Dr. Leonard McCoy and the Limits of Humanism

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Brutal Strudel, Apr 20, 2015.

  1. Brutal Strudel

    Brutal Strudel Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    This is an essay I wrote just because:

    "That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost!"
    --Dr. McCoy, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

    Star Trek fans don't just watch a lot of Star Trek. We read a lot of it, too: novelizations of episodes and movies, original novels, comic books--these continue the fictive adventures. But we also read a lot about the production end: books and magazines and web pages detailing the stuff that went into making it, in-depth accounts of the backstage aspect: the building of sets, of miniature space ships, the way story ideas evolved and changed from draft to draft to filmed adventure. (The canard that Trekkies are somehow under the delusion that the show is real is thus not only wrong but profoundly wrong; no one knows better than a fan just how un-real it all is. We revel in it.) Many of these accounts include descriptions of the characters and their relationships. Time and again, Dr. McCoy is described as a humanist, crudely defined for the purposes of this essay as one who sees great value and nobility in humanity, who expresses that belief in altruism and faith in the so-called human spirit. His relationship with Spock is described as one of deep friendship and admiration masked by an expressed antipathy that is more affectionate game that actual malice. However, as presented on screen, little affection is apparent.

    The quotation that opens this essay is but one in a long line where McCoy zeroes in Spock's physical characteristics--the color of his blood, the shape of his ears--and uses them as slurs: "pointy eared hobgoblin," "green-blooded, inhuman...", "that green ice-water in your veins," even the position of Spock's heart (roughly where a human's liver would be) has come in for his disapproval.** In the context of the show, these slurs are played for laughs, though, if the physical characteristics of human populations that differ from the Western Euro-centric majority--"hook-nosed hobgoblin," "slant-eyed, subhuman...", "that nappy wool on your head"--are substituted for Spock's extraterrestrial ones, they no longer seem quite so funny.

    McCoy is indeed a humanist--never does he betray so much as a scintilla of bigotry toward Uhura or Sulu. He displays all of the traits described as humanist above, with an egalitarian embrace of the multi-hued, multi-cultural human family. On 20th and 21st century earth, sans space aliens, this is a fine thing indeed. However, on a 23rd century starship, faced with a being who is measurably superior in terms of mental acuity, physical strength and stamina, self-discipline and psychological equanimity (mutated water virus, happy flower spores and good old-fashioned sex notwithstanding), McCoy's humanism is threatened and expresses itself in less-than-altruistic and egalitarian terms. Though he uses Spock's physical attributes as vessls of attack, it is always clear that it is Spock's cold and at times seemingly cruel emotionless personality, a creation of Vulcan culture rather than biology, that he finds objectionable. That Spock himself displays a more subtle but just as pronounced form of cultural and racial chauvinism does not help matters--though, in Spock's case, he carries the belittled Other within himself; he is, after all, half human.

    (Kirk's attitude toward all of this bears examination in passing. On two separate occasions, he has employed similar epithets toward Spock but, on both occasions, he used them strategically. In the episode "What Are Little Girl's Made Of?," he programs his android duplicate to say "Mind your own business, Mr. Spock! I'm sick of your half-breed interference" and thus tip off Spock that something is amiss on the planet below. In "This Side of Paradise," in order to break Spock from the influence of the aforementioned happy flower spores--which are destroyed by strong, negative emotions--Kirk baits him with a string of insults [again, Kirk uses "half-breed," something McCoy never does, indicating that he knows Spock so well that he realizes a reminder of his human heritage will hurt and alarm more than reminders of how he differs from humans] that, by comparison, make McCoy's barbs look like Nerf brickbats. Neither time, however, does Kirk mean what he says. In the episode "Balance of Terror," when the discovery that the ancient earth adversaries, the Romulans, are outwardly identical to Vulcans causes a junior bridge officer to openly question Spock's loyalty, Kirk pointedly tells him to "Leave any bigotry in your quarters, there's no room for it on the bridge." However, there is a difference between insulting the shape of a man's ears and insinuating that a superior officer is a traitor. Even so, Kirk allows McCoy's slurs to go un-challenged and un-punished; McCoy gets a pass.)

