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God, I just, it hit me all over again while watching eps just how much I love this show and how much it feels like every episode was written for me, because it resonates with my mind in a way that very few shows do. It usually frustrates me that I can't enjoy the usual shows other people around me enjoy, sorta in the way that I'm frustrated that I can't think linearly very easily; which is to say that I figured out another way to go about it.
Hence fandom. Though even then, I kinda just drifted fandoms, mostly lurking and not sending feedback.
Until PotC. Until OUaTiM. Until Saiyuki.
(HP doesn't really count because I've never read any of the books.
Yes, I wrote fic based on the fanon alone. ::braces self for skewering::)
And it makes my head tilt because these fandoms not really similar and they span different genres and mediums. Or rather, maybe it's not because I have a Genre that I truly love. I love, really, the sort of a meta-genre, if it could be called a genre at all, of pastiche. It's a type of story within a genre that's both a tribute and a loving parody of the genre itself. (examples would be American Psycho for horror, PotC for pirate movies, Sin City for Film Noir, OUaTiM for spaghetti westerns, and Saiyuki for adventure sagas) I love love love homages that makes fun of itself, that has a sense of humor about itself, that undermines its own genre while at the same time celebrates it.
Pastiche is perhaps, in essence, the crack!fic of the genre. But let me pause here to define crack!fic as I think of it. Because crack!fic doesn't mean bad!fic to me; instead I think of it as good!fic with astonishing qualities. It's "I can't believe that just happened" and "I can't believe that worked". It's subversive and strange, strange because it shouldn't happen and subversive because it uses its own medium to comment on itself. My favorite type of crack!fic is consequently usually simultaneously meta!fic (which, come to think of it, explains RPAS), done with joy and love and insuppressable glee.
So perhaps it's not so surprising that I love SGA.
It is so much so true to its genre that it has, for lack of a better term, wiggle room. It's sorta like my liking slash because it's an exploration of relationships without the difficulties of power dynamics tied to gender, it's sorta like Republicans being able to critique Bush and being more easily believed because they're Republicans, it's sorta like in an experiment controlling the constants while swiveling only one variable.
I adore so much how SGA is a critique on sci-fi genre itself (sci-fi genre itself frequently being a critique on culture and society), while showing it so much love and empathy and fondness. It's a show that knows both it's roots and loves it and comments on it, from the Ancients in Aurora (who we are shown in that ep. is like Star Trek) to the variations of the Prime Directive (Sanctuary, End of Childhood) to the characters themselves. For instance Halling is like a physical comment on his character archetype (Wise Black/American-Indian Shaman), and Sheppard and Teyla are self-contained gender-fucks (see previous meta), and how they sometimes have a character play the part of Sceptical Audience when they do the especially cliched plotlines (like McKay in Sanctuary).
Granted, I think the cliched plot-lines are part of the point. To be able to allow such play in character and themes, to be able to mess with and to critique the genre so much, a show needs some stable structure (some "draw") to allow it to connect with the audience. In SGA's case, it's the sci-fi codes and conventions that they're utterly playing with, and succeeding at playing with, and doing so with such love in a way that utterly facinates me and nevermind the cliched storylines that aren't really the point for me anyways.
Then again, it returns to how SGA so very much feels like it's made for my brain 'cause I personally don't think there's any new story under the sun. Solely-narrative-based plotlines lose me whereas SGA approaches its narrative like a monumental McGuffin and basically said, "Lets mix up characters and themes and turn every cliche inside out, and do it with some salt for the wounds and lime for McKay and DON'T FORGET THE UMBRELLA!"
God, I love my show. ::blissed out::
Hence fandom. Though even then, I kinda just drifted fandoms, mostly lurking and not sending feedback.
Until PotC. Until OUaTiM. Until Saiyuki.
(HP doesn't really count because I've never read any of the books.
Yes, I wrote fic based on the fanon alone. ::braces self for skewering::)
And it makes my head tilt because these fandoms not really similar and they span different genres and mediums. Or rather, maybe it's not because I have a Genre that I truly love. I love, really, the sort of a meta-genre, if it could be called a genre at all, of pastiche. It's a type of story within a genre that's both a tribute and a loving parody of the genre itself. (examples would be American Psycho for horror, PotC for pirate movies, Sin City for Film Noir, OUaTiM for spaghetti westerns, and Saiyuki for adventure sagas) I love love love homages that makes fun of itself, that has a sense of humor about itself, that undermines its own genre while at the same time celebrates it.
