Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x09 - "Project Daedalus"

[Nyotarules]

I think a lot of people don't want to admit that Spock is a messed up person. He was messed up in TOS and he's messed up in Discovery. He probably wanted to pursue Kholinar to straighten himself out and to actually become what he thought he wanted to be.

He came from a dysfunctional home.
Also no 21st century social worker with any wisdom would place young Michael Burnham in Sarek's and Amanda's care. What is one of the first things they do when they get her, put that nasty Vulcan wig on her head, denying her human ethnicity, its like bleaching the skin of a black child in your foster care to make her fit in with the white kids in the village.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Sarek's an Ambassador to another planet--yeah, he's going to be home a lot...

 

[Photoman15]

He came from a dysfunctional home.
Also no 21st century social worker with any wisdom would place young Michael Burnham in Sarek's and Amanda's care. What is one of the first things they do when they get her, put that nasty Vulcan wig on her head, denying her human ethnicity, its like bleaching the skin of a black child in your foster care to make her fit in with the white kids in the village.

Not sure if you're being facetious. You know it's not (supposed to be) a wig, right?

 

[Nyotarules]

Not sure if you're being facetious. You know it's not (supposed to be) a wig, right?

Yeah I know, its worse, they straighten the afro out of her hair. I blame the production team with a racially limited view of a fictional race. Surak forbid a brown skinned Vulcan or human actually keep their natural hair texture, it would not be logical. I blame the TNG era for their monocultural aliens.

 

[Ovation]

Yeah I know, its worse, they straighten the afro out of her hair. I blame the production team with a racially limited view of a fictional race. Surak forbid a brown skinned Vulcan or human actually keep their natural hair texture, it would not be logical. I blame the TNG era for their monocultural aliens.

Kind of surprising Tuvok wasn’t obliged to have the bowl cut.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Vulcans aren't enamored of fuzzy logic.

 

[saladdays]

Yeah I know, its worse, they straighten the afro out of her hair. I blame the production team with a racially limited view of a fictional race. Surak forbid a brown skinned Vulcan or human actually keep their natural hair texture, it would not be logical. I blame the TNG era for their monocultural aliens.

Keeping with your disdain with "monocultural aliens," then we also can't say that all brown skinned Vulcans have the same type of hair as similar humans, right?

 

[Noname Given]

Vulcans aren't enamored of fuzzy logic.

But hey, Spock did like Tribbles.

 

[XCV330]

Yeah I know, its worse, they straighten the afro out of her hair. I blame the production team with a racially limited view of a fictional race. Surak forbid a brown skinned Vulcan or human actually keep their natural hair texture, it would not be logical. I blame the TNG era for their monocultural aliens.

some "black" vulcans have straight hair. some don't. T'Pel had the same Bowl Cut burnham sported in when she was first on Shenzou. Its pretty clear they show her that way just to demonstrate how assimilated Burnham had allowed herself to become but in this regard i think it was also just her fitting in with the family, trying to look like step-dad, not with Vulcan culture at large.

 

[Nyotarules]

Keeping with your disdain with "monocultural aliens," then we also can't say that all brown skinned Vulcans have the same type of hair as similar humans, right?

But all pale skinned Vulcans have similar hair as their pale skinned human counterparts....right? Maybe there is a Vulcan haired version of Tilly somewhere out there

 

[Nyotarules]

some "black" vulcans have straight hair. some don't. T'Pel had the same Bowl Cut burnham sported in when she was first on Shenzou. Its pretty clear they show her that way just to demonstrate how assimilated Burnham had allowed herself to become but in this regard i think it was also just her fitting in with the family, trying to look like step-dad, not with Vulcan culture at large.

I put T'Pel down to the real life racial, cultural ignorance of the production team, sadly it still persists.

 

[Gilora]

I didn't notice it before, but Admiral Terral didn't have the Vulcan hair either. Conrad Coates is a good-looking guy and the wig would have looked ridiculous on him.

 

[Nyotarules]

I didn't notice it before, but Admiral Terral didn't have the Vulcan hair either. Conrad Coates is a good-looking guy and the wig would have looked ridiculous on him.

In my fanon Terral is Tuvok's uncle, he had pro Starfleet parents

 

[saladdays]

But all pale skinned Vulcans have similar hair as their pale skinned human counterparts....right? Maybe there is a Vulcan haired version of Tilly somewhere out there

I really don't remember about all pale skinned Vulcan hair.

But if we have dark skinned Vulcans who don't have "Vulcan hair," it seems a little strange to say that Burnham's straight hair is only due to some racial or cultural ignorance. I think XCV330 put it best that Burnham's hair was probably more due to Sarek's influence on her and less (if at all) about Vulcan society itself. I mean, I think Burnham would have probably used that hairstyle if she were white.

 

[Nyotarules]

I mean, I think Burnham would have probably used that hairstyle if she were white.

The irony of this sentence

 

[XCV330]

Another thing to note is that Vulcans don't always do the bowl-cut even if they have naturally straight hair, especially females. Saavik didn't, T'Pau didn't (through various eras of her life, though she did change it up now and then), Surak didn't, Mirror T'Pol. Spock abandoned the bowl when he was going through his kohlinar practice. Big Brother Sybok certainly didn't seem to influence Michael's hair choice. T'Pring.. nope. Amanda's not Vulcan but she certainly had time to assimilate, never let the spaghetti bowl and shears come near her raven locks. The Syranites, except for maybe T'Pol's mom seem to have ditched the bowl.

It's a popular hair cut, to be sure. I don't think the Vulcan Cosmetology Academy has a very long syllabus when it comes to hairstyles, but it's not the only option.

If it weren't for just the logistics of actors and makeup and the time period it all started out in, it might have been more interesting to show Vulcan as a truly ethnically homogenous culture. They've been more or less culturally monolithic for a few thousand years, so its more interesting that there are still ethnic types there. Why didn't they homogenize? (that'd be good book fodder. On a side rant, N.K. Jemisen's Broken Earth series gives some interesting ideas of why developing certain ethnic traits in harsh circumstances would be desirable. Can't wait to see the TNT series and how they handle ashblow-hair)

I digress. I don't think it it was ham-fisted or culturally insensitive.

 

[saladdays]

The irony of this sentence

Do share.

And I think it's telling that you used snark to respond to that part of comment, when ignoring the rest.

 

[eschaton]

Maybe Burnham grew up on the "white" part of Vulcan, where the bowl-cut was much more universal. Tuvok, in contrast, grew up on a different continent.

 

[saladdays]

Another thing to note is that Vulcans don't always do the bowl-cut even if they have naturally straight hair, especially females. Saavik didn't, T'Pau didn't (through various eras of her life, though she did change it up now and then), Surak didn't, Mirror T'Pol. Spock abandoned the bowl when he was going through his kohlinar practice. Big Brother Sybok certainly didn't seem to influence Michael's hair choice. T'Pring.. nope. Amanda's not Vulcan but she certainly had time to assimilate, never let the spaghetti bowl and shears come near her raven locks. The Syranites, except for maybe T'Pol's mom seem to have ditched the bowl.

And that is a good point. I couldn't remember those. However, thinking about it, T'Pol also wore her hair long and pulled back in "Twilight" in the alternate future where the Xindi destroy Earth.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It just occurred to me that those squiggly little ships they used to dart around asteroids in "Brother" would have been quite useful in avoiding mines.