Three point characterization: Jack O'Neill

[lunabee34]

So there's been all this talk about 3 point characterization lately on the flist. To grossly oversimiplify, 3 point characterization essentially means, "What are the three points of characterization that are necessary for you to recognize a character in fic? If you had to distill a character into his/her three most salient traits, what would they be?"

So, I've been having all this trouble with Jack O'Neill. I can hardly find SG-1 fic in which I recognize the character. I've said this before: I've been reading through SG-1 rec lists and honestly not finding as much SG-1 fic to enjoy as I find SGA. One of the reasons is that I feel Jack is an extraordinarily difficult character to write. RDA's portrayal of him is incredibly nuanced, more so than it perhaps seems if you are not thinking way too damn much about it looking closely. Jack is a military man, through and through, but he also realizes the value of disobeying orders for the greater good. He's a joker, a trickster, hiding what he really feels behind one malaprop after another. He's emotionally closed off, unreachable. In these ways you'd think writing him would be a lot like writing John Sheppard. And here's where you'd be wrong. Something about the way RDA plays this character, the way he physically inhabits his body, makes Jack so much more difficult to write than John.

But when I think about Jack in terms of 3 point characterization, my inability to believe his portrayal in much of fanfic becomes more apparent. Jack doesn't have three points; he has like seventeen. LOL

1. Jack is wary of women in the military. He's kind of a misogynist. This is canon from the first couple episodes and the way he reacts to Carter's inclusion on his team.

2. Jack trusts Carter implicitly. He's pretty much in love with her. Also canon.

3. Jack plays stupid.

4. Jack is not stupid.

5. Jack is an idealist--he wants to believe the best in people. (See Daniel, Teal'c, etc)

6. Jack is a jaded militarist

7. Jack is also in love with Daniel. (I have no second point for this LOL)

8. Jack believes strongly in military solutions to conflicts.

9. Jack wishes he didn't believe strongly in military solutions to conflicts.

10. Jack is funny.

11. Jack is wounded.

12. Jack has a special place in his heart for children.

13. Jack would rather die than the most inconsequential member of SGC. He'd buy the farm for freaking Rothman.

14. Jack never stops thinking "I'm on another planet" is anything other than freaking cool.

So, here's the question: am I insane? Is O'Neill really this complicated of a character? Set me straight? Is there another character (in any fandom) that you feel is as difficult to capture in fic? Elucidate. Lorraine is bored.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

But see, I'd argue that every character is that complex. Three point just means, what are the three points you cannot and will not budge.

Can you read a fic that makes you believe that Jack chose a different path and became a prof and shares his smarts? Then (3) isn't part of your three point.

Clearly there can be more, but for me Rache's idea was pretty much which points will completely throw you out of a fic when they aren't followed. And I think the more invested we are in a character, the more complex (and multidimensional) our extrapolation gets. I'm not sure that a function of the character or the text as much sa it is a function of you :)

But I may be utterly and totally wrong!!!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

No, no. I completely agree with you. I think each character is incredibly complex and has tons of traits that fic writers pick and choose from when they're writing. And I'm not certain I could pick just three for any given character because often I read fic that controverts something I originally thought about a character and end up enjoying it.

I mean, I can get behind a story that has genius Rodney slutting it up with all his scientist co-workers even though I think that's highly unlikely given what I think are Rodney's insecurities and defense mechanisms.

But Jack O'Neill is a dark horse for me. I just cannot find a representation of him in fic that I can get behind (with the exception of that story by paian I recced) and I think it's because I wanna see ALL of everything he portrays in canon, however contradictory those characteristics might be. And fic doesn't do that. It schmoops the hell out of him. Or makes him the joker. Or makes him the asshole. I dunno if I'm just looking in the wrong places (and surely crack_van and stargateficrec aren't the wrong places), but I'm just not finding complicated, complex Jack O'Neill and I wonder if that's because of something in his character.

If that makes sense.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i know you've read syne's stuff, right? her O'Neill not do it for you either?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm....... I've read her SGA but not her SG-1 so ah, new weekend project?

LOL

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Well...you might want to wait a bit longer. She writes a late seasons Jack and Daniel, and particularly the latter is...a bit screwed up.

But I love her screwed up characters :D

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

With my penchant for angst, I do so love it when the characters are damanged. I'll remember her fic as I get a little further along. Thanks.

[lyr]

Personally, I feel that reducing a character to three points is a gross oversimplification that fails to do justice to any character at all. It's that kind of generalization that produces one-dimensional characters with no sense of fully realized life.

But as for Jack, I adore him. He's my favorite SG-1 character, primarily because he's a complex person pretending to be simple. That intrigues me. And then there's his distinctive voice, which is always fun and endearing. I'm just sorry that I've only written him the once.

Because Jack's voice is so distinctive, though, I didn't find him difficult to capture. I have a much harder time with characters who are quieter, or who have less immediately recognizable voices---which often happens with characters the canon writers use for exposition. Daniel, for instance, was harder for me to get, because every time I wrote a line for him, I wondered if it was a generic expository line anyone might have said, and not something particular to him. And Zoe from Firefly is harder, because she's just so damn quiet that interpretations of her character have to be based on her actions and each viewer's individual assumptions, and perceptions of her therefore vary more widely among readers; this makes it difficult to write a version of her that will feel authentic and recognizable to most readers.

[lyr]

P.S. I can think of a couple of SG-1 stories/authors who have depictions of Jack that I like:

Salieri does excellent Jack, and it shows to great advantage in The Weight of Things or The Dirt of Sowing and Reaping.

Minnow also does fabulous Jack-voice. I love her wonderfully funny Yet Another SG-1 Adventure. I'm sure there's others, but that one springs to mind.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Also, recs!!! yay!!!!!

Thank you.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Well, the idea is not so much that you reduce a character to three points as that each of us has a set of characteristics that we refuse to budge on for each character. So for instance, with Spike, although he's a canonical crier, he's also a canonical killer. So some people might find a fic where Spike sobs uncontrollably into Angel's chest in character while others wouldn't because that aspect of Spike's characterization is less important to them.

I am so stoked that you have written Jack. Link please? :)

I remain convince that there's something I can't articulate that makes him difficult to capture. You'd think that he and Sheppard would be similar to write, but they're just not.

[lyr]

Alas, you've already read the one time I wrote Jack. He only guest-starred in #4 of "Five Times That Cameron Regretted Being on SG-1". I've only written SG-1 fic one other time, and sadly, I couldn't work Jack into it except as an absence of presence who sort of haunts Cameron. One of these days I really must write one of the earlier season SG-1 bunnies I have stored for future use so that I can play with Jack more.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Um yes you do. Absolutely you do. Because the joy and ecstaticness of me reading Lyr's SG-1 fic would be immeasurable with Earth rulers.

[lyr]

Aww, thanks, sweetheart! You know how to make a girl feel appreciated, you do.

When you get to season 9, my other SG-1 story is waiting for you. Come to that, season 9 will probably make the first one you read make more sense, too. You're still in season 4, aren't you?

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

*nods*

But I've been spoiled aplenty and I've seen one or two episodes with Cam and Vala in them, so I wasn't totally lost.