Sometimes, I am deeply unimpressed.
You know what? kill_sam_carter and its contest to write fic that kills Sam Carter really annoys me (be warned - if you follow the link to the comm, there are spoilers for season 4 of SGA). A lot. Yes, I know that Carter is a fictional character; yes, I know that we all write deathfic sometimes (or...okay often, in my case. usually with zombies or something), but a whole contest that has, as one of its rules, "Sam Carter must die (permanently) in the story"; and a comm profile that has a bunch of Sam-hatred just hits me the wrong way.
Some people might argue that they hate Carter because she has been inconsistently written over the years. Well - yes. Season 1 Carter was kind of painful to watch. But please don't try and tell me that all of the season 1 characters weren't painful to watch at times (frequently). They were settling into their characters and the show - this is the way it goes in the first season of anything. It's awkward sometimes; sometimes it's cringe-worthy. But it doesn't make me hate a character.
Some people might argue that they hate Carter because, even worse that being written inconsistently, she was often written badly. Again, I say - what character hasn't been written badly at one point or another? To me, Daniel in s10 was a total boring ass, and ascended!Daniel - please just kill me. Teal'c - oh my god. Sometimes I wondered what the hell the writers were thinking. Anytime O'Neill had an 'emotional episode', it was often so bad it made my teeth ache. But guess what? I don't hate any of them.
I always thought that Sam Carter was a great, positive TV image of what women are capable of doing. Instead of bitching about Carter being inconsistently/badly written, I chose to see her role in a different light. Instead of bitching that she couldn't make up her mind re: Jack and relationships, I saw it as an attempt (however ham-handed) to show some of the struggles and compromises that contemporary women in the workplace might face. And in doing that, we also saw that a successful, intelligent woman can be more than just her job. Social stereotypes of women as either:
- emotionally-stunted, workaholic, power-bitches
- emotionally-grounded, caring, nurturing types
really piss me off. But Sam Carter is a multi-faceted character, and through her, we see how it's possible to question such stereotyping. She struggles with her feelings for O'Neill; she struggles with her relationship with her father; she struggles with her feelings for Pete. At the same time, she's successful at her job, she is promoted in recognition of that, and she's saved the world several times over. She is powerful, intelligent, and certainly a workaholic (then again, the whole team is made of workaholics); she's also ethical, caring, and grounded by her relationships with others. She makes mistakes - and they affect her. They bother her. She wants to fix them. And she has the skills to do that.
Maybe I'm reading far more into the character and her storylines than what the writers intended, but you know what? I don't care. That's how I see Carter, and I think those kinds of portrayals of women are crucial.
I'm not saying she's perfect, or that she's perfectly written and consistently well-used in a storyline - I am saying that there's a lot I admire in her, and in the portrayal of her. And sure, sometimes she's a jerk - but so what? Sometimes we're all jerks. Sometimes the other SG-1 characters were complete jackasses (except maybe Janet. I don't remember Janet ever being a jerk).
I like Sam Carter (and it's not just because she's hot. although she is). I liked her as a Captain, I liked her as Major, and I like her as a Lieutenant Colonel. I was thrilled when she took on the leadership of SG-1, and I loved watching her fitting into that role. And, despite my excitement about Ben Browder joining SG-1 in season 9, I worried that it would mean that Carter would be pushed out of the role of leader of SG-1. And yes - that's exactly what happened, and I was pissed off. I even bitched to my mum about it, and her attitude is "Please don't bitch to me about your weird shows."
Finally, some might argue that Carter coming to Atlantis might interfere with their favourite pairings, and thus they are justified in their hatred of the character. You know what - to this, I just say grow up.
Despite having reservations about what her role will be on SGA s4 (and I absolutely have them), I'm also happy - because while SG-1 might be gone, I'll get to see more of Carter, who will hopefully continue to present a more satisfying strong female character than I felt we ever got from Elizabeth Weir.
Perhaps it's cynical of me to think that the hate this comm/contest demonstrates for Sam Carter is some kind of broader hatred of strong female characters. However, I can't help but wonder - if Daniel or Mitchell or Teal'c were being transferred to SGA, would there be a comm and contest devoted to killing them off? It's impossible to know, but my gut feeling is that there wouldn't be.
