META: Character Bashing Gives Me Rage

[campylobacter]

Wednesday was a long day at work; I was finally at home, decompressing, reading some hot Daniel/Vala smut... and then after leaving a review, I got the notion to try something new: a Daniel/Sam story.

Because I don't 'ship Daniel & Sam, I wanted to gain insight into their relationship dynamic from another segment of the Stargate fandom. What is it about their interaction that I might be missing? Because when I see MS & AT in scenes together, their body language is the same as my body language around my brother. Have I been projecting my perceptions as an older sister onto Sam's character? I wanted to see if the Daniel/Sam fandom handily destroys the fanon of Sam & Daniel as "just like brother & sister".


And now I'm pissed: there's Vala-bashing in the Sam/Daniel story.

Vala [....] could tell that something was up. It didn’t take her long to notice the furtive glances. The close proximity. Even the occasional drifting hand under the commissary tables. At first she was angry. This blonde harlot stole HER Daniel away. But as she watched them, she knew that Daniel was never really hers. And in true Vala fashion, she turned her sights to someone else.

Hello? "True Vala fashion" would be for Vala to ask if she could join them in a threesome. Vala doesn't think of Sam as a "harlot"; in fact, she respects Sam's authority as a leader (see "The Uninvited") and spends time shopping and drinking with her ("Family Ties").

Why does an author need to bash a character for the sake of focusing on their fave OTP? WTF???!!!!

I don't bash Daniel/Sam in my stories, or any other pairing. In fact, as a multi-shipper, I toss in innuendo for other pairings (Jack/Daniel & Sam/Vala being a couple favorites) because it gives the characterizations more energy and dynamism, and acknowledges the depth of their previous history together.

Anyone have any Sam/Daniel fanfic recs that don't have character bashing? Maybe there should be warnings on 'shipper fics if there's character bashing... LOL. "Sam/Vala antipathy" or something. Because it ruined my evening.

Comments

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Argh. I don't get this kind of bashing--I mean, I can understand reading characters different ways, but this kind of thing is almost exactly opposite about what we do know about the characters that it feels really wrong to me.

[shakespherical.livejournal.com]

the only convincing one I've read is

http://sg1-heliopolis.com/adult/viewstory.php?sid=985&warning=5
"fantasies" is it's title and I left a review of it because I liked it. Hope it smooths over your disgruntlement. I prefer you to alwasy be gruntled.

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that kind of thing can suck, especially if you ship *both* Sam/Daniel and Daniel/Vala like me. I don't really keep track of fics to rec, though, so I don't have any of the good ones to offer, but I know there are some who keep the Sam/Vala friendship and just hook up Cam/Vala to deal with D/V.

[misshapenmuse.livejournal.com]

Bashing of characters in pairing is in all fandoms. Doctor/Martha shippers sometimes bash Rose, calling her whiny and clingy. That's why I never read some Doctor/Martha stories. There are a few out there that don't bash Rose though.

[hummingfly67.livejournal.com]

A theory. When one finds it necessary to bash another character in the process of writing a certain pairing, maybe it is because one is forcing that pairing to be.

Character bashing is one of the main reasons why I avoid reading stories of pairings I don't agree with.

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

http://abyssinia4077.livejournal.com/132611.html

http://surreallis.livejournal.com/318684.html

http://infanity.ficlaundering.com/moa/fic/sg_cityofbrotherlylove.html

These are three that were rec'd on the Archive's site. I don't think there is any bashing on these or I wouldn't have read them.
I wasn't a fan when that pic of Michael/Amanda came out but I heard some fans just about went ballistic when they saw it. I frankly think they look pretty hawt together, but that's just me.....

