Sex, Gender Issues, and Stargate SG-1
By Charlotte Miller
“…we try to make the stories that we tell within this big franchise as socially redeeming as possible….for our writers and myself, the heart of good storytelling always comes down to, What’s the message that we’re trying to get across here?”–Stargate Executive Producer Michael Greenburg in a recent interview.
Literary science fiction has long proven itself a worthy platform from which to address issues of social concern, and much of television?s science fiction programming has continued that tradition. More than thirty years ago, the original Star Trek ventured where no American television series had gone before to present many viewers sight of their first interracial kiss, and allegories echoing the issues equality and racism. More than a television franchise alone, Star Trek created some of the most culturally significant programming of its time, and, in our modern day, Stargate SG-1–the progenitor of the Stargate franchise–has the potential of becoming a worthy inheritor in that same tradition.
Now in season eight of the phenomenally popular television series, The Powers That Be behind Stargate SG-1 have distinguished themselves with the return of an onscreen relationship that often carries a “not-so-heterosexual” subtext.
The friendship between Jack O?Neill and Daniel Jackson has been, for many viewers, the heart of Stargate SG-1 since the inception of the series, and is an extraordinary supportive and understanding example of intense same-sex bonding. While both men have been married to women in the past, it seems beyond doubt to many viewers that the closest and most important relationship for both men at present is the one shared between them, and, while the bonds forged between Jack and Daniel appear to be particularly strong, they are not the only examples of same-sex bonding on SG-1.
Perhaps the particular strength of the Stargate franchise is the willingness to not rely on gender stereotyping in the portrayal of its male characters. Both Stargate SG-1 and its sister series, Atlantis, boast extraordinarily unique male characters. SG-1’s Daniel Jackson and Atlantis’s Rodney McKay, arguably the most popular characters on both series, exhibit characteristics not often associated with males on action-adventure or science fiction series. Both are emotionally driven. Both are more likely to talk than reach for a gun, and, while brilliant, both are also flawed and very human.
SG-1’s Jack O’Neill, while on the surface cut from the cloth of gender stereotype, becomes something more over the course of the first seasons of the series, emotionally open, communicative, even touchingly vulnerable where children are concerned and in his relationship to Daniel Jackson.
It is perhaps in this bending of gender roles and issues of sexual preference and same-sex bonding that the Stargate franchise has found its forte. Not only are the issues present within the series, but, to the great credit of all involved, they have at times been openly embraced both by the actors involved and The Powers That Be behind the series.
Michael Shanks, the actor portraying Daniel Jackson, openly speaks with fans about the less-than-heterosexual subtext often present between his character and that of Jack O’Neill, and has stated openly on one of the series DVDs that their bantering style of communication is due in part to “homosexual tension.”
The Powers That Be behind the series, such as Executive Producers, writers and showrunners Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright, producer, writer and director Peter DeLuise, and producer and director Martin Wood, have acknowledged, both directly to fans at convention appearances and in the DVD commentaries, the emotional bonding between the two male characters, and the at-times homosexual nature of the relationship as it is seen by many viewers, and they have not been loath to play to this viewpoint.
Perhaps one of the primary charms of the characters of Jack O?Neill and Daniel Jackson, as well as the relationship between the two men, is the fact these same Powers That Be have never found a need to clarify the actual sexual preference of either character, or the true nature of the relationship between them. They are simply male characters involved in a close, caring, often physically demonstrative relationship, not male characters limited by any preconceptions of sexual identity, sexual self-definition, or sexual preference.
This is especially significant considering views expressed by showrunner Cooper concerning his own personal discomfort at seeing men touch other men?s faces, and perhaps it speaks much to events that have transpired on the series throughout the years.
While the Jack and Daniel friendship was a significant part of the series throughout its first three seasons, the opening of season four found the introduction of a red-herring of a relationship between Jack and Sam Carter, the female subordinate in his chain of command as USAF colonel and commander of the SG-1 team.
Concurrently, The Powers That Be behind Stargate found it necessary to begin limiting the role of Daniel Jackson, pushing that character into the background and minimizing or eliminating from episodes the caring relationship that had existed between Daniel and Jack throughout the years.
Instead of the emotionally open, caring Jack whom viewers had come to expect, they were all too often presented with a Jack straight-jacketed into male stereotypes. So too were viewers suddenly presented with a Sam Carter adapted to stereotypical female norms, at the same time they were introduced to a sexily clad female character in an attempt to appeal to a younger male viewing audience.
