You know what’s funny. I think Roddenberry accidentally created the greatest love story in Spock and Kirk. The more I look into how he created them and why they are such a unit every creative choice was him creating a metaphor for soulmates or showing the markers of relationships. I’ve run across many accounts of their creation and understanding the creative process I imagine all of them are, to an extent, true.
- Kirk and Spock being a single character broken into 2 (soulmates/call me by your name phenomenon)
- allowing those parts of the self to commune and contemplate and react to each other in an intimate way because there is automatically an intimacy between two halfs of the one whole. They literally complete each other.
- kirk representing the passion and Spock the logic (you kind of see this a bit in relationships sometimes when one person is like the loud one and the other one is like the one that plans haha it seems like a wishy washy point but I believe it stands)
- in response to Spock’s popularity (in my belief particularly because he reflected humanities struggle with emotion, emotional acceptance/ honesty and truth) Gene asked Issac Asimov how to ensure Kirk didn’t fall into the background and Asimov responded “make them a team so when people think of Spock they think of Kirk”. Good relationships are like a team of 2. When you think of Spock you think immediately of kirk. No other person or thing really comes between them in terms of “what comes first in each other’s lives” except maybe the ship but that is something they both share/cherish and care for and would also both sacrifice for each other.
- gene had wanted to include a gay relationship on screen but assumed he would be taken off air and while his reactions to the idea of Kirk and Spock being together have varied it’s never been a definitive no absolutely not. As we know there’s even been a few times where he’s added nods to the possibility with the invention of Th'y'la and his admission that their love for each other was sufficient for sexual intimacy.
Less salient points in support of Spock and Kirk as an actual real thing
- this is obviously a side point not really about thier creation but paramount gave the thumbs up to the most homoerotic subtext in the star trek pulp series. Did they say it was not canon? Yes. But did they approve Spock giving Kirk a naked mind meld that made Kirk melt into him? Yes. Did they approve a poem that is strongly suggested is written by Spock where his love for his captain is written on his heart? Yes. Did they give a thumbs up to Spock and Kirk rolling around in the grass while Spock is in heat? Yes. COME ON.
- there’s a lot of interpretations of kirks sexuality but for me the first time I saw it, without any context of spirk and the broader star trek lore, I assumed Kirk was a very sexual person and that he was not bound by gender/race/alien type. The impression was very much ‘if they’re compatible then I’m down". He’s a very touch based person. He’s cheeky to the extent that it really comes off as flirty with most people. I wanna say he dresses provocatively but it’s not his fault the uniforms fit him like th-(not relevant). Do I think he’s a womanizer? No. Do I think he’s a sexual pan/bi guy that doesn’t go wanting? Yes.
Anyway in conclusion greatest accidental and legitimate love story.
kokorocala