[green-wing.livejournal.com]

I just recently started re-watchin SG-1 from the very first episode "Children of the Gods" (from the previous viewpoint of being a complete non-shipper *LOL* I know, hard to believe ;)

But I was struck straight away by the protective "older sister" vibe from Sam when it comes to Daniel :)

I can definitely see where your own perceptions might have come from because I think that's how Amanda and Michael chose to play the characters :O

BTW, what's that picture from? (I'm only up to S7 in my catch-up, I don't recognize the episode?)

p.s. ship bashing = very very bad, shouldn't be done...ever!
There's a lot of ships I don't agree with but I would never ever think of bashing them, just because I don't love them, doesn't mean they don't get love from others :O

[cleothemuse.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly convinced--and I'm tempted to conduct some research on the matter--that the people who say they don't "see" the sibling dynamic between the two characters either don't have siblings of their own, or don't have close relationships with their siblings.

That said, I was a little more into Sam/Daniel when I first started watching the show, but began to step away the more what I was seeing on-screen didn't match what I was reading. The final straw for me was an author-who-shall-not-be-named who was writing a supposedly-gen fic in which ship kept creeping in at strange moments. There would be scenes I would stare at the screen and ask, "WTF would Daniel go to Sam to talk about this? Wouldn't he go to Jack, first?" And then Sam acts all sympathetic and understanding, at which point I begin shouting, "But Sam's as emotionally inept as *I* am! She would TOTALLY not know what to say here, whereas Jack would say something inappropriate that would nevertheless make him feel better anyway!"

So... yeah. The work of Thraesja and Amaranth Traces aside, I tend to find that most Daniel/Sam 'fic relies on bad characterization to make the pairing stick.

[thothmes.livejournal.com]

Well I am a confirmed Sam/Jack shipper, but quite frankly, character bashing and insisting that others play only in my own shipping sandbox is never okay!

I would rec if I could, but I don't read that pairing (largely because I personally find it unconvincing), so I'm afraid I can't help there. Much. [see below]*

I just wished to register my contempt for those who try to harsh other's OTP mellow and show no respect for the established qualities, both good and bad, of canon characters. I may have been squicked when I wandered into a Jennifer Hailey/Jack fic (it just seemed a little to close to pedophelia to me with that age difference), but that's what the "back" button is for. And if others enjoy it, why should I whine? And being pro-Hailey should not allow an author to assassinate Sam or Sara or anyone else!

*I think abyssinia4077 has written some Sam/Daniel. I have liked her gen stuff, but have not read any of the Sam/Daniel. In the crackfic category I have read some of pepper_field's pieces where Sam and Daniel are parents. This is definitely not a serious take on the relationship!

don't think remark is vala-bashing

[(Anonymous)]

Reading too much into it. its a woman thing to do. How do I look. Uh, ok.
and its ohmigosh do I look bad, should I wear something else, etc. etc. same thing about 'my opinion is right, yours is wrong'. Obviously that fic writer has interpreted what she sees differently. Harlot? Do you know what was in the writer's mind? I've seen women call each other bitch in private, then get over it and be best pals again. Ever wish someone would be hit by a truck for some minor thing? Now do you really mean it?

True Vala Fashion as portrayed in the show is to tease, but would she go above that to what is seen as a pretty egregious violation of workplace/ military ethics and start sleeping with someone? Fanfic writers ignore that reality all the time, So 'True Vala Fashion' is whatever the fic writer has seen fit to accentuate/ignore, etc. a bit in the eye of the beholder.

[badficpete.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm so reluctant to read fic outside my OTPs in certain fandoms, and often don't read any fic not recommended by a friend, because character bashing makes me crazy. (Um, sorry about my screen name's buring irony tonight, long story.)

[space00.livejournal.com]

Yeh, I agree with you on the character bashing. I ventured into the Cam / Sam thread at GW for the pure curiousity of it all and was shocked by the level of Daniel bashing.
ie - making him out to be some whiney wimpy annoying lets take the piss out of character. In the virtual episode thing they have going on there.
As much as I love a laugh.. I didnt there.
I left and went back to my home. the D/V thread instead and here at LJ.

Yeh, it makes me angry too when it's in fics. Vala never would slate Sam. period.

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