Stargate's Samantha Carter: Soldier, Scientist...Role Model.

In the last ten years, there seems to have been a surge of Sci-Fi programmes with women female leads.  From shows such as Star Trek (1966 onwards) at the beginning of the Scf-Fi genre, and its various spin-off series, to the newer output containing strong, well written female characters such as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Battlestar Galactica 2004 – 2009), Echo/Caroline (Dollhouse, 2009 – 2010) Sarah Connor (The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2008 – 2009 ), Anna (V 2009 – present), Dr Helen Magnus (Sanctuary 2008 - present and arguably the most well known and influential character, Colonel Samantha Carter (Stargate SG1 1997 – 2007, Atlantis 2004 – 2009)

In this essay I shall explore the character of Carter and the impact she has had on television and film theorists and audiences alike.  Firstly I am to explore the definitions of genre television and the way in which we think of the metaverses and characters these shows give us, and then secondly I will go on to discuss the ways in which sci-fi television and other genres have been discussed previously by feminist scholars, then I will explore the character of Samantha Carter in depth by discussing the formation of the character in the Pilot episode, the development of the character as team member and as leader, and the relationship between her and Jack O’Neill.  Finally I will explore some of tie ideas introduced here by looking at fan reaction to Carter.

When we look at Stargate SG1 and certainly when looking at character and feminism within sci-fi we need to look back at the show’s predecessors.  Pearson, in her 2003 paper Kings of Infinite Space: Cult Television Characters and Narrative Possibilities, discusses the form and characterisation of cult television and uses Star Trek as her model in doing so.  The differences between cult film and cult tv is her starting point and when we are discussing characterisation is very significant as she explains that:

Fannish devotion figures prominently in accounts of both cult film and cult television, but the two audiences have quite different relationships to their loved objects.  (2003:2)

She points out that the fans of cult television interact with their favourite characters and favourite television shows by repeated viewings of episodes, discussions in forums and by the writing and consumption of fanfiction as well as art, and she states that:

Cult film fans value textual rarity, cult television fans revel in textual plenitude  (2003:2)

This distinction between cult film and television and cult or genre television and the wider output of programming is as important as part two of Pearson’s paper in discussing the role of the female character in current sci-fi television as it is this mapping of the distinctions of genre and cult television which allows us to look more closely at audience consumption of characters.  As Sara Gwennlian Jones argues in her exploration of the notion of virtual reality and the landscape of the metaverse, we should recognise the self-reflexivity of sci-fi television and cult television as these shows are becoming increasingly more aware of the roles that the shows and their characters play in the lives of the fans:

The cult fiction exceeds its primary textual expression (as television text) and, as virtuality, invites and supports intense imaginive viewer engagements that may be immersive or interactive or both.  (2004)

In fact the recent programme starring Tapping Sanctuary’s  start as a series of webisodes and clever use of this interactive media and the dual use of the show slogan “Sanctuary for all” invites fans on the journey as well as and at the same time as one of the protagonists of the show Dr Will Zimmerman (played by Robin Dunne).  Even more recently V  has made clever use of social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and the Stargate SG1 franchise arguably was one of the first programmes to make use of this new technology throughout its run, with the official website showing full episodes, containing free wallpapers and widgets   This creates a new level of fan interaction with both character and actor, functioning both inside and outside the landscape of the metaverse.

Indeed as Pearson shows, if a film is a two hour spectacle, it is watched and enjoyed many times yet it keeps the closed, linear storyline and its definition is in the fans almost obsession with the product in this manner.  They are operating as collectors, merchandisers, vying for status within the fan community.  The sci-fi television fan however enjoys their product weekly if not more as new episodes are broadcast and fans also engage by rewatching through DVD box sets, reruns on different television channels long after the programmes’s original run has ended, and can enjoy the metaverse through fan fiction:

While fannish devotion to certain cult fims might approximate that, for Start Trek, or the X-Files , the complexity of the authorised diegetic universe does not: the ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes of a single fim, or even the several hours of a series such as Star Wars, cannot possibly provide the scope for narrative developments offered by the hundreds of hours of a long running television programme. (2003:4)

Her meaning here, and a point with which I wholeheartedly agree, is that whilst a film has only its span of 120 minutes on average to tell the story, explain the (sometimes vast) metaverse, move through time, which could be days, months or even years, but at the same time remaining true to its narrative and structural form, and making sense throughout whilst keeping its continuity.  A series such as Star Trek or Stargate SG1 my own study, has many years in which to advance the plot, and increase the character development and it happens much more closely to “real time”.  One season of a show may equal roughly one year, and whilst days or weeks may have occurred between episodes which we do not seem the writers are more free to explore aspects of the narrative and character development than in a two hour film production where many years may have passed between one scene and another, yet the audience must be able to understand the entire concept of the story.

For Stargate SG1 then, a show which has spanned ten years and has produced two spin-off shows, the successful Atlantis, (2004 – 2009) and the recently cancelled Universe,(2009) as well as movies Continuum (2008) and Ark of Truth (2008) as well as merchandise, websites, and fan produced texts, the show fits into Pearson’s category extremely well.  The many websites and fan communities work to keep the metaverse alive whilst re-runs are shown continually on television channels such as Sky 1 and SyFy.  The characterisation is one aspect of the show’s continued success and it is no accident that Tapping has been asked to reprise the role of Carter in Atlantis and in guest spots on Universe.  Carter is an incredibly important character in the development of Sci Fi television, at first joining the only other protagonist in Sci Fi show Dana Scully and then surpassing her as the show became more successful.

Carter:  “Captain Samantha Carter reporting for duty sir.”

