Black Vulcans
Rather than go through the motions of reviewing Star Trek — I thought it was insanely awesome — I’d like to briefly think through the puzzle of the black Vulcans: who are they, where did they come from, and has J.J. Abrams retconned them out of existence?
Readers of a certain age will remember the late and mostly unlamented Star Trek: Voyager, which I abandoned relatively early in its run. Part of the appeal of the show was that it featured a number of Star Trek firsts, including first female captain and, as far I know, the first black Vulcan, Tuvok.
My understanding, confirmed by Wikipedia (which doesn’t fill me with confidence either, but it’ll do in a pinch), is that Tuvok is a “full Vulcan,” thus suggesting that Vulcan variation in physiognomy roughly parallels human variation. Which is a little implausible, but fair enough. Because Tuvok is one of the only black Vulcans we’ve come across in the Star Trek universe, you have to wonder: what accounts for this?
In the most recent Star Trek film, there were no black Vulcans at the highest levels of the Vulcan Science Academy. This could mean that black Vulcans are a very small minority. Yet Tuvok’s wife, T’Pel, was also a black Vulcan. And so the pool of black Vulcans couldn’t be trivially small. Or perhaps endogamy is relatively common across Vulcan ethno-somatic groups. But doesn’t this strike you as an affront to the iron laws of logic? If ethno-somatic endogamy is not particularly common, one assumes that sharp “racial” distinctions would erode over time. Maybe not. But surely this phenomenon has to be explained somehow.
The iron laws of logic do cast doubt on another hypothesis, namely that the late emergence of black Vulcans in the Star Trek universe suggests human-like discrimination against Vulcans who vary from the phenotypic norm. Granted, we’ve seen evidence of Vulcan hypocrisy before. Vulcan color prejudice would really take the cake, though — it would be in such sharp tension with everything we’ve come to know and admire about Vulcan culture as to strain credulity. Moreover, the Vulcans have been a space-faring civilization for a very long time, far longer than humans. Would they have been able to unite the planet under a cult of logic while allowing color prejudice to powerfully endure?
One plausible retcon: Tuvok is not, in fact, a “full Vulcan,” but rather a Vulcan with, say, a human grandparent raised rigorously in the Vulcan tradition. Part of Tuvok’s arc is that he went through a period of intense discomfort among non-Vulcans. Partial non-Vulcan ancestry could help account for this — a little cliched, but we’re talking about Star Trek here — though again this has a non-logical tinge.
Mild spoiler below, plus a discussion of sex roles and the complications of human-Vulcan mating. The really weird thing about all of this, by the way, is that I’m not actually that big a Star Trek fan. Instead, I am a lunatic.
The highlight of the latest Star Trek is the insane chemistry between Zoe Saldana’s Uhura and Zachary Quinto’s Spock. I think she might be one of my favorite actors. I have this long-buried idea for a post-college urban comedy — a comedy about gentrification and ghosts — in which I envisioned Saldana playing the romantic lead, though of course she’s much too big for that now.
Another highlight for those of us with an interest in representations of ethnics: during the opening set-piece, the captain of the USS Kelvin is a South Asian man with a shaved head. The Romulan villains were similarly cue-ball-headed, which I think accounts for the fact that various friends have been telling me for weeks that the film reminded them of me. I’m not sure how to take this. Do they sincerely believe that I will travel across time and space to avenge genocidal violence against my home planet? On reflection, perhaps this is a back-handed compliment of some kind. I prefer to think that I would be super-logical about the whole thing.
Also: Winona Ryder plays Spock’s mom. I have to say, we as a culture have really been “sleeping on” Winona for a long time, not least because of her various embarrassing shenanigans. This is a real shame. Ever since Edward Scissorhands, the charmingly pasty Winona has been delighting audiences with her grace and wit. A little shoplifting here and there can be forgiven. And I’ll add that Winona is quite beautiful as an extremely old lady. I found her scene with Quinto very affecting and effective. I did wonder, though, about how much of a saintly sufferer her character must have been.
Consider that in the distant Star Trek future, human gender disparities have presumably eased across a lot of different metrics — we see some evidence of this in the film, though I will say I was disappointed not to see more women in senior roles at Starfleet Academy and in Starfleet itself. My conjecture is based on a couple of powerful trends: the outsourcing of household labor; the emergence of a post-breadwinner identity for educated men in the affluent West; and the steady advent of technologies that can more equitably distribute the burden of carrying and bearing children (e.g., exowombs, etc.).
All this is to say: Winona’s character (Amanda Grayson) seems strangely deferential to her husband, Spock’s father, who seems like kind of a cold bastard, one who can’t acknowledge to his son that he married Winona because he loved her, at least not for a while. (Rather, it was “logical” for Spock’s father to marry a human because he felt obliged to learn about human culture as ambassador to Earth. That makes a lot of sense. Why don’t you just buy a Rosetta Stone CD-ROM?) Again, gender disparities of this kind in the Vulcan context seem weird, though we also have the added complication of xeno-exogamy here — it could be that this is less a manifestation of patriarchy than of a sense of Vulcan superiority to humans, which we all knows persists well into the Star Trek future.
Consider that Grayson must have come from an elite background — not everyone meets the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, and the Vulcan Ambassador would presumably “learn more” from someone who benefits from membership in lots of elite social networks. Yet by embracing her husband’s culture — she seemed pretty down with the members of the Vulcan Science Academy — she presumably allowed her human ties to attenuate. Moreover, like Sonia Gandhi, she’d encounter serious static if she ever sought a leadership role among the Vulcans, not least because she doesn’t appear to be a rigorous adherent to the cult of logic — rather, she comes across as warm and classically maternal, perhaps accounting for Spock’s strong, and troublingly “human,” affection and loyalty. Why would she accept a permanently subordinate role?
