REVERSE ANGLE
Art imitates life; life says, ‘Check yourself, art’
In the new “Star Trek Beyond,” Lt. Hiraku Sulu is revealed as gay. His sexuality is treated as an unremarkable fact. Progress, right?
“I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” George Takei, the original Sulu and LGBT activist (out since 2005), told the Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought.” Takei urged the filmmakers, “Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted.”
Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty and co-wrote the screenplay, said in a statement, “I have huge love and respect for George Takei” — however, “I must respectfully disagree with him.”
“He’s right, it is unfortunate; it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now,” Pegg said. “We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character,’ rather than simply for who they are and isn’t that tokenism?”
Zachary Quinto, whose Spock has seen his romantic life rejiggered with Zoe Saldana’s Lt. Nyota Uhura, said, “As a member of the LGBT community myself, I was disappointed by the fact that George was disappointed . ... As we established in the first ‘Star Trek’ film in 2009, we’ve created an alternate universe.”
Continuity error?
Without taking a side, Quinto’s “alternate universe” explanation for Sulu’s sexuality is pretty thin.
The new series’ timeline divergence point occurs during the action of the 2009 film, at the off-world birth of James T. Kirk. We also see Spock grow up more or less normally. So somehow the appearance of a Romulan ship from the future, destroying the USS Kelvin, altered the presumably yet-to-be-born Sulu’s sexual orientation, wherever he is? Or does timeline divergence make people gay?
Trivia question
The “alternate universe” idea also fails to explain the ethnicity change of what major character in the new “Star Trek” films?
X-tumult
Speaking of continuity conflicts, in Fox’s “X-Men” universe, fans are required to simply ignore major elements that make no sense or are directly contradictory. In an interview a few years ago, X-honcho Bryan Singer (director of four of the films) said, “Some of these, I hope the audience will forget about. … For the bulk of it, I pay attention to the universe.”
To the uninitiated, this hardly matters — we’re talking about dudes in capes flying around, right? But superhero movies dominate the cinematic landscape now, and one of the primary reasons Marvel Studios’ films are doing so well is that they don’t treat viewers like idiots. There are way too many instances to detail extensively here. But to scratch the surface: There are multiple versions of characters such as Angel, Deadpool, Sabretooth, Emma Frost (a teen in the 1980s but in her 30s in the ’60s?), Bolivar Trask (tall and black Bill Duke in “Last Stand,” short and white Peter Dinklage in “Days of Future Past”) and many others.
And how is it that Xavier is in his body again in “Days” after being disintegrated by Dark Phoenix in “Last Stand”? … and on and on and on.
But even the certified “Rotten” (on Rotten Tomatoes.com) “XMen: Apocalypse” has put up more than half a billion dollars, so what do we know?
New Woody cast
Woody Allen has announced the cast of his next feature, yet untitled. It includes Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, James Belushi and Juno Temple. Shooting begins in New York this fall.
Trivia answer
Khan is said, in the original “Space Seed” episode, to be from northern India (“probably a Sikh”), though he was famously played by Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán. In the new “Star Trek” universe, he is played by the very not-Indian, nor Mexican, Benedict Cumberbatch. Yet the new series’ alternate timeline begins centuries after the character’s birth. So there’s that.