Meta: From Ten Seconds of Screentime to Ten Thousand Fanfics: Secondary Characters

[catwalksalone]

From Ten Seconds of Screentime to Ten Thousand Fanfics: How and Why Some Secondary Characters Take On a Life of Their Own

Modded at muskratjamboree by shihadchick and shayheyred; modded for rat_jam by the_antichris.



So, secondary characters. Almost by definition, there's a lot of them out there - it's very rare for a main cast to carry a show on their own, and it seems even rarer for them to carry the entire fandom. Whether it's the secondary characters who recurr from episode to episode (or movie to movie) - like Bob Fraser, or Radek Zelenka, or Wedge Antilles (not to wear my fandoms on my sleeve, or anything, here, ahem) - or the one shot characters who have a single episode to shine in, or, heck, a whole two minutes of screentime total, it seems like there's something about them which grabs our attention as much - and sometimes even more - than the major players in canon.

The idea for this panel sprang for the most part from wondering just exactly what it is about the secondary characters who've really spawned a following that makes us engage with them so much. Why are some of us compelled to do what we can to getturnbulllaid? What is it about Major Lorne and Dr Parrish - the latter of whom is barely visible in single dark scene and neither of whom has a first name in canon - that makes them one of the more popular and constant slash pairings in SGA? How did Mr Spock go from being intended to be a secondary character into one of the most recognisable names and faces (okay, ears) in popculture? To drift back towards due South again in particular for a moment - how do we end up with so many fics featuring Mark Smithbauer, who was, again, a one episode character, and some may argue not even a terribly likeable one? Or all the fics using a single throwaway mention of a man named 'Steve' to help build a history - personal, sexual, whichever - for Benton Fraser.

It seems probable that there could be some underlying themes in terms of the characters who really speak to us as fans, the ones who inspire us to read, to write, to vid, to draw, to engage with the canon and to go on and create. So towards that end, here are a few of the questions we've come up with and would love to hear people's thoughts and perspectives on:

Does the 'blank slate' effect of a secondary character add to the attraction? Is it easier - or just more fun - to play with a character whose history, characterisation and sometimes even name isn't set in stone?

Do the interactions in the canon affect how you feel about a particular secondary character, and how drawn you are to them? Both in terms of the characters who look good - the funny smart sideline people, and in terms of the villains or the comic relief. What does it say when characters are demonised in canon, and then there's almost a reactionary swing inside fandom to rehabilitate them, to give them stories that treat them more kindly?

Does a foreign accent or something exotic about the character draw us to them more strongly? An alien (either in the Little Green Men sense, or even in the fish-out-of-water way) background? Do they usually turn up attached to some kind of tragic secret, or a major plot twist or plot arc? Are we sometimes purely shallow and jumping straight for the eye-candy?

So c'mon and jump in - who're the secondary characters who really speak to YOU, and what is it about them?

Thanks a million to Shay for doing a lot of the heavy liftingthinking, and to Chris for keeping an eye on the online half here. Have fun, guys!

Comments

[lipstickcat.livejournal.com]

Why are some of us compelled to do what we can to getturnbulllaid?

Uhh... *whistles and looks innocent*

When I'm writing, or just thinking about a character, I don't want everything handed to me on a plate. I don't want everything tied up neatly by the end of the show. I like to explore the small clues and expand them out. I like to create, that's the point of creative writing, isn't it? There's only so much you can explore when by the end of the series you know all of the hero's history, hangups and future, only so long before you're wandering over territory that has been trodden before. I like to find something new to say, with someone new.

And yeah, being pretty does also help ;P

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

When I'm writing, or just thinking about a character, I don't want everything handed to me on a plate...I like to explore the small clues and expand them out.

Yes! Exactly! Me too. And the thing that I always find cool about secondary (or tertiary!) characters is that they have their odd little quirks (ie Major Lorne in SGA has this wry sense of humour that is subtle and underplayed, and I love it) that draw me in, often more immediately than the more established (and sometimes overplayed) behaviours of the main characters.

And I really enjoy thinking about the ways that these secondary characters fit into the day-to-day routines on the show, how they think about the primary characters. What do they do? What fills their time? What roles do they play that effectively support (or expand upon) the roles of the primary characters?

Sometimes it seems to me that without these secondary characters, the primary characters wouldn't be nearly as effective in their jobs/roles, and that makes me want to write about them.

Also, yes - hotness *g*

[rydra_wong]

Personally, I tend to find the "blank slate" thing daunting, and compensate by clinging to any scrap of canon about a minor character.

But as for motives, you can add "sheer perversity" *g*. Obviously enough, we only tend to be shown secondary characters in terms of their relationships to the core characters, and it's interesting to reverse that, to try making them the centres of their own stories. And it can be a way to explore under-developed aspects of canon, or to look at the canonical world from a different angle.

Well I Never, What a Swell Party This Is

[executrix.livejournal.com]

wot rydra said.

Also, I think that quite a few fans are somewhere on the spectrum between shy and extremely shy and it's easy for us to feel that we are not Prince Hamlet, but are just there to swell the procession--but we're also reporting on the procession.

[enterincolor.livejournal.com]

Here's my main reasoning for my Love of Secondaries, which actually surpasses my love of main characters when it comes to fandom (not to mention the random-name-characters or one-line-appearences that I grow attatched to...) -- I get involved with mostly closed fandoms.

