets published professionally, and it can mostly be found in fanzines and the Internet. It is an extremely productive and popular activity- a quick Google search introducing the terms “Harry Potter” and “fan fiction” returns almost 6 million results, the stories archived under this category in fanfiction.net alone surpassing the 400k mark2.

Scholar Henry Jenkins reflects about this phenomenon in the following way:

Readers […] have a strong incentive to continue to elaborate on these story elements, working them over through their speculations, until they take on a life of their own. Fan fiction can be seen as an unauthorized expansion of these media franchises into new directions which reflect

1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fan%2Bfiction2 http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Harry_Potter/

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the reader's desire to "fill in the gaps" they have discovered in the commercially produced material3.

One of the most popular sub-genres of fan fiction is slash. The shortest and most classical way to define it would be saying slash is fan fiction in which two males are in a relationship. A lengthier and more detailed would be the following:

Slash is a genre of fanfic which deals almost exclusively with same sex homoerotic relationships. Research has suggested it is written and read primarily by heterosexual females. As previously stated, slash began in the 70s with Kirk/Spock fiction. The term "slash" came from the slash mark between the names of the characters. In this way, the particular pairing of characters is articulated. It has spread to all kinds of TV and movie characters4.

Indeed, there’s hardly any popular TV series, film or book without a slash fandom in its trail, among the most popular being Supernatural (Dean/Sam), Sherlock Holmes (Holmes/Watson) and Lord of the Rings (Frodo/Sam), to name a few. However, as it is pointed out in the previous quotation, the term slash was coined during the early 70s, and the first characters ever being slashed were captain Kirk and Mr. Spock from the Star Trek original series (TOS). The appeal of this series and its characters has hardly decayed throughout the decades, if the reruns and later incarnations of the franchise are any indication of its success. A quick look at the following timeline gives us an idea of the pervasive influence of ST on TV and films since the first episode of the series aired in 1966:

Figure 1. Star Trek Chronology5

Although the franchise has never been one to enjoy an unwavering success, with some series and movies rating well-below the expected standards, the interest for the Kirk/Spock dynamics has stood the test of time. Although each reader and writer will give their own reasons for liking this pair, the

3 http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html4 http://www.lyricalmagic.com/fanficFAQ.html#slash5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek

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friendship between the characters, their willingness to sacrifice their lives and careers to save the other and the mutual devotion they feel for each other are the basis of a relationship slash fans everywhere unquestioningly define as ‘love’.

Figure 2. LEFT. Still from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. RIGHT. Motivational K/S poster by Aevylonya6 reads: “CANON. Because if you don’t see it, you’re blind”.

Gene Roddenberry, creator of the ST franchise and its original characters, never objected to the slash writing of Kirk and Spock, although he was concerned at times that this revelation reached the mainstream and it could so hurt the series. However, he was open to the idea of a love relationship between Kirk and Spock:

Yes, there's certainly some of that—certainly with love overtones. Deep love. The only difference being, the Greek ideal—we never suggested in the series—physical love between the two. But it's the—we certainly had the feeling that the affection was sufficient for that, if that were the particular style of the 23rd century7.

In the following section, I will focus on the way slash fans have appropriated Shakespeare to comment on the Kirk/Spock relationship8. In order to do so, I will centre my analysis on two examples of slash fan work, “The Marriage of True Minds” and “My Captain Eyes are Nothing like the Sun”.

2.1. KIRK/SPOCK: THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS

6 http://aevylonya.deviantart.com/art/Kirk-Spock-motivational-nr-1-1592538127 Shatner, William, et al. Where No Man... The Authorized Biography of William Shatner, Ace Books, 1979, pp. 147-8.8 Referencia a la bibliografía de caso

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Shakespeare’s sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments”)9 is the only slash video around which focuses on the Kirk/Spock (K/S) relationship with a Shakespearian background. When I first encountered it, I contacted the author, Fresca, who granted me permission to quote the video and also reproduce the macros she used in its making10. Fresca’s sonnet 116 is part of a series of videos where the author uses different poems to comment on the K/S relationship. Among the poems used are “I sing the body electric” by Walt Whitman, “The Definition of Love” by Andrew Marvell, excerpts from Virgil’s Book IV of The Aeneid and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. When I asked Fresca why she had chosen this sonnet in particular, she told me: “My mother had me memorize this poem when I was about nine”, emphasizing it was one of the poems young kids were taught as part of their academic education. As she grew older and became a fan of ST, Fresca realized it suited the K/S interaction very well, and decided it would be one of the texts she would use for her “Poetry in Space” project. In the comments to the YouTube upload, she further comments:

