Ford's characterization in McShep slash...

[ratcreature]

So I'm rereading some McKay/Sheppard slash fic, great story overall too, only I stumble over Homophobic!Ford. Now, IIRC when I first read story I didn't take much notice of it, because I hadn't read that much SGA slash at that point, and taken as a characterization in an individual story I can buy it. Some people are homophobic after all, even otherwise nice, likable people. But there are quite a lot of stories portraying Ford like that, and it baffles me. Sometimes it seems to me that in S1 team McKay/Sheppard slash he's like the default token homophobe. And I don't get it, not to mention that it rubs me the wrong way because I rather like Ford. Is there any basis in canon for why this is such a popular choice?? I admit that I have watched most eps just once (I don't rewatch a lot in general), so I might have missed some huge clue leading so many to arrive at Homophobic!Ford, but if this is purely a fanon thing, it's definitely one I could do without.

Comments

[medie]

Homophobic!Ford?

Huh. I haven't been reading nearly as much slash as I thought I had been.

I haven't seen any basis in canon for it, hell I'd think the opposite but then I never saw a huge amount of basis for it with Jonathan Kent either so I might be blind. My gut instinct here is the same as with Jonathan actually. He's a potential obstacle to the one twu wuv only here, Ford is competition. It's like turning the girl into an evol bitch troll who's out to ruin their lives, gotta get her out of the way somehow right? Same here.

It's pure fanon from my POV. Not having read ANY stories which feature that I'm a bit blindsided *wry grin*

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

It's fanon, but it's unfortunately plausible.

Homophobia is rampant in the American military. Homophobia is also rampant in the Black community, especially the church-going portion thereof. If you want to have that kind of tension in the story, Ford is a logical choice. It is actually (given his age, vocation, & race) more probable that he is homophobic than that he would be unfazed by finding out Sheppard was gay.

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Everybody knows dat de black mans is afraid of de gay.

[neery.livejournal.com]

It probably is a purely fanon thing, but then, a lot of the common fanfic tropes are purely fanon.

Someone outing themselves/getting outed to a person who's close to them and finding out that that person is a homophobe is a pretty common and popular fanfic cliche. In SGA fanfic, Ford is the one who can fit that role by far the easiest. Like others have said, Teyla is far too accepting of pretty much everything to be the obvious choice for a homophobe, ditto for Elizabeth, and Rodney is far too educated and smart to fit the stereotype of a homophobe, too. Bates is right out -- not only is he not close to Sheppard, he's practically his enemy. Homophobic enemies finding out that someone's gay is also a cliche, but a different one.

Ford, on the other hand -- probably Christian, probably raised pretty conservatively. If you want to write the "friend turns out to be homophobe" cliche, which many people obviously do, in all fandoms, he's by far the most obvious and easiest choice.

So basically, I believe that it's not so much that people see the character as a homophobe, but that everyone else is even less suited to the role, so he gets stuck with it a lot of the time.

I'm not too fond of this particular piece of fanon, either, but as someone who tends to pick up favorite bits of fanon as her personal canon, I don't have a leg to stand on to condemn other people's favorite cliches...