Michael Shanks, unhappy with the wallpapering of his character and Daniel?s exclusion from the team, left the series at the end of season five, engendering the shout literally heard round the world as an unprecedented groundswell of support rose in demand that he and his character be returned to the series.
Daniel did return after a year, and for a time in early season seven viewers were treated to a resumption of the Jack and Daniel interaction that for many had become the heart of the series, although latter season seven took on a troublingly sexist and latently homophobic feel as, after an extended absence of focus on the Jack and Sam relationship during the year Daniel had been gone and in the early days of his return, the latter half of the season shifted direction yet again back to that heterosexual and admittedly ?unlikely? pseudo-romance.
This shift in focus to “Jack and Sam” occurred yet again concurrently with the sidelining of the Daniel character, and with an elimination of virtually all caring and concern expressed toward Daniel by any of the characters of SG-1.
Early season eight has yet again seen a resumption of the Jack and Daniel interaction, friendship and bantering so often referred to as “like an old married couple,” and to a degree unprecedented since the early days of SG-1.
Daniel has increasingly become the focus of the series as the season has progressed, stepping up to an unacknowledged lead position of Stargate SG-1 in the reduced filming schedule of series lead Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O’Neill), a position likely to continue in season nine as Anderson has yet to sign for a return to the show.
Although the writing and presentation of the character of Sam Carter continues all too often to be sexist in nature, little has been seen throughout the early part of the season to point toward the “unlikely” Jack and Sam romance.
Yet, as the final episodes of season eight unfold, the troubling pattern established in season four, and reinforced in season seven, begins to emerge once more. The focus yet again in the latter season shifts in the episode Citizen Joe to unacknowledged “feelings” between Jack and Sam.
Immediately thereafter Daniel is separated from his teammates in the first half of Reckoning, is considered missing and presumed dead, and yet again the viewer is treated to an almost total lack of feeling in Jack’s response to the assumed death of his supposed best friend.
Of even more concern is that spoilers for the few remaining episodes of the season focus almost exclusively, for the first time ever, on apparently clarifying Jack’s sexuality once and for all, revealing him to be “caught in bed” with a female passing-fling, and yet again kissing Sam, his female subordinate in the chain of command, with a spoiler released by Richard Dean Anderson hinting broadly that Jack and Sam will get together as a couple only for something to yet again intervene.
Most troubling of all is the fact that Robert C. Cooper made mention on the Lost City DVD commentary that they will be dealing with the “Daniel/O?Neill thing”… “at the end of season eight.” As Richard Dean Anderson has made it clear he is unlikely to sign for season nine, the final view Stargate SG-1 viewers are likely to have of Jack O’Neill will be these final episodes of season eight. However, the handling of these few remaining episodes of the season may tell viewers a great deal more about Mr. Cooper than about General Jack O’Neill.
One of the primary appeals of Stargate SG-1 in its early days was the emotional connectivity of the characters. They cared about one another. As actress Amanda Tapping (Sam Carter) said in 1997, “the beauty of the relationship between the four of us on the team is this great friendship that we have, and this wonderful respect and admiration for each other. Adding anything into that mix would be silly, because I think right now it works as a team of really good friends.”
We cared about the characters because they cared about each other. We cried when one of them was hurt or lost because they cried for one another. We worried over them and bonded with them and ultimately loved them because the love was there each for the other within the members of the team, and sex and gender issues, sexual preferences, and sexuality did not enter into the mix.
That, perhaps, is the heart of the promise of the Stargate franchise. Gene Roddenberry’s epic vision of a United Federation of Planets, a moral concept perhaps best typified in the Vulcan mantra of IDIC, “infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” brought real social worth to the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry’s realization that we’re all the same beneath the color of our skins echoes over the decades since in haunting metaphors many of us are unlikely to forget.
His vision echoes on Stargate even today, in the interracial kisses shared between actor Christopher Judge (Teal’c) and caucasian actresses, and in the Jaffa Rebellion that so often mirrors the struggle for civil rights. While Star Trek’s Lieutenant Uhuru may have served the position of glorified receptionist on the Enterprise bridge, Stargate’s inclusion of Sam Carter as a full member of the team, and now leader of SG-1, and the command role of Elizabeth Weir on Atlantis, shows how far we have come in the decades since.
Perhaps in this time of debate over gay rights and sexual preference issues, when ignorance and homophobia can still cost people their lives and help to decide national elections, when we’re more concerned about what takes place in our neighbors’ bedrooms than on foreign battlefields, Stargate might find its own vision.
