SGA meta: Why I Read John Sheppard as Ace.

[last01standing]

In terms of characters on television who can be read as ace, as far as I can see we’ve got Sherlock Holmes (despite all the Moffat nonsense), Sheldon Cooper (where it’s played as a joke), and John Sheppard. Of these three, Sheppard’s the only example I really like.

[That’s a whole other issue involving asexuality and dehumanization and it’s something I’m going to tackle not so much by talking about it, but by writing asexual characters into my fiction. It is worth noting, but not the point of what turned into a massive essay. Onwards!]

The matter of John Sheppard:

Over five years of Stargate Atlantis, the dashing action hero had zero serious romantic relationships. Most of the other main characters (I’m talking everyone outside of Zelenka, Ford, and Lorne) had a romantic plotline arc. You got your McKay with Katie Brown and Keller, Ronon and Awesome Kickboxing Gatetech, Teyla and Kanaan, Weir and Simon. Hell even Beckett and Cadman. Romance is never a central part of SGA, not like finding your family is, but it’s also not ignored.

Which brings us to the man himself. John Sheppard defies the usual trope and turns out to be less dashing spacehero and more dorky flyboy who failed so hard at being on Earth he got to Pegasus and came out the other side. He meets Teyla, kickass alien warrior princess, in episode one. He’s well on his way to charming her into helping the expedition when the wraith culling turns the Teyla’s settlement into refuges. By the time she joins Sheppard’s team, most viewers probably had the same guess about where this would go.

Instead, what follows over the next few episodes is Sheppard constantly professing trust in Teyla, getting his ass kicked by Teyla in stick fights, trying to explain Earth or Pegasus customs to Teyla as she makes WTF faces at him… and a complete and utter lack of romantic overtures from either side. They’re completely and utterly comfortable with each other. They trust each other, but they’re friends, they’re family, not love interests. It’s a trend that continues through the series, but it gets made pretty explicit in Conversion where a bugged up Sheppard kisses her and then proceeds to make a face and say ‘I’m not sure what just happened here.’ Seriously, you can’t tell me this face is turned on:



Later when he apologies he says references what he did as ‘out of character.’ Teyla, because she is awesome personified tells him to give it no further thought. They both end the episode looking insanely relieved.



Then they go back to being family and never mention it again.

Sheppard also reacts weirdly to Teyla’s pregnancy, but I tend to read this as less jealousy and more ‘if you leave my team you’re breaking up my family. Please don’t.’ Plus he’s awfully pleased when he gets to cuddle with Teyla’s kid.



My first run through the series, I kept side-eyeing Sheppard-Weir as a thing that could possibly happen. They wind up sticking up for each other a lot. But there’s also this whole thing where they are clearly pleased to see each other, but never seem to touch. Sheppard sprawls on everything but put a person beside him and he goes all uptight. Unless he’s holding in entrails, he’s mostly trying not to touch people. Weir’s no real exception, but the ship does get a nod in canon.

Of course, the Sheppard/Weir kiss happens when they are possessed by the alien versions of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And it should be noted that when Weir suggests Sheppard let the husband of the creature possessing her into his body so they can say goodbye, it’s not something Sheppard looks up for:



And that’s the end of Sheppard’s romances with recurring characters. Full stop. One kiss when turning into a bug. One kiss while possessed. Mentions of an ex-wife that ‘didn’t work out.’ We get the feeling that Nancy Sheppard wanted more from John that he could actually give. There's more disappointment and exasperation in their interactions than dislike. The implication is that Sheppard would rather be flying than romancing. Or shooting things. Or playing videogames with McKay.

We’ve also got a few guest stars on screen. There’s Chaya, the ancient who had the most notable on screen attempt at romance. As far as I can tell it was glowy and spiritual. Which I’m like 90% sure is not how this usually goes:



The rest of them are all in a little bunch in mid-season two, pretty damn close to the time I was slotting Sheppard as ace in my mind. They’re all a little…off. It’s like the writers all of a sudden realized they forgot a trope and tried to shove it all back in. It didn’t exactly work out.

We have people like the wraith worshipper in ‘The Hive’ who try to curl up next to Sheppard for warmth and to whom Sheppard makes this face:



Then there’s the stuck in a time dilation filed lady, Teer. And honestly, for all the jokey pseudo flirting, Sheppard looks pretty uncomfortable for the entire scene:



We also got the The Tower that had someone literally have to unclothe for Sheppard for him to get a hint:


SHEPPARD: Oh, wow! I ... I never see this coming!

For me, the exchange at the end of this episode kind of sums up Sheppard and romance:

SHEPPARD: We got the drones, we got a few Jumpers; I even got the girl.
WEIR: You got the girl?!
SHEPPARD: Well, I mean I could have got the girl. I turned her down.

The show may play it off as ‘didn’t want to ascend’ or ‘you only want me for my gene’ or ‘wraith worshippers don’t really do it for me,’ but it mostly boils down to Sheppard could have had got the girl. But he didn’t really want her.

