Meta: The Unlikable Rodney McKay or Why Do I Love a Fictional Character I'd Despise in RL

[lunabee34]

fingalsanteater asked me: so I just met McKay in Sg-1 and I recognized he was a main character in SGA (which I'm waiting to watch until after SG-1, though I might start it after season 7) and one half of the main pairing for the fandom. But, OMG, he was such a dick. I'm assuming he gets better (he does open up a bit the next time he's around, but he's still pretty awful and I'm so glad Sam told him she hated him because she was echoing my sentiments exactly). So, does he get... better? What is it about the McShep pairing that draws you? [link]

My answer got a bit long. :)



I watched SG-1 all the way through before I saw even an episode of SGA, and I'm pretty sure we watched the last season of SG-1 as it aired. I don't think we started watching SGA until the beginning of the third season after watching seasons 1-2 on DVD right before season 3 started.

While we were watching SG-1, though, SGA was already on the air and lots of my flist was migrating to that fandom. In fact, I'd say 3/4 of everyone on my LJ flist was reading and/or writing fic or posting squee about episodes. So long before I met Rodney in canon, I saw the word McShep bandied about, and I read "Written by the Victors" "Freedom's Just Another Word" without any knowledge of SGA canon whatsoever or even knowing what John or Rodney looked like. (got my titles mixed up there, y'all, whoops)

Imagine my surprise when I got to the relevant SG-1 episodes, and there was Rodney McKay in all his faily glory. It blew my mind. This guy? This is the guy who's causing the swoonage? This asshole? LOL

So how did I move from complete bewilderment at Rodney as the fandom darling to considering him one of my favorite characters?

1. Fannish osmosis and fanon played a huge part in this, and I think this is true for any unlikable character who ends up with a huge following (I'm thinking Snape here, for example). My flist is full of amazing writers and sharp reccers, and so I already had a wonderful pool of resources to draw from and tons of fics to read that portray Rodney in a positive light. I also still maintain that of all the fandoms I've been in in the last ten years, the writing for SGA was consistently the best. Damn but there are some fine stories written for (and continuing to be written for!) that fandom.

2. As a separate but related fic reading issue, a lot of McShep fics (or fics that otherwise feature Rodney) elide his negative character traits or justify them, and reading story after story that softens his abrasiveness or gives him plausible in-story reasons for behaving that way permanently colored my perception of him. Some fanon is just too good not to be true! LOL Now this is not a slag on those kinds of stories or a subtle implication that they are OOC; most of the stories I'm talking about are well-written and compelling and true to Rodney's character--or at least true to the aspects of his character that have been foregrounded in the fic (like his canonically demonstrated loyalty to his team) while putting others in the background or ignoring them entirely.

3. Rodney does change over the course of the show; we see him change from the man who blithely tells Sam that Teal'c is dead anyway to the man who steps in front of a gun pointed at Elizabeth. We see him make true friendships; we see him develop loyalty. We see him save the galaxy over and over again and commit great acts of heroism despite his obvious, and sometimes nearly crippling, fear. He's not anyone I'd want to spend any time with; he'd insult the profession I chose, and his ego would piss me off. I don't appreciate being told that I'm stupid or being the target of someone's insecurity when I demonstrate that I'm not. We could never be real life friends. But I can appreciate him within the context of the show and really enjoy the family he's managed to create with his team.

I think I am as guilty of number 2 as anyone else. Most of my SGA fic does not focus on Rodney being an asshole. However, ariadne83 and I co-wrote a story in which we tried to depict Rodney as closely to the way he's depicted in SG-1 without making him unsympathetic. It's a backstory for Rodney that takes place almost entirely before SGA even begins, so we're dealing with a Rodney who hasn't learned any of the lessons he'll come to learn later about sacrifice or teamwork and etc. It was hard to do at times; I cringe at the way he talks to Sam in those SG-1 episodes and how utterly un-self-aware he is. And I cringe at some of the choices we have him make in our fic because they're so self-destructive and reflect really poorly on him. Ultimately, though, it was really satisfying to give Rodney a place to start from, a beginning of the journey.

I think that might be what I like about so many of the characters I love who are unlikable in certain ways--Snape, Draco, Jayne, Spike. For some of these characters, canon shows us a character who changes, who becomes more likable as the story develops. For others, canon gives us somewhere to start from, a place to imagine in fic the shape that change might take. And then, of course, there's just the delight in reading an asshole be an asshole, particularly a witty one.

One other thing I think I find compelling about Rodney and other unlikable characters is what I'm calling the whole Asshole But Not To Me Thing. I don't so much go for that in real life, but in fiction, it can be utterly squeeful when a character who is a dick a lot of the time clearly has a soft spot for or a genuine friendship with another character. I'm thinking Jayne and Kaylee here or Rodney and Elizabeth. Particularly if you're feeling shippy, that kind of marked difference in behavior and feeling can be catnip.


What do y'all think? What unlikable characters have you come to love? Is there anyone you can't bring yourself to like even when everyone else has jumped on board? Tell me why I'm wrong and Rodney sucks, whatever. LOL

Comments

[sallymn]

I admit, I didn't hate SG1 Rodney, because I was too busy loathing Carter (I freely admit, it's a Doctor Fell thing). And also, I tend to make up my mind about characters very quickly and seldom change them...

But - although he was the fannish darling all round rather than the person people loved to hate - I can comprehend, because Avon (Blakes 7) is self-centered, selfish, cat-cruel and I have not the slightest doubt that if were he and I to spend time together - he would very quickly kill me. Dead. (It is seldom part of the fannish fantasy that your hero will find YOU utterly intolerable :)

[lunabee34]

Ahahahahahahahaaahaaa. Yes. I doubt I would fare well in a match of wits with Avon. I'll just be in the back with Vila, thank you very much. :)

[sallymn]

Me too :) Vila is just as selfish as Avon, but not nearly as ruthless - and probably would like me a little better :)