You, Mr. Powers that Be of Stargate, are the voice of our time, just as Gene Roddenberry was of his. When you are being discussed thirty years hence, what is it you will you have said?
Discuss “Sex, gender issues and Stargate SG-1” by Charlotte Miller at our SG1Solutions Forum
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I just wanted to say that I’m *so* glad we have an open door policy here at Solutions on fan essays and editorials. If not for welcoming many voices, we’d never be challenged to think outside the box by articulate and persuasive articles such as this one. Thank you, Charlotte.
Excellent! Very well-written and convincingly presented. There’s no doubt there was a change, and there’s no doubt who was being phased out and why. Too bad some men are too afraid to show caring and concern for other male friends without freaking out that their masculinity might be called into question.
Thank you for expressing your perspective/interpretation of the seven and a half seasons of SG-1. Now it’s my turn.
My ethnic background allows men to touch and hug and even kiss other men without anyone questioning their sexual preference. Perhaps that’s why I perceive no undercurrent of less-than-heterosexuality in Jack and Daniel’s relationship. I also don’t think the banter they have is sexually significant either. I have a number of close friends of both genders with whom I banter but that does not mean I’m ready –or even tempted — to jump into the sack with any of them. And no one can brand me a prude.
As for TPTB not being loath to play to fans’ interpretation of the strong emotional, maybe-homosexual bond between Jack and Daniel? That may be the case, because perhaps they acknowledge that some fans do see their relationship that way and why try to dispel that and only make those fans angry and quit watching the show? Or perhaps they understand that all art and media are different to each individual. Ya know, if I were writing or producing a TV show or movie, I hope I could leave some things open to interpretation. That’s one way to connect to and hold the viewer.
Interesting statement you make about Jackson and McKay being the most favorite characters on SG-1 and Atlantis. Good thing you added “arguably,” because on this, I would. On what do you base this assertion? I can’t help but think that the characters of O’Neill and Sheppard (please note: that’s “O’Neill” with two Ls and “Sheppard” with two Ps) are just as popular. In fact, I’ll venture to guess there may even be a large contingent of people who favors the “team” character.
So you may ask that if I don’t see Jack and Daniel as a couple (I see that as a whiskey made in Lynchburg, TN) then I must see Jack and Sam together? The answer would be “no.” Again, I know there are many vocal fans who want them to be a couple and to couple, but I’m not one. I think that little undercurrent is really one of the forbidden fruit thing. Yeah, probably some lust going on there, but long-term romantic love? Don’t think so. All I can say is thank heaven the Air Force required the writers to keep true to AF regulations about fraternization if the show wanted to maintain the AF’s endorsement. I watch Stargate SG-1 for the action, the adventure, the team camaraderie and agape that exists among all the members, and the thought-provoking sci-fi premises. A little romance is fine, but I go elsewhere when I want to watch romance. There’s plenty of that around in the movies and on TV. Don’t need or want it on this show. This is one of those things best left to the viewers’ imaginations.
I haven’t heard the Cooper commentary yet on the Lost City DVD, so I don’t know the complete context of the remark you quoted. I do agree that Jack has seemed to have put some distance between him and Daniel, but another plausible viewer explanation for that is that Jack can’t forgive Ascended Daniel for not helping him bust out of Ba’al’s clutches. And don’t forget how calmly Jack took the news of Carter’s apparent death when Thor brought him out of stasis in New Order. What’s a plausible explanation for that, if you believe Season 7 and Season 8 happenings are to declare Jack a straight guy and to get him and Sam together?
I agree with you about Star Trek and about the presence of women in important leadership roles in both Stargates. ‘Bout time. Perhaps what Roddenberry and Martin Luther King, Jr., envisioned is coming true: that it is about our abilities and character and not about the color of our skin or presence or absence of a Y chromosome in our DNA. And my vision: people can love one another without fear of labels or assumptions, and that love doesn’t always mean there’s sex attached.
I don’t think it really matters if the team members are hetrosexual or not. Its not a soap opera or drama where the main focus is on the sexual
relationships between one person or another. I think that the important thing is that these people have worked so closely for eight years and have become like family to each other. Especially since every single one of them have lost contact with their families.
Sure the show may hint at Carter/Jack relationship every now and then, But niether have made the choice to leave the military to be together because the bigger picture is two important. I think people should stop over analysing the sexual relationships between characters and just acknowledge that they are all important to each other and focus on the show as a whole.
I read this and was concerned about the part where Robert C.Cooper has a problem with men touching other mens face. Does he dislike homosexuals? I hope not as that is a very narrowminded view to have.
