Hindsight, by Rageprufrock
Aug. 16th, 2005 06:08 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
the-moonmoth.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
the_comfy_chairI think this community is a terrific idea, but I haven't seen anything come out of it so far so I thought I'd give it a go. Please bear in mind that I haven't written this kind of analysis in many years, and I was never much good at it then. So, on that confident note...
Link: Hindsight, by Rageprufrock
Summary: discussion of the characterisations in the above story
The story is an AU, in which John never joined the Air Force, becoming instead an FBI agent. Rodney's history up to the point where the story begins seems unchanged. Then one day in Colorado, Rodney discovers a bomb in his car, and John is subsequently called to the scene. That's how they meet, and the story goes from there.
The thing about AU's that has always attracted my interest is the characterisations. They really need to be spot-on if the characters are to be removed from the familiarity of their usual surroundings. On the first read, my opinion was that Pru had wholeheartedly succeeded in this. On the second read, I tried to be a bit more critical.
John's character was quite different to the John we see in canon in several ways. He seemed more open, less self-contained, and while he does work long hours and live alone, you get the sense that it's less of a choice on his part -- not something he seeks out, but something that just is, because of the demands his job puts on him. Contrast this with the canon John, who liked the solitude of Antarctica, and had to think long and hard before giving that up.
Perhaps because of this unusual openness to his character, or perhaps because the story is from his POV and we thus get a peak into his head, he also seems to possess a vulnerability that we just don't see, or haven't yet seen, from canon John. This is most obvious in the scene with Francesca (a kidnapped girl he's been searching for but finds too late) and his subsequent reaction to her death, but also in his relationship with Rodney. Despite telling himself that he isn't gay, that he isn't really interested in Rodney and is just using him, he shows a remarkable passiveness in allowing Rodney to muscle him around, take care of him, and in the end almost falls into the relationship without meaning to. This highlights his loneliness, his need for human contact and affection, and leads me to see him as a younger, less hardened version of canon John (I even began to picture him as Joe Flanigan's part in 'Family Portrait').
In fact, this makes sense in the context of this universe. John dearly wanted to join the Air Force and become a pilot, but was disqualified at birth by a medical condition. Despite the obvious satisfaction he takes in his job, there's always the sense of melancholy that he couldn't follow his dreams:
He smoothes a hand over his face and gets distracted when he hears a hum outside the window, and when he turns, he sees a Blackhawk helicopter crawling across the sky, and he cannot, cannot look away.
He grew up on military bases but has had no military training. He deals with rapes and kidnappings and sometimes-gruesome murders, but he's never been to war. Obviously some innate compulsion to save lives remains intact, but he's gone through his career without the desperate trauma of full-scale battle. He does have to deal with some horrific things, but at the end of the day he can return to his nice house in quiet suburbia and work through it all at his own pace. There's no indication that he's ever lost people he's close to in his line of work.
Rodney, however, has led his life exactly the way we've seen it in canon, right up until that fateful morning with the bomb. Presumably he's not long returned from Siberia, and is now working in Cheyenne Mountain on the preliminaries for the Atlantis expedition. So his character should be akin to the Rodney McKay we first met in SG-1, previous to his posting to Antarctica. It more or less is -- snarky, obnoxious, holier-than-thou. However, I found myself pausing to think more than a couple of times.
The first thing that struck me was the use of the word 'yell'. Rodney 'yells' a lot in this story. Admittedly, I haven't seen his SG-1 episodes in a while, but whilst he was smug and arrogant and annoying, I don't remember him being particularly belligerent or neurotic. He was quite self-contained, expressing his panic in a very reasonable way, embracing the sense of inevitable doom-and-gloom with surprisingly little fuss. (My memory, of course, could be faulty -- please do correct me if I'm wrong about this). It was only later, on Atlantis where it was his and his team's lives on the line that he really began to show the neuroticism, raise his voice, gesticulate wildly. Arguably, this is the first time that he ever really understood the responsibility he held -- what it would mean for someone to die because he couldn't find the right solution. Contrast this with his dismissive attitude to Teal'c's situation in his very first appearance in the 'gateverse, and you can really see the character growth that he's undergone.
