mimesere

Still, though, I have felt put out when I see people complain about portrayals in a show I'm fannish about, when it doesn't seem like they've been willing to extend the fannish courtesy to characters of trying to see how a portrayal might actually make sense for a character. When people are willing to do that, they can still turn fannish reception of a character on its head, and probably in a way that will resonate a lot more with more people than a rant would. For example, I'm all for calling out Stargate for its issues with race. But it makes me kind of twitchy when, for example, people complain about Ronon being presented as the dumb hulking savage. From the first moments he was introduced in canon, I thought it was obvious he was smart and came from a sophisticated culture--it was there in the way he talked, in the decisions he made, in the flashbacks they showed to his homeworld. Yeah, if people wanted, they could focus on traits they thought backed up the hulking-savage impression--he's brilliant at fighting (yeah, well, he was in the military and was good at his job; also, he'd just be dead by now if he wasn't that good); he's curt and has a quick temper (it's frankly amazing he's not curled in a snarling ball after the way he spent the seven years before he got to Atlantis); he was found in a cave with dirt on his face (he was shielding himself from killer UV radiation, much as the show's resident genius was); he had to be told to eat with a fork instead of with his hands (there are just so many reasons why he might not be using a fork). Do I think the show should feature more characters of color who aren't from other planets? Oh, and should maybe some of those other planets also have some more people of color, besides just Ronon and Teyla? Yes, definitely. But to complain about one of those characters from another planet getting set up as a hulking savage, without considering all the other canon-based reasons to see him in other lights...it does make me feel that people are just being influenced by the fact that he's a big guy with brown skin and dreadlocks. Canon really does give us a lot more than that. And while it's really unfortunate that fans with race issues might be kind of guaranteed to ignore all that other canon, I do think more fans are likely to catch on to how great the character is if other fans just take for granted how great he is and keep presenting him that way to fandom (ETA: and, you know, also keep pointing out as much as they're willing to take on that there's icky race issues in ignoring so much canon to conclude Ronon's a hulking savage. I agree with Hth above that the way lj has been disseminating those kinds of discussions has also been making a big and positive difference in terms of fannish reception of characters of color).