RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2007-03-13 09:45 pm
ratcreature) wrote2007-03-13 09:45 pm
Entry tags:
meta-ish sga fanfic thoughts
I read quite a lot SGA fanfic and I'm starting to develop-- well, it's not quite a pet peeve, but this plot device in SGA fanfic that random alien "natives" capture/torture/sacrifice/chase the team with primitive weapons without ever being given proper motivation or even just common sense, it's staring to make me twitch whenever I see it. I get that the point of these stories isn't the alien culture but the h/c or sex ritual or whatever the author needs the spear waving natives for, but still.
For one it throws me out of the story, because it is so obvious that the Pegasus natives are only there for their effect on the team, that they aren't even real people. It's not that the team being the primary interest in the story was a problem, well developed cultures can serve the same ultimate purpose in a narrative, it just wouldn't be so blatantly obvious that they are only there as a plot device. These natives don't even get the minimal development of stock characters, who at least have a thin veneer over their purpose of just serving the heroes' plot. Even the traditional "exotic backdrop natives", problematic as they are for numerous reasons even when it's all filtered through being fantasy and not projected onto an actual culture, are at least, well, "exotic" and as such interesting or at least colorful.
Which leads me to the second point, i.e. it is reminiscent of the cringe-worthy and racist cliche of "primitive, non-rational savages vs. European explorers" in adventure fiction. Personally I think that they are so often complete non-entities is kind of worse than even if they were exotic backdrop for the protagonists (like in the typical "Africa movie") because they often don't get even that much minimal agency and presence as people.
That said, I wonder whether there would be any interest in an SGA thematic list with the topic "alien cultures" or something like that, kind of expanded from my earlier post to collect stories that give the Pegasus cultures at least a bit more room than to be just savages alternatively hurting the team or making them have sex.
For one it throws me out of the story, because it is so obvious that the Pegasus natives are only there for their effect on the team, that they aren't even real people. It's not that the team being the primary interest in the story was a problem, well developed cultures can serve the same ultimate purpose in a narrative, it just wouldn't be so blatantly obvious that they are only there as a plot device. These natives don't even get the minimal development of stock characters, who at least have a thin veneer over their purpose of just serving the heroes' plot. Even the traditional "exotic backdrop natives", problematic as they are for numerous reasons even when it's all filtered through being fantasy and not projected onto an actual culture, are at least, well, "exotic" and as such interesting or at least colorful.
Which leads me to the second point, i.e. it is reminiscent of the cringe-worthy and racist cliche of "primitive, non-rational savages vs. European explorers" in adventure fiction. Personally I think that they are so often complete non-entities is kind of worse than even if they were exotic backdrop for the protagonists (like in the typical "Africa movie") because they often don't get even that much minimal agency and presence as people.
That said, I wonder whether there would be any interest in an SGA thematic list with the topic "alien cultures" or something like that, kind of expanded from my earlier post to collect stories that give the Pegasus cultures at least a bit more room than to be just savages alternatively hurting the team or making them have sex.
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I also think people would be less likely to fall back on the idea of other cultures being "primitive" if there were fewer instances of it in canon itself. There are many cases of the set-up for an episode being essentially our team rushing in with their high-tech gadgets to help out because there's no way these people could figure it out on their own, regardless of the apparent technological achievements of the society.
Poisoning the Well wasn't too bad since they were close to being done their serum already, but certainly the second season episodes Instinct (aka. The planet where people live with a wraith feeding periodically for 10 years and don't do anything until our 4 person team shows up with a couple of guns and say "We'll deal with that for you" and even when the villagers try to help out all they do is wander around with torches and pitchforks) and Inferno (aka Our premiere scientist is so smart she's figured out how to hit a few buttons on the ancient devices but none of us have figured out what any of it means in all the time we've been here, so please Dr McKay spend half an hour to go far beyond anything we could do in generations)
I mean, there are definitely times when the writers elevate our heroes by making the other people stupid and inept. They just do it less often than fanfic writers sometimes do.
Plus I think we all have been exposed through the media that non-western civilisations are backwards and crazy even here on earth. It's not that often that we hear about computer companies in Saudi Arabia and things like that. Maybe bringing this up will lead to people deliberately trying to do the opposite and showcase that different doesn't mean dumb.
Good read :)
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