Running Sam Carter through the Mary Sue Litmus Test...

[lyssie]

Or something like that. Complete with snarky commentary...

Lets run through the standard Mary Sue Checklist:

1. Character flaws?
Is the character arrogant? Yes. Witness her "my ovaries trump your dick" from season one.
Clumsy? No. It would be hard for her to actually, y'know, manipulate tools if she were clumsy. Oh! But wait, I keep forgetting, everyone has to be clumsy.
Judgemental? Yup.
Have a bad temper? Even with all the crap that's happened to her, no. Which is impressive. But I guess having your mother die is worse than being tortured by a goa'uld.

1b. Is she gorgeous? Beautiful (exotic colored) Eyes? Great body...
Blonde. Blue eyed. Nope. Not exotic. And not gorgeous by everyone's standards (Claudia Black of Farscape isn't, either). She pretty much looks like the average girl next door.

2. Does she make mistakes (more than once a year)?
Let's see. Red Sky, anyone? How about Gemini? Did she let Earth get swallowed by a black hole? Of course, as a well-trained air force officer, I guess she should be making lots of mistakes. After all, our well-trained president makes mistakes. It's a human frailty.

3. Constantly saving the day! ...That would be her job, wouldn't it? Of course, she rarely does it on her own. Without the Colonel's Occam's Razor, or Daniel deciphering glyphs and symbols, or Teal'c being confident, she'd simply do the wrong, more-complicated thing and it would go BOOM.
Around for every emergency? She has no life. I'm sorry, let me repeat that: she has no life. If she had a life, she wouldn't be on base even on her off hours and downtime.
The right person for every job every time? Nope. She's an astrophysicist, not a doctor (I guess they figure a woman should always be field medic. *sarcasm*). She over-thinks situations, she doesn't always see the big picture (although I think the Colonel's influence should have helped that, but we have no idea since all we saw in season 8 was the fucking NID and stupid shit). She is NOT always right.

4. Exceptional talent? (such as ... erp... unusual intelligence or.. a
Naquadah-enhanced-mental-ability to detect the enemy...) She got the naquadah-sensing by getting mind-raped. I'm sorry, was that supposed to be a good thing? Yes, she thinks fast on her feet. She's been trained to do so.

5. Does she often have conflict with other [main] characters (meaning the heros) not just the villains? This one actually applies to NEW characters, but we'll take it in stride. She's worked with these people for eight years now. In that time, she's challenged her CO to arm-wrestling, argued with his orders, and disobeyed them (Bloodlines). Most of her conflicts have been with her CO, or with him leading the way and all four of them bucking the authority of the US government via the SGC. If in eight years she was still having conflicts with the people she works closely with? Something. Is. Wrong.

6. Does she fall in love with your favorite (main) character? Depends. Is it love or lust? Of course, some people prefer Daniel to Jack. Others prefer Teal'c to both of them.

By the way, this test? Is supposed to be applied to a 'new' character. So, if you apply it to season one Sam:

She's judgemental, temperamental, arrogant, disobeys orders, and doesn't love anyone but her ex-fiance.

And she's so green the shiny hasn't worn off of her.

Comments

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

Is the character arrogant? Yes. Witness her "my ovaries trump your dick" from season one.

Oh and her reaction to McKay questioning her theories was pretty much bemusement at the weird little man.
Cos the idea that she wasn't right was weird to her.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I adore watching Sam and McKay together because he totally brings out the worst in her.

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

I love it cos the peeps at the SGC generally don't question her ideas or overwhelming coolness.

They just go with whatever she tells them.

Which means we don't generally see what happens when someone pokes holes in her theories until McKay.
And then we see that she does have an arrogant streak and an ego.
Which given that she's probably always been treated as the 'super smart one' is only to be expected.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

*nod* Very true.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

they kinda almost did that with Hailey's first episode. Hailey had one theory, Sam another. Sam acknowledged both were valid. However, she then said they were mutually exclusive, which they were not. They kinda skirted around that by having Sam immediately explain Jack's predicament before anyone could say, "Uh, Sam? Her being right don't make you wrong, and you being right don't make her wrong."

But I think this was an error on the part of the writer(s). Which brings up another issue - don't you hate it when bad writing becomes a part of a character's canon? Like Sam's Line That Must Not Be Quoted from the pilot episode?

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

I'd have loved to have seen Hailey proved right if only to prove Sam wrong on something.
That would have been interesting to watch because Hailey has spent her whole time at the academy being compared to Sam so there'd be a little ego war going on there.

don't you hate it when bad writing becomes a part of a character's canon?

For the most part it just creates improbable character background cos it tends to crop up in badly researched character history.

However I love that line from the pilot cos it's a prime example of saying something out loud that probably sounded better in your head which makes you cringe before you're even finished the sentence.

