???????? Yep, Another Inquiry

[kriadydragon]

A small discussion coupled with a comment I read some time ago on Gateworld has finally provoked me into asking a question I've been wanting to ask for a while. For the record, this is merely an inquiry and should it escalate into a controversy causing unnecessary hostility then I will delete it. People have a right to their opinions and do not need to be bashed for it.

Is it just me (and possibly several other Sheppard fans) but does Sheppard get character bashed quite a lot? Or at least a lot more than McKay?

Now, being a Sheppard fan, rather protective of the characters I like, and with the broad spectrum of how a character can be veiwed, it might just be my personal opinion. Still, I've never really come across stories that dis McKay as badly as some stories have dissed Sheppard. Yes, I'm not a big McKay fan, but I would still never put his character down as badly as I've seen some writers put Sheppard down. Or maybe they don't realize they're doing it and it's simply the way they view Sheppard? I don't know. It's just that some stories come across, to me, as a slight toward Sheppard's character. Sometimes even as a way to put McKay's character on a pedestal.

As for the comment on Gateworld, it was extremely spiteful not only toward Sheppard but Sheppard fans as well. I was so ticked I couldn't even think of a response. After that, I refused to venture beyond my regular threads. I hang out mostly in the Sheppard whump and Thunk thread and I have yet to ever see anything said about McKay as mean as that one comment about Sheppard had been. And, from what I hear, there have been many of such Sheppard-bashing comments made leading to controversy that has driven many from the forum.

That's not to say Rodney bashing comments have not been made or Rodney-bashing stories don't exist. Story-wise, I've yet to come across any and I would assume that it would be Shep-whumpers doing the bashing.  The authors I read, all mostly Shep whumpers, handle Rodney like Rodney rather than altering his character just to get a desired result.

What really has me curious is - if this is true and not just me - why all the dislike toward poor Shep?

I do know there are a lot more McKay fans than Sheppard fans. I also know that the majority of McKay-whump writers handle Sheppard 's character with respect.

But no matter who is bashed more, I find character-bashing in general rather immature. If you're not a big fan of a character, there's no need to write a story just to put that character down. I find it unfair to the fans of that character, as well as hypocritical if you're of the type who doesn't like to have their character bashed.

Comments

[flightsilver.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, interesting observation. I might be a little off topic here, so forgive me if I am. Personally, I haven't read enough fanfics to note much instances of Shep bashing and I've er...never ventured into fan forums much to read their comments. If I read something I don't like, I abandon it almost immediately before I reach any bashing bits. But I guess what you've read must have been pretty nasty to get the reaction you got. However, I'm a little uncertain by your definition of 'bashing' as my interpretation might differ from yours. While my favourite character is Shep, I do *enjoy* reading stories that have McKay and Shep banter and snarkiness (including the insults that guys like to throw to each other as long as they remain in-character) and when the boys sometimes act like dorks (because give me a dork anytime over an arrogant & ego-centric individual). In fact, I find their dorkiness kinda cute and it would sit well in a fic that is comical, but I'm not sure if you consider it as 'bashing' say if McKay insulted Shep by calling him 'an idiot' even though we all *know* that he is anything but one!

I've come across a story or two where McKay is represented as a rude and arrogant individual who always whines about everything – represented more like a clown rather the complex individual that he is - but I think the individual writing it is usually young and immature and don't know any better. The same applies to Sheppard, I think I recall once coming across a fic where Shep was being really mean to Rodney which I found extremely OOC and I stopped reading. But at the same time, I think the writer was fairly young, so perhaps it's something to do with wisdom with age? One thing that I do like about SGA is that both of these men are extremely complex, they may act like dorks sometimes but they are intelligent and caring individuals (maybe a little socially dysfunction) but their imperfections make them more human and endearing. I think it's a shame that anyone has to resort to character bashing and I agree with you about it showing the maturity of the individual involved. Sometimes not replying is the right thing to do and silence is golden esp when you can't reason with the person. Sorry if I went off track, and if it's not really the reply you're looking for, but I found it disturbing to know that there was such things going on out there in cyberworld and from the sounds of it, I'm glad that I haven't come across them. *Goes back into cave*

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Wow, you defined their characters very well. Dorky but deep - that's our boys.

And believe me when I say that you'll know a character bashing fic when you run into one. The snark and general goofiness of both men is who they are, that's not character bashing. Character bashing is when Sheppard snubs Rodney by not listening to him, then makes Rodney feel like scum, which Sheppard would never do. Granted, many of such fics are usually handled by less mature writers, but there have been some experienced writers who do this very thing but in a much more subtle way.

Any story where the character is made OOC, scum, a jerk, stupid or at least air-headed - basically everything or anything the character isn't - can be called character bashing; or just really crapping writing. And though I haven't read any of such stories myself, I have heard of stories written strictly for the purpose of putting a character down. There are fic sites - such as Wraithbait - that have strict rules against character bashing fics so they do exist.

So it may be that you'll never come across such stories, and all the better. I just get bothered by the concept of character bashing as it's not fair to the fans of the character being bashed.