Fresh in the wake of the Australian premiere of Star Trek Beyond, the latest installment of the franchise, news outlets have reported some rather exciting and surprising news about one of the central and legendary characters in the Trek universe. In a world where we’re craving for representation and everyone is just begging the Star Wars creative team to allow Poe Dameron to actually be gay, the Trek franchise stepped up to the plate. Following the screening, it was reported that Hikaru Sulu, the character currently portrayed by John Cho, is, in fact, gay and that the film showed him with his husband and daughter. It was news that had the LGBTQ+ community cheering loudly, for finally they could feel themselves represented in this universe that is supposedly a reflection of a futuristic, bettered, and diversity. However, it received some critical backlash from a surprising figure; the original Sulu himself, and out-and-proud actor George Takei. Takei controversially claims that this news disrespects the original vision of the character that creator Gene Roddenberry had had, a sentiment that surprised many and dampened the joy many young people had felt from the news.
Takei claims in THR, “that Roddenberry was exhaustive in conceiving his Star Trek characters. (The name Sulu, for example, was based on the Sulu Sea off the coast of the Philippines, so as to render his Asian nationality indeterminate.) And Roddenberry had always envisioned Sulu as heterosexual.” He goes on to state that when Cho called him excitedly with the news, he immediately tried to persuade the team to take another route. Takei believes it would have been better for a new character to represent the underrepresented and disenfranchised community he is apart of, rather than an established one. “I told him, ‘Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted,” Takei explains.
His argument can be understood in the sense that his personal connection to the original image of this character he had in his head is incredibly apparent, as is his respect for the creator’s vision. However, it doesn’t excuse what his resentment towards this direction the new creative team are taking with the character can and will mean. First and foremost, these Trek films have been established as being set in an alternate timeline, so whatever his interpretation and experience with the series is as a whole doesn’t actually apply to what is currently happening in the new universe. For example, in this universe, Spock is with Uhura. This criticism of the decision, as if it’s negative because it’s treading over the original vision, is baffling because it just holds no weight. This difference has long since been established, and to poke holes at it now, solely in regards to a positive portrayal of an LGBTQ+ character in main stream media, a cause this man has actively been fighting for is bewildering.
Secondly, while we should, as creators, be making new and exciting diverse characters, representation will have more of an effect, especially in a mainstream franchise reboot like this, when it’s done through an established, loved, and legendary character. That’s just the case. Sulu has fans. Sulu has an established Trek audience that backs him, loves him, and feels connected to him. Thus, if a character the majority of the fandom admires and cares about is revealed to be gay, it will be ever so more empowering to see yourself represented. Writer and actor Simon Pegg talked to The Guardian about the matter:
“He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now. We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?
Justin Lin, Doug Jung and I loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any prejudice. Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not the defining characteristic. Also, the audience would infer that there has been an LGBT presence in the Trek Universe from the beginning (at least in the Kelvin timeline), that a gay hero isn’t something new or strange. It’s also important to note that at no point do we suggest that our Sulu was ever closeted, why would he need to be? It’s just hasn’t come up before.”
That’s just how media works. We need to feel connected to our central characters, so clearly, having a central character, especially an Asian man, be the brilliant piece of LGBTQ+ representation in a franchise, genre, and blockbuster level of filmmaking that it is completely absent from, is going to have a major impact. Not to mention, the fact that it is one of the central leads and figures in the franchise cannot be ignored. Bigots can't dismiss it as catering to political correctness in the same way they would had it been a new character. Having it be someone who is already established grounds it, and also makes it impossible to write off. It's why Takei's reaction has been so incredibly disappointing and disheartening, when the dialogue was previously one of glee and excitement.
Now with his defamation of this news, and his immediate outspokenness, young LGBTQ+ fans who were previously jumping for joy about the news are now forced to contend with people who don’t want the representation at all because they are bigots, but with Takei's approval. They have to deal with fights with sad, intolerant, fanboys who still live in their mothers' basement, protesting the fact that one of their favorite characters could be gay. However, what makes it worse is that now they have to deal with all of that, but with those bigots recieving recognition and back up from one of the biggest voices in the Trek community and the LGBTQ+ movement. The amount of times, “But even George Takei thinks it…” will be written on the web following his retaliation of this reveal about Sulu’s character is innumerable. What was a celebration and a step towards equality in the Hollywood blockbuster industry is now getting swept under the bus in favor of this negativity.
It’s important Sulu is gay. It’s important a major, established, and well-loved character represents a community absent from this genre, a genre spurred on by it’s thematic elements of a better world in our future and discussion of morality. The amount of doors this will open should be enough to convince anyone who is apart of or claims to be a supporter of the community that it’s the right move. If Sulu can be gay, then who could be next? Perhaps Poe Dameron? Maybe a Disney characer? Sulu opens doors and sets a precedent that the rest of the genre, industry, and world will run to keep up with and it’s a race that needs to be and has to be worth having.