For canon, that’s pretty much all we see from possible love interests. Sheppard’s the passive party in pretty much every instance and the one time he instigates, he’s bugged up and not exactly himself. It’s also pretty interesting to note that these all this happens before the end of season two. I swear the writers just sort of threw up their hands and declared him unromancable.

We’re left with a pilot who looks pretty at ease most of the time, but then makes faces when someone hits on him or just ignores it and carries on his merry way. Sheppard is someone who, at the end of the series walks out onto a pier full of couples, settles himself in the middle and seems pretty damn okay with how his life has turned out.

And I really love him for it.

I know McKay/Sheppard seems to be the fanon pairing with a chaser of Sheppard/Ronon. I guess if you take into account Sheppard’s hair and the fact that he’s mostly oblivious to the onscreen female come-ons, I can almost buy it. Except, not really.

Looking at Sheppard and McKay, you’ve got a bromance that’s born of (proximity and Stockholm Syndrome a little) geeking out and saving each other’s life. I love these two, I really do, but the fundamental thing I see them having in common when the series started is that they were lonely as fuck growing up. They make up for it on Atlantis by being gigantic twelve-year-olds together. Sheppard teases McKay about his girlfriend while they play videogames and McKay mocks him for being ‘Kirk’ even though they both know there’s not much to that.

As for Ronon, well it’s mostly just affectionately beating each other to a pulp. Seriously, it’s distressingly close to how me and brother treated each other when we were kids. As far as I’m concerned Sheppard’s the dorky kid brother Ronon had culled never had.

And we’re back to that old theme again: family. The whole show is like this and a lot of it is the influence of what the main character thinks is important. It’s pretty much impossible to say romance is something Sheppard ranks high on his list.

So, I add up the romantic overtures we do see, the team that feels like family, the please don’t touch me body language, the obliviousness and just about everything else that makes up Sheppard and I come up the inescapable headcanon:

Sheppard doesn’t have any romances across SGA because Sheppard didn’t want any.

I really can’t express how awesome that is. The other ace characters in media, Sheldon Cooper and Sherlock Holmes feel really alien. Like disinterest is just something else to set them apart from society. But in SGA, Sheppard’s our point of view character. He’s the one we’re supposed to relate to, supposed to root for. He’s flawed, he’s brave, he makes mistakes, he has friends, he has family. He’s the sort of person you might actually meet on the street one day.

His lack of romance is never mentioned as weird. Characters in the main cast don’t hit on him. They don’t try to set him up. They just let him be Sheppard. Because I think they get it.

And that’s huge.

[I welcome additions, rebuttals, whatever. It is on tumblr as well, but I still like LJ better for that crazy thing called ‘dialogue.’ Anon if you like. I’ve been craving SGA meta since I finished my first go around (and immediately started my second). I’m getting the idea that Sheppard’s one of those characters that everyone sees a little differently. And that’s cool.]

Comments

[esteefee]

He's talking to the group, not specifically to Teer. It's pretty clear in Epiphany that that he and Teer did have a physical relationship -- that's what the fade-to-fireplace business is about. Just because they don't show the actually sex-after-kissing on PG television doesn't mean we assume they don't have it. Otherwise no character on Stargate ever had sex ever. Or went to the bathroom, for that matter. Do we ever see Teyla eat the food on her tray? I don't think so. That doesn't mean she's secretly a Wraith.

And if you didn't watch The Tower clip I posted (he doesn't just stare at the boobs, he actively pursues sex with Mara), then you aren't forming your opinions based on canon. In fact, if you haven't watched all of canon, then you really aren't informed on John Sheppard. He flirts in the mess with Esposito. He kisses Larrin in the Travelers. He was *married* to Nancy (Outcast) and him being asexual wasn't what broke them up, but rather his covert missions. She couldn't take the secrets anymore, but now that she works for Homeland Security and has to keep them from her husband, she tells John she understands what it was like for him.

There's a wealth of evidence in canon that disproves your theory, but that doesn't mean people can't write him as asexual or enjoy stories with him ACE.

Sadly, there were show/political reasons why Joe Flanigan wasn't written more Sheppard-centric scripts or a love interest of his own.

[trolllogicfics.livejournal.com]

But Teyla was secretly a wraith that one time. =)

I've seen the entire series. (I did forget about Larrin while I was working on this, this was my mistake.) There's a reason why the essay's titled, 'why I read John Sheppard as ace', rather than 'Why Sheppard is ace.' And asexual people can and do get married. The same with flirting. Special Ops are in fact something you can choose not to persue. But a newlywed Sheppard does it anyway. Because at some point, there is only so long you can fake it.

Watched your Mara clip too. I see someone who takes two kisses to even wake up to the fact that this is happening. A 'fuck it, why not moment,' and then a complete stop and despite being thrown on the bed, strong implications in conversation to Weir at the end of the episode that to me at least pretty heavily implied he did not close the deal.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on Teer because to me, an awful lot of the conversation is veiled shots at Teer despite addressing a group. The fact that there was no arcing Sheppard-centric romance was seriously my favorite part of the show.

