McShep review of 5x07 Whispers, thoughts on women in SGA and Trio

[velocitygrass]

Comments

[erda_3]

I'm tired of being apologetic about liking to watch men. Do men really have to explain to each other why they like to look at women?

But, yeah, the women we get on SGA tend to annoy me because they are basically some guys idea of what women are or ought to be, or maybe just what they think we want to see.

[velocitygrass]

Yeah, when it comes down to it I like my John and Rodney show just fine.

John and Carson's reaction to the team was like TPTB pointing at them and waving wildly, shouting "Look, there are women! Aren't you happy now?" Unfortunately, being female alone doesn't make a good female character...

Thanks!

[altyronsmaker]

I think there's a good portion of denial in Rodney. He must have been so burnt in the past that he doesn't trust someone else's or his own feelings. Or maybe he thinks his own feelings don't matter, because he'll always be disappointed.There's another interpretation

[velocitygrass]

I think "Quarantine" pretty much made it canon that Rodney doesn't understand what's going on in his head, so you're definitely right on that. I still think something in his past must have been off, because even if the realization that what he feels is love/friendship takes a while and is confusing to him, he probably would have made the same slow progression towards it before. But in Sunday he calls Carson "the closest thing to a best friend" that he had, implying that he'd never had a best friend before. Of course that again shows that he doesn't quite understand his feelings, because his team were definitely his friends by that time, certainly John

[green_grrl]

I have the same feelings you do about women in SG:A. TPTB suffer greatly from not having any women on their staff.

You could actually move Shen to the "love interest" category; she first appeared in the Stargate: SG-1 episode The Scourge as someone to flirt with Daniel Jackson.

And I was so disappointed when they hired Jewel Staite to be the new doctor (same when they added Lexa Doig for SG-1). They'd gotten rid of Elizabeth and Heightmeyer, so they were getting low on women but, for heaven's sake, they're supposed to be hiring the most qualified, experienced people. Where are Doctor (or Colonel) Tyne Daly or CCH Pounder or Dianne Wiest or Alfre Woodard or Edie Falco or ...? It's like women over 40 don't exist. (Well, of course they don't! Women over 40 can't be love interests!) Argh! *gnashes teeth*

[velocitygrass]

Yes, I recall Shen flirting with Daniel, though I remember it as pretty harmless. I mostly remember my sympathy with her for having to run for her life in those shoes ;) Seriously though, at least she wasn't as annoying as the French and British guy

[luthien]

Really interesting post, and I wish I were awake enough right now to comment properly on the details. It brings a lot of details to a general feeling that I've had for a long time now about female characters on SGA and plenty of other shows: the female characters feel more alien to me than the actual aliens. And I attribute pretty much all of this to the way in which they are written, by male writers who apparently have never met any actual women. So often, you can see an actress trying, and partially succeeding, in making her character less of an 'alien', but when it comes right down to it she can't (in her performance) change the words and she can't change the storyline.

And yeah, I'm right there with you on the favourite characters that I watch the show for. But sometimes it would be nice if the "default human being that the writers expect the viewers to identify with" could be someone other than a very specific profile of a particular gender, race and age.

[velocitygrass]

It's quite strange that as a woman I feel hardly able to identify with a woman on the show. Not that all women are the same or anything, but as you said there's a feeling of detachment to them, like they're a "them" more than an "us". I feel so much closer to John and Rodney.

Thank you!

[anonymous]

"Joe: It's not funny and Sheppard wouldn't do that." But Mallozzi says on his blog that the fist bump was ad-libbed by Flanigan and McGillion, and was not in his script. The actors' attitudes to women may not be all that different from the writers' attitudes. Which is not that big of a surprise, really.

[velocitygrass]

Ooh, I didn't know this. I avoid Mallozzi's blog in fear of spoilers.

Obviously I'll now have to retcon this into believing that they simply played along with the ridiculous characterization in that scene itself, possibly trying to demonstrate how completely inappropriate it was.

And yes, I think I probably attribute as much to the actors as to the characters. It just is nice to imagine that they feel similar to us in some ways.

Thanks for pointing this out!