So I've been rewatching Stargate SG-1

[potentiality_26]

And I just saw "Upgrades" again.  It has a lot of funny moments, but to me it's always really going to be the episode with the bit where Sam is trapped on the other side of a forcefield and Jack won't leave her, which is later used as proof of their great love.

Here's the thing about that:



First of all, in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm going to admit that it works fine as proof.  Because I have little to no investment in things not directly Daniel related, I'm unenthused by Jack/Sam in general, but I technically dislike it in execution, not in principle.  So, honestly, if Daniel had been anywhere in that particular equation, I'd be using it as proof too.  But to me, it's different to see something as a fan that reads as romantically suggestive and tell yourself a little story about how it shows how strongly they feel about each other.  (I'm a slash shipper, I would know.  And seriously, watching S3 and S4 I'm coming to the conclusion that there's actually a better case for Daniel/Teal'c than Daniel/Jack.  Don't know how I missed that before.  Like the time Daniel was invisible and Teal'c could sense him.  They have a connection, dudes.  It's sorta hurty).  See?  I did it right there.  But the writers of the show had opportunities to do better, and instead they did this.

Basically, the entire upshot of why this moment is proof that they're in love is the fact that Jack wouldn't leave her, which in turn suggests that if it was Daniel or Teal'c on the other side, he would have left them to die, which I totally don't believe is true and I don't think the writers do either.  But even if I let that slide, there's still the fact that despite being completely unable to help Jack or Sam in any way, Teal'c and Daniel stayed too, just to die with their teammates.  Other than the fact that they're not technically inside the mountain and therefore cannot gaze angstily at them, there is no difference whatsoever between what Teal'c and Daniel do, and what Jack does.

Thus, we're meant to conclude that whenever Jack and Sam show "feelings" for each other it's love, and with Teal'c and Daniel it's just brotherhood or whatever, because Boy + Girl = Romance.  It's basically heteronormativity in a nutshell, and that's my beef with this whole business.

  

Comments

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

I do like Sam/Jack, but I was never really invested in any pairing while I watched the show (or now) and I do believe they had a thing for each other. But more than anything I think it was the idea of it that they both liked and if the military protocol hadn’t kept them apart I’m not sure they would have gotten to the potential-more-than-friends stage at all. And really, it’s the impossibility of it all that intrigues me with this pairing and without it much of the fun would be gone. I’m glad it never actually happened and I thought it happened too often in different mirror/alternative universes.

I wholly agree about the heteronormativity of it all and of your assessment of the scene. Jack wouldn’t have left the others on his team either and the only reason him staying behind here is given special meaning is the heteronormativity. The assumption that just because it is a male-female relationship it means romance is endlessly boring, as is the assumption that just because it is a male-male, female-female relationship it is just friendships. And it baffles me that if all that changes is the gender, if the dialogue and everything else stays the same the writes would never affirm any other reading than the heteronormative one! It’s sad.

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. As I said, I'm 100% a Daniel girl, but what I did like about Jack/Sam was the impossibility too- especially later in the series when it was suggested that that was what Sam liked as well. That she was happier loving Jack and knowing she would never have to do anything about it than in an actual relationship.

How obvious the heteronormativity in the writing of a show really is baffling, sometimes.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

OMG...thank you for this!! THANK YOU, omg...

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

:) Happy to oblige.

[firefly1311.livejournal.com]

Bowing here before your competence to analyse and give words for what makes me feel is so wrong.
The Carter in ´"Divide and Conquer" is even worse with her over the top acting of "We have to hide our love!"
What`s way better: what does Daniel do with his left hand at the very, very end of 3.01 "Into the fire", when Jack is ruffeling his short hair?

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

You're quite right about "Divide and Conquer." I know there were little things along the way to suggest they had feelings for each other, but the first time I watched this show I got to that ep thinking, "What- what?" Never saw any chemistry there.

Jack and Daniel had something so much stronger, and yet so subtle.

[firefly1311.livejournal.com]

I fell in love with Jack/Daniel when I went to the cinema to watch the film. I never saw the Serie on TV because I thought it could never be so good. LOL! Two years ago we had an invasion of huge spiders in our house and out of fear I wanted to stay up all night. So I watched TV and they had a SG1 Marathon... next day I ordered the whole set of DVDs.

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Heh. That's a great show discovery story if ever I've heard one.

I do have a fondness for the movie, but it was the show that really made me a shipper.