Obama May Be Nimoy

[4thofeleven]

There’s an opinion piece up at The Root, arguing that Obama is not Spock.

“The notion of Barack as Spock keeps him at a distance. He has always been “other”—and now, some would suggest, he is an actual alien.”

I will admit, speaking as a white guy in Australia… the whole Obama=Spock meme - which I've seen repeated in quite a few places - has struck me as a little… off. I’m aware it’s mean to be complimentary, but there are… issues with making the argument that “Obama’s just like that passionless half-breed alien!”

And on that note, I was a little baffled after seeing the movie to look back on a couple of reviews that had, bizarrely, made a big deal about the new film embodying the new hopeful energy of the Obama era or something. Now granted, I’ve never bought into Obama’s appeal in the first place, so maybe I'm missing something obvious – but let’s look at the movie itself:

A bunch of ungrateful foreigners decide to launch an unprovoked terrorist attack at the heart of America the Federation. In the wake of this catastrophe, some people think we need to regroup and coordinate with the rest of the fleet and the other Federated worlds, but as the movie makes clear, the correct response is instead to run off half-cocked under the command of the brash young American who totally knows what to do because of his secret information source that he can’t talk to anyone about. And hooray, it all works out for the best!

I would rather hope that sort of narrative is not the sort of thing people elected Obama for…

Comments

[fialleril.livejournal.com]

When you put it that way, it sounds like Kirk is George W. Bush.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, it's more "George Bush thinks he's an action hero like Captain Kirk"...