She opened her mouth before she engaged her brain and it's great to see that cos it's amusing and real.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

Then there is the whole "we can't shut down the wormhole! Black hole! Neat!" when Jack has to slap her back into reality. I've always liked that bit, although she deserved the smackdown. That's one aspect of the character where we've seen the growth and the change over the years.

My problem with the line from the pilot is that it does't sound better in the head than it does out loud. It sounds very much like a man writing a female character - and getting it not quite right. For me, this creates a canonical problem because I just can't imagine Sam actually saying this, even though she did. It's right up there with Mulder saying, "I'm no psychologist, Scully" in an X-Files episode. I have to kind of erase it and pretend it didn't happen.

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

My problem with the line from the pilot is that it does't sound better in the head than it does out loud.

I supposed I can excuse it that way cos it does sound like the kind of thing I'd think then say and then go OMG that was so lame.
And then facepalm.

I suppose like all character interpretation it comes down to personal identification.
I make those kind of stupid goofs all the time so I can believe it.

I've always liked that bit, although she deserved the smackdown.

I like that too cos we have always seen evidence of Sam kinda getting lost in the science and needing to be dragged back to RL so it doesn't seem OOC.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I like that too cos we have always seen evidence of Sam kinda getting lost in the science and needing to be dragged back to RL so it doesn't seem OOC.

Oh definitely. Sam sometimes forgets to see people as people, and not part of an equation.

[qwirky.livejournal.com]

My problem with the line from the pilot is that it does't sound better in the head than it does out loud. It sounds very much like a man writing a female character - and getting it not quite right. For me, this creates a canonical problem because I just can't imagine Sam actually saying this, even though she did.
I think it gels fine with Sam's character in Season 1, which gradually becomes less intense and fits in more once she realizes no one cares what gender anyone else is. And I guess I'm in the minority, but I love that line. I fell in love with her in that scene, so... *shrug* It made sense to me that a female in the military would feel a male officer was looking down on her because she's a woman.

And I still don't know how to explain the Mulder line except that he meant he wasn't a practicing psychologist, but then it still totally contradicts his whole profiling history anyway, so it was just randomly wrong.

[qwirky.livejournal.com]

Yesh. Though I love the worst in her. It's fun and SNARKY. Sam can be SNARKIFIC. It's wonderful.

*amused*

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

There needs to be more snarky Sam dammit.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the idea that someone might actually challenge her.

I love those two together too, though.

*friends you, hope that's okay*

[jacksrubberduck.livejournal.com]

Yay more friendage!

I just adore the level of snark he brings out in her.
She should snark more.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

She should snark more. Definitely.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*agrees and steals the whole McKay thing to ramble on teh list about*

[liminalliz.livejournal.com]

SHE IS BEAUTIFUL LIEK GODDESSES OF OLD! OMFG! WTF?!

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Not to everyone. And if you'd asked me last year at this time, I would've said, "She's really not that pretty, WHAT are you talking about?"

It's only 'cause I have a thing for brainy blondes (and Kara) that I've discovered I think she's hot/pretty/gorgeous.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

Innit canon that she's a Mary Sue? I mean, Felger provided such analysis, no?

*blames outburst on too much sake*

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

*adores you for not insisting that Sam's stunningly beautiful* That scene in Hathor always annoys me.

[karma-aster.livejournal.com]

She's quite attractive and she has a lovely smile, but no, she's not the most lovely woman ever, I GUESS.

See, I adore her to bits and have some lust going, so to me she's just the grooviest chick ever. But I'll definately admit she's not Mary Sue-pretty, thank GOD.

[qwirky.livejournal.com]

The scene in Hathor indicated that Hathor wouldn't mind snogging her. Frankly, I don't think any woman is "stunningly beautiful" or that any man is "stunning handsome" (or beautiful). Beauty's fairly relative, and if Hathor thought she was hot... well, that was Hathor's opinion. Just like Sam said, "Same to you, freakish lady," and Hathor wasn't hot IMO.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

Word.

I could almost excuse Hathor's wig when she'd just been revived or whatever.

But she was still wearing it when she captured SG-1 at the end of season 2! Good Lord! How can you be a sex goddess and not have a decent wig?!?

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Maybe she thought it was... fashionable?

I mean, the goa'uld aren't known for their sense of refined taste...

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't necessarily say that beauty and hotness have anything to do with each other. And there's no doubt in my mind that my annoyance is irrational - it's a knee-jerk reaction to TV shows where they describe everyone as 'omg stunningly beautiful!' People don't have to be beautiful, ya know?

[livilla.livejournal.com]

*headwall* Obviously, some people live in another dimension than the one we are familiar with.

From your analysis, Sam sounds, you know, FRAKKING HUMAN!

GAH!