You know, it's bad enough that SGA has skeezy race issues where their two regular alien characters are played by actors of color. But the fact that the majority of the fans don't think that there's a problem is, frankly, part of the problem.
This time it's the ever fascinating topic of Jason Momoa/Ronon Dex's hair. The story goes like this: when Jason got the part, the producers were a little iffy about his dreads. They went with them for a couple of years and then Jason got tired of trying to play a very physical character with six pounds of hair on his head. And really, who can blame him? So he got permission and cut his hair. A scene where Ronon cut off his dreads was written for an episode set early in the upcoming season and all was good. Oh sure, some fans complained, but Jason and the writers/producers where happy. Sadly, the SciFi channel was not and they axed the loss of the dreads to the tune of a few really painful days after Jason had them sewn back in and then, finally, a $10,000 wig.
In a conversation--which has since been frozen--elsewhere today, more than one person said they were glad the dreads stayed because they made Ronon look more alien. Actually, the word "non-human" was used.
I'm sorry, but what?!
First, there is the plain and simple fact that dreadlocks are worn by a hell of a lot of people here on Earth and have been as long as...well, people have had hair, really. There's nothing alien or non-human about them.
Secondly, Black people (and other people of color) wear dreadlocks, and like other natural Black hairstyles, it can be a controversial decision to make. People have gotten fired for having dreads--or braids or other "ethnic" hairstyles. And honestly, white people, when was the last time that the desire to wear your hair in a natural white person style was controversial?* So yeah, we're already talking about controversial hair here, hair associated with PoCs.
Thirdly...oh God, I can't believe that in this day and age I or anyone else has to explain that calling something associated with PoCs "non-human" is offensive. But apparently, it needs to be said. Putting weird ears on people and doing funny things to their eyebrows makes them look non-human. Putting rubber prosthetics on people's foreheads or painting them blue makes them look non-human. Giving a person physical attributes that don't occur on Earth makes them look non-human. Giving them a HUMAN hairstyle does NOT make them look non-human. And when Black people have been called non-human and/or sub-human for centuries and are still being called that, then no, we shouldn't have to say "hey, that's kind of offensive."
So if you really honestly think that Ronon's hair makes him look non-human, then I have two things to say to you. One: you need to look around and expand your definition of human to include people who have different hair than the white people around you. And two:
PUT ON SOME GODDAMNED PANTS!
*And yes, I know that maybe a few extreme cuts or very long hair on men can be problematical in the workplace, but the fact is that naturally styled white people hair is rarely controversial the way dreadlocks or braids are. This is a part of white privilege that a lot of us don't even think about.
Showing posts with label sga meta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sga meta. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Thoughts on SGA ep 4x13 -- "Quarantine"
I was prepared to hate this episode like a big hating thing that hates, and actually, I liked it more than I expected to. I'mma break it down by couple:
Rodney & Katie: Frankly, after all that, I wouldn't want to marry him either. Seriously, there are like several people who can handle Rodney and obviously, Katie's not one of them. His team can handle him, Elizabeth could and Zelenka can. Rodney's one of those guys who's a job and I don't think that he's a job Katie wants. I really think the writers came through here; they made me feel bad for both Rodney and Katie at the end there even if the closing door was kinda anvilicious.
John & Teyla: While I really don't like the whole "should I stay home with the baby?" thing, I think it's valid question for a single mother to have and I really really like that John was the one who came up with an answer. The whole "it happens all the time in movies" thing was great and I just loved him saying that her baby would have a family. Awwww.... Also, nice action hero bit with him climbing the tower.
Sam & Radek: Pigeons! Because Radek's a geek too! They were cute but I didn't really get any kind of "couple" vibe off them, or even a UST thing on Radek's part. I did love the bit where the jackets came off and Radek was in line to get a nice eyeful of Sam's impressive rack. Also, Radek kicked his usual ass through the whole episode; oh David N. how are you so awesome?! And Sam was good in this too; geeky and also nicely confident in one of her people.
