There is nobody more upset by modern Star Trek than my 80 year old grandmother. She called me after SNW’s final episode and starts the conversation with “Neshama I have been strung along for 60 years. It is legal now, why are they doing this?”
What is she upset about you may ask? Straight Spock. She is an avid hater of straight Spock. She said it was fine in AOS because he was “In the closet. Clearly he was dealing with some things.”
But the main reason she’s upset about it is because Spock always reminded her of her friend who was a queer Jewish man in the late 60s when they became friends. And I think that story perfectly summarizes the importance of Spock as a character, he was created specifically for those who were outsiders. Removing both the queercodedness and the Jewishness from Spock’s character had been a massive mistake on paramount’s part because that was a major factor in why Spock was a favorite. Trying to force Spock to fit whatever mold the political climate calls for goes against everything Spock and Star Trek represent. If my nana says Star Trek was more progressive in the 60s then we’ve lost the plot, the boundaries towards progress should not stay stagnant on the show they should continue to be pushed. They should not bend for the conservative base.
