fic rec (SGA): Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose by synecdochic

[astridv]

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose by synecdochic
Spoilers: Through Season 2 and conjecture for the future.
Summary: SGC finally stops calling him by December. Rodney celebrates by writing a final exam for his relativity class so difficult that it reduces four students to tears in the exam hall. Upon reflection, he decides to be merciful and offer partial credit.
19,350 words

Achingly beautiful, this is one of the best pieces of fanfic I've ever read, across fandoms. I saw this story rec'd in several places but was at first hesitant to read it, because I knew it involved major character death. But that's not what this story is about. For me, it's about hope (if I want to put it in one word, which I really can't because it wouldn't do it justice). The prose is clear and perfect, and the plot drew me in right from the first paragraph. I had a knot in my stomach the entire time while reading it, and was incapable of putting it down.

Comments

[newscaper.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the great rec. This is the first piece of fic I've read in weeks and it s a keeper. A lot of it felt so real to me, being a instructor (though not professor) myself, as well as having taken some extra physics courses at higher levels than anyone *not* a physics major usually bothers with.

Of course thats just about the cosmetics. The characterization was fantastic -- Rodney's alienation and bitterness as well as the way hes torn with regret for his old life (even though it was too much). Again, one of those stories which transcends the show upon which its based.

IMO, it also transcends what the author originally intended {I read some of the commentary} which, funny enough, strikes me as the one small flaw in it: the slash element.

Everything else, and I mean *everything* is/feels so real, so perfect, that the slash bits (in the background as they are) took me out of the story a little bit. Not sure if I'm making any sense, but Rodney's trajectory here is about *him* and is soooo much bigger than slashy grief for Shepard -- and IMO would have worked just as well with [canonical] platonic mourning.

Reading the authors notes, I know something about what she/he felt like with the story becoming somewhat unexpectedly "bigger" and ultimately better than you were planning/hoping.

Again, great rec.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the DVD commentary yet because I was sort of afraid it would de-mystify the story for me. I didn't want to create a distance. OTOH I'm curious, so now that I've read it a second time, I'll probably look up the commentary.

A lot of it felt so real to me, being a instructor (though not professor) myself, as well as having taken some extra physics courses at higher levels than anyone *not* a physics major usually bothers with.

*nod* I don't know anything about the author but the ambiance felt so real, she certainly knows what she's talking about. Or she's really, really good at research. And it's more than cosmetics, I think... all the detail of physics coursework and administrative paper-pushing, they're an integral part of the story.

and IMO would have worked just as well with [canonical] platonic mourning.

Possibly... I'm not sure though if the emotional impact would've been quite the same. For me, I don't think so. It boils down to taste, I suppose. I'm predominantly a gen reader but I also read plenty of slash, and I'm buying into the McKay/Sheppard pairing in a heartbeat, no convincing or build-up needed. But if you're not used to reading slash, I can see how it might take you out of a fic.

its highly unlikely TPTB would ever do anything truly substantial with these characters.

No question. I watched the S1 finale after having read "Freedom", and soon realized that, still under the influence of the story, I was expecting a level of emotional depth that the show itself just can't (or won't) deliver.

[newscaper.livejournal.com]

Perhaps 'cosmetic' wasn't the best word. I just meant that academia is the setting whereas Rodney himself is the core of the story.

The meat of the story IMO, is Rodney emerging from licking his wounds in self-imposed exile to fight back in his own way by making sure the real legacy of Atlantis - the knowledge they learned - is shared with humanity, even if the whole story of the scarifices it took to get it can never be told.

Trust me, as someone for whom R/S slash has zero resonance, the above take is an incredibly powerful story in its own right.

Loss of innocence, loss of comrades and camaraderie, loss of wonder, loss of their home, are so much more powerful themes than the mourning for Shepard-as-lover. Enough that IMO the distraction of the latter could have been left out entirely.

As to Rodney/Shep and slash in general, I've realized a couple of [heretical] things:

1) A lot of slash writers actually, in a backhanded way, have swallowed the traditional steretypes about male friendships. What the hell does that mean? Well, when they see the portrayal of a close, complex male platonic relationship that doesn't fit the stereotypes of typically [apparently] shallow masculine friendship, why hey, they must really be gay underneath!!

Bah, humbug.

And that's wholly apart from the strain of slashers who were being very deliberately subversive of the original story.

[I think Buffy/Angel is a bit of a special case -- the whole vampire thing has often been a bit androgynous, plus, from what I understand, TPTB saw what the fans were doing and then actively pandered to it in an unusual feedback loop.]

2) Look at the opposite case: what would be the *honest* opinion about male writers slashing female characters left and right? Even where it wasn't merely an excuse for pr0n, it would generally be seen as somehow 'exploiting' or degrading. And where it actually really was better than that, it would still be seen as a quirky spinoff niche, something lesser and not high art.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't really want to get into discussing slash, to be honest... can we agree to disagree on this? It's one of those arguments that pop up on metafandom every couple months. For the first few iterations I followed the discussion, but it's a very circular debate. In the end, with slash it's simply a matter of taste, and there's no arguing about taste. It's an acquired taste, too... I was rather skeptical myself, before I got sucked into Garak/Bashir way back. OTOH once you got handed your slash goggles, it's impossible not to see subtext.

It's like fanfic, in a way. Either you get it or you don't. If someone doesn't have the fic gene, it's very hard to convince them of the appeal (though not impossible!)

[newscaper.livejournal.com]

Agree to disagree :)

But I think the double standard of my number 2 point, while circumstantial and not definitive, certainly carries a LOT of weight as evinced by the apparent [admittedly anecdotal] gender/political views of many, many slashers (readers as well as writers).

I won't at all deny that slashfic can be real "art" (whatever THAT is, LOL), but if the shoe were on the other foot wrt genders, I confidently believe that, as a class, male written femslash would be on the same pedestal.

And for anyone to say the point is moot because there aren't many male fic writers is to attempt to sidestep it.

I think anyone who tried to insist that no such double standard as raised in my #2 would exist, I'd be very inclined to think that they didn't really believe it (either personally, or about the rest of the female fic community at large), and would only be saying so to artificially try to maintain the appearance of logical consistency.

[newscaper.livejournal.com]

OOPS!!!!

should have read:

"if the shoe were on the other foot wrt genders, I confidently believe that, as a class, male written femslash would NOT be on the same pedestal"