{"id":236,"date":"2009-05-30T06:57:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-30T06:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/05\/glass-doors-and-the-loneliness-of-kirk\/"},"modified":"2009-05-30T06:57:00","modified_gmt":"2009-05-30T06:57:00","slug":"glass-doors-and-the-loneliness-of-kirk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/05\/glass-doors-and-the-loneliness-of-kirk.html","title":{"rendered":"Glass doors and the loneliness of Kirk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The first two Star Trek<\/a><\/i> movies are very different from one another, in many ways. But despite these differences, they do have some interesting parallels.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, both films depict Kirk not as a captain \u2014 at least not at first \u2014 but as an admiral who takes command of the Enterprise<\/i> when a crisis arises; and in both cases, the captain who relinquishes command of the ship is dead or \u201cmissing\u201d by the end of the movie, due to an act of self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n

But watching the two films back-to-back last night, I was struck by one other thing they have in common: namely, their use of glass doors to symbolize the loneliness of Kirk. You can see it, for example, in the shot below, from The Motion Picture<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the final shot of a sequence that began with Kirk and Captain Decker butting heads over who would be the best person to lead the Enterprise<\/i> on its current mission. Once the head-butting is over, Kirk dismisses Decker, only to be lectured privately by Dr. McCoy, who had tagged along to witness the t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate between the two captains. And when McCoy finally leaves the room, Kirk stands motionless behind his desk as the glass doors close, symbolizing both the loneliness that comes with being in a position of authority as well as the estrangement that comes between Kirk and his colleagues when their hearts and minds are not properly aligned with one another.<\/p>\n

And then there is the famous sequence at the end of The Wrath of Khan<\/a><\/i>, in which Kirk speaks to the dying Spock:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This sequence is shot from a number of angles, but I like these two in particular. The first image once again places Kirk behind the glass, and it emphasizes the separation between Kirk and Spock as one of them tries to touch the other\u2019s hand. (There is a lot that could be said about this, given how important hands are to Vulcan interaction, but I\u2019ll skip all that for now.) But you can still see McCoy, Scotty and at least one other crew member in the background \u2014 so I really like the second shot, and the way it emphasizes Kirk\u2019s utter isolation. Yes, Spock is there, but he is dead, and facing away from Kirk, and trapped behind the glass. If there is anyone else in Kirk\u2019s life that he could turn to \u2014 a support network, if you like \u2014 they are all kept well, well out of the frame.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first two Star Trek movies are very different from one another, in many ways. But despite these differences, they do have some interesting parallels. For example, both films depict Kirk not as a captain \u2014 at least not at first \u2014 but as an admiral who takes command of the Enterprise when a crisis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGlass doors and the loneliness of Kirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first two Star Trek movies are very different from one another, in many ways. 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