(awkwardly jumps into the middle of your conversation)
But seriously, there's no way the SGA writers sat down and said 'I know, let's make Sheppard asexual.' It just wound up being how I read it. And for the record, this is not something I say about a lot of characters Sheppard's the only one pretty much any sci-fi universe I've kept up with that gives be these vibes.
I've been talking recently on my LJ about Joe Flanigan in his other roles, where he plays fantastic husbands with great chemistry and a very comfortable display of marital love. I wouldn't say that Flanigan made the choice to play John as ace or as gay (two common fan interpretations), but he does make the acting choices to show John, as you say, family/team oriented and not pursuing sex or romance. John seems to have mental scripts that he relies on to get through certain situations ("oh, this calls for 'generic flirtation #2'... lemme see if I can find a picnic basket") but there's a kind of disconnect that I think Flanigan put there (and that the writers couldn't do anything about). And the great thing about John's team is that he doesn't need to use his scripts with them: they don't matchmake or ask him about his sexual past or for advice, and they respect and love him for who he is.
John's marriage to Nancy and his Air Force career seem almost like two sides of the same coin. I don't think John ever sat down when he was younger and thought about how who he was fit together with what he wanted. I can well imagine him getting married and assuming he'd just develop an interest, wasn't that what happened in marriage? And that might even have worked for a few years: I think he did love Nancy and probably wanted kids (in the same vague way as he wanted to be married, because it was the thing people do, and because family). Whereas with the Air Force, yes he has his insubordination thing, but it's structured specifically to build strong interpersonal bonds -- found families -- out of people who are constrained by rules explicitly against forming romances and sexual liaisons. If he'd joined the Air Force with Nancy instead, I think they'd still be best buddies.
no subject
But seriously, there's no way the SGA writers sat down and said 'I know, let's make Sheppard asexual.' It just wound up being how I read it. And for the record, this is not something I say about a lot of characters Sheppard's the only one pretty much any sci-fi universe I've kept up with that gives be these vibes.
I've been talking recently on my LJ about Joe Flanigan in his other roles, where he plays fantastic husbands with great chemistry and a very comfortable display of marital love. I wouldn't say that Flanigan made the choice to play John as ace or as gay (two common fan interpretations), but he does make the acting choices to show John, as you say, family/team oriented and not pursuing sex or romance. John seems to have mental scripts that he relies on to get through certain situations ("oh, this calls for 'generic flirtation #2'... lemme see if I can find a picnic basket") but there's a kind of disconnect that I think Flanigan put there (and that the writers couldn't do anything about). And the great thing about John's team is that he doesn't need to use his scripts with them: they don't matchmake or ask him about his sexual past or for advice, and they respect and love him for who he is.
John's marriage to Nancy and his Air Force career seem almost like two sides of the same coin. I don't think John ever sat down when he was younger and thought about how who he was fit together with what he wanted. I can well imagine him getting married and assuming he'd just develop an interest, wasn't that what happened in marriage? And that might even have worked for a few years: I think he did love Nancy and probably wanted kids (in the same vague way as he wanted to be married, because it was the thing people do, and because family). Whereas with the Air Force, yes he has his insubordination thing, but it's structured specifically to build strong interpersonal bonds -- found families -- out of people who are constrained by rules explicitly against forming romances and sexual liaisons. If he'd joined the Air Force with Nancy instead, I think they'd still be best buddies.