I guess the obvious answer is “love,” though I find this answer unsatisfying in the extreme. I want answers, people!
“I guess the obvious answer is “love,” though I find this answer unsatisfying in the extreme. I want answers, people!”
Why? Duh. Chicks dig being on the receiving end of that whole Pon Farr thing; which is why Noah should stop worrying about being insensitive.
— Tony Comstock · May 9, 03:30 PM · #
For what it’s worth, the first black Vulcan I can remember seeing is the midwife who attends the birth of Spock in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). That was several years before Tuvok came along.
— Peter T Chattaway · May 9, 04:54 PM · #
So are hinting that Tuvok is the love child of Uhuru and Spock? You are so elliptical sometimes I can’t be sure. But why wouldn’t you come right out with this? A anacronistic sensitivity to the shame of having a child out of wedlock?
But anyway, I thought everyone already knew this.
— cw · May 9, 05:56 PM · #
Mad props for actually sitting through Star Trek V.. it took several viewings to get through pieces and parts of it. And.. I do not recall the black vulcan! The memory of the whole film has evidently been excised..
— jackal · May 9, 09:47 PM · #
I think the rarity explanation is sufficient for the late (and infrequent) emergence of black Vulcan characters. If the only weakness in that explanation is the therefore extremely unlikely pairing of Tuvok and his wife, consider that it’s likely that black Vulcans would be geographically coherent and that pairing must be at least somewhat constrained by geographic availability of partners, so the likelihood wouldn’t be all that low.
— sidereal · May 10, 12:14 AM · #
Or, we could take the less creative but more bluntly honest approach and say the origin of black Vulcans is political correctness. I remember when Voyager first came on reading an interview with Tim Russ, who was complaining that Voyager didn’t include any homosexual characters, which apparently was considered during planning.
— Patrick · May 10, 12:39 AM · #
I could have sworn I saw a black vulcan in the background somewhere on the ship after the rescue. Did nobody else notice this?
— VeliciaL · May 10, 02:30 AM · #
“Or, we could take the less creative but more bluntly honest approach and say the origin of black Vulcans is political correctness.”
You get the Steve Sailer Memorial “Relax, Dude” award.
— cw · May 10, 03:19 AM · #
The only Star Treks I have any knowledge of are the original, and Enterprise. I saw the first season of Next Gen and it sucked (which I guess is now the consensus, and the consensus is it got better) so I stopped, then I was TVless for a dozen years, then I got married and Enterprise was a nice thing to watch with my girlfriend/wife. So the below observation may be wrong, but…
Romulans were Vulcans too, right, only green? But they could mate freely with Vulcan or at least that one green Romulan wanted Spock for sure. So clearly Reihan’s wrong with the idea that Vulcan racial phenotypes mirror human ones. But also clearly there’s some kind of voluntary self-segregation among Vulcans, because, hey, all the green ones went over with the Romulans.
About whom, one points out, we know very very little. So one could imagine the black Vulcans happen to’ve gone off with the green ones or maybe even that there’s is a coloration continuum from white to black through green in whatever pigment the Vulcans’ skin has, and by Next Gen time the Vulcans and Romulans have worked it out, and presto! there you are. I’m a genius.
Thanks. I take checks. I’ll follow up with a great and slightly X-rated story about a buddy, a sci-fi convention, and Klingons next post…
— Sanjay · May 10, 02:51 PM · #
Romulans are the same colour as (most) Vulcans. Orions are green. You should start Star Trek: TNG on the third season (the 2nd isn’t as bad as the 1st, but there’s nothing really essential it in – you can watch it after the others if you like TNG).
— Jacob · May 10, 08:30 PM · #
And I’ll share my story of how I was put in my place thoroughly by many members of the cast of Star Trek The Next Generation story—except for Brent Spiner, who was as gracious as he could be.
— Joules · May 11, 02:08 AM · #
Jacob:
Oh, damn.
— Sanjay · May 11, 02:07 PM · #
Actually, there is a black Vulcan in the film. After the destruction of Vulcan, there is a scene where they Vlucans being treated in Enterprise’s sick bay. You see an elderly woman and then a black Vulcan in the same sitting while medics treat his injuries.
There is also a black Romulan in the flash back that the old Spock (or Spock Prime) has telling the story of his trying to save Romulus.
— Dennis · May 11, 03:59 PM · #
In the original series, when do we find out that Spock is half-human? I don’t remember that from any of the episodes I’ve seen.
— Chet · May 11, 05:15 PM · #
Chet: We find out that Spock is half-human in the second season episode “Journey to Babel” (this is also when the rest of the Enterprise crew find out that Spock is half-human — when they first meet his parents).
— John Tabin · May 11, 05:57 PM · #
But how do black Vulcans perform on standardized tests?
— Sargent · May 11, 09:03 PM · #
There was a black Vulcan male in sick bay after the planet Vulcan was destroyed. Also, on Star Trek: TNG, there was an episode with a black Romulan Ship commander (the story was about a failed secret project to cloke Federation ships).
— Steve · May 11, 09:53 PM · #
It all makes sense now. Tuvok was Spocks and Uhrus love child. Gives credibiity to the saying ‘love child running wild’. Yes there will be Jungle fever in the future. A new breed of rap artist also. Instead of 50 cents there will be 1/2 Light Year!
— Bigt · May 18, 07:58 PM · #
Endogamy through geographic(i.e. planetary) isolation might explain it, maybe? Gosh, I’m sweating, is it hot in here? I keep having to remind myself: It’s only Star Trek. Nope, still uncomfortable. Just another pathetic, politically correct liberal, I guess.
— shmoe · May 21, 02:32 AM · #