Looking at this logically, it makes sense due to the kind of mediums I like. I'm not a television person. There are three currently-running shows that I actually watch (four, if you keep the hope that Studio 60 is coming back). I am not actively involved with any of these fandoms. There are three shows I enjoy that are off the air (four, if you believe Studio 60 is done for), only two(/three) of which I'm really involved with the fandom for. One of them ran for fourteen episodes (+ movie), one ran for two seasons. The other one I only write two characters from -- and one was a semi-main character, yes, but only for a season. (Shows mentioned, in order: House, Heroes, The Black Donnellys; Firefly, Sports Night, and Charmed [yay, Chris? *looks around hopefully*].)

I'm not a movie person either, and doubly so when it comes to sequels. I'm actively involved with exactly one movie fandom (Dead Poets Society), and even that isn't really active involvement, so much as occasional lurkings when I get really bored.

So my tastes and fandoms mostly lie in two categories: musicals, and novels. There are some book series that I'm involved with that still have books coming out (Harry Potter most notably; also the Wicked trilogy/sequence/what'rewecallingitnowadays?, the Maximum Ride series, and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants [which may be over, I'm not sure, but I'm still only informed up to the end of book three, so for me it's still open-canon].), but mostly I'm in for closed series (Sweep, the Shadow Children sequence), books connected only by the author (Francesca Lia Block [Weetzie Bat not counted, because while I'm starting to read the books, I prefer her other writings I've read], David Levithan, S.E. Hinton [rarely dip into the fandom, but that's only because the sheer amount of Outsiders-Sues are frightening]), and one-shot books (most notably, Bright Lights, Big City, and I'm sure that there are others, but I'm spacing out). As for musicals, well, enough said -- are there EVER sequal musicals? Honestly?

So what it boils down to is, eventually, you run out fresh ideas for The Charmed Ones And Leo or Elphaba/Liir/protagonistofbookthree or Morgan And Hunter or Violet And Claire or Coach or The Phantom And Christine And Raoul or even The Donnelly Boys And Jenny (at least until Monday). Sometimes you just get bored with them. Sometimes you want to hear more about Shelia Morris or Shenshen/Shell/whoever or Killian Iona And Kyle or That Poetry Girl With The Leeches or Amanda And Tad or Meg or The Mugger Guys.

It helps in fandoms like Firefly, where the line between main and secondary are blurred. TECHNICALLY, it's an ensemble: the main character is MalandZoeandWashandJayneandInaraandKayleeandBookandRiverandSimonandSerenityherself. But then you look at Inara or Book, who we really know barely anything about. Compare Inara, who is in every episode but Jaynestown, but almost a complete mystery to the audience AND to the crew, to, say, Saffron, who only appeared in two episodes, but laid out in that first episode what seems to be her view on life (there's no evidence to the contrary, at least). Saffron/YoSaffBridge/EveryoneEver'sWife actually seems easier to write, to me. I have more of an idea on what the world is like from her point of view. Inara, I can't get in her head almost ever.

--I think I'm done babbling. For now. If I get bored tonight, however, I might feel compelled to explain why Millicent Bulstrode is my favorite Harry Potter character ever. XD

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

I think some secondary characters have a connection to canon (the main characters or the world) that gives them more oomph than their screen time would suggest - to take Damien Kowalski as an example, he gets only a few minutes total on screen, but he has so much potential to tell us about Ray's earlier life that he's really intriguing. And Lorne and Parrish have the potential to show us what life's like in Atlantis for the everyday people, as opposed to the heroes - though why Lorne and Parrish instead of two other secondary characters, I can't tell you. But the new angle on Pegasus, different from what we see on the show with the running around Canada getting shot at but intertwined with it, is really appealing. This works even more for closed canons, too - it can be hard to find a new angle on the canon, so a secondary character can be your way in.

And Mark Smithbauer - Fraser's personal history is such a blank slate that we're casting around for any scrap of canon to build backstory out of, and Mark Smithbauer's handily right there, as are Innusiq and Steve. (Plus, hockey is hot, the end.)

I'm trying to think of what it is that appeals to me about Frannie and Welsh - Frannie it might be that she's a wonderful character who gets a bad deal in canon, so I want to do a fixit. And I think I generally start to like secondary characters because of their relationship to my main pairing, so maybe Welsh is appealing as the older, more cynical version of the Chicago cop, something not too distant from what Ray might become if he stays in the job?

[eledhwenlin]

Why are some of us compelled to do what we can to getturnbulllaid?

Because he doesn't get enough action. ;)

I find secondary characters to be interesting, because we don't know much about them. There's still so much room for stuff to find out about them (why did Turnbull join the RCMP? did he always want to go into politics? What kind of politician would he be? Wouldn't his and Frannie's love child be the cutest ever? Only RayK and Fraser's love child would be cuter, IMHO.)

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Only RayK and Fraser's love child would be cuter, IMHO.)

Has Claire told you about our Theory that Chuck from SGA is Ray and Fraser's love child from the future? He looks just like it!

[eledhwenlin]

Oh no, she hasn't. *makes note to bug her* But that would be one more reason to start watching SGA, I think?