Ferretti: “But you go by Sam right?” (Pilot episode)

This dialogue from the pilot episode is reminiscent of eighties and nineties feminist theory when scholars believed that strong female characters were the result of masculinisation.  Indeed Carol J Clover’s influential work Men, Women and Chainsaws, Gender in the Modern horror Film, (1993) centred around the survivor in the slasher film genre and the significance of the (male) names of those girls.   Whilst recently, Stephanie Tuszynski has attempted to look into the meaning of Carter’s name and argues that she is only called Samantha a handful of times, these times are usually ones of crisis, such as Singularity (S1), when Carter stays in an underground Bunker with Cassie, a living bomb, defying a direct order or leave the girl there. (2006:54-6)

However this kind of feminist theory has moved on and critics in the latter part of the nineties began writing about “Girl Power” and adopting texts such as Scream (1996) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003).  Kathryn Rowe Karlyn begins her paper by suggesting that young girls and women are the group most driven by feminist icons and images in the media today, and notes the differences between what is contained in mainstream culture and what is offered in subculture.  She writes:

…popular culture infuses the world in which today’s young women live, and the face of feminism today, for better or worse, is being written across media culture. (2003)

Karlyn goes on to address the fact that women are still often portrayed as one dimensional, whether tough, hysterical, sentimental and so on.  The subject of her paper the Scream trilogy, she explains, “raises the bonds of women across time” (2003).  This is an important distinction.  Cult and genre texts such as Scream and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are arguably, specifically created with the “Girl Power” ethos in mind.  This taps into a specific mode of feminism and a specific target demographic, using he sound bite of “Girl-Power” as a catch-all definition and aiming to be new and alternative.  Supposedly aiming to be a fresh new take on feminism for the new generation.  However sci-fi television and literature as a genre has been male dominated for years and as Adam Roberts explains:

…its focus was on technology as embodied particularly by big gleaming machines with lots of moving parts, physical prowess, war, two dimensional heroes, adventure and excitement. (2000:92)

Significantly in the sixties and seventies as more women were involved in the genre, and as Roberts points out Star Trek began broadcasting, more and more women became involved in sci-fi fandom.  He puts this down to:

…the way Star Trek represented, in the first instance, human interaction and the social dynamic as being at the heart of SF story and, in the second instance, and less obviously because Trek, unusually for a 1960’s US TV show, was interested in representing difference. (2000:95)

Star Trek may have paved the way for women, and the more recent Voyager (1995-2001) featuring a female Captain certainly goes some way to promote feminist ideas, however Stargate SG1, whilst it focuses on the importance of storytelling and themes of difference, does not put its females in tight uniforms, and miniskirts.  Nor does it sexualise Carter in the “Girl Power” ethos.

All of these ways of thinking could then be said to be outmoded concepts of feminism.  Carter is not masculinised, nor is she overtly feminised.  Stargate SG1 is not aimed primarily at a teenage audience like Buffy, and whilst it gives a nod every now and then to Star Trek, and other classic sci-fi texts, it gives a new outlook, though the character of Samantha Carter, on what it is to be female in the 21^st Century.

The character of Colonel Samantha Carter, one of the four original members of SG1 played by Amanda Tapping has attracted a huge fanbase.  Both the actress and the character have been the subject of numerous articles in SFX, Cult Times, on websites and so on.  This is due largely to Tapping’s portrayal of the character as a strong, intelligent, independent woman, and to the writers not allowing Carter to become a stereotype.

Carter is a scientist, with a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics and has several years research into the Stargate programme behind her when she joins the team.  Throughout the different seasons we learn that she is no “bimbo”:

Carter: Sir, I’ve been thinking

O’Neill: Carter, I’d be amazed if you ever stopped. (Red Sky 5:5)

This intelligence is coupled with a strong military background.  Her father Jacob Carter himself a General in the United States Air Force meaning Carter has been brought up in the military lifestyle.  Carter is trained at the Airforce Academy and has risen through the ranks or the military form Captain in Seasons one and two, to Major at the start of season three, and is later promoted again to Lieutenant-Colonel.  She is a mix of level-headed but enthusiastic scientist, a little like Doctor Daniel Jackson, and trained military officer like her Commanding Officer Colonel Jack O’ Neill.  Indeed there are several episodes which concentrate on this conflict of science versus military, and this often is resolved through Carter’s strength of character and problem solving abilities, as we shall see later.

Interestingly, Tapping’s current role is again that of scientist and doctor as she plays Dr Helen Magnus in Sanctuary. Unlike Carter however, who is “one of the team” and begins Stargate SG1 on a personal mission to prove herself, Magnus is firmly in charge and has no need to prove herself to anyone.  Interestingly here, it is the male protégé Will Zimmerman who takes on the role here.  The audio commentary for Sanctuary touches on this culmination of the female character in Sci-fi and we can see a link from Carter to Magnus through Tapping’s own development.  This will also be significant later in discussions of fan interaction. 

Carter then is important in the overall development of the female in sci-fi as her development over the ten years of SG1 and several years of Atlantis, SGU and the films, allow the character to grow and influence other texts.  The journey that Carter goes through shows us just how far sci-fi television has come.

Henry Jenkins states that in Star Trek, perhaps the forerunner for every modern TV show, that:

The women of Star Trek are represented wither as being too emotionally and sexually volatile to perform their duties adequately, or as having totally repressed all emotions and much of their femininity in order to function within a male-centred workplace. (1995:199)

Indeed in an interview for the website “Den of Geek”, Tapping herself mentions the significance of the Star Trek legacy and mentions Uhura explaining that she was herself influenced by the strong characterisation of Uhura in Star Trek.  Tapping explains that she had a say in this influence, but that this was not an easy task to begin with:

…I actually got called to task because I made mention of her and said that even though she still had to wear a short skirt, the fact of the matter was she was this incredibly strong, incredibly intelligent character who paved the way