I made this one because with the new movie opening soon, it seems behoovy to remember that love survives time, alterations, and even near doom--and what better reminder than Shakespeare's Sonnet 116? (It was only after I uploaded this that someone told me April 23 is Shakespeare's birthday)

Indeed, as we shall see, Sonnet 116 was not particularly chosen because it is part of the group of sonnets addressed to a young man (so making the point of a homoerotic K/S relationship obvious), but because it defines love as unaltered and unalterable, emphasizing its constancy in a world of change. The video opens in the following way:

MACRO 1. MACRO 2.

9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Yv7y0Aa0010 The macros can be found at “L’Astronave”, Fresca’s blog here: http://gugeo.blogspot.com/2009/04/kirkspock-let-me-not-shakespeare-sonnet.html

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The setting is relaxed and free of any sense of impending danger, something somehow striking since the crew of the Enterprise hardly spends a lazy day in their exploration of the universe. However, in this particularly idle afternoon, Spock has an idea to amuse his captain and spend time together.

MACRO 3. MACRO 4. MACRO 5.

Rather than suggesting a game of the 3-D chess both like to play, Spock brings a poem to Kirk. Both characters are known to quote Shakespeare in the original series, so their interest in the Bard shouldn’t really come as a surprise. As a matter of fact, Kirk quotes sonnet LVII (Being your slave, what should I do but tend/ Upon the hours and times of your desire?) in Plato’s Stepchildren, so we may assume he knows Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Interestingly, Spock offers to read the poem, therefore assuming the role of the I voice, what leaves Kirk as the addressee. What follows is a series of screencaps from the ST original series (TOS), the ST motion pictures (I to VI) and the new 2009 ST movie (Reboot), which illustrate each of the lines from the sonnet:

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MACRO 6. MACRO 7.

These stills from The City on the Edge of Forever (TOS: 1x28) couldn’t have fit this first line better. The true minds are obviously Kirk and Spock, who manage to overcome the risks of a time travel to the 20th century which could have altered humanity’s future. In macro 6 Kirk and Spock are at the beginning of the episode facing the time portal, and in the following one, they’ve successfully returned to their point of origin. If there was an “impediment” in this episode threatening the “marriage” of these two characters, that was Edith Keeler, with whom Kirk falls in love. Regrettably, for the timeline of historical events not to be upset, Kirk must let Keeler die, which he does, returning to his ship and to his usual self at the end of the episode.

MACRO 8. MACRO 9.

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Turnabout Intruder (TOS: 3x79) is a clever choice for these lines. Using alien technology, the demented Dr. Janice Lester achieves a successful body and personality swap with Kirk. Lester-in-Kirk will try to take command of the Enterprise, while Kirk-in-Lester becomes desperate in his attempt to demonstrate who he really is. The only one who believes the captain’s story is Spock, who mind-melds with him as the image in macro 9 shows, and is convinced that, despite the feminine body, the consciousness inhabiting it is Kirk’s. Shakespeare’s lines highlight Spock’s unwavering loyalty to Kirk and his determination to help him regain his real body at the cost of a court martial and his own life.

MACRO 10. MACRO 11. MACRO 12.

The choice of stills 10 and 11 seems to have been made following the allusion to “ever-fixed mark” in line 5 and the moment when Kirk is preparing to shoot an arrow. More interesting is image 12, where a calmed Spock overpowers a deranged Kirk in The Enemy Within (TOS 1x5). Following a transpoter malfunction, Kirk’s persona is split in two halves inhabiting two different bodies. When the evil doppelganger attempts to

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take control of the Enterprise, Spock overpowers him restoring Captain Kirk to his own and unique self.Throughout these examples, Spock epitomizes the idea of love as defined by Shakespeare, remaining immutable in the face of “impediments”, “alterations” and “tempests”. The comparison will wittily continue in images 13 and 14, where love is compared to the star which guides a ship in its journey through the ocean, preventing it from getting lost or shipwrecked:

MACRO 13. MACRO 14.

