I acknowledge all the issues Into Darkness had with Carol Marcus (and Other Noteworthy Things) but the dismissal of her in the reboot fandom (or at least what I’ve seen of the reboot fandom, specifically on Tumblr, and it’s not necessarily an extensive view) irks me. I realize Jaylah had (count ‘em) 0 unnecessary underwear scenes and is surrounded by a better, more Trek-ky movie, but I guess I wish people took to Carol the same way? Since there’s nothing inherently wrong with her as character in Into Darkness? By the time the movie ends we find out her intentions throughout the movie were always in the name of justice and even if I think the writers could have highlighted what it meant for her to be welcomed on the Enterprise after her terrible father does his terrible deeds and is overall just a terrible guy…I’m still not able to figure out how those issues could have led to her being dismissed in the fandom. To the point that she’s even reduced to Love Interest in some criticisms (even though the ‘romance’ with Kirk was arguably the least developed thing re: her character, and to be honest, after the afore-alluded-to underwear scene I’m not sure I’d have wanted what little seeds were there to have been met with any rainfall if you catch my meaning (I don’t think I thought that metaphor through)). And maybe that’s down to your average, run-of-the-mill misogyny (like that one Beyond post that suggested Uhura’s only role in Beyond was to be a damsel in distress for Spock to save? ???) but I still feel like Carol deserves better. She deserved better from Into Darkness and deserved better than ‘Couldn’t think of what we might do with her besides maybe kill her’ from Beyond and I wish the ‘We Love The Female Characters Writers Hate’ part of Tumblr had given her that.
I love Carol. Her complete lack of a fandom makes me so sad. :(
(Though I do wonder if Alice Eve’s transmisogyny contributed to the Carol hate. But still, that was the actress, not the character, and I bet Carol Marcus is no bigot.)