However, he hasn't undergone it yet. But you wouldn't know it from this story. This is very much a post-Atlantis Rodney in a pre-Atlantis setting. Bit of an anachronism, but I actually don't mind it too much. It works well enough in the early scenes, setting up a good dynamic between Rodney and John, and beyond that there's enough subtlety and skill in the writing that I can believe their relationship is having a significant impact on his behaviour.
That said, the particular characterisations for both Rodney and John fit very well together, and whilst it's never explained explicitly, you can really see what it is about each of them that leads them to need the other so much. Despite the nitpicks and a couple of inconsistencies in some of the details, it's that that makes this story such a good read, and one that holds up well to re-reading.
Link: Hindsight, by Rageprufrock
Summary: discussion of the characterisations in the above story
The story is an AU, in which John never joined the Air Force, becoming instead an FBI agent. Rodney's history up to the point where the story begins seems unchanged. Then one day in Colorado, Rodney discovers a bomb in his car, and John is subsequently called to the scene. That's how they meet, and the story goes from there.
The thing about AU's that has always attracted my interest is the characterisations. They really need to be spot-on if the characters are to be removed from the familiarity of their usual surroundings. On the first read, my opinion was that Pru had wholeheartedly succeeded in this. On the second read, I tried to be a bit more critical.
John's character was quite different to the John we see in canon in several ways. He seemed more open, less self-contained, and while he does work long hours and live alone, you get the sense that it's less of a choice on his part -- not something he seeks out, but something that just is, because of the demands his job puts on him. Contrast this with the canon John, who liked the solitude of Antarctica, and had to think long and hard before giving that up.
Perhaps because of this unusual openness to his character, or perhaps because the story is from his POV and we thus get a peak into his head, he also seems to possess a vulnerability that we just don't see, or haven't yet seen, from canon John. This is most obvious in the scene with Francesca (a kidnapped girl he's been searching for but finds too late) and his subsequent reaction to her death, but also in his relationship with Rodney. Despite telling himself that he isn't gay, that he isn't really interested in Rodney and is just using him, he shows a remarkable passiveness in allowing Rodney to muscle him around, take care of him, and in the end almost falls into the relationship without meaning to. This highlights his loneliness, his need for human contact and affection, and leads me to see him as a younger, less hardened version of canon John (I even began to picture him as Joe Flanigan's part in 'Family Portrait').
In fact, this makes sense in the context of this universe. John dearly wanted to join the Air Force and become a pilot, but was disqualified at birth by a medical condition. Despite the obvious satisfaction he takes in his job, there's always the sense of melancholy that he couldn't follow his dreams:
He smoothes a hand over his face and gets distracted when he hears a hum outside the window, and when he turns, he sees a Blackhawk helicopter crawling across the sky, and he cannot, cannot look away.
He grew up on military bases but has had no military training. He deals with rapes and kidnappings and sometimes-gruesome murders, but he's never been to war. Obviously some innate compulsion to save lives remains intact, but he's gone through his career without the desperate trauma of full-scale battle. He does have to deal with some horrific things, but at the end of the day he can return to his nice house in quiet suburbia and work through it all at his own pace. There's no indication that he's ever lost people he's close to in his line of work.
Rodney, however, has led his life exactly the way we've seen it in canon, right up until that fateful morning with the bomb. Presumably he's not long returned from Siberia, and is now working in Cheyenne Mountain on the preliminaries for the Atlantis expedition. So his character should be akin to the Rodney McKay we first met in SG-1, previous to his posting to Antarctica. It more or less is -- snarky, obnoxious, holier-than-thou. However, I found myself pausing to think more than a couple of times.