As science officer of the Enterprise, it is Spock who is in charge of supervising the flying parameters and stellar charts before they’re fed to the computer of the Enterprise, therefore effectively assuring the ship’s course. In this way, Spock appears as the “star” to the Enterprise (the “wandering bark” adrift in the universe) but also as Kirk’s personal “star”, since his logical and rational arguments anchor the captain’s reckless nature and allow him to take informed decisions that safeguard the well-being of everybody aboard the Enterprise. Macro 14 was probably chosen because Spock is pointing at something which may look to a viewer to be a star in the distant heaven.

MACRO 15. MACRO 16. MACRO 17.

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Image 15 provides a very funny moment which is cleverly used in conjunction with the Shakespearean line. During the first episodes of TOS (“The Cage” and “Where Man Has Gone Before”) the characters’ make-up and uniforms where very different from those that became well-known and established throughout the rest of the seasons. These lapses in continuity have been used as joking material by the ST fans for many years, but in the context of line “Love’s not time’s fool”, Spock’s weird make-up and yellow uniform become more serious. Indeed, in the context of a poem where love is defined as immutable, these external changes are merely superficial- we may think Spock looks like a fool, but his nature is not affected by his outward appearance, in the same way that Kirk’s many changes (physical and psychological) do not alter Spock’s feelings for his captain. Further proof of this is found in images 16 and 17, where a youthful Kirk is compared to his older self, artificially and unnaturally grown old in The Deadly Years (TOS 2, 11).

So far in the video, the love between these two characters has stood many proofs within the TOS universe- no matter what dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations they encounter, Kirk and Spock are always restored to their usual selves, growing in wisdom and experience. However, the video moves now to illustrate Shakespeare’s lines with images from the ST movies. The point here is that the characters are not artificially transformed as per script requirements, but are truly changed as the actors portraying them have aged. However, despite the change from TOS to the movies’ universe, Kirk and Spock still harbor the same feelings for each other:

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MACRO 18. MACRO 19.

Not only has their love been kept intact despite the passing of the years, but Kirk and Spock’s relationship in the ST movies is even closer and stronger than in the TOS episodes, with Kirk risking his life and professional career for the sake of Spock and Spock saving Kirk from the “edge of doom”, referenced in macro 19 as Sha-Ka-Ree, a planet hiding an evil entity which almost kills Kirk in ST:V. The unchanging nature of Kirk and Spock’s love is made evident in image 20, where the two characters are now portrayed by different actors in the recent ST movie (Reboot):

MACRO 20. MACRO 21.

These two alternative versions of the characters’ younger selves inhabit a parallel universe where things are very different from the canonical TOS and ST films. Still, despite the initial hostility between the young Kirk and Spock, they will eventually come to terms with each other and develop the friendship which has been a trademark of the characters for the past four decades.

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Shakespeare’s line “If this be error” highlights Fresca’s -and so many other ST fans’- anxiety about the performance of actor Chris Pine in the role of the new Captain Kirk. The video was uploaded a month before ST Reboot’s opening, and although the fans’ unease proved misplaced, image 20 is proof of how concerned the fan community felt when they learnt a new ST movie was retaking the TOS characters with a different cast. Macro 21 concludes the sonnet and takes us back to the beginning of the story, where Spock was reading the poem to Kirk during an uneventful afternoon in the Enterprise. Kirk’s reaction to the poetry reading is playful and apparently oblivious to the sonnet -and Spock’s- message:

MACRO 22. MACRO 23.

MACRO 24. MACRO 25.

Ship here is used with the double meaning of Kirk’s ship (the Enterprise) and his ‘ship’ (derived from ‘relationship’, and implying the concept of a “fictional couple” in the slash fandom) with Spock. Image 22 belies Kirk’s feigned ignorance about the real meaning of Spock’s reading, as much as

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image 23 shows Spock hasn’t been fooled by his captain’s comment, but prefers to let it rest.The video ends with a final image crediting the author and a dedication to her best friend. Fresca and Bink’s friendship is depicted in image 25 through Kirk and Spock’s friendship in one of the final scenes of ST: IV, where they actually seem to be holding hands:

MACRO 26. MACRO 27.