[esteefee]

Teyla doesn't feed from her hand, though. I can believe that without having to see her put food in her mouth, joking aside.

And what is your explanation for Larrin? He seemed pretty into that, and he initiated that as well.

You watched the Mara clip and you see a guy who is "waking up to the fact it's happening" instead of a guy who is really wowed by seeing her breasts and actively kissing her neck? How are you hand-waving him being active instead of passive by initiating the those third and fourth kisses if I grant you the 2nd? (I don't. The second was right after and he was into it.) Or that he only eventually hears her telling him something that means he might be fucked in more ways than one (the ruler thing) if he follows through? He really didn't want to stop.

The thing is: the whole scene is a blatant gag set-up at John's expense by the writers. If you don't recognize this as "frat boy fantasy gone bad" then you obviously haven't been watching the same poorly written show that I have, full of nerdy writer wish-fulfillment where King Geek McKay gets the Prom Queen Kaylee Jennifer Keller.

Don't forget the date he set up with Chaya and that kiss and possible sex. You really skipped over it for some reason, but he had a date with her, with strawberries and kissing and walking her back to her quarters and who knows. He didn't know she was an Ancient at the time. Not sure why you skipped over it without mention.

And yes, I know ACEs get married, but put against all the other people we see him get into sexual situations with, plus the fact if he and Nancy are ACE and then she goes and marries another ACE right after...it all really strains the bounds of credulity.

[trolllogicfics.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't remember much about the Larrin episode and I'm not really in the place where I'm going to have time to watch in the next few days so, you'll have to forgive me to that one. The Chaya romance seemed supremely awkward to me, with the glowy whatever at the end and I honestly don't know how I would even quantitated that.

plus the fact if he and Nancy are ACE and then she goes and marries another ACE right after...it all really strains the bounds of credulity.

You're going to have to clarify this one for me, because my headcanon works with Nancy not being ace and her new guy also not being ace. Then you've got John taking more covert missions because there are problems at home because even though he's really trying, the attraction's just not there.

It all goes down to the feel you get from a character I suppose. I read surprised, slightly uncomfortable stares when you read lust (and admittedly I am bad at picking up this). I will tell you though, that body language, passivity, attitude, lack of significant romantic thread through the story, group being a driving force, Sheppard mostly codes ace to me. And that's not something I say about a lot of characters. And it feels true to me in part because he does have the canon passes and the attempt at marriage. Because a lot of time society tends to tell you that you're broken if you don't want romance, so you try to fake it instead.

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. And that's cool in itself.

[esteefee]

I honestly don't remember much about the Larrin episode

and you don't seem to remember much about the Chaya date either...I did think it was pretty romantic at the time. And it really pissed off Rodney. :D

I think it's probably easy to think of John as ace if you aren't watching the bits where he's acting sexual toward women. It doesn't happen that often, it's true. And I'm glad for you about that.

However, I don't know how John would approach a sexually active woman for an asexual marriage.

In any event, I think yes, best left to go write and read John as you would have him. He sure is fun. :)

[busaikko]

However, I don't know how John would approach a sexually active woman for an asexual marriage.

John being roughly the same age as I am, and assuming Nancy is as well, asexuality wasn't anywhere near as well-known back in the 1990s, when they would have gotten married. Whether either of them was already sexually active is unknown, as is whether they disclosed their experience. It's entirely possible that they both were "waiting for marriage", and that John assumed he'd be less nervous and more into the whole sex thing once he was married. These things happen, and most often not out of a willful intent to deceive.

[busaikko]

(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.

[trolllogicfics.livejournal.com]

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.

You've managed to hit the vibes I get from John in a way that was 100000x more coherent than what I was managing to say. And this rings very true for a lot of the ace folk out there (myself included) because this is what society teaches. If it's not working, just keep going until it clicks. What I see in Sheppard through the series are Not-Quite romances with dubious chemistry that are broken up with by long periods where romance isn't even vaguely hinted at, where Sheppard manages to hold himself so stiffly people don't even try to touch him.

[starfoozle.livejournal.com]

Hey, you can totally flirt with someone, kiss, or look at boobs and still not be interested in actually having sex with somebody! (I'm speaking from personal experience here -- trust me, it happens sometimes.) I even know a couple of ace folks IRL who are happily married. Being asexual doesn't mean you can't engage in these behaviors, all it means is that you just tend to navigate them a little differently. And in that regard I think OP's theory is very much valid. :)

[esteefee]

Right, it's the whole actively kissing her and pursuing sex thing that seems un-ACE-like. Which he does multiple times. That in conjunction with his marriage makes it seem unlikely.

[starfoozle.livejournal.com]

Ah, all up to interpretation, I suppose. To each their own. For the record, you don't need to capitalize ace -- it's not an acronym, just short for asexual.