edit: this is part 1 of my rant LOL i made 2 more yaps on this sorry guys i finished watching amok time today and something i found rlly interesting is HOW the whole fight was choreographed. it was obviously so homoerotic and gay (LOL) but i genuinely love how spock technically 'beat'/killed jim via suffocation. i mean, they probably thought ab some funky weapons that vulcans may have but youre telling me they basically had spock trying to WHIP and TIE UP and CHOKE OUT kirk ??? LMAOOO ??? it's really reminiscent of strap matches (these sound worse than they actually are omg) or just any kind of violent match where weapons are legal (if not the main premise of a match i.e. dog collar matches or ladder matches, wtv). my favorite thing about knockout wins in pro wrestling is that it's often a good way to 'protect' whoever is losing, without making them lose credibility. it's also SUCH a treat to see visually, especially when it's a submission specialist kind of wrestler (like kyle o'reily!!) because there's a moment of (kayfabe) 'genuine fear' that you see in the wrestler being pinned down into the submission hold. the desperation from jim, trying to fight back, and the blood fever-induced ruthlessness of spock was SO interesting to me because i, admittedly, lowered my expectations of amok time as to not be too disappointed in case it wasn't as homoerotic as described.
it's the 60s and while the WWWF was also starting to gain popularity in the mainstream it wasn't quite in the way that it really captured people in the 70s-80s just yet, so i figured, it couldn't be THAT crazy, right? WRONG!!!!!! i KNOW it's crazy because this genuinely read to me as a cinematic pro-wrestling match but during the 60s???? i know i joke about relating my interests to one another often but this doesn't even feel like a reach, at all. the way the fight was choreographed, the expressions from both jim and spock, bones watching them in concern, IT JS ALL FELT SO PRO WRESTLING-EY????
and, again, kirk losing to suffocation -- while it was obviously for plot purposes and all, i js think is so fascinating (insert spock voice), because the fight obviously didn't make him seem weak, even if he was already disadvantaged. AND, i find it even more fascinating considering the fight was in such a way that most of what kirk was doing was out of defense, sure he got hits on spock, but it was more or less him avoiding getting hit or trying to break free from spock's hold. they tussle around and fight for dominance over who was the upper-hand on the fight, but kirk doesn't move to injure spock and spock doesn't even manage to beat jim in terms of physical prowess (though, this has also to do with mccoy's stunt!). his actions are all desperate and kirk fights back, but only just enough to keep himself alive, but not at all to hurt spock any more. it's genuinely so interesting to me as someone who loves pro wrestling because fight scenes and violence itself in media can be used in such creative ways to tell a story. hell, pro-wrestling itself is performance art at the end of the day.
i dont really know what went on with the writing process but it's just so crazy to me ARGHHH. ESPECIALLY BC you see spock hesitate as he comes to and mccoy has to get him off kirk's unconscious body. knockout is one of the more visceral reaction inducing things in wrestling to ME, because it's one of those things that still feels genuinely trippy in the 'is-this-real-or-not?' way and im probably overanalyzing it like the nerd i am, but i find that sooo crazy hahaha...
(1), (2), (3)