Fresca chose to score the video to Bach’s Suite for Cello No.1 in G Major without realizing this choice would add another layer of homoeroticism to her macro story. As some viewers pointed out to her via private comments, this suite is a favorite of captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin from the Patrick O’Brian Master and Commander novels. These two male characters develop an unbreakable friendship throughout the novels, and they bear certain similarities with Kirk and Spock, for both couples spend most part of their lives relatively isolated in a ship fulfilling military missions. Needless to say, Aubrey and Maturin have been slashed to no end since the publication of O’Brian’s first novel.Anyway, what I find interesting about this video is that, after four decades of K/S slash, the relationship between these two is so blatantly obvious to the slash fandom that it would be ludicrous to think it needs authorization in Shakespeare. This is why I consider Shakespeare is not here appropriated to grant “cultural capital” (Bourdieu, 1984: 53-57) or credibility to the K/S relationship, but quite the opposite- it is Kirk and Spock’s love what proves Shakespeare right. If there were ever a couple of fictional sci-fi characters who could exemplify the veracity of sonnet 116, it would undoubtedly be them, as Fresca succeeds in demonstrating.

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2.1. MY CAPTAIN’S EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN

A very different but even more intriguing situation is the one we find in ladyblahblah’s macro story. Uploaded to her LiveJournal a couple of weeks after ST Reboot was released, it followed a discussion with a friend about “how certain poems just fit certain characters really well”. The macro story is developed in the context of the new ST movie and focuses on Shakespeare’s sonnet 130. As the author herself explains:

[…] I'd totally forgotten about this one, which seems to me to be EXACTLY how Spock would describe his attraction to Jim.  If, you know, he were inclined to do such things.  And if he were further inclined to do so poetically.  Besides, everyone knows that Shakespeare and Trek go together like . . . like . . . okay, I'm trying to think of something that goes together better than "Kirk and Spock", and I'm coming up blank, so we'll just stick with what works.

The poem has been tweaked to accommodate it to captain Kirk as the new addressee, so the author has changed the personal pronouns from her to his throughout the sonnet. Most notably, the word “mistress” has been replaced with “captain”, what establishes Kirk as Spock’s love object from the very first line. Interestingly, as it was the case with Fresca’s video, in this story Spock is also the I voice of the sonnet, the main focus of attention being how he handles his contradictory feelings for his captain. This fact keeps these two stories in tune with an accepted commonplace in the ST fandom, where it is usually Spock who struggles with his love feelings and pines for Kirk (who will correspond them in most cases).Unlike sonnet 116, which explores the universality of love, and could have also be spoken by Kirk, sonnet 130 is a perfect choice to develop the character of Spock. As a child of two worlds, Spock is characterized throughout ST as having serious difficulties reconciling his human and Vulcan heritage. The son of a human teacher and a Vulcan embassador, Spock prides himself on adhering unwaveringly to the logical and emotion-free traditions of his father’s planet. However, he is constantly fighting to keep his emotions at bay, something which he not always achieves successfully. In this sense, it is only fitting that, as the I voice of sonnet 130, Spock appears perplexed by the contradictions of a theoretical love canon and the reality of his object of desire. Trying to reconcile the traditional Petrarchan conventions with Captain Kirk will be Spock’s effort throughout the poem.

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Ladyblahblah’s macro story is coherent with the enmity that permeates Kirk and Spock’s relationship throughout ST Reboot, and so the poem is mostly set to stills from the academic hearing Kirk is summoned to after his cheating in the Kobayashi Maru test. Commander Spock was responsible for programming the test, so learning that cadet Kirk cheated to pass it creates an immediate hostility between them. This is the very first time Kirk and Spock meet in the movie, so this solemn moment couldn’t provide a better beginning to the poem:

IMAGE 1. IMAGE 2.

In contrast to Fresca’s video, ladyblahblah gives us Kirk’s thoughts and responses to Spock’s lines, what allows for comic relief and makes us aware of the thoughts of both I voice and addressee. In this story, Kirk does not appear playfully oblivious to Spock’s words, but is genuinely hostile to everything coming from him. In Image 2 Kirk openly insults him, something he’ll continue to do in Image 4:

IMAGE 3. IMAGE 4.

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Kirk’s thoughts reflect the opinion of many fans towards this new Spock, who behaves in an uncharacteristic manner throughout the movie- openly questioning Kirk’s ideas and refusing to concede his suggestions. In this way, Kirk’s musings also grant fans the opportunity to channel their own hostility towards Spock.

Throughout the following set of macros, Spock voices his internal debate to Dr. McCoy, a pivotal character in the ST Reboot movie which is cleverly introduced by ladyblahblah in the poem:

IMAGE 5.

McCoy: “You’re just being bitchy now, and that’s coming from me”.