    I suspect, though, that there is something far deeper at work in McCoy than just a mis-applied humanism that has curdled into weak xenophobia. Kirk, Spock and McCoy are the central triumvirate of Star Trek. The friendship betwen the first two is intense and, ironically enough considering one of the participants, passionate--so intense and passionate that it easily lends itself to a homoerotic reading, sometimes joking, sometimes not--Kirk is Spock's best friend, Spock is Kirk's. Kirk is also McCoy's best friend and Kirk, for his part, deeply loves McCoy but not as deeply as he does Spock. This cannot be lost on McCoy. What's more, McCoy is also probably aware that it is Spock's logical and dispassionate outlook that Kirk finds so complementary to his own very human and intuitive one. McCoy, by contrast, though a trusted confidant and advisor, only serves to reinforce that humanity and intuition. McCoy's apparent bigotry is thus more an expression of personal jealousy than of a deep-seated distaste for Vulcans or the Vulcan way of life.

    *There may be another, more pedestrian, reason McCoy continually insults Spock's alien nature: the slurs are an effective way to call attention to one of the show's signature special effects--the ears--and provide for quick and dirty exposition. Short of having Spock cut himself shaving each week, McCoy's harping on Spock's blood reminds the audience of another way Spock is different.
     
  2. Disco

    Disco Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I find it startling that a Star Trek fan has entirely missed who McCoy is. Have you written this to provoke a reaction?
     
  3. JWPlatt

    JWPlatt Commodore Commodore

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    Spoken like a true half-human child of Vulcan. But a Vulcan might point out that your question is answered in the writer's very first sentence. One might offer the courtesy of a more thoughtful and appreciative critique of the subject matter from someone willing to share their thoughts rather than to simply slam them down without elaboration. It surely isn't a lesson a fan takes away from Star Trek that promotes intolerance of ideas and particularly of others - McCoy notwithstanding.

    So how would you refute in detail and in equal measure exactly why the writer "has entirely missed who McCoy is." That would be a far more interesting and fair contribution to the topic than the drive-by provided.
     
  4. MarsWeeps

    MarsWeeps Fleet Captain Premium Member

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    There is one very powerful scene (at least to me) that conveys McCoy's true feelings towards Spock. Feelings of admiration and respect.

    Amok Time - when Kirk, Spock and McCoy are in the turbolift:

    [Turbolift]

    KIRK: Bridge.
    SPOCK: It is obvious that you have surmised my problem, Doctor. My compliments on your insight. Captain, there is a thing that happens to Vulcans at this time. Almost an insanity, which you would no doubt find distasteful.
    KIRK: Will I? You've been most patient with my kinds of madness.
    SPOCK: Then would you beam down to the planet's surface and stand with me? There is a brief ceremony.
    KIRK: Is it permitted?
    SPOCK: It is my right. By tradition, the male is accompanied by his closest friends.
    KIRK: Thank you, Mister Spock.
    SPOCK: I also request McCoy accompany me.
    MCCOY: I shall be honoured, sir.

    Just the way that scene plays out says it all. Spock asks Kirk to beam down with him, lets him know tradition requires his closest friends. There is a brief pause and when Spock asks McCoy the same thing, the look on McCoy's face and his very respectful answer is priceless. That single scene in all of TOS defines that true nature of the close friendship between Spock and McCoy.

    So, despite the sometimes cruel(?) things McCoy says to Spock and about Spock throughout the series, we know he doesn't really mean it.
     
  5. Brutal Strudel

    Brutal Strudel Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    I may have over-stated my case. I do think McCoy likes and respects--even, in a way, loves--Spock. But I also think his antipathy is hardly feigned.

    "Amok Time" is interesting because McCoy is the hero of the piece. He notes Spock's distress before Kirk and, in administering the neuro-paralyzer, he acts to save both of his friends.
     
  6. Brutal Strudel

    Brutal Strudel Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    And thank you, JWPlatt, for having my proverbial back.
     
  7. Robert D. Robot

    Robert D. Robot Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^ I think you have brought up some very valid points regarding the complicated relationship between Spock and McCoy. I can't really add anything more, other than being reminded of some older folks I knew as a kid who were genuinely decent, kind people, but had a certain way of interacting with others in the community by using certain derogatory terms (in a 'friendly' 'harmless' way) in addressing and talking about certain nationalities. I, too, have no doubt that McCoy respects and is fond of Spock, but the language he sometimes uses (words and phrases that we fans all have grown so accustom to over the years so as to not really hear them as fresh) does not really conform to the rest of the IDIC philosophy we see on the starship.
     
