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*sighs*
I can see we're going to lose a lot of John/Teyla shippers this season.
And, you know, that depresses me far more than the Teyla/Kanaan relationship in the show right now.
I really rather like Teyla/Kanaan as it's been shown at this point. Heavy-handed, perhaps, but that's symptomatic of Stargate writing. I'm slightly terrified that they're going to Mess It All Up, of course, because, hey, Dwama Llama options.
But what I like about the Teyla/Kanaan vs. Teyla/John dynamics is that they show us a lot more about Teyla herself and who she sees herself to be. Her life has been a balance between the ordinary and the conflictual: living peacefully vs. the chaos of culling, her people's agrarian ways vs. Atlantis' technology, and most importantly, her desire to be with her people and her desire to be doing something bigger.
So it is with Kanaan (the supportive man in her life, able to step back and watch her go out) and John (the man who challenges her, who forces her out of some of her comfort zones). Teyla doesn't belong to her people, she doesn't belong to Atlantis. She's a divided character in terms of what she's doing: her past is her people, her present is Atlantis, her future...well, that depends on whether they beat the Wraith and the Asurans or not.
One reason I've always liked Teyla is because she's a "woman" character - a character who embodies a lot of the conflicts and biases and issues that women face - both in the show, and from the fandom. (I don't know if there's an accepted term for it in fannish meta-circles.)
From her clothing, to how she goes about questioning authority, to how she changes people's courses of action, to the divide between 'two sides' of her life... I won't say it's 'stereotypically female' but it does embody a lot of the angles and difficulties of women in the modern world.
The divide between the two sides of her life is what the Teyla/Kanaan and Teyla/John relationships represent to me. And both of them give insight into the kind of woman Teyla is: one who wants to make a difference to the universe herself, but knows that she has a life reliant on her; one who enjoys being 'at rest', but who also yearns for a challenge; one who feels the weight of balancing a child against a dangerous career and being unwilling to sacrifice either herself for her child's needs or her child for her own needs.
Kanaan might have been a hybrid in body (and we've still got a lot to learn about him before he becomes a 'real boy' and not just 'Teyla's house husband') but Teyla's a hybrid in soul. There's no "cure" for that.
Thinking it over, with this episode, I've shown myself to be primarily a Teyla-fan, not a John/Teyla-fan. John/Teyla is an acceptable sacrifice in the name of getting more insight into Teyla. Which I think we've been getting the last few episodes, quite pleasingly.
It's not as much as I'd like (I could go all Teyla, all the time), but it's more than I've been getting the last few seasons.
Right, so that morphed a little unexpectedly. You know when you start off at point A and then somehow ramble your way across to point B and are slightly surprised to have arrived?
I can see we're going to lose a lot of John/Teyla shippers this season.
And, you know, that depresses me far more than the Teyla/Kanaan relationship in the show right now.
I really rather like Teyla/Kanaan as it's been shown at this point. Heavy-handed, perhaps, but that's symptomatic of Stargate writing. I'm slightly terrified that they're going to Mess It All Up, of course, because, hey, Dwama Llama options.
But what I like about the Teyla/Kanaan vs. Teyla/John dynamics is that they show us a lot more about Teyla herself and who she sees herself to be. Her life has been a balance between the ordinary and the conflictual: living peacefully vs. the chaos of culling, her people's agrarian ways vs. Atlantis' technology, and most importantly, her desire to be with her people and her desire to be doing something bigger.
So it is with Kanaan (the supportive man in her life, able to step back and watch her go out) and John (the man who challenges her, who forces her out of some of her comfort zones). Teyla doesn't belong to her people, she doesn't belong to Atlantis. She's a divided character in terms of what she's doing: her past is her people, her present is Atlantis, her future...well, that depends on whether they beat the Wraith and the Asurans or not.
One reason I've always liked Teyla is because she's a "woman" character - a character who embodies a lot of the conflicts and biases and issues that women face - both in the show, and from the fandom. (I don't know if there's an accepted term for it in fannish meta-circles.)
