Fanfic pet peeve #197

[graculus]

What is it with people writing Daniel Jackson as this self-loathing weepy character, more reminiscent of a Victorian maiden than anything else, who sits in his lonesome room, cutting himself while he sheds a solitary emo tear. Oh, and he's amazed when anyone says he's any good at doing anything and overwhelmed by any sign of appreciation.

Why is this still happening? Have you people never actually seen either the movie or the series?

In the movie, Daniel is the one who strolls into the depths of Cheyenne Mountain, casually correcting the translation someone has been working on forever, and he doesn't think 'oh noes, they'll all hate me!', he just gets on and does his thing. Brilliantly. Despite the fact this should all be well outside his comfort zone as an academic. And then he's going offworld without a second thought through this bizarre alien device, throws himself into this new civilisation he's encountering for the first time and isn't at all abashed when his understanding of the language turns out to be not quite as good as he thought it was, not to mention that he casually quizzes Ra about his plans before getting involved in an escape plan. Oh, and then he helps to blow up a spaceship with a nuclear warhead.

See any difference between the two characterisations? And that's just the movie! ;)

Comments

[lachli.livejournal.com]

Heh, my favourite is when Daniel is hurt and says "J'ck" pathetically, so J'ck scoops his slight frame up into his arms and hikes miles with him to get him to safety. Never fails to make me laugh, he's this big, strapping bloke, you couldn't scoop him up if you tried and I defy anyone to hike miles carrying him, LOL.

Gave up reading Daniel fic a long, long time ago because so many writers lost all sense and reason when they wrote him and I just never recognised the guy on paper with the one I saw on screen.

There's also a wonderfully sarcastic side to Daniel that so rarely comes over in fic, not sure whether writers think it's a negative trait so choose to ignore it because it doesn't fit in with the ideal they have of him.

Where do you find SG and Daniel fic these days? I'm assuming Heliopolis isn't the place anymore and I loathe fanfic.net.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Yes, weedy Daniel who cries when he stubs his delicate toe and then big manly Jack gets to rescue him. Meh.

And how can Daniel be sarcastic, he's too busy weeping over the lack of coffee in the messhall or the death of his most recent pot plant!

I get the pleasure of bad Daniel fic delivered straight to me, by virtue of running a small archive... ;)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

There's this very long fic (I won't name names, because a few of my friends adore it, and the lady who wrote it is a sweetheart) that has an AU Daniel and Jack crossing with our Daniel and Jack - and the AU Daniel, who's been through hell, IS the stereotypical weedyweepyDaniel of yore, always calling Jack, J'ck. Now, how the hell do you SAY that?

Even in an AU Daniel, who's been through Goa'uld hell...I can't quite buy it.

[stacy-l.livejournal.com]

Oh Lord this sounds suspiciously like one of mine *headdesk*

Perhaps I'm wrong about that. Of course now that I think about it one of my WIP's I started WAAAY back when I first entered the fandom has a rather weepy AU Daniel...Lord I may have to rethink that story! (hey maybe that's why I've been unable to complete that particular story *shrugs* who knows but it gives me something to think about)

: )

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

well, that's the thing about starting out writing, even fanfic: if you can look back and see your mistakes, that's all for the good, you know?

I think all writers go through it (esp if they want to improve) Not every fic written can be the Fic To End All Fics!

[stacy-l.livejournal.com]

Oh so very true : D

And I think that's all part of improving. Being able to look back at what you've written in the past and accept that there is always room to improve, even with the fics one is presently working on : D

I gotta tell you some of my earlier stories actually make me cringe at the writing...thank heavens I've improved some : )

[dmarley.livejournal.com]

my favourite is when Daniel is hurt and says "J'ck" pathetically

You know, I'd almost managed to erase those brain cells.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Go back to thinking about naked Turlough, I'm sure you'll soon feel better... ;)

[moss6886.livejournal.com]

Word.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

It's futile, I know, but I felt it had to be said. Again. ;)

[ankh-lj.livejournal.com]

Seems to happen to all the young(est) pretty ones. Poor Tony DiNozzo seems to spend most of his fanfic life on his knees being Gibbs' weeping, needy, collar-wearing, masochistic fuck puppet.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

A scary mental image in so very many ways...

