Sort of, but I think that would be the elusive “naive view” they spoke of. Their point was that people already have an idea who Captain Kirk is as a memetic construct of popular culture before they even watch it, so there is always a perceptual filter. I agree with this, but I think it is true of pop culture generally and not much different with regards to Kirk.
Besides the pop-culture filter, I think that a lot of sci-fi suffers from a sort of retro-futurism of progressive values. Star Trek and Kirk’s character were I think quite progressive for 1960s US television, but modern viewers get the paradox of a 1960s perspective of the 23rd century. I made a similar observation a few months ago about Heinlein’s novels. There is no reason for their achievements to still appear progressive to 21st century sensibilities.
