MAJOR KIRA OF STAR TREK: DS9: WOMAN OF THE FUTURE, CREATION OF THE 90S Judith Clemens-Smucker A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2020 Committee: Becca Cragin, Advisor Jeffrey Brown Kristen Rudisill © 2020 Judith Clemens-Smucker All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Becca Cragin, Advisor The 1990s were a time of resistance and change for women in the Western world. During this time popular culture offered consumers a few women of strength and power, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Major Kira Nerys, a character encompassing a complex personality of non-traditional feminine identities. As the first continuing character in the Star Trek franchise to serve as a female second-in-command, Major Kira spoke to women of the 90s through her anger, passion, independence, and willingness to show compassion and love when merited. In this thesis I look at the building blocks of Major Kira to discover how it was possible to create a character in whom viewers could see the future as well as the current and relatable decade of the 90s. By laying out feminisms which surround 90s television and using original interviews with Nana Visitor, who played Major Kira, and Marvin Rush, the Director of Photography on DS9, I examine the creation of Major Kira from her conception to her realization. I finish by using historical and cognitive poetics to analyze both the pilot episode “Emissary” and the season one episode “Duet,” which introduce Major Kira and display character growth. Through the creation of a fully-realized, relatable, futuristic woman who embodied intelligence, individualism, and adaptability, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showed viewers the possibilities of becoming a person with such admirable traits during their own time. iv For every girl and woman who dreams of a future with no limit to what she can achieve. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to the many people who contributed to the writing of this thesis. Dr. Becca Cragin served as my thesis chair. Her guidance and advice were invaluable, as were her quick turnaround emails and detailed suggestions. I am indebted to her for her gift of time and knowledge. Dr. Jeffrey A. Brown and Dr. Kristen Rudisill, the other members of my committee, were also free with their help, comments, and time, which I appreciate immensely. Rebekah Patterson, the graduate secretary for the BGSU Popular Culture department, is amazing at her job, and kept me on track. I am so thankful for her assistance. Nana Visitor, the woman who brought Major Kira to life, was happy and willing to answer interview questions, and I am forever grateful (and starstruck). She and the Major have been an inspiration to me since DS9’s original airing, and I still can’t quite believe I was able to communicate with her in real life. Marvin Rush, the Director of Photography who created the atmosphere in which the Major existed on set was also gracious with his time and information. I am thankful for everything he taught me during our conversations. Ms. Visitor and Mr. Rush made a great creative team, which is obvious if you watch the show. Much love and thanks to my family, who never complained when I holed up in my office to research and write. A special thanks to Steve, who is willing to watch Star Trek with me, even though it has never been his thing before. The world of Star Trek, in all of its various incarnations, offers hope during these days when hope feels largely elusive. I am grateful for the ways the franchise portrays a future in which we can envision a galaxy of joy, community, and equality. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE. MAJOR KIRA IN THE CONTEXT OF FEMINIST TELEVISION OF THE 90S AND THE STAR TREK FRANCHISE ............................................................................. 9 Major Kira in the Context of 90s Postfeminist Television ........................................... 10 Major Kira in the Context of the Star Trek Television Series ...................................... 19 CHAPTER TWO. THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE CREATION OF MAJOR KIRA ...................................................................................... 35 The Process Behind Creating Major Kira .................................................................... 35 Casting the Role ........................................................................................................... 39 Fitting Major Kira into the 90s and the Future ............................................................. 41 Production Decisions Used to Create Major Kira ........................................................ 49 Changes to the Character .............................................................................................. 57 Fan Interaction .............................................................................................................. 62 CHAPTER THREE. THE INTRODUCTION OF MAJOR KIRA IN THE STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE PILOT “EMISSARY” ....................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER FOUR. HOW “DUET” REPRESENTS THE CHARACTER AND GROWTH OF MAJOR KIRA IN SEASON ONE ........................................................................................... 82 Looking at “Duet” through the Lens of Historical Poetics ........................................... 83 Looking at “Duet” through the Lens of Cognitive Poetics ........................................... 87 Alignment and Allegiance ............................................................................................ 96 Feminine and Masculine Coding Within an Emotional Mystery ................................. 98 vii Conclusion of Analysis ................................................................................................. 99 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 100 WORKS CITED ....................................................................................................................... 108 Clemens-Smucker 1 INTRODUCTION The 1990s were a time of resistance and change for women in the Western world. Third- wave feminism formed, females battled their way into the male-dominated workplace, and women began to feel they had a real voice. During this time, popular culture offered consumers a few women of strength and power, including such television icons as Murphy Brown (Candace Bergin), Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) of The X-Files. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), the third series in the Star Trek franchise, came on the air in 1993, the year after 1992’s proclaimed “Year of the Woman,” when more women ran for and were elected to U.S. political office than at any time in history. DS9 introduced its own women of substance, including Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), a character encompassing the complex personality of soldier and freedom fighter, lover, friend, colleague, religious faithful, and PTSD survivor. As the first continuing character in the Star Trek franchise to be a female second-in-command (Number One [Majel Barrett] of the original series [TOS] lasted only the pilot), Major Kira spoke to women of the 90s through her anger, passion, independence, and willingness to show compassion and love when merited. In this thesis I look at the building blocks of Major Kira to discover how it was possible to create a character in whom viewers could see the future as well as the current and relatable decade of the 90s. I research the process in which the Major was written as a woman in a future world, with the writers drawing from their current knowledge of history, society, popular culture, and feminism. The writers presented the Major as a fictional character in whom viewers could envision a better, more cohesive version of humanity, while also showing a strong, identifiable woman of their present decade. Through the creation of a fully-realiZed, relatable, futuristic woman who embodied intelligence, individualism, and adaptability, the viewers were shown the possibilities Clemens-Smucker 2 of becoming a person of such admirable traits during their own time. I identify as a competent viewer of DS9, knowing Star Trek well, and having viewed the series countless times. I became a Star Trek fan in 1987, when Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) first aired and I was a senior in high school. I fell in love with the characters, the storytelling, the setting, and the messaging. Monday evenings became TNG night, and rarely did I miss an episode, enjoying it even during my college years when I didn’t always have the time for episodic television. My VCR (Video Cassette Recorder, for those of you too young to remember) became my Star Trek companion for those nights I couldn’t watch in real time. DS9 began its run in 1993, during season six of TNG. Again I waited for and watched the episodes as they aired. During 1994-1995 I worked a job with long hours, and I can remember returning to my apartment and being dismayed upon realiZation that my VCR hadn’t worked as programmed (or, more likely, I had somehow screwed up the programming). I then had to wait until reruns to catch up on what I missed, and do my best to fill in the gaps when the next week’s episode