Also, i HATED the romance between Carter and O’Neill, it would ruin the show if they got ever got together properly, as to me, they don’t suit each other AT ALL. In fact in season 1 and 2, i thought Carter liked Jackson a lot.
Re: I thought Carter liked Jackson a lot.
Not that way. Carter and Daniel would be sending a boy to do a man’s job.
you know I hadn`t really gone that deeply into their stereo typical sexual preferences. I saw it as a group of great friends going through so much together. That there was an unbreakable bond between them. And I didn`t really mind the Jack and Sam will they won`t they. They played it well, in a way that they were detached and professional enough not to balls everything up and still get on with the job in hand.
As a fan of Jack and Daniel since they were introduce over a decade ago in the Stargate Motion Picture, I have always felt that their relationship went beyond friendship. As the proud owner of all seven season of the Series (And eagerly awaiting season 8 on DVD)I have seen many, many things that would lead me to believe that there could be more than just a deep, close friendship between Jack and Daniel. I have ALWAY’s felt that the Sam/Jack deal was forced. That it was just a ploy to throw the fans off and away from loving the idea of whatever close relationship that Jack and Daniel shared.
I don’t buy the Sam/Jack undertones. I think personally, they’re more onesided and all on Sam’s part. She should just go find Pete, marry him, and be Happy. The idea of Sam and Jack just seems wrong. It’s like trying to marry a snake and mouse. Eventually, the Snake will snap and have the mouse for dinner.
Just to clear this up… I am not Anti-Sam. I actually like the character of Samantha Carter. I think Amanda Tapping is adorable. However, I am anit-Sam/Jack. In all the AU’s that the show show’s us, Sam and Jack never make it together. It’s always Jack and Daniel left alive in the end. It’s always going to be Jack and Daniel. … Jack shows the most emotion (Whether it’s anger, remorse, hurt, resentment, fear, ect…) when Daniel is around. Jack is constantly touching Daniel. The man is not only a man, he’s MILITARY. He has no trouble touching Daniel. Fixing his clothes, straighteing his glasses, ruffling his hair, hugging him… you have to be a very secure man to do all those things with another male. With Sam, Jack is rigid, uncomfortable, trapped… Sam is the one doing the chasing, if any of y’all have noticed, not Jack. Sam seeks out Jack, while Jack seeks out Daniel…. and Daniel seeks out Jack. Jack is always the first person/Name that Daniel calls when he’s in trouble, or scared. Sam and Teal’c are always an after thought. Jack does the same thing, he’s more concerned about Daniel’s welfare than he is with Sam and Teal’c’s and don’t try and tell me that it’s because Daniel is a civillian because we all know that Daniel has been anything buy a “civillian” from the moment Jack called Daniel Space Monkey.
Sam may have strong feelings for Jack and Jack may sometimes apear to have some feelings for Sam, but it’s Daniel who makes Jack’s face light up and it’s Daniel that always seems to be entering the picture whenever it looks like Sam might make somekind of move on Jack… Mind you, I said Sam making the move, not Jack making it. … it’s always Sam that initiates whatever she wants to happen between them. But, it’s Daniel that Jack gravitates too. (just like Jack is who Daniel gravitates too.)
Think of it this way… Daniel knows more about Jack than I think even Jack knows about himself. He knows his habits, what he likes and dislikes, what his favorite cearal is, that he never locks his doors. Daniel knows Everything about Jack… just like Jack know’s everything about Daniel.
Yeah, so both men have been married to woman before. And both men are no longer married to either woman. Granted, Daniel’s was killed. But still, Daniel didn’t choose Shar’e, she was chosen for him. Yes, he fell in love with her, but if he had to choose all over again between Her and Jack, I know in my mind and in my heart, he’d pick Jack over her. The Same goes for Jack. I believe he’ll always choose Daniel over… everyone else.
The Sam/Jack thing is normal for people to latch onto, but the Jack/Daniel thing is what the show is all about…has always been about. Lets face it, you take away either Jack or Daniel (like season 6 of SG1) and the show faulters, slips and dies…. Bring them back together and the show rises high and stands tall.
What Jack and Daniel have goes beyond fiendship, brother hood, even beyond the realm of lovers. They are soulmates and therefore will be forever tied together…connected in a way that may seem unnatural to some, but seem perfectly natural to all that chose to see and accept.
In the end, Jack may or may not Choose Sam, but it’s Daniel that Jack will always seek out. (And Vise versa for Daniel with Jack.)
In my own personal opinion, I feel that when the time comes for the show to end (Which seems to be why season 9 is going to kill it.), then it should end the way it began… with Jack and Daniel together.