Ronon & Keller: OMG people, did every scene with them rock hard or what?! Seriously if I said everything I liked about their scenes, I would go on for hours and the end result would be "I liked everything!" They are awesome and made of win together and I hope to hell the writers don't fuck it up the way writers so often do with canon relationships. Also, I do find it really interesting that they gave Keller Rodney's fanon background.
Also, OMG the exchange between John and Lorne about the C4 just killed me. Lorne's "whaddya want from me" expression and gesture was priceless. It's so cool that they're comfortable with each other because it really does speak volumes for the how well they function as commander and XO.
So yeah, I enjoyed this ep quite a bit. It wasn't Doppleganger but it was fun and I think it really was a nice ensemble episode, which is always good to see.
Rodney & Katie: Frankly, after all that, I wouldn't want to marry him either. Seriously, there are like several people who can handle Rodney and obviously, Katie's not one of them. His team can handle him, Elizabeth could and Zelenka can. Rodney's one of those guys who's a job and I don't think that he's a job Katie wants. I really think the writers came through here; they made me feel bad for both Rodney and Katie at the end there even if the closing door was kinda anvilicious.
John & Teyla: While I really don't like the whole "should I stay home with the baby?" thing, I think it's valid question for a single mother to have and I really really like that John was the one who came up with an answer. The whole "it happens all the time in movies" thing was great and I just loved him saying that her baby would have a family. Awwww.... Also, nice action hero bit with him climbing the tower.
Sam & Radek: Pigeons! Because Radek's a geek too! They were cute but I didn't really get any kind of "couple" vibe off them, or even a UST thing on Radek's part. I did love the bit where the jackets came off and Radek was in line to get a nice eyeful of Sam's impressive rack. Also, Radek kicked his usual ass through the whole episode; oh David N. how are you so awesome?! And Sam was good in this too; geeky and also nicely confident in one of her people.
Ronon & Keller: OMG people, did every scene with them rock hard or what?! Seriously if I said everything I liked about their scenes, I would go on for hours and the end result would be "I liked everything!" They are awesome and made of win together and I hope to hell the writers don't fuck it up the way writers so often do with canon relationships. Also, I do find it really interesting that they gave Keller Rodney's fanon background.
Also, OMG the exchange between John and Lorne about the C4 just killed me. Lorne's "whaddya want from me" expression and gesture was priceless. It's so cool that they're comfortable with each other because it really does speak volumes for the how well they function as commander and XO.
So yeah, I enjoyed this ep quite a bit. It wasn't Doppleganger but it was fun and I think it really was a nice ensemble episode, which is always good to see.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Thoughts on SGA ep 4x09 -- "Miller's Crossing"
This really is meta for "Miller's Crossing", specifically on the whole, "is John a psycho" thing, but it takes a while to get there. Enjoy the scenery.
In Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery novel Murder Must Advertise, the murderer--a man named Tallboy--is a rather hapless type. He's a family man with a wife and new baby who got caught up in a tangled web of drug dealing and blackmail and on top of it all, has a rather cheap and unsavory mistress. His victim was the blackmailer, an unpleasant man who was also tangentially involved in the drug smuggling. Lord Peter Wimsey steps in and figures everything out with his usual panache and brilliance.
In the final chapter--perfectly titled "Appropriate Exit of an Unskilled Murderer "--it's the night of the pivotal drug bust which will supply the last link in the chain of evidence against Mr. Tallboy. Tallboy shows up at Wimsey's flat intent on confessing his crime, only to find, of course, that Wimsey's way ahead of him. Tallboy asks if he can run, if Wimsey will give him 24 hours, something he says he wouldn't ask or if it weren't for his wife and kid, but Wimsey says that it's too late for that. And then Wimsey reminds him that there's another way out, which Tallboy refers to as "the public school way out of it." He's rather bitter about the idea, making a mocking reference to what the headlines will say if he commits suicide, but he agrees that it's the only thing for him to do.
