Kinky K/S, and Occam's Razor
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|---|---|
| Title: | Kinky K/S, and Occam's Razor |
| Creator: | Laura Goodwin |
| Date(s): | late 1990s?, early 2000s? |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | K/S |
| External Links: | online here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Kinky K/S, and Occam's Razor is an essay by Laura Goodwin.
Excerpts
Just because something isn't talked about or explained by the characters in TOS doesn't mean it's not really there. We can all plainly see that Kirk has a masochistic pattern of behavior that is consistent throughout the entire series, from the first episode. It's as obvious as is the fact that Kirk and Spock's relationship is a *love* relationship.I'm not talking about seeing things which are not there, I'm not talking about reading between the lines, I'm not talking about behind-the-scenes, I'm not talking about subtext, I'm talking about before-the-cameras, in-the-script *canon* maintext.
Ever hear of Occam's Razor? "All factors being equally valid, the simplest solution to a problem is probably the correct one."
For example, if you will allow that Kirk and Spock were probably lovers, it explains many things that otherwise can't be neatly explained.
Sadomachoism reveals itself in not what you do, but how you do it. You can't tell that a person is kinky by looking at them, unless you are watching them do pervy things. It's not like race or sex which is readily evident: It's a pattern of behavior, that becomes evident when you watch a person acting out.Both Spock, and ESPECIALLY Kirk exhibit typical sadomasochistic patterns of behavior. Every time Kirk has a choice and he chooses the path that is guaranteed to get him a few souvenir bruises and welts, instead of the path that will reduce his chances of getting hurt, that's masochism. Kirk enjoys pain. He actively enjoys physical fights and other things that can get him hurt, and he frankly admits that himself.
He doesn't have to admit it. It's very evident.
Every time Kirk says, "That's a chance I have to take", he's bracing himself for a masochistic adventure. For example, when explaining to Trelane why he tried to escape even though he knew it was probably pointless to try, he says, "I had to take that chance." When logging his reasoning behind setting himself up for a beating at Mr. Spock's hands in This Side Of Paradise, he calls the coming confrontation, "a chance I have to take". In Who Mourns For Adonais?, when giving his team the big pep-talk about how they have to piss Apollo off, knowing the guy may choose to kill one of them for it, he explains that "it's a chance WE have to take", but don't you just know that if Apollo stupidly flings a thunderbolt at someone besides Kirk that Kirk will jump in front of it?
If it was only one episode I would be agreeing that maybe that ep was just a fluke. It ain't only one episode. It's EVERY OTHER EPISODE. I have to say in that case, it can't possibly be unintentional. Especially not with the cute soft-focus close-ups, and the titillating, unnecessarily prolonged torture scenes, etc. TOS was often deliberately sadomasochistic in the way it told the stories, and who better to star in such stories, than a galaxy class kinko like Kirk?