We can probably cut the discussion that begins with "Not to mention that, according to the show, only the Norse gods. . ." and ends with ". . . Enemy Mine basis with the SGC a few times. I think the second comment demonstrates that the first is incorrect.
But other than that, I think we need to just focus on moving debate about examples to Discussion or Headscratchers, since like everything on the YMMV page, it's a subjective trope. I had cut the original retort to the Hathor example originally ("On the other hand, it's not only possible but probable. . .") because that issue is already in Headscratchers but the other Troper pitched a fit and I figured it wasn't worth fighting over.
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Make that:
We can probably cut the discussion that begins with "Not to mention that, according to the show, only the Norse gods. . ." and ends with ". . . Enemy Mine basis with the SGC a few times." I think the second comment demonstrates that the first is objectively, factually incorrect.
Why did you respond to yourself with a correction rather than editing your first comment?
Edited by Westrim I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
Why did you respond to yourself with a correction rather than editing your first comment?
Edited by Westrim I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
- blinks* *blinks* You can edit? . . . Oh, the button is on the top right corner, not at the bottom of the page. That was dumb.
*shrugs* Yeah, the pencil icon. Don't worry about it, we all miss something. The important part is recognizing it, so good job.
Edited by Westrim I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
*shrugs* Yeah, the pencil icon. Don't worry about it, we all miss something. The important part is recognizing it, so good job.
Edited by Westrim I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.
This entry is Thread Mode, can it be trimmed down abit, please?
- Unfortunate Implications:
- The idea that nearly every ancient religion was a creation of either outright evil aliens or (at best) a well-meaning lie by different aliens does lead to certain... implications about modern faiths (especially since worship of Thor — at least as the figure we are familiar with — is probably a good deal less "ancient" than Judaism or Hinduism, or even Christianity). With few exceptions the issue was danced around onscreen but the implications are there.
- Not to mention that, according to the show, only the Norse gods were benevolent, but the gods worshiped by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Sumerians, Africans, Chinese, Japanese and Indians were all evil. In other words, only the gods of white people are benevolent, colored people are slaves to evil snake tyrants.
- Not universally so. Each of those has at least some friendly figures, who were "punished" by the Goa'uld. And in the one case, they point out that Lord Yu is credited with numerous positive influences on ancient China, and he's among the "friendliest" System Lords, inasmuch as he cooperated on an Enemy Mine basis with the SGC a few times.
- I don't know about Atlantis and Universe, but SG-1 really doesn't deal with race very well. Consider:
- The Tollan are supposed to descended from ancient Central Americans, since the name "Tollan" refers to two capitals of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican empires, specifically Teotihuacan and Tula-Hidalgo. And yet every last Tollan is played by a white actor.
- Zipacna was a Mayan god. Yet he is also played by a white actor. (Which makes his traditional Mayan costume in "Pretense" look so ridiculous you just can't take him seriously.)
- Kali actually was portrayed by an Indian actress, but a light-skinned one. Kali is supposed to have very dark skin. And then there's the issue of cultural appropriation: Hinduism is still the faith of millions of people and portraying one of their goddesses as an alien parasite is grossly insensitive.
- SG-1 is a team of four people. Three are from Earth, one is not. Three are white, one isn't. Guess which one isn't.
- The uncensored version of the pilot, in which the Goa'uld strip two women down to nothing and Mind Rape them. One of them did full-frontal nudity for no real reason; one didn't. Guess which one was white.
- Rape isn't handled very well either, particularly when the victim is male. Sha're apologizes for her pregnancy. Daniel's experience at Hathor's hands is never brought up again. In "Brief Candle" O'Neil is drugged by a woman who then proceeds to "have sex" with him. It doesn't occur to anyone that this fully qualifies as rape, and O'Neil and the woman even go on to become friends.
- The episode "Hathor," in which the titular villainness shows up at Cheyenne Mountain and seduces all the men, leaving Teal'c and all the women to stand against her. This is EXTREMELY heteronormative. What about gay men? Lesbian/bisexual women? Even in the days of Don't Ask Don't Tell, I highly doubt every single person in that base is 100% straight.
- On the other hand, it's not only possible but probable that the pheromones were coded for genetic sex, not sexual orientation. Slightly heteronormative, yes, but it's much simpler for the chemicals to work on something as easily identifiable as a Y-chromosome than it is for them to decode the many variables responsible for orientation.
- Still homophobic, since we live in a world where gays and lesbians are constantly told to change who they are and become heterosexual. And it's also saying that men are innately straight if you just tweak a few chemicals. Furthermore, the plot is also extremely sex-negative. It portrays female sexuality as evil and destructive and men as horndogs who literally think with their dicks. Gender Flip it (which the Marvel Star Trek Voyager comics did back in the late '90s - a sexy alien man showed up and sex-hypnotized the women), and now women are being portrayed as irrational girls who can't handle their own sexuality.
I went ahead and removed the Best Known for the Fanservice examples, because I'm pretty sure they don't count.
I could be wrong here, but I really don't think that this episode has that reputation. It's more known for its Contamination Situation plot.
More likely than the previous example, but I still don't think that it has that reputation. It's the series premiere.
Hathor is almost exclusively known for her extremely bad debut episode, to the point that it's joked about later in the series.