Leonard Nimoy, Spock, and fandom

by Doctor Science

A lot of people have talked very movingly in the past few days about how inspirational Leonard Nimoy and the character of Spock were in their lives. For me, Spock is a culture-hero on the level of Moses or indeed Abraham. My chosen subculture is transformative media/SF fandom; media fandom began with Star Trek -- and Star Trek fandom began with Spock.

One to Beam Up, by feredir. Yeah, I've been crying.

It's probably the case that by 1966 our culture was more than ready for media fandom, like a super-saturated solution -- but Spock was the seed around which it crystallized.

intrigueing is a fan who's only in her 20s, but I think she really put her finger on what makes Spock special:

Out of every single actor who I have seen play an alien character, Spock stands out, because of Nimoy.

It was the little things -- the way he moved, the way he held himself, the way he talked, the way he paid attention to the tiniest little details to imbue them with consistency, to make them Vulcan, so clearly and firmly committed to making every gesture and word authentic to the core, no slips into who's-going-to-know-the-difference laziness about keeping up the illusion of alien-ness -- no "normal", human-esque behavior, no moments where he broke character while in the background, or because the temptation to take the easy route and react the way humans would for dramatic effect was too great.

This happens so often with other actors playing aliens -- even the really, really, really good ones. There's always those moments, little moments, when their mask crumbles and that regular ol' 20th-21st century human actor peeps through. Often so small you don't notice it until you compare it to the sheer airtight-ness Mr. Nimoy brought to his illusion. It was a case of perfect plausible deniability -- there were none of those moments (after the Pilots, of course), that I can recall, where I could point to as a "tell," a moment of "oh, look, he's not an alien after all." Even his most human moments, like the single moment of absolute joy at the end of "Amok Time", the human-ness is still Spock's particular, unmistakable brand of humanity -- the character's humanity.

The performance of Vulcan-ness -- or Spock-ness, rather, for Spock's humanity was crucial to the character -- was absolute, and that made all the difference. I could believe with 100% unshaken suspension, in spite of cardboard sets, ridiculous special effects, garish makeup, and general '60s hilarity, that Spock was really a half-Vulcan scientist from the 23rd century. It sounds like a modest accomplishment, but when I try to think of any actor who played an alien the way he did? It's rare, so rare, so memorable, and so unique.

Spock is a touchstone for millions of people because he was presented (by Nimoy's acting, and by TOS as a whole) as alien and yet admirable. All kinds of alienated people looked at Spock -- the alien one, the different one, the smart one, the weird one -- and said yes, that's me, and that's who I want to be.

Spock is also the queer one -- not (necessarily) in the sense of being non-straight, but in the sense of having a non-standard sexuality or gender presentation. Spock rejects conventional human sexuality and (ostensibly) love, but the Season 2 episode Amok Time shows him capable of passionate (though non-human) sexuality. His emotional and sexual expression is *different* from the rest of the crew, he's an outsider and an alien in this regard, as well as others. Many non-straight and/or non-cis people have told me, over the years, that Spock was the first TV character they identified with, who they felt was queer in the way they are queer.

Because Spock was the seed, the very first media fanzine was Spockanalia: not just a Star Trek zine, but a *Spock* zine, with fan essays like "A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart" or "Excerpt from 'The Young Vulcan's Handbook of Emotional Control" -- and some poems and stories. Fan culture took off from there, exploring and arguing about and celebrating this strange new world, that has Spock in it.

In particular, because Spock is queer, Star Trek fanfiction always had a queer, unconventional element, as fans wrestled with Spock's emotions and sexuality. I think this is one reason TOS was the first fandom where slash broke the surface, as more and more fans became willing to hold that Spock's best (emotional, then sexual) pairing might be with Kirk.

I'm not saying that all Trek fans are or were Spock-centric, that Spock is the only important thing in the fandom. Indeed, compared to most later fandoms, Star Trek fandom has always been multifarious, with many devotees of each regular character, not to mention the universe of the Enterprise and the Federation.

And that diversity itself is Spock-like. Although the concept wasn't brought up in canon for the later series, within Trek fandom as a whole we talked a lot about IDIC the Vulcan concept of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations:

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity
And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

I consider this the only major philosophy to ever come out of a TV show.

In her eulogy at Making Light, Abi Sutherland called Leonard Nimoy's Spock one of the trellises on which I grew my character. That has been true for millions of individuals, but it's also true of fan culture itself. Spock's intellect and passion, alienation and queerness, diversity and integrity -- these are all qualities we put into and get out of fandom.

I wasn't "present at the creation", partly because I was on the young side but mostly because we didn't have a TV with a) color and b) *an antenna* until 1969 -- which meant that, even in one of Illinois' largest cities outside the Chicago area, we could only watch CBS. I became a Star Trek devotee during the 80s, when Mister Doctor and I were courting -- he plied me with TOS and introduced me to Doctor Who, a cunning and successful plan. I didn't really get involved in the fandom until about 1997, when I fell headlong into ASCEM -- and the rest is history.

The first story I thought of when I heard Nimoy had died was Kaddish by jat_sapphire, first published in 2000.

Jim knew he could not take Spock to the alien soil of Earth, or even to Vulcan, which had never been Spock's true home. Here. They'd leave him here. He would say the last words he could say to Spock and let him go as he had put him on the gurney and that was all he could do.

It was illogical to wish for more, but there was nobody to say so.

.

Glorified and sanctified be God's great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.

Dante's Prayer from Killa Beez on Vimeo.

Dante's Prayer, by killa; the re-mastered version, which she just re-posted in memoriam. I think one reason Nimoy's death is hitting me so hard, emotionally, is because he got to play a great death scene, so there are a lot of feelings to be called up.