If there is one emotional character aboard the Enterprise, that’s precisely Dr. McCoy, well known for wearing his heart on his sleeve. It would make sense then that Spock would consult him in this matter of the heart- however, knowing the relationship between this two characters in the ST universe, this image looks like an oxymoron; and that’s precisely why it is so funny.The relationship between Spock and McCoy has always been a strained one, as both defend radically different points of view; the former the logical one and the latter the emotional one. Their bickering is constant, and it is almost always Spock who has the last word. This is why it’s hilarious that Spock seeks McCoy’s advice in ladyblahblah’s story, first because he would never reveal his emotional tribulations to the doctor, and second, because if he were inclined to do so, he wouldn’t actually listen to him or take his advice seriously, as it is indeed the case in the following macros:

IMAGE 6. IMAGE 7.

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IMAGE 8. IMAGE 9.

As can be seen, Spock is almost talking to himself, so focused on his argument he ignores Dr. McCoy’s attempt at dialogue. Apparently having found no solution to the emotional conundrum Kirk poses, Spock leaves Dr. McCoy but keeps on reflecting about his captain’s physical virtues in a perplexed way:

IMAGE 10. IMAGE 11.

LEFT. McCoy: Yup. And, you know, a few breath mints wouldn’t kill you.

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In image 11, Kirk discusses Spock’s line with Dr. McCoy, who uncharacteristically proves Spock’s assertion right with his painfully honest response. McCoy’s role in the poem shows his personality throughout the movie. He is Kirk’s best friend, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise the captain shares with McCoy his resentment towards Spock. But despite’s Kirk’s need of McCoy’s advice and help, the doctor rarely solves his captain’s problems, trusting his judgment to take the right decision. This is something which also happens in this poem, where McCoy’s role is important but not decisive in the resolution of Spock and Kirk’s conflict.This conflict is emphasized in the following images, where the setting is once more the academic hearing:

IMAGE 12. IMAGE 13.

Image 13 is remarkable because Kirk manages to see something positive in Spock’s line. Although not very praising, Spock admits “I love to hear him speak”, something which Kirk recognizes as “almost a compliment”. This is an interesting change in attitude, which shows how closely Kirk has been listening to Spock’s words, and how affected he is by them. It should be noted that, throughout the poem, Kirk evolves from his initial outward hostility and insulting stance towards Spock, to one of incredulity in Image 11 and now to one of hurt sarcasm. The greatest change, however, will come with the following images, where a sad Kirk seems to accept defeat after Spock’s final argument:

IMAGE 14. IMAGE 15.

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In image 15, Kirk appears crushed and resigned after Spock’s logical arguments. Judging from Kirk’s words, it seems he feel they are proof of how little esteem and value Spock places in him. However, the final line introduces a change in the argument, the climatic moment being prolonged in the following way:

IMAGE 16. IMAGE 17.

Image 17 is probably on of ladyblahblah’s best choices throughout the poem, because it focuses on a physically battered and bruised Kirk, who cleverly suggests the emotional battering he’s been subjected to by Spock. As a matter of fact, Kirk was assaulted by Spock, who almost strangled him at one point in the movie. In the image, Kirk seems a little hopeful Spock’s argument is going to change, and Spock confirms it with his final line:

IMAGE 18.

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Not only has Spock changed his mind, but he has conceded his logic may be not so flawless after all, as it cannot explain his love for Kirk, an epitome of contradictions to which Spock surrenders in the end. In this way, the poem shows Spock’s emotional development as much as Kirk’s, as the former learns to accept and integrate his feelings in his rigid thought patterns and the later realizes he is cherished despite his limitations. The final image is pivotal in the development of the character’s relationship, as, for the first time in the 18 images, Kirk is at last in command of the Enterprise. He is therefore restored to his “rightful” position in the ST world, with Spock as his second in command. For the first time as well, the characters are in agreement as to the course of action to take, and Kirk smiles faintly to Spock. The poem then reaches a happy resolution, as much as the film does after the many convoluted events depicted.As it was the case with Fresca’s video, I don’t think Shakespeare here is appropriated to grant credibility to or authorize the K/S relationship; in my opinion, his poem is used to illustrate the characters’ personalities in the new ST movie, and to tell a love story which both in the film and in the poem seemed unlikely at best, but which reached a successful resolution despite the many impediments on the way. In this way, Shakespeare’s use by the ST slash fandom is more documented and fully developed than the random Shakespearean quotations which pepper TOS and the films- occurrences as witty as inconsequential in their definition of the characters.

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