Buffalo Wings (Stargate Atlantis story)
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Buffalo Wings |
| Author(s): | omglawdork (omgmetoo) |
| Date(s): | March 26, 2007 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Stargate Atlantis |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | archive link page one; archive link page two; archive link page three; archive link page four; archive link page five |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Buffalo Wings is a 2007 McKay/Sheppard AU by omglawdork (omgmetoo).
In it, the characters from Stargate Atlantis are reimagined as workers and customers in a coffee shop.
The story was a flashpoint for a lengthy discussion regarding race and racism in fanworks, specifically in the Stargate Atlantis fandom. See The Stargate Atlantis Barista Discussion.
The story has 286 comments. The comments critical of the "casting" are all on the second page.
Some Excerpts from the Comments
Regarding the General Writing and Content
[le mot no]:
Just wanted to let you know that I totally adored this story. I love writing and reading AU's and I know from experience that it's pretty damn hard to place characters in a whole new universe-- a whole new job-- a whole new life, and actually make it believable. And you did just that. You made me believe it. And that's all a good story really needs.
Thank you for writing this. It brightened up my evening. :o)
[piplover]:
I just wanted to say that I liked this story very much. I thought the characters were well written and the situation was new and had an original spin. I liked that John was a pilot in the middle of nowhere, and Rodney had to fly down there because he was so scared for his health. The only thing I didn't like, and this was just a personal thing, was Cadmen being so bossy. I never really liked her character, though, lol. Thank you for this wonderful writing, and please don't feel disheartened by some of the negative things people are saying. I think it was an excellent story and the characterization was spot on.
[xylohypha]:
This was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed reading it. Though, the thought of the McKay ego, er, encouraged even further than it is in canon by the letters M.D. is just a little scary. (At least he's not a surgeon!)
I also appreciated the care you took with the medical details--sometimes when they're sufficiently wrong, that'll be enough to knock me out of my enjoyment of a story, and I'd've hated to be kicked out of this one while I was having so much fun reading.
Loved Cadman in this, too. Hee! Thank you for sharing this story.
[feklar]:
I just wanted to say this was a great story. I love a good AU. I love stories that are long enough and have enough world-builidng to let me feel like I've seen a real world. I'm sorry it seems like a couple of contentious arses have hijacked your space to vent themselves.
[bramble rose]:
Enjoyed this story very much, always love a good angsty h/c with medical-speak woven in. (for the record it took me 3 days to realize this was the story fandom imploded on???) You have shown elegance and tact. I could not have been so graceful.
[cerrad]:
You know, I don't actually comment all that much on fic that I read, mostly because I read too much of it, and don't have much to say about it after I've read it. However, since the racist freakout brouhaha above, I thought I'd just pop down here to say that I enjoyed your little story very much. It seemed fairly well written and I found it to be a pleasant use of my time to read it. May you continue writing what you want, regardless of anyone else's casting ideas.
Regarding the Casting
[lierdumoa]:
Okay, so let me get this straight. Rodney, Cadman and Zelenka are all brilliant scientists, with Weir as their boss, John is a pilot, Parrish is a star hockey player, and Ronon (the only brown person in your entire story) is a waiter. At a coffee shop.
Are you fucking kidding me?
[the story's author]:
You make a good point, and thanks for pointing it out. Honestly, Cadman's in there mostly because I have an unholy crush on her, and she's actually not a scientist; she's a lab manager. She's kind of support staff on Atlantis, and support staff here. Rodney and Radek are scientists because they're scientists on the show. John's a pilot because he's a pilot on the show, and the Parrish mentioned is actually Mark Parrish, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, though I see how that can be confusing. Unfortunately, there just wasn't a character in this 'verse that I felt like Teyla could "play" without shoehorning her in just to have everyone in there. I really could have used anyone for the barista, but I love Ronon and wanted to utilize his ability to take McKay with a grain of salt in that particular place in the story. I'm sorry if you thought I had other motives, or if it took you out of the story.
[littlebuttercup]:
Um, wow. Was any of that really necessary? If she had written Ronon as another regular, would you really have been satisfied? He probably would have had a lesser part, because she still would have had the barista as a person who interacted with Rodney and Cadman.
Perhaps you should try commenting on her actual writing instead of getting angry with her choice of casting. Her characterization was fine - if you don't like the role she put Ronon in that's fine to say so, but it's not cool to tear her down over it.
[coniraya]:
Actually I think it's completely necessary to bring up the fact that SGA fiction as a whole and especially John/Rodney fiction tends to put Teyla & Rodney in subordinate roles. Did you talk to the author before defending her? Or was that just an automatic reaction? Because see the automatic reaction of someone aware of race/racism in fandom is WTF? She expressed her automatic reaction and you expressed yours.
Also I'm not saying that all the writers are consciously racist but subconsciously placing the brown people as waiters & nurses while everyone else has a high paying job does smack of an attitude that I don't like in my fic and if everyone else why can't she speak why not this. Also why jump in if you aren't the author.
Also your belief that her characterization is fine does not make it fine for other people. So you're fine with the only brown man on the show being a lower class than the others, good for you. Funny thing is I'm not okay with it.
[lage nom ai]:
Wow. I didn't realize we were all supposed to bring our personal baggage along when we had fun with fic. So I'll just say that I'm a person of colo(u)r and I LOVED this story. I don't comment on as much fic as I should but I wanted to turn out and show my support--I hope this hasn't soured you on sharing any fic in the future.
For more, see page two, Archived version