Why is SGA fandom so segregated?

[trinityofone]

lavvyan! I got your package! Thank you so much, it's gorgeous. (To curious parties: it's a piece of papyrus with the Ancient Egyptian calendar on it.) Actually, the tube it came in is gorgeous, too. But I really want to try to get it framed. And this Treed Murray poster, which I keep saying I should treat myself to. (Hey, I have a new apartment and a new office to decorate here!) There has to be a cheap frame shop in existence somewhere...right?

I am incredibly, incredibly tired today. I was exhausted yesterday, and couldn't even make it through The Daily Show before I crashed. This is bad. I thought I was adjusting to my new work schedule, but I guess I'm not. Is there any way to train yourself to need less sleep?

One thing that has almost kept me energized has been the response to the SGA Bulwer-Lytton Contest. There are so many awesome and hysterical entries, it's going to be killer to choose. So I think I'll pick my--15? Is that how many entries an LJ poll allows?--my 15 or so favorites and let people vote on the Grand Prize Winner. Unless anybody has wild objections, I'll put that up tomorrow.

Like I said, the response has been incredible, and I've seen some new names (by which I mean: people I don't know, even by association, not "people who don't usually comment here"), which is always cool. But--and please correct me if I'm wrong--I still seem to be attracting mostly McKay/Sheppard people, or at least mostly slash people. Which in general makes sense, because hey, I write McKay/Sheppard, I talk about McKay/Sheppard, most of my friends are into McKay/Sheppard. As far as I'm concerned, McKay/Sheppard is for yay.

BUT. I like other pairings, too (my other fandom interest could possibly be described as McKay/women), and I think at least a little cross-pairing pollination is to be encouraged. My last fandom was BtVS/AtS, and it was wild, man. I mean, I started out a Spuffy shipper (Shut up! Their love was pure snarky and hot! At least before it became canon, anyway) but I liked the slash a lot (Buffydom was where I really grew to be comfortable with slash) and I wrote and read some of pretty much everything. It was all mixed.

Why is SGA so much more segregated? I mean, I don't think this is entirely a bad thing--I don't want my flist flooded with Sheppard/Weir stories, and I doubt the Sheppard/Weir shippers want a gazillion McKay/Sheppard stories on their friends pages, either. But is it just me, or is it extremely hard to organize activities that include all sides of fandom? Take reel_sga. The response to that has been great...but as pairings go, not very diverse. In terms of my personal reading habits, that's fine, but I had kind of hoped that there'd be more pairings represented. And maybe there still will be. That would be cool.

(Speaking of one nice bit of pairing diversity, I really loved this reel_sga entry: McKay/Ford art by deani_bean. It's the tie thing. That's awesome, and that transcends OTP-loyalty [and I say this as someone who is mockably OTPish at times]. Which is cool, no?)

Anyway, the Bulwer-Lytton thing is different, because of course it is not pairing-centric: it's mostly about mocking style and usage, although certain tropes have been fun to mock, too. It's about bad writing, but it's also about amusing and clever writing, and seeing what you can do in the space of a sentence. That's something everybody can appreciate, right?

So I guess what I'm wondering is, where are the het shippers? (Again, please correct me if they're around and I've just been too dumb to notice.) And I just don't mean, why aren't they here, responding to this--what is here is awesome, and I'm not like, demanding more people participate, omg. I just mean, I've been in this fandom for almost a year now--how have we managed not to interact at all? Of course, part of this may be me--I'm certainly not trolling john_elizabeth, because why would I want to? So I'm also not saying, "Sheppard/Weir peeps! Why aren't you over at mckay_sheppard? We've got a hot tub, come hang out!" Because seriously, why would they want to? But the fact that there's little-to-no crossover is just astonishing to me.

Maybe it's just that we have a situation that's more like X-Files fandom than Buffydom. Back in the old days, I was rabid about MSR, and I just didn't go anywhere near the slash. (Or Scully/Skinner, or whatever else there was.) I can't remember very well, but I think I was actively afraid of those unfamiliar corners of the net, and that included any of the projects "those people" may have been involved in. Of course, I think this may have had MUCH more to do with the fact that I was 14 than with my shipping preferences, but could there possibly be some connection? What I'd like to know is, do most people on the het end of fandom see even a name associated with slash and immediately go, "Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!"? Which, I hasten to say, would be totally their right. But I realize, I don't even know anyone over there that I could ask.

I'm not saying that there needs to be some sort of cross-ship dialogue, because I think those things tend to end in angry glaring at best. Possibly, just ignoring each other is the best way to avoid conflict, and I'm all for avoiding conflict. I'm just surprised there isn't some sort of neutral zone, some shaded area at the center of the Giant Venn Diagram of Fandom Life. Why do you think that is?

Comments

[strifechaos.livejournal.com]

I see your point and have thought about the diversity in the fandoms before. There isn't much of it yet in SGA, especially when compared to Angel/Buffy.

I think that it might have to do currently with the amount of time that both have been airing. Stargate Atlantis is still fairly new while Buffy/Angel have been on for years; people have been Buffy-fans for a while longer than SGA-fans. They've had time to write/read, find pairings and characters they prefer. Challenges and groups have formed for seasons, people that like Willow might have been het writers from her few seasons of hetro-ness and then stuck with her when she became a couple with Tara, crossing into the slash genre for example.

There’s more canon to mess around with I guess is what I’m getting at.

Which reminds me of my other point for why SGA lacks variety, there haven’t been a lot of “new” characters. We have the main players and then some minor characters that have stuck around for an episode maybe two before they're totally left behind in canon. Though I suppose you could do crossover with SG-1 if you needed more characters, but I digress.

There's also the fact that people like seeing certain characters together and haven't likened to the idea of dipping their toe in a different pond yet.

I know I tend to reluctantly read other pairings but generally stick pretty much with John and Rodney. Though I still tend to read slash even then, Rodney and Ronon or "McShep" with Beckett.

I'm not sure if it's just because I just don't read het that much anymore or if it's just because the only strong female characters we have in SGA are Elizabeth and Teyla, neither of which who I care to read paired with the characters I'm generally interested in reading about. I'm not sure if that's just me or other people haven't warmed up to Weir and Teyla as well. (It's like I don't mind them being a supporting character in the story---I actually like it but as neither is a favorite I don't look out for stories about them.)

Which isn't to say I would be averse to seeing some het, if it's well written I'm up for anything.

So maybe all we need is time and a few new characters (Chuck and Lorne screen time are never bad! *grins*), but I like the idea of a neutral zone for just sharing the fandom love. *grins* Maybe I'll have to go check out john_elizabeth and see if they're hot tub is as cool as ours?

[ferret-kitty.livejournal.com]

Off-topic, a day late, and a dollar short, but your icon made me laugh out loud, and I definitely watched it go by at least three times. ... But it might have been more. Very cool.

[strifechaos.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Aww, thanks! *grins* Yours is totally kawaii as well. I couldn't agree more with the definition, it fits SGA perfectly. The eyecandy is endless. *laughs* *waves*

[seratonation.livejournal.com]

*giggle* love the icon