Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the newest installment in the
rebooted Star Trek franchise where he also stars as Scotty, has decided to
respond to George Takei's criticism over Hikaru Sulu's gender (re-)orientation.
"I have huge love and respect for George Takei,
his heart, courage and humour are an inspiration," Pegg told The Guardian.
"However, with regards to his thoughts on our Sulu, I must respectfully
disagree with him."
John Cho, who is currently playing Sulu in the new
Star Trek timeline, revealed this past Thursday that as a nod to both Takei's
history in playing the character and his LGBT activism, Pegg, co-writer Doug
Jung and director Justin Lin had decided that Sulu was in a same-sex
relationship.
Takei, who already knew of decision but could not
speak of it for obvious reasons, was quick to respond to the news and called
Sulu's new gender orientation "unfortunate".
"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. 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?"
Pegg continued: "Justin Lin, Doug Jung and I
loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a
pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any
prejudice. Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not
the defining characteristic. Also, the audience would infer that there has been
an LGBT presence in the Trek Universe from the beginning (at least in the Kelvin timeline), that a gay hero
isn’t something new or strange. It’s also important to note that at no point do
we suggest that our Sulu was ever closeted, why would he need to be? It’s just
hasn’t come up before."
In his reaction, Takei also pointed out that Pegg and
rest had failed to pay respect to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's amazing vision,
which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. However, Pegg doesn't quite
see it that way.
"I don’t believe Gene Roddenberry’s decision to
make the prime timeline’s Enterprise crew straight was an artistic one, more a
necessity of the time. Trek rightly gets a lot of love for featuring the first
interracial kiss on US television, but Plato’s Stepchildren was the lowest
rated episode ever," adding that "the
viewing audience weren’t open minded enough at the time and it must have forced
Roddenberry to modulate his innovation. His mantra was always ‘infinite
diversity in infinite combinations’. If he could have explored Sulu’s sexuality
with George, he no doubt would have. Roddenberry was a visionary and a pioneer
but we choose our battles carefully."
Pegg ended his response saying that
their Star Trek timeline, which J.J. Abrams successfully rebooted in 2009 is
full of "alternated details".
"Our Trek is an alternate timeline with alternate
details,” he wrote. "Whatever magic ingredient determines our sexuality
was different for Sulu in our timeline. I like this idea because it suggests
that in a hypothetical multiverse, across an infinite matrix of alternate
realities, we are all LGBT somewhere. Whatever dimension we inhabit, we all
just want to be loved by those we love (and I love George Takei). I can’t speak
for every reality but that must surely true of this one. Live
long and prosper."
Opening in theaters on July 22, Star Trek Beyond also stars the late Anton
Yelchin, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Sofia Boutella,
Karl Urban, Deep Roy, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Joe Taslim.
Source - The Guardian
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