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It's late, I'm up, and I started out thinking about bad characterization.
The redeemed Draco who dumps the rest of the Slytherins to hang with Harry and his friends. Weepy, fragile Daniel who needs to be rescued and protected. Bitchy, hard-nosed Buffy. Poor widdle Spike who never did anything wrong. Abused and victimized Xander. Compassionate and caring Harry Potter.
It's all about uncomplicating characters, pushing them down into smaller dimensions and fitting them into boxes. I love Xander. After much careful thought, I'd probably still say that he's my favorite Buffyverse character. And he has had some moments of true asshole-dom. And those have made me like the character better, because it complicated him, made him a person and not just a character.
In Stargate, I've utterly fallen for the amazingly beautiful, highly intuitively intelligent, and completely exasperating Doctor Daniel Jackson (which means that, for the moment, all roads of discussion lead to Daniel). Daniel Jackson has faults, but lack of nerve is not among them. Daniel's a passionate man, but he doesn't break down into tears whenever something goes wrong. He's a moral and ethical man, but that doesn't mean that he can't be stubborn and argumentative and just plain wrong on occasion.
Why reduce him? More than that, why make him something that he so very much isn't?
Daniel Jackson doesn't put up with anyone's crap without mouthing back. Daniel Jackson doesn't follow the chain of command. Daniel's probably hell to work with until you get used to him and even then, he would irritate the hell out of you on occasion. Because if Daniel's decided that he has no use for something, he'll ignore it. He decides in Children of the Gods that Jack is Jack. He then refuses to budge from his position, having decided that friendship overrules military protocol. Once he starts calling Carter 'Sam', he keeps it up. For Daniel, the personal connection matters more and he's not going to pretend to be military just because he's part of a military unit.
( spoilers for season eight of Stargate, up to Icon )
Daniel was never willing to pretend to be military, but over time, he's become a fighter. He knows battle tactics and he can shoot and fight as effectively as any of the soldiers that we see. Season five Daniel had the knowledge and had the skills, but he wasn't happy about it. He didn't feel like he was accomplishing the kind of work that he wanted to do. In Season Six, he was energy, was knowledge in a sense, and he had all the control and none of the power. He wasn't allowed to use the power ("I'm no more qualified to play God than the gould are.") and by the end of that season had decided that that was not a choice that he could live with. Whether or not he chose to descend, he did choose to cross the line, knowing the consequences that awaited him ("Oma would stop me herself.."), because he could not live with making the choice not to act.
( wherein I'm very happy about the episode Abyss )
I don't know if I believe that the writers were intending to write a brilliant character arc for Daniel (though, honestly, I doubt it, as Daniel's ascension and return were based on... other than story reasons), but it still turned out that way. Episode after episode, Daniel learns and absorbs lessons and changes in reaction to those lessons (As Lya says, whether or not the people around him are willing to learn, Daniel always is). He questions things until he reaches the essence, he throws himself after knowledge, sometimes heedless of the consequences. And he learns from his mistakes.
And he's made peace with himself. That's always a beautiful thing to see in a character.
The redeemed Draco who dumps the rest of the Slytherins to hang with Harry and his friends. Weepy, fragile Daniel who needs to be rescued and protected. Bitchy, hard-nosed Buffy. Poor widdle Spike who never did anything wrong. Abused and victimized Xander. Compassionate and caring Harry Potter.
It's all about uncomplicating characters, pushing them down into smaller dimensions and fitting them into boxes. I love Xander. After much careful thought, I'd probably still say that he's my favorite Buffyverse character. And he has had some moments of true asshole-dom. And those have made me like the character better, because it complicated him, made him a person and not just a character.
In Stargate, I've utterly fallen for the amazingly beautiful, highly intuitively intelligent, and completely exasperating Doctor Daniel Jackson (which means that, for the moment, all roads of discussion lead to Daniel). Daniel Jackson has faults, but lack of nerve is not among them. Daniel's a passionate man, but he doesn't break down into tears whenever something goes wrong. He's a moral and ethical man, but that doesn't mean that he can't be stubborn and argumentative and just plain wrong on occasion.
Why reduce him? More than that, why make him something that he so very much isn't?
Daniel Jackson doesn't put up with anyone's crap without mouthing back. Daniel Jackson doesn't follow the chain of command. Daniel's probably hell to work with until you get used to him and even then, he would irritate the hell out of you on occasion. Because if Daniel's decided that he has no use for something, he'll ignore it. He decides in Children of the Gods that Jack is Jack. He then refuses to budge from his position, having decided that friendship overrules military protocol. Once he starts calling Carter 'Sam', he keeps it up. For Daniel, the personal connection matters more and he's not going to pretend to be military just because he's part of a military unit.
( spoilers for season eight of Stargate, up to Icon )
Daniel was never willing to pretend to be military, but over time, he's become a fighter. He knows battle tactics and he can shoot and fight as effectively as any of the soldiers that we see. Season five Daniel had the knowledge and had the skills, but he wasn't happy about it. He didn't feel like he was accomplishing the kind of work that he wanted to do. In Season Six, he was energy, was knowledge in a sense, and he had all the control and none of the power. He wasn't allowed to use the power ("I'm no more qualified to play God than the gould are.") and by the end of that season had decided that that was not a choice that he could live with. Whether or not he chose to descend, he did choose to cross the line, knowing the consequences that awaited him ("Oma would stop me herself.."), because he could not live with making the choice not to act.
( wherein I'm very happy about the episode Abyss )
I don't know if I believe that the writers were intending to write a brilliant character arc for Daniel (though, honestly, I doubt it, as Daniel's ascension and return were based on... other than story reasons), but it still turned out that way. Episode after episode, Daniel learns and absorbs lessons and changes in reaction to those lessons (As Lya says, whether or not the people around him are willing to learn, Daniel always is). He questions things until he reaches the essence, he throws himself after knowledge, sometimes heedless of the consequences. And he learns from his mistakes.
And he's made peace with himself. That's always a beautiful thing to see in a character.