I call bullshit on this list, especially because it list Uhura as "useless" with the implication that she was useless because she was a woman. BZZT!
Star Trek was made in the Sixties. There were VERY few Black characters on TV at the time... which is why Nichelle Nichols had a personal meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he persuaded h her to keep doing the show even when she wanted to quit, saying it was too important that a Black face be on TV.
Uhura was "useless" not because of her gender, but because of race--this chart ignores the political and social situation of when the show was made and the decisions made in regards to her character because she was Black: They couldn't ever put her in charge of the bridge because people in the south specifically would have flipped out at a black woman being in charge (this was why Ensign Chekov was given the bridge and she never was even though she outranked him). They wanted to pair her and Spock together but couldn't because she was Black and people would have flipped out. Writers actually wanted to do more with her but couldn't not because Uhura was a woman, but because she was Black.
But this chart just ignores how much race was a factor and assumes it was just because Uhura was a woman, she was written as "useless," when the truth is that she was made "useless" because of her race and the limitations that put on the writers.
And Yoko Ono and Michelle Rodriguez are listed on this thing as CHARACTER TYPES, as if they're not real? WTF?
Star Trek was made in the Sixties. There were VERY few Black characters on TV at the time... which is why Nichelle Nichols had a personal meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. where he persuaded h her to keep doing the show even when she wanted to quit, saying it was too important that a Black face be on TV.
Uhura was "useless" not because of her gender, but because of race--this chart ignores the political and social situation of when the show was made and the decisions made in regards to her character because she was Black: They couldn't ever put her in charge of the bridge because people in the south specifically would have flipped out at a black woman being in charge (this was why Ensign Chekov was given the bridge and she never was even though she outranked him). They wanted to pair her and Spock together but couldn't because she was Black and people would have flipped out. Writers actually wanted to do more with her but couldn't not because Uhura was a woman, but because she was Black.
But this chart just ignores how much race was a factor and assumes it was just because Uhura was a woman, she was written as "useless," when the truth is that she was made "useless" because of her race and the limitations that put on the writers.
And Yoko Ono and Michelle Rodriguez are listed on this thing as CHARACTER TYPES, as if they're not real? WTF?