Comments | sg_fignewton: Canon vs. Fanon, part 8: Daniel, Pacifism, and Weapons Skills

sg_fignewton

Canon vs. Fanon, part 8: Daniel, Pacifism, and Weapons Skills

Feb 06, 2007 22:18

Welcome to the next edition of Canon vs. Fanon! And hello to all the new people of my f-list. :) Drop a comment, say hi, and join the discussion! Differing opinions are welcomed, too.

As I've mentioned in many of these posts, most fanon affectations are only minor irritations for me, particularly those that can be reasonably extrapolated from canon ( Read more... )

canon vs fanon, sg-1 meta

Comments 145

niamaea February 7 2007, 07:08:32 UTC

Another excellent analysis!

I think you nailed it, wondering if it's an issue of keeping Daniel child-like. I think that may actually be my reigning champion Thing I Despite Seeing In Fic. There's a veeeery weird tendency I've noticed, particularly in very early season fic, to characterize Daniel as this poor wilting flower, this flickering candle of innocence and righteousness, this pillar of moral decency and fairness to the universe at large, etc etc etc with the poetry. 'Danny' is a pacifist, who couldn't hit the a semi-truck from ten feet away, who is pure and gentle, with flowing blond (?) hair and a frail stature (?!) and limpid blue eyes prone to filling over with tears (...) and blah blah blah blah. It's infantilizing and frankly bizarre.

Not to mention the whole team gets in on it, and monologue at length about how they must protect this precious angel. Jack is some weird amalgamation between father and brother (and this is somehow more pronounced in slash fics, why oh WHY?), Sam is the caring big sister (who is ( ... )

niamaea February 7 2007, 07:10:19 UTC

Despise. "Things I despise..." I'm sure there are other errors in there, but that's the one that grabbed me.

P.S. Can you tell I'm glad you mentioned this topic? O:-)

sg_fignewton February 7 2007, 09:11:36 UTC

You've hit just about every irritating fanon trope there, haven't you? And I will get to some more of those in the future - they're definitely on the list!

Sam is the caring big sister (who is nevertheless canonically younger)

Are you sure about this? Because I'm pretty certain that Daniel is a couple of years younger than she is. I know there's a contradiction between her printed birthday in Entity and reference to her birthstone in Ascension, but the year? Although I have to say that any reference to Daniel as a "young man" makes me grit my teeth. He's thirty-two in S1. A "young man" is someone in his early twenties. I'll grant you that he looks young, but it baffles me as much as it does you: why would a fanfic author want to take someone capable and reduce them to the status of a child? How long do they think a person like that would last on the front lines?

Ranting not very incoherent, I assure you. And much enjoyed. :)

niamaea February 7 2007, 09:33:49 UTC

Oh my goodness, 4:30 in the morning, why am I still awake? Ah, college.

Yeah, the month is problematic - but doesn't the file from Entity lists her as being born in '68, when Daniel would have been three-ish? She'd be twenty-nine in S1. I think.

And as for Dannykins...well, I dunno, judging by some of the paper-cut turned septic infection fics I've seen, his immune system seems to be irreparably compromised and he should probably move somewhere very quiet and sterile right away. Which is not to say I haven't seen Danny-whumping done very effectively. But my goodness. Get the man some vitamin C. Another one for my list. : )

Thread 67

moonshayde February 8 2007, 17:25:13 UTC

I missed this again, darn it! I found out that your posts are not showing up on my LJ. At all. So I am going to unfriend you and then friend you back to see if that fixes it.

sg_fignewton February 8 2007, 17:26:26 UTC

::hugs Kerri::

You're welcome to jump in now, y'know. The water's still warm. :)

moonshayde February 8 2007, 17:37:14 UTC

I hate that people think Daniel can't hold a weapon! Okay, first of all, he totally sucks at hand-to-hand combat as we've seen in eps like Endgame. But from the movie on he's been an excellent shot. Is he super special black ops? Nope. But he's fairly good with a gun.

And yes, he's not a pacifist. But he's very much about finding alternatives to violence. That's our Daniel :)

byw, i friended you back and the posts are showing. Go figure

sg_fignewton February 8 2007, 17:53:39 UTC

Y'know, I love that he's lousy at hand-to-hand. It's not his thing. It shouldn't be. Although he didn't do half as badly in Endgame as he did in Prometheus Unbound! :)

Yeah. ::happy sigh:: That's our Daniel!

Glad the friending thing is behaving itself again.

melayneseahawk February 10 2007, 22:48:56 UTC

I totally agree! Thank you for laying this all out so very well.

sg_fignewton February 11 2007, 08:54:44 UTC

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the discussion. :)

green_grrl February 15 2007, 01:01:47 UTC

I just say Word to the entire post. And, thank you! (Have had way too much fun in comments!)

So, for future topics, I don't know if they do this in gen fics, but in slash there's the common fanon that everyone falls all over themselves to provide Daniel with blue clothing that will bring out the color of his eyes. *gag* (And even though it's slash, it's the nurses choosing scrubs in the infirmary, or Sam Christmas shopping for him, as much as it's Jack providing him with cerulean flannel pajamas. *gag more*) And in yet another instance of fanon influencing canon, The Shroud. *headdesk*

sg_fignewton February 15 2007, 08:42:45 UTC

Have had way too much fun in comments!

Heh. Noticed. :)

I touched upon the "match Daniel's scrubs to his eyes" over here. I don't mind Sam shopping for Daniel, as long as it doesn't degenerate into "big sister taking care of hapless little brother," which of course it sometimes does.

The word "cerulean" should be stricken from the fanfic dictionary, and is an automatic screaming signal to me to "BACK AWAY NOW!" no matter what it is I'm reading. :)

The Shroud, hmm? Please do wander back here when the ep airs in the States and elaborate, please! Or just elaborate now, and mark it with a spoilers for the sake of those who haven't seen it yet.

green_grrl February 15 2007, 17:24:45 UTC

Oh, I'll never remember months from now, so I'll just put it here. And honestly, it's not a huge spoiler, and I'll say it in as non-spoilery a way as possible, but for those who want to know NOTHING...

SPOILER
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I think Bridge Wardrobe are fangirls, because there are flashback scenes where Daniel is... elsewhere (not with SG-1) and he is wearing a startlingly blue uniform. And then there is the scene at the end with Daniel in an infirmary where he is in blue, blue, blue scrubs. And yes, in both cases these really do bring out the color of his eyes. Heh!