Pastiche is perhaps, in essence, the crack!fic of the genre. But let me pause here to define crack!fic as I think of it. Because crack!fic doesn't mean bad!fic to me; instead I think of it as good!fic with astonishing qualities. It's "I can't believe that just happened" and "I can't believe that worked". It's subversive and strange, strange because it shouldn't happen and subversive because it uses its own medium to comment on itself. My favorite type of crack!fic is consequently usually simultaneously meta!fic (which, come to think of it, explains RPAS), done with joy and love and insuppressable glee.
So perhaps it's not so surprising that I love SGA.
It is so much so true to its genre that it has, for lack of a better term, wiggle room. It's sorta like my liking slash because it's an exploration of relationships without the difficulties of power dynamics tied to gender, it's sorta like Republicans being able to critique Bush and being more easily believed because they're Republicans, it's sorta like in an experiment controlling the constants while swiveling only one variable.
I adore so much how SGA is a critique on sci-fi genre itself (sci-fi genre itself frequently being a critique on culture and society), while showing it so much love and empathy and fondness. It's a show that knows both it's roots and loves it and comments on it, from the Ancients in Aurora (who we are shown in that ep. is like Star Trek) to the variations of the Prime Directive (Sanctuary, End of Childhood) to the characters themselves. For instance Halling is like a physical comment on his character archetype (Wise Black/American-Indian Shaman), and Sheppard and Teyla are self-contained gender-fucks (see previous meta), and how they sometimes have a character play the part of Sceptical Audience when they do the especially cliched plotlines (like McKay in Sanctuary).
Granted, I think the cliched plot-lines are part of the point. To be able to allow such play in character and themes, to be able to mess with and to critique the genre so much, a show needs some stable structure (some "draw") to allow it to connect with the audience. In SGA's case, it's the sci-fi codes and conventions that they're utterly playing with, and succeeding at playing with, and doing so with such love in a way that utterly facinates me and nevermind the cliched storylines that aren't really the point for me anyways.
Then again, it returns to how SGA so very much feels like it's made for my brain 'cause I personally don't think there's any new story under the sun. Solely-narrative-based plotlines lose me whereas SGA approaches its narrative like a monumental McGuffin and basically said, "Lets mix up characters and themes and turn every cliche inside out, and do it with some salt for the wounds and lime for McKay and DON'T FORGET THE UMBRELLA!"
God, I love my show. ::blissed out::
Tags:
no subject
*tries to hide from it*
*fails*
How can I resist a fandom that has so much 'the aliens made us do it' fic? *cries more*
no subject
"Rodney!" Weir stopped him before he got out the door. "Maybe you both should take a little time to recover first."
"Is that supposed to be funny?" McKay eyed her. "We have no idea how long this is going to last."
"You've both been through a traumatic experience -- "
"Oh, please," McKay said. "We had embarrassing public sex. It's not a life-threatening condition. Hurry up and get out of bed," he added to Sheppard, and was gone.
Or
Rodney's Antarctica is a lot like Siberia in that it's full of scientists who work 16-hour days and bathe once a week (twice when they're feeling social), and who would slit your throat for a fresh banana. Also, you can't go for a walk without a survival kit, but that's fine - Rodney's never really been an outdoorsy person.
John's Antarctica is miles and miles of emptiness flitting beneath him and no one sitting beside him. It's nothing like Afghanistan at all.
::grins::
no subject
*shoves inner nerd in a closet*
Much better. No more temptation.
Ah, who am I kidding? There's no way I cannot love something that inspires this level of fic. Everything I've read so far is just brilliant and intelligent and witty. And god, I needed fic like this. I mean, as much as I love some of my other fandoms, it's impossible to find intelligent fic in many of them. *coughnarutocough*
There's no denying it. SGA fic makes my brain happy.
*starts watching episodes*
Now I'm going to have to go back and read through your SGA tag.
You are an evil woman. ♥!
no subject
There's downloadable eps available at
for your daily SGA crack needs check out
Granted the canon's always a little different than the fic, but the marvelous thing about SGA's canon is that there's so much weight of the passing of time in it that there's TONS of room for fic to wiggle in, there's so much room to play in the canon it's wonderful.
no subject
I love when canon has wiggle room. Like Saiyuki with it's 3 years later thing. It just begs to have you fill in the blanks.
And now this is making me curious about the difference between SGA and SG-1 that people are talking about. Hmm. I know my aunt is a big fan of SG-1... I may just have to steal her DVDs when I go home for Christmas and check it out.