In conclusion, I don't understand the hate. Also, Sam Carter = win.
Hey, sansets - do you think this would qualify as the meta requirement for the women appreciation challenge, day 4? I think I'm going to post it over there.
EDIT: I've put in an additional cut, since this is long.
Some people might argue that they hate Carter because she has been inconsistently written over the years. Well - yes. Season 1 Carter was kind of painful to watch. But please don't try and tell me that all of the season 1 characters weren't painful to watch at times (frequently). They were settling into their characters and the show - this is the way it goes in the first season of anything. It's awkward sometimes; sometimes it's cringe-worthy. But it doesn't make me hate a character.
Some people might argue that they hate Carter because, even worse that being written inconsistently, she was often written badly. Again, I say - what character hasn't been written badly at one point or another? To me, Daniel in s10 was a total boring ass, and ascended!Daniel - please just kill me. Teal'c - oh my god. Sometimes I wondered what the hell the writers were thinking. Anytime O'Neill had an 'emotional episode', it was often so bad it made my teeth ache. But guess what? I don't hate any of them.
I always thought that Sam Carter was a great, positive TV image of what women are capable of doing. Instead of bitching about Carter being inconsistently/badly written, I chose to see her role in a different light. Instead of bitching that she couldn't make up her mind re: Jack and relationships, I saw it as an attempt (however ham-handed) to show some of the struggles and compromises that contemporary women in the workplace might face. And in doing that, we also saw that a successful, intelligent woman can be more than just her job. Social stereotypes of women as either:
- emotionally-stunted, workaholic, power-bitches
- emotionally-grounded, caring, nurturing types
really piss me off. But Sam Carter is a multi-faceted character, and through her, we see how it's possible to question such stereotyping. She struggles with her feelings for O'Neill; she struggles with her relationship with her father; she struggles with her feelings for Pete. At the same time, she's successful at her job, she is promoted in recognition of that, and she's saved the world several times over. She is powerful, intelligent, and certainly a workaholic (then again, the whole team is made of workaholics); she's also ethical, caring, and grounded by her relationships with others. She makes mistakes - and they affect her. They bother her. She wants to fix them. And she has the skills to do that.
Maybe I'm reading far more into the character and her storylines than what the writers intended, but you know what? I don't care. That's how I see Carter, and I think those kinds of portrayals of women are crucial.
I'm not saying she's perfect, or that she's perfectly written and consistently well-used in a storyline - I am saying that there's a lot I admire in her, and in the portrayal of her. And sure, sometimes she's a jerk - but so what? Sometimes we're all jerks. Sometimes the other SG-1 characters were complete jackasses (except maybe Janet. I don't remember Janet ever being a jerk).
I like Sam Carter (and it's not just because she's hot. although she is). I liked her as a Captain, I liked her as Major, and I like her as a Lieutenant Colonel. I was thrilled when she took on the leadership of SG-1, and I loved watching her fitting into that role. And, despite my excitement about Ben Browder joining SG-1 in season 9, I worried that it would mean that Carter would be pushed out of the role of leader of SG-1. And yes - that's exactly what happened, and I was pissed off. I even bitched to my mum about it, and her attitude is "Please don't bitch to me about your weird shows."
Finally, some might argue that Carter coming to Atlantis might interfere with their favourite pairings, and thus they are justified in their hatred of the character. You know what - to this, I just say grow up.
Despite having reservations about what her role will be on SGA s4 (and I absolutely have them), I'm also happy - because while SG-1 might be gone, I'll get to see more of Carter, who will hopefully continue to present a more satisfying strong female character than I felt we ever got from Elizabeth Weir.
Perhaps it's cynical of me to think that the hate this comm/contest demonstrates for Sam Carter is some kind of broader hatred of strong female characters. However, I can't help but wonder - if Daniel or Mitchell or Teal'c were being transferred to SGA, would there be a comm and contest devoted to killing them off? It's impossible to know, but my gut feeling is that there wouldn't be.
In conclusion, I don't understand the hate. Also, Sam Carter = win.
Hey, sansets - do you think this would qualify as the meta requirement for the women appreciation challenge, day 4? I think I'm going to post it over there.
EDIT: I've put in an additional cut, since this is long.