From her clothing, to how she goes about questioning authority, to how she changes people's courses of action, to the divide between 'two sides' of her life... I won't say it's 'stereotypically female' but it does embody a lot of the angles and difficulties of women in the modern world.
The divide between the two sides of her life is what the Teyla/Kanaan and Teyla/John relationships represent to me. And both of them give insight into the kind of woman Teyla is: one who wants to make a difference to the universe herself, but knows that she has a life reliant on her; one who enjoys being 'at rest', but who also yearns for a challenge; one who feels the weight of balancing a child against a dangerous career and being unwilling to sacrifice either herself for her child's needs or her child for her own needs.
Kanaan might have been a hybrid in body (and we've still got a lot to learn about him before he becomes a 'real boy' and not just 'Teyla's house husband') but Teyla's a hybrid in soul. There's no "cure" for that.
Thinking it over, with this episode, I've shown myself to be primarily a Teyla-fan, not a John/Teyla-fan. John/Teyla is an acceptable sacrifice in the name of getting more insight into Teyla. Which I think we've been getting the last few episodes, quite pleasingly.
It's not as much as I'd like (I could go all Teyla, all the time), but it's more than I've been getting the last few seasons.
Right, so that morphed a little unexpectedly. You know when you start off at point A and then somehow ramble your way across to point B and are slightly surprised to have arrived?
no subject
So, far I've liked what I"ve seen in the sense that it's what and how I've pictured Teyla. My love for John and Teyla extends to what those two have shown me onscreen.
But Teyla is the reason that I love this show and the one that I am truly a fan of and for that reason, this whole plot with Kanan is so far working for me.
Yes, there is a lack of "physical intimacy" between them, but like you Tie...that's fine with me! There's a side of Teyla there that I've seen, but I would be more specific in writing that it's not solely on Kanan but as a resulf of her child with Kanan. Would I have seen this side of Teyla if it had not been for her child? Maybe not as passionate, not as careless and as determined as she was to find Kanan, to find the father of her child.
In Broken Ties her struggle to return or not to return to the team had nothing to do with Kanan but about her child. And once she knew that Kanan was going to be there and that he wasn't going to hold her decision against her and leave her and her child, the decision became easier for her.
So, in seeing this side of Teyla, I think the only reason we are seein so much depth is because of her child. She has had to adjust to a different way of life because now she thinks of the one that depends on her; her son.
The other difference I see here, is that Kanan doesn't bring anything in Teyla that I don't already know, the woman in Teyla I've see more with John.
And again, it's my perception...but in this particular episode, Teyla's argument with John kept bringing me back to that now famous book title that turn into a slogan, Man are from Mars Women are from Venus...I could be getting this title all wrong, btw...*wink*
But my point is, John's reaction did show that typical male side that thinks that what he thought was what was best and what the woman would think was best....his line of I thought you needed some time with your child vs telling you about Ronon, is a perfect example of how men can never get it right because they don't think like a women, and the same goes for Teyla. She expected Joh to tell her and in him not telling her about Ronon, she thought he was being careless and arrogant, when in fact, he was thinking about her. The same goes for his decision to put off Wooselys' order to find a replacement for her while she makes up her mind, and yet, she thinks that this was only a tough decision on her while he tells her he has been thinking about it and he does know the tough choice she has to make and even added that he would support whichever decision she makes...
So, for me the real depth to her role and the real turnover to the Teyla the woman has been because of her relationship with Kanan that resulted in her life changing experience, motherhood. And this bit has changed her as her role of not a leader, or a lover, but more of a team mate, a mother, and a friend. She wants to continue to be with the team, that was never a question; her concern was with her child and what would happen if she wasn't there, if she got hurt and had a child without a mother...and Kanan told her what she needed to hear, he would have a father.
I do hope this is not the end for JT, and I still have hope. I won't get what I want, but I'm still hopeful. But overall, I do love what I"m seeing in Teyla and I expect it as much despite the fact that yes, I do see a lot of JTers frustrated and unfortunately too, some see it as a negative characterization for Teyla, when in fact to me, it just makes her more wholesome!
no subject
I don't think it is, any more than Sam Carter/Pete Shanahan was the end of Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill in SG1.