I’ve only watched the first 4 seasons of Stargate SG-1 (I have the 5 boxset waiting to be watched!), and a single episode of season 7 (the one with Anna), so I can’t really comment on the later series with much authority (despite the spoilers I’ve come across!), but I will say that Charlotte and Bec in particular are very convincing. I’ve heard about the deterioration of Sam’s character in s7- which is a real shame; in the early seasons she’s really promising as a strong female character who can hold her own. Amanda Tapping herself said, I think it was shortly after or during the filming of 4, that taking the Sam/Jack thing any further wouldn’t happen because the whole message of it was that yes, sometimes the feelings are there when you really *can’t* act on then, and so you *shouldn’t*.
People will point to episodes like the one where we first meet Anise, with the super-power-giving armbands (I’m really bad with episode names, sorry!), and say that it ‘proves’ that Sam/Jack feelings are canon from s4- but I actually didn’t see it that way. If Daniel had been on the other side of that force field, do you really think Jack would have saved himself, even if you *are* a Jack/Sam shipper? Were Daniel and Teal’c showing the behaviour of people who only cared as much as was ‘appropriate’ for their team mates when they made the entirely informed decision not to leave the others behind to save themselves? I think that it should be clear to anyone who really watches the show that all of SG-1 care for all of the other members more than they technically should. The relationships between them are different, yes, but you can’t deny the strength of the bond between any of them. It’s against regulations for any of them to be even as close as they are. And even if Jack/Sam felt right, it shouldn’t happen, because it undermines both characters- in particular Sam from the way it’s apparently being handled- far too much. They’re both dedicated Air Force officers; they wouldn’t jeapordise *everything* on the chance they might work out as a couple. And frankly, who really thinks they would? It wouldn’t be ‘wrong’ for Jack to call Sam ‘Sam’ instead of ‘Carter’ every once in a while; yet he doesn’t, *ever*. Sure, there’s sparkage between them sometimes- yet it’s far more frequent and pronounced between him and Daniel. And ‘resolving’ any of the character relationships is wrong on so many levels- in a military environment such as the SGC is, any romantic insinuations have to be just that- insinuated, implied, *unresolved*. It’s all about the UST. And Jack and Daniel do UST better than Jack and Sam do.
I gotta agree with what Charlotte, Maria, and Kirina have said. I don’t see anything less than an incredibly deep respect and friendship between Jack and Daniel. I definitely think they love each other, but I see it as a platonic love. A brotherly love. I mean, I don’t think it could be anything else when it’s someone you’ve fought with and bled for, for nearly eight years now.
I’m really not a romantic sort of person–I’ll take action and angst any day over romance–but I’ve always thought the love between Daniel and Sha’re has been the most perfectly romantic thing about the entire Stargate franchise. The fact that Daniel offered an old guy a candy bar and suddenly found himself married to said man’s daughter; that struck me as very humorous. Especially since Daniel initially saw it as a huge problem, an “oh crap, now what do I do?” sort of thing. But then he and Sha’re ended up being perfect for each other and there was no problem. I don’t think Daniel can get together with anyone else in a romantic manner now, just because after you’ve had the perfect person, no one else compares, you know? I really think it’d cheapen the show if Daniel ever suddenly gets another girl. Or guy.
I also have to agree with what so many others have already said concerning the Jack/Sam thing. I don’t think it’d happen. The only sexual tension there is the fact that it’s a forbidden thing. But if it ever happened, I think the two characters would quickly find that the grass is NOT greener on the other side. I definitely would love to see Sam get it together with Pete.
But here’s an argument I would like to make. Several people now have attempted to disprove Jack having strong feeling for other characters because of a lack of reaction on his part whenever he believes said character to be dead. I don’t think that’s a good way to prove Jack doesn’t have feelings. I think Jack has a problem grieving. I mean, when Charlie died, he grieved so hard he buried himself in a suicidal depression and drove his wife away. Fortunately Daniel was there with the Abydos mission to drag Jack back up into normalcy (or what passes for it on this show). And at some point between the end of the movie and the beginning of the show, Jack must have opened his eyes enough to look back on the experience and realize just how close to the edge he was. I think it probably scared him. And for that reason, I don’t think Jack can mourn properly. So whenever someone points out that Jack didn’t seem terribly torn up when he thought Daniel was dead, or when he thought Sam was dead, I don’t think that’s any reason to say that Jack doesn’t care. Remember too, he’s also military; he’s trained to not show his emotions.