Wimsey points out that there is an alternative, something that will keep his crime out of the papers. "Go home now," he says. "Go on foot, and not too fast. And don't look behind you."
Tallboy does so, and the bad guy who'd been following him kills him because he's become a liability to the drug runners. Wimsey and his brother-in-law, Chief Inspector Parker, manage to bring the drug ring to trial without any evidence involving Tallboy, and neither Tallboy's family nor the people he worked learn the truth. The original murder had always been thought to be an accident and it's left that way.
This wasn't the first time Sayers let her murderer get out of a trial. It happens in Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club where the emphasis is less on the public school aspect than on the fact that falling on one's sword after doing something dishonorable is part of the military culture of the day. And again, there are innocent people whose reputations and honor would be damaged if the thing came to trial.
In "Miller's Crossing" the thing can't come to trial. Anyone who thinks that Wallace could have been publicly tried in the US or Canada is hopelessly naive. He was going to disappear into some oubliette of a military prison, left to live out his days in silence while a story was made up about his death in some tragic accident.
While John is more concerned with saving Jeannie--and tangentially Rodney, because it's probable that Rodney's guilt would eventually shatter him--than with seeing justice done, he's still telling Wallace to walk home slowly or letting him know that there's a loaded pistol in a drawer in the club's library. "These are the people whose lives you're ruining," he's essentially saying. "You have nothing left, nothing to live for, but I'm offering you a chance to not only make things right for the Millers, but for you to regain your honor." He doesn't need to say it, of course; for all his other faults, Wallace isn't a stupid man and can hear the offer John's making. And in the end, he takes the public school or Roman way out and falls on his sword.
This isn't saying that it's easy on the person who has to make the offer. In an aside in another novel, we learn that Wimsey--who already has PTSD/shell shock after WWI--was sick and was utterly unable to be social and spend time with the woman he loved after the events in Murder Must Advertise. And it's obvious that all isn't well in Johnland, something that's made worse by the fact that he actually had to spell the whole thing out to Rodney.
Sayers was writing in the 1930s to an audience who understood the concept of the public school way out. No one reading Murder Must Advertise would think Wimsey was a psychopath for talking Tallboy into walking out into the night so someone could murder him and thus spare his family the humiliation of a public trial. Wimsey--as is pointed out more than once in the series--is a man of a certain class and era, his is an older authority than that of the mere police, and so he can make offers that they can't. And the readers knew this and probably found the concept of the public school way out either quaint and out-dated or just and honorable. Tallboy had confessed to a murder Wimsey knew he'd done and in a society that condoned capital punishment, he had to pay with his life.
A modern audience isn't as likely to see that, hence John and Rodney's awkward conversation once they're back on Atlantis. John's talking to us as much as he is to Rodney, although the concept of the honorable suicide is probably more a part of John's military culture than Rodney's academic culture.
But in the end, it comes down to the same thing. No, Wallace wasn't facing death by hanging as a result of his actions, but he wasn't facing a trial and a certain amount of time in prison with the hope of parole and time off for good behavior either. He was going to spend the rest of his life locked up with nothing to do but brood. Although we didn't get all that much information about his personality, I think they made a good case for the idea that any real kind of life without his wife and daughter wasn't an option as far as he was concerned.
In Dorothy L. Sayers' mystery novel Murder Must Advertise, the murderer--a man named Tallboy--is a rather hapless type. He's a family man with a wife and new baby who got caught up in a tangled web of drug dealing and blackmail and on top of it all, has a rather cheap and unsavory mistress. His victim was the blackmailer, an unpleasant man who was also tangentially involved in the drug smuggling. Lord Peter Wimsey steps in and figures everything out with his usual panache and brilliance.
