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

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

To answer this question first (because it's easier!) we took great care to pimp reel_sga in enough places to (we hoped) reach a lot more people. Our journals, sga_noticeboard, mckay_sheppard, oddball_sga, and atlantis_fanfic all received pimps. And, admittedly, the sign-ups showed a more broad representation than the actual posted stories--almost all McKay/Sheppard so far. Pourquoi?

[exegesis.livejournal.com]

While you pimped it in plenty of places (go, you!) I did recognise most of the authors names as those who write commonly in McShep. Well, I would say that McShep is far and away the most popular pairing in the fandom and its not just my preferences speaking (well..maybe a little!).

It may be because it is so much fun - the snark and snap and the teamwork. It may be because its cannon. Or it may have been something as simple as all the reel_SGA people just happened to be McShep fans, although there were a few noteable exceptions. Your own fic had Lorne/Elizabeth and Laura as Zelenka's daughter (which I thought quite innovative) and the very first post had McKay/Ford - very unusual! I would like to think that people used the SGA characters most suited for movies they were adapting, but I think most just moulded the movies to be McShep. I'm not complaining - I enjoyed them, but it would have been nice to see people step outside their circles occassionally.

Can we have another reel soon?? I'm thinking i might be woman enough to write one this time...and I suppose after this 'tough' talk I need to break the mold and write an non-McShep one..(the things I write myself into!).

How did the signups show more variety? *is curious*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

My reel fic actually had (rather bizarrely):

McKay/Sheppard
Weir/Lorne
Ford/Heightmeyer
McKay/Cadman
Teyla/Kolya
Sheppard/Weir (past/implied)

I do think the dynamic between John and Rodney lends itself to a lot of things, but I'd have loved, say, some Weir/Zelenka. If we hold another challenge (which we are--tentatively--planning) I should try to write a different pairing, too. (I actually think that Bringing Up Baby, for example, would make a great McKay/Cadman story.)

The sign-ups showed more variety in that some of the people who signed up I recognized as people who didn't typically write McKay/Sheppard, or were people whose names I just didn't recognize at all. So there was the POTENTIAL for other pairings to be represented (although if/when those people finish, they could all write McKay/Sheppard, too--and part of me wouldn't mind *g*). Entries are still coming in, so maybe some more variety might still be added to the mix.

[exegesis.livejournal.com]

*fingers crossed*

Although whether they're crossed for more McKay/Sheppard or more diversity...you're guess is as good as mine! I'll take either! ;-)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

When it comes right down to it, I feel the same way. Basically, I want more of EVERYTHING. I'm greedy. *g*