Comments

[Dlareh]

What is crap like this doing in my RSS feed. Geez

[wj]

Perhaps broadening your horizons?

[liberal japonicus]

Thanks Doc, and apologies for my shorter open thread. I should have guessed that you might have had a deeper take than me.

[joel hanes]

For me, Spock is a culture-hero on the level of Moses or indeed Abraham.

For me, Harth rem ir Estraven.

[Donald Johnson]

I haven't been emotional about Nimoy's death (no Spock joke intended, though it is slightly ironic), but yes, Spock and his successor Data are among the most memorable TV characters ever, for me at least. I'm trying to think of any other characters who stand out to me as much and none come to mind right away, though of course there have been many great TV shows over the years. Maybe Hawkeye Pierce stands out--in a totally different way, of course.

[wj]

I wonder what message it sends that the various Science Officers (Spock, Dax, etc.) all seem to be either aliens, part alien or (Wildman) married to an alien. Is it really necessary to be that remote from the rest of humanity to do science?

[Hartmut]

Ironically the studio executives seem to have had strong reservations against the Spock character, in particular his looks. I read that they feared that he looked too demonic and could be mistaken for the devil.

And that was before 'science is satanic' became a mainstream position.

I have never been a Star Trek guy. If at all I am a fan of Raumpatrouille Orion
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Raumpatrouille
It lingered a bit too long in postproduction, so it got beat by Star Trek by iirc 4 weeks.
I wonder how Kirk would have reacted to having a lady as his boss and a second one as his direct supervisor on the bridge, both of the no-nonsense type ;-)

[Countme-In]

Never really a Star Trek fan, but this is a moving tribute.

Maybe I'll go back and Netflix myself with Star Trek episodes.

I'm a little surprised myth-Meister Joseph Campbell didn't latch on to Spock instead of the Star Wars stuff, which I never cared for either.

Regarding actors playing aliens, if memory serves, I thought Jeff Bridges as the stranded alien in "Starman" did a nice job, and the supporting actors who played the humans taken over by the alien invasion in the original "Invasion of Body Snatchers" were spot on.

In that case, they looked and acted exactly as humans, except for one telltale characteristic.

That movie is the seed of all my nightmares throughout life.

A great, scary metaphor for inhumanity.

I'm not even sure any of you are who you seem.

[bluefoot]

wj - I absolutely don't think one needs (or should) be remote from humanity to do science, but I know a lot of non-scientists who think we're rather "alien." And it's not like Hollywood is awash in scientists to correct their usual characterizations of scientists. In that vein, Dana Scully did science a solid.

Re Nimoy and Spock, I've had a lot of thoughts and feelings re Nimoy's passing but haven't been able to put them into words. I grew up with TOS. And Nimoy himself seemed like a really good person - truly kind and compassionate.

I agree that he never broke character, which (considering how novel Spock's character was) was a serious achievement. Mark Lenard similarly was completely believable as a Vulcan. And I completely agree that one of the gifts of Spock's character was that Spock struggled with his identity and his differentness openly.

Outside of Star Trek, I credit Nimoy with opening my eyes to Holocaust denial.

Dr. Sci - I grieve with thee.

[Barry]

Thank you for posting this.

[Barry]

"In that case, they looked and acted exactly as humans, except for one telltale characteristic."

The writers and actors understood 'The Uncanny Valley'.

[Countme-In]

Barry, thanks for the "uncanny valley" reference.

I was not familiar with term, but wikipedia has a good write-up and it is food for thought, and keeping the lights on tonight.

I may even send the hyper-realistic sex doll back that I ordered recently.

We've only talked thus far, but her sincerity seems so uncanny and straight out of the box that it's creeping me out.

Maybe she'll walk out of her own accord, unless I remove her batteries.

I kid. No sex doll.

But I'm a little surprised the wiki article didn't mention the phenomenon of someone falling out of love with you (the royal you).

That seems an uncanny valley to me. The light goes out in the eyes. You know something is up before the "we need to talk" talk.

Where did it go? And if it's gone, what was it to begin with, besides a chemical or hormone squirting at the base of the brain and now, for whom does the chemical squirt?

The science of love snatches the body of we hopeless romantics.

Makes you want to check the basement for giant seed pods.

[Hartmut]

Count, this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Doll may be the right movie on the topic. It's not specific about uncanny valley (and not prawnographic either) but nonetheless quite interesting (plus well acted by the female inflatable lead).

[Countme-In]

Thanks, Hartmut.

Sounds fascinating.

It's not on Netflix yet, but if it was, it would head up the queue ahead of Spock.

[JDM]

One of my favorite moments from TOS was when, faced with the arrival of a being from a world with mandated prejudice, the younger members of the crew listened, sympathetic and shocked, saying that the Federation had overcome all that many years ago. Spock was in the corridor, overhearing, and his subdued but obviously pained reaction said it all, since he had gone through this prejudice when it was "no longer existent".

It's yet another of those moments that's still applicable today, as has been vividly demonstrated during this past few years and our "postracial" presidency.

[wj]

We have reached the point where it is no longer socially acceptable to be explicitly racially prejudiced. (In private is another matter.) So those who are take pains to justify their hatred on other grounds. Not necessarily very convincingly, but they do take care to work at it.

That there has been massive progress to get us to this point is clear, as those of us with memories stretching back to the 1950s can testify. That there is still a long way to go to actually eliminate racial (not to mention religious or other kinds of) prejudice is also quite clear.

[MDavis]

@Count me in
I thought that Joseph Campbell was approached by Lucas when Star Wars was in production. In those circumstances, it was natural for Campbell to talk about his take on the results.