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Um. Eeww. Don't think you could've picked any words more vivid than that!

[khek.livejournal.com]

You think those writers watch the show? I always thought that they had their story all mapped out, then they just jumped from fandom to fandom, changing the names and situations:

"Let's see, we have Blair...no, Daniel...no, Martin...no, Tony...no Illya! So we'll put him with Jim...no, Jack...no, other Jack...no, Gibbs...no Napoleon! And they'll be on a case...no, stranded on a planet...no, on a different case...no, on a really different case...no, on a spy mission! Then he'll get hurt, and cry, and his big manly rescuer will come and comfort him, and then they'll talk about how much they mean to each other, and they'll hug (or, if it's slash, do more), then he'll be rescued and they'll solve the case! Er, escape. Or solve the case...it's all the same."

In other words, I don't get it either. I have to admit, I find the illness fics more disturbing though. Not only is Daniel still all weak and weapy and in need of rescue (in the author's mind) but he also sufferes from an incurable disease and everyone sobs over him as he dies beautifully,and usually underappreciated until the last minute. Unless Jack has Seen The Light and decided to nurse him until the bitter end, and then there are minute details about every moment of his care.

*shudder*

It's a beautiful Saturday morning! Why did you make me think of this!! :p

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Go look at the pretty pictures on danielpix till you feel better... ;)

[cycnus39]

"Jack, it's the answer. It's right there."

"So's Apophis and his minions, Daniel. You can see them. They're right there. They're minioning."

"We can go around them."

"The floor's collapsing."

"You brought rope, right?"

"Oh, great. You hear that? That's a monster, Daniel. You know it's gonna have big teeth and claws and slime. And really bad breath."

"Maybe if we're really quiet."

"Monster, Daniel."

"Answer, Jack."

"I'll..."

"Yeah."

"You'll..."

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Just don't--"

"I won't."

"And keep--"

"I will."

"Fine."

"Good. Can we go now?"

[stacy-l.livejournal.com]

LOL! I know what you mean and I try VERY hard not to do that to Daniel. Actually I've found since the newer seasons I'm not able to write a weepy Daniel unless I put him through all kinds of crap to ground him down to that point, and still I can't write him in tears.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Well, I keep asking people this: where is weepy!Daniel in the show? There's a couple of episodes where you get the shiny eyes, mostly because he's been whumped halfway to hell and back, but the tortured sobbing? Nope. It's not there.

What you've got then is the poor character's behaviour being mangled to fit into a plot, which is never a good idea...

[zellieh]

It's not just SG1. As previous commenters have said, it seems to happen in every fandom: lazy characterisation leads to the Hero being stereotyped as an incommunicative macho jerk and the Other Hero being stereotyped as the helpless weepy femme. *bangs head against brick wall for a while*

It's not as if there are no other choices, after all. If you really want to show a character falling apart, then you don't have to do it for some stupid relationship reason - you can do it with PTSD. At least that would be canonical. It'd also be much more powerful and much more interesting to read.

Emo cutting-fic scares me almost as much as the beagle fic. *shudders*

[graculus.livejournal.com]

It just amazes me that anyone can claim to be a fan of a show, have watched copious numbers of episodes, be writing fic that is ostensibly set in the period of armporn!Daniel and yet this bizarre characterisation is in there.

Because I help run a Daniel-centric fic archive, where other fandoms are concerned the first sign of dodgy characterisation makes me run away screaming, but with bad Daniel fic submitted to us I'm trapped, trapped I say!

And I'm not sure which would win over emo fic and beagles. They're both inherently very scary. ;)

[superbadgirl]

Well, you can't have a hero-rescues-fair-maiden story without a fair maiden.

Only slightly less troubling than stories with weepy Daniel are stories that have every other character mentally waxing poetic about what a magnificent, faultless, beautiful guy Daniel is.

Heh. He can't win for losing.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if the super!Daniel stories were a reaction to weepy!Daniel or where just a bit of overmuch authorial intent showing.

Because we also had/have a raft of stories where Daniel is always getting everyone into peril because he doesn't listen and he doesn't obey orders and therefore he should be spanked and nothing ever happens by chance or because of something anyone else does, but is always his fault because he's so selfish and egocentric.

Uh huh. Also stretching canon beyond its ability, much like weepy!Daniel.