The Evolution of Uhura: Representations of Women in Trek
Open Access
Author:
Tunney, Kristen Kiefer
Area of Honors:
Media Studies
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jeanne Lynn Hall, Thesis Supervisor Jeanne Lynn Hall, Thesis Supervisor Barbara O Bird, Thesis Honors Advisor Paula Jean Droege, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Media Studies Star Trek Feminism Feminist Critique
Abstract:
The Evolution of Uhura: Representations of Women in Trek will be a primarily textual character analysis* of the ways in which the character of Uhura has evolved and transformed over the past forty years. In the paper, I claim that Trek films have always had both positive and negative representations of women, and that “NuTrek” fails and succeeds in ways that are different from but comparable to those of “classic” Trek. I will devote the first half of my paper to Uhura’s portrayal in Star Treks I through VI. The second half of my research will focus on the newest film, Star Trek (2009). I will attempt to explain the character’s evolution as well as to critique the ways in which NuTrek featuring the Original Series characters manages to simultaneously triumph and fail at representing the true diversity of women.
* my interpretation of how different characters can be “read” as either positive or negative representations of gender; my own interpretation will be compared and contrasted with that of other Trek scholars, and I will be citing sources both in feminist literature and media studies literature (and some combinations) to back up my own conclusions about the films.