The first thing that struck me was the use of the word 'yell'. Rodney 'yells' a lot in this story. Admittedly, I haven't seen his SG-1 episodes in a while, but whilst he was smug and arrogant and annoying, I don't remember him being particularly belligerent or neurotic. He was quite self-contained, expressing his panic in a very reasonable way, embracing the sense of inevitable doom-and-gloom with surprisingly little fuss. (My memory, of course, could be faulty -- please do correct me if I'm wrong about this). It was only later, on Atlantis where it was his and his team's lives on the line that he really began to show the neuroticism, raise his voice, gesticulate wildly. Arguably, this is the first time that he ever really understood the responsibility he held -- what it would mean for someone to die because he couldn't find the right solution. Contrast this with his dismissive attitude to Teal'c's situation in his very first appearance in the 'gateverse, and you can really see the character growth that he's undergone.
However, he hasn't undergone it yet. But you wouldn't know it from this story. This is very much a post-Atlantis Rodney in a pre-Atlantis setting. Bit of an anachronism, but I actually don't mind it too much. It works well enough in the early scenes, setting up a good dynamic between Rodney and John, and beyond that there's enough subtlety and skill in the writing that I can believe their relationship is having a significant impact on his behaviour.
That said, the particular characterisations for both Rodney and John fit very well together, and whilst it's never explained explicitly, you can really see what it is about each of them that leads them to need the other so much. Despite the nitpicks and a couple of inconsistencies in some of the details, it's that that makes this story such a good read, and one that holds up well to re-reading.
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a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 08:18 pm (UTC)I actually don't think that newbies start with AUs, much, because newbies need and usually want a better grounding in the canon world. But I find the comment about interpretation of the characters interesting, because I am a newbie myself, and I began with fic (not this one) and then went on to canon. The fic I started with was from rec lists and author recs, and included a large dose of Karen McFadyyon and Chelle - authors who tend to write (IMHO) relatively soft and emotional versions of the characters. When I saw the show (season 1) I was, "wow, Rodney's an asshole! I didn't realize that!" because these stories, made him into a much kinder, gentler Rodney than what I saw on the show. But his behavior in e.g. Childhood's End - "they don't need the ZPM and we do, so I'm going to take it" - I mean, he's a real jerk, and it surprised me, and it made me really pay attention to canon.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that each author represents her own version of the characters, and although we may all say our versions are closer to canon than the others, it is all opinion, and none of it is truly canon except the show. But all of us are going to be affected by what we read, whether it is Pru's arrogant and needy Rodney or Karen's sweet and squishy Rodney or Shalott's oblivious and pushy Rodney. And unless something specifically pings us as, "hey, that doesn't match my Rodney," they all get rolled into canon!Rodney from the show in our heads, I think.
Anyway, I am not disputing your disagreement with the characterization (well, I am, a little, in that I think canon!Rodney is as obnoxious as painted here, although he is capable of making the big sacrifices which this story doesn't show but canon does) - but I think that there is room in the big tent of fanfiction for a wide variety of characterization.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 08:52 pm (UTC)For me, an AU puts a premium on ensuring that the *whole* character is encapsulated, because the surrounding context of canon - the environment, the secondary characters and the canon backstory - are going to be partly or wholly absent.
To take your example of Childhood's End, it's possible to watch that ep and see Rodney in all his arrogant, asshole glory. He sneers at Ford's compass, then realises it has a beneficial value and snatches it away. He takes the ZPM without a thought for the consequences. He's mean to the rugrats.
Then again, to cite those examples without either the context of their occurrence, or the other McKay actions in that episode, will not give you a whole take on Rodney, but only the selective one where he's repellent and off-putting. His grabbing the compass derives from the imperative he's under to find a solution to the problem of a crashed Jumper and no means or repairing it - he's goal-oriented. And it's worth noting that Ford's reaction to that is an amused sarcasm, rather than dislike or contempt. McKay takes the ZPM back to Atlantis because he's fixated on ensuring that Atlantis is safe above everything else (and it's worth bearing in mind that this is exactly the same idea that occurred to Ford in Letters From Pegasus). And when Elizabeth orders him to take it back, he has sufficient ethical awareness to be embarrassed by her reprimand, and not to argue with her.