In the final chapter--perfectly titled "Appropriate Exit of an Unskilled Murderer "--it's the night of the pivotal drug bust which will supply the last link in the chain of evidence against Mr. Tallboy. Tallboy shows up at Wimsey's flat intent on confessing his crime, only to find, of course, that Wimsey's way ahead of him. Tallboy asks if he can run, if Wimsey will give him 24 hours, something he says he wouldn't ask or if it weren't for his wife and kid, but Wimsey says that it's too late for that. And then Wimsey reminds him that there's another way out, which Tallboy refers to as "the public school way out of it." He's rather bitter about the idea, making a mocking reference to what the headlines will say if he commits suicide, but he agrees that it's the only thing for him to do.
Wimsey points out that there is an alternative, something that will keep his crime out of the papers. "Go home now," he says. "Go on foot, and not too fast. And don't look behind you."
Tallboy does so, and the bad guy who'd been following him kills him because he's become a liability to the drug runners. Wimsey and his brother-in-law, Chief Inspector Parker, manage to bring the drug ring to trial without any evidence involving Tallboy, and neither Tallboy's family nor the people he worked learn the truth. The original murder had always been thought to be an accident and it's left that way.
This wasn't the first time Sayers let her murderer get out of a trial. It happens in Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club where the emphasis is less on the public school aspect than on the fact that falling on one's sword after doing something dishonorable is part of the military culture of the day. And again, there are innocent people whose reputations and honor would be damaged if the thing came to trial.
In "Miller's Crossing" the thing can't come to trial. Anyone who thinks that Wallace could have been publicly tried in the US or Canada is hopelessly naive. He was going to disappear into some oubliette of a military prison, left to live out his days in silence while a story was made up about his death in some tragic accident.
While John is more concerned with saving Jeannie--and tangentially Rodney, because it's probable that Rodney's guilt would eventually shatter him--than with seeing justice done, he's still telling Wallace to walk home slowly or letting him know that there's a loaded pistol in a drawer in the club's library. "These are the people whose lives you're ruining," he's essentially saying. "You have nothing left, nothing to live for, but I'm offering you a chance to not only make things right for the Millers, but for you to regain your honor." He doesn't need to say it, of course; for all his other faults, Wallace isn't a stupid man and can hear the offer John's making. And in the end, he takes the public school or Roman way out and falls on his sword.
This isn't saying that it's easy on the person who has to make the offer. In an aside in another novel, we learn that Wimsey--who already has PTSD/shell shock after WWI--was sick and was utterly unable to be social and spend time with the woman he loved after the events in Murder Must Advertise. And it's obvious that all isn't well in Johnland, something that's made worse by the fact that he actually had to spell the whole thing out to Rodney.
Sayers was writing in the 1930s to an audience who understood the concept of the public school way out. No one reading Murder Must Advertise would think Wimsey was a psychopath for talking Tallboy into walking out into the night so someone could murder him and thus spare his family the humiliation of a public trial. Wimsey--as is pointed out more than once in the series--is a man of a certain class and era, his is an older authority than that of the mere police, and so he can make offers that they can't. And the readers knew this and probably found the concept of the public school way out either quaint and out-dated or just and honorable. Tallboy had confessed to a murder Wimsey knew he'd done and in a society that condoned capital punishment, he had to pay with his life.
A modern audience isn't as likely to see that, hence John and Rodney's awkward conversation once they're back on Atlantis. John's talking to us as much as he is to Rodney, although the concept of the honorable suicide is probably more a part of John's military culture than Rodney's academic culture.
But in the end, it comes down to the same thing. No, Wallace wasn't facing death by hanging as a result of his actions, but he wasn't facing a trial and a certain amount of time in prison with the hope of parole and time off for good behavior either. He was going to spend the rest of his life locked up with nothing to do but brood. Although we didn't get all that much information about his personality, I think they made a good case for the idea that any real kind of life without his wife and daughter wasn't an option as far as he was concerned.
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