u/LineusLongissimus

I think thanks to the Kirk Drift and Spock Drift, people often seem them as "Logic and Human instinct", but the original characters are way more complex. They even have a similar sense of sarcastic humor at times.

The JJ Abrams Kirk and Spock are called friends, but you don't see them as people who actually like each other.

James Tiberius Kirk is a fascinating character. Some people like to dismiss him (even without using Kirk Drift tropes) as a so-called "typical 1960s hero". But I think he was way more than that. Kirk is far from being some type of some stoic macho action hero of the era. In the 1970s, (again, before the KIrk Drift) several fans loved Kirk's character for being a sensitive, romantic, kind, playful male character who is, at the same time, a respected, competent, strong, confident, psysically and mentally capable leader. I think Kirk is a perfect example for healthy, normal masculinity. He can beat up the enemy, but he is also smelling flowers and quoting poetry.

Kirk is an extremely professional leader who expects his crew to be professional. Sometimes, he has to remind his people that they need immediate answers, solutions instead of discussing theories (he is looking at you, Spock) or freaking out about the risks or past decisions (he is looking at you, Bones), because as a leader, that's his duty. At the same time, he is not afraid to be humorous or playful about certain situations, his people can always feel he is a real human being too, which is how they can trust his humanity. What I also love about his character is his curiousity. Shatner does an excellent job at showing Kirk curious mind through subtle fasical expression, the way he absolutely loves exploring the universe.

He is also a 'stack of books with legs' as his friend called him, he extremely well-read and he is using all that knowledge, the wisest or most relevant words of our greatest poets and authors to communicate, to understand others, to solve problems, to discover the universe and discover ourselves. That's what Kirk's iconic speeches are about... That one day, we can take the best of what we can learn from our history, our literature and make those wisdoms the basis of how we discover the universe. That's what Gene Roddenberry's utopian humanism was about, that's what Star Trek is. And many characters represent that, but Kirk is still the best example.

(That's exactly what I loathe the Kirk Drift, that's why I never find it funny, because what Kirk represents is way too important to use this character for unfunny jokes about sex.)

They did this just to confuse us, right? 😂