Yes, he has no patience with the kids, but later he acts without hesitation to protect and hide them from the Wraith probe, and to carry on working on the ZPM rather than hide himself away.
I'm not seeking to sanctify McKay - and authors like Chelle and Karen McFadyyon, IMO, do pay attention to illustrating that side of McKay which is miserable or arrogant or sarcastic. I simply think there's a logic and a canon fault in creating characterisations of McKay which never seem able to progress beyond his every utterance being a sneer or a whine or an insult. Without incorporating some recognition of his capacity to have some discernable appeal to the people around him - not just Sheppard, or, worse, just Sheppard's cock - without that, any story will leave me baffled as to why any sane person would want to spend time with such a relentlessly unpleasant moron. As a reader, I know I don't want to.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 09:24 pm (UTC)All that is very true--there is room in fandom for everyone's interpretation, and there are niches for all kinds of preferences. Here, in this comm, those preferences are open to being stated and argued. We don't "agree to disagree" here, we just disagree. *g* That many interpretations exist and are enjoyed is a given; there's no need to point that out. I don't want to see "you have to realize that everyone's interpretation is valid" responses to all characterization posts, so I'm going to interject whenever I see them. Not picking on you, here, just hoping to make a point early that everyone who states a preference, however strongly, needn't add a caveat that what doesn't work for them may work for others. We know that.
And I'm very interested to hear that your coming into the fandom through the stories has influenced your reaction to what you saw in the eps, that the Rodney those fic writers presented was as off the mark, for you, as the Rodneys who are all bitchy snark and whining are to other readers. You know, I see as much division and difference in various readings and portrayals of John, but the reactions to Rodney are often more emotional and the discussions more intense. Interesting.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 09:59 pm (UTC)And of course the same is true for John - I think the divisions are clearer-cut with Rodney, which is why I chose him as an example, but yeah, there are a lot of differences in characterization there as well.
And although I understand exactly where you're coming from with regards to the community (I started a similar one for HP fic), I always try to err on the side of inclusivity and politeness, 'cause, I don't want to piss anyone off even accidentally. Critical discussion of fic can be an explosive issue.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 10:15 pm (UTC)It can be, which is why I intend to try to police as carefully as possible. I'm all for disagreeing with others' points, with supporting examples, but not for protesting certain points or assertions being made, or how they're made. To say, "you need to keep in mind that all views are valid", in a general way, isn't okay; it is okay to say "newbies will read a lot of stories with a lot of different characterizations and be influenced by all of them, so this one probably won't make that much difference." The more specific the comment, the less potential for misunderstanding intent, and so less possibility for pissing anyone off.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-22 04:00 am (UTC)Throwing in my late-night thoughts on this... I wonder whether if that's due to there being a less-than-coherent-canonical-Rodney?
That is, when we speak of characterisations among fan writers or readers, we often do compare a story like "Hindsight" to that thing we call "canon" (as if that thing "canon" is at all coherent). Canon, of course, is the product of a community effort--multiple writers and directors and editors, etc., with the only consistent thing being the actor himself (who, being human, is really no more consistent than any of the rest of us). "Hindsight" was the product of a single author (which might seem to make it necessarily more coherent, except that it's also the product of a community's collective interpretation of the canonical community's production).
In sum, we have a mess, which is not at all a bad thing, except when you want to feel you can discern a unified, sensible reading out of the mess *g*.
It's also worth noticing that Rodney has been many things in canon, both within a single episodes and across the seasons so far. Being a TV character and not a person, Rodney's fragmented, serving a variety of plot and genre needs (deux ex Rodney, comic relief, male bonding partner for John, etc.).
A more generous way to think about canon might well be to think about how we, as individuals, are many things to many people--rather than being a single, consistent self. We have public and private selves, professional and personal selves, etc. A TV character is like a person, only more oniony (sorry, late-night metaphor, though you can see why cutting through it all might lead to tears).
An AU seems to highlight this fragmenting of canon, maybe moreso than any other kind of story. But I don't suppose that it's a problem limited to AUs.