  8. mos6507

    mos6507 Commodore Commodore

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    McCoy is a classic ball-buster. He doesn't really mean what he says. It actually has the opposite meaning. It's more of a sign of his affection for Spock, but for some reason he seems to have a hangup in showing it to him, less so with Kirk than Spock. All the more interesting that McCoy wound up being possessed by Spock's soul in Trek III, and his character kind of reaches its apex when he delivers that monologue about not knowing what he'd do without him. But it has to happen when Spock is incapacitated.
     
  9. Disco

    Disco Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think the Amok Time quote pretty much sums up the true nature of the relationship between Spock and McCoy.
     
  10. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Spock: "Doctor, you are a sensualist."
    McCoy: "You bet your pointed ears I am."


    Actually, I would describe McCoy more as a humanitarian, rather than a humanist. It would seem to fit him better.

    :)
     
  11. Marsden

    Marsden Commodore Commodore

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    Marsden is very sad.
    I think, when individuals become close friends, the words don't mean as much as the tone and familiarity they convey. I think we're privy to just such a relationship here and it seems too much but they know it isn't (too much) and it's acted so well we don't think it's too much, either. Well, most of us, I can't speak for anyone else but is the prevailing opinion I've understood on the subject.

    I know that I have at least two co workers that I can talk to and say things that other people find unusual when they hear it. They call me their work husband and if a new person comes into our area they usually ask things like how long have we been married. I do spend more time with them than my real wife being at work 9+ hours a day. I think there could be something similar with these characters and since no one like Scotty questions it, they are used to it, too. I think Kirk, Spock, and McCoy have been working and living together on that ship for years before we meet them in the show.
     
  12. golddragon71

    golddragon71 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I remember back in the early Nineties i was reading a Green Lantern Comic.
    Now, throughout the silver age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) had an Inuit (eskimo) friend who was always known as Pieface (real name Tom Kalmaku) In this issue (GL 1990-2004, #43) Hal, reciting the Green lantern Oath, (In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, No Evil Shall Escape My Sight. Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might, Beware My Power...Green Lantern's Light!) replaces Blackest with Darkest. Tom, hearing this questions his friend on the change to which Hal says:
    "Just being politically correct I Guess." to which Tom replies
    "And you call your eskimo friend "Pieface""
    "Uh that doesn't bug you does it?"
    "Nah...I learned in life it isn't the words... It's the feelings behind them."
    Sometimes i think that's the way it is with McCoy and Spock. McCoy would call Spock a pointy-eared hobgoblin in the same tone that I called my best friend a ****head.
    McCoy knows everything there is to know about the rigors of Vulcan Emotional mastery (he proves this in Plato's Stepchildren) but as a Human...and a human physician he's hard-wired to look at the repression of emotions as inherently unhealthy, so this causes him to throw his barbs more at Spock than at Jim.
    Spock of course lets this slide because he has mastered his emotions and also because he also knows that McCoy is just being a human @$$hole.
    (This is proved by the fact that, of everyone in the entire crew, Spock entrusts his soul to McCoy in Star Trek II)
     
  13. Starborn Dragon

    Starborn Dragon Captain

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    McCoy is a homosexual.

    Sometimes people's show their sexual attraction as hostility.
     
  14. JWPlatt

    JWPlatt Commodore Commodore

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    This pretty much explains everything.
     
  15. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Commodore Commodore

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    I think the "jealousy" aspect is a bit overblown but it's an interesting analysis. That said, it's pretty clear that the back and forth is only banter between the two of them.

    [​IMG]

    (if anything's worthy of a driveby in this thread, it's that.)
     
  16. CoveTom

    CoveTom Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    "Spock. For God's sake talk to me! ...You struck this damn thing in my head, remember? Remember? Now tell me what to do with it. Help me. ...I'm gonna tell you something that ...I never thought I'd hear myself say. But it seems that I've missed you. I don't think I could stand to lose you again."