Hmmm.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-22 07:06 am (UTC)I think you're absolutely right, there. I think the creators have given us just enough rope for every aspect of his character to hang ourselves with our favorite. *g* And they've certainly gone a lot more places with the character of Rodney than they have with John's. They've actually been rather closed-mouthed about John, and comparatively consistent with him--he's hero guy, he has murky, people-and-Wraith-killing depths, he's quirky, he displays like a male model. (Or is that last part just me? ;) He hasn't exhibited the spectrum of behaviors and modes Rodney has, and he's easier to get a handle on. When he's portrayed as a teenaged girl in fic, it's easy to point and say, "but John never behaves like that on the show!" But, with Rodney, it's harder--he's done just about everything. So people latch onto the bits that appeal to them most, or serve their story idea best, and run with them.
I think the emotional level some of the discussions reach, though, may also have to do with who we identify with more. I'm sure that's not true of everyone, but I think that may be, in part, why some have taken Rodney to their fannish bosoms more than John. I certainly identify with him more than I do John, so maybe that's why I care more when I feel people are missing important aspects of his character in their characterizations of him? I mean, I mind when any character is written in a way that I don't agree with, but I may mind more when it's Rodney. Dunno. But I'll agree too that he's probably much harder to pin down than John is.
And my tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-16 09:52 pm (UTC)And that's where I go *blink*. I've seen that remark before, and I have a hard time understanding where people get that. Yes, Rodney is assholish at times. He's obnoxious and brash, and very often in your face...but an asshole? I don't get that at all. This is my problem with this story as well--though I enjoyed the story, Rodney isn't this frenetic and forceful when it comes to personal relations. We see on the show, from the very first episode, that he has quiet moments, small moments of caring and concern.
Some examples from Rising: As he explains to Jack how the ZPM works--he's very excited, but not at all abrasive or rude. He doesn't take exception to Jack's almost rude dismissal. Though he looks slightly worried when Elizabeth talks about the possible danger of the trip to Atlantis, he doesn't bemoan or contradict.
When everyone rushes in because John's activated the chair, he very calmly tells John what to do.
I really want to go on, but I'm practically quoting everything from this ep. He's slightly obnoxious when people don't catch on in a dangerous situation, but for example, when John calls him on the solution to finding the correct gate address, he immediately shuts up and gets to work. He's worried that Elizabeth is worried.
And it's not just the characterization from the first episode. Look at him smiling at the mice in Hide and Seek. Watch his friendly little wave to Carson in Poisoning the Well. There's his joy at a job well done, rounding up his scientists at the beginning of Hot Zone. His utter delight in solving a puzzle with in Brotherhood. The nice, quiet discussion between him and John as they sit, pondering the size of the city in Before I Sleep. Then there's his attempts to comfort Gaul, his worry over John, and the utter devestation on his face after Gaul's suicide in The Defiant One.
Really, the full-time verbal barage only occurs when he's stressed, and we see that at the end of the season, when the Wraith are coming. But Rodney's so much more than an asshole who does nothing but spew witty diatribes non-stop. That's what irritates me about fanon Rodney. Maybe some writers paint him too softly, but he's more than a one-note character. Give him a moment to breathe, please, that isn't a big emotional breakdown.
Re: And my tiny comment etc. etc.
Date: 2005-08-16 09:58 pm (UTC)Oh, I agree! I just am saying that the arrogance and small-scale thoughtlessness that he sometimes displays on the show took me by surprise, because the stories I had read to that point didn't show that aspect of him.
Re: And my tiny comment etc. etc.
Date: 2005-08-16 11:42 pm (UTC)and further
Date: 2005-08-16 10:00 pm (UTC)Re: and further
Date: 2005-08-16 11:50 pm (UTC)Anyway, enough of me.
Re: a tiny comment on a tiny part of this comment
Date: 2005-08-17 10:17 am (UTC)So, yes, this is just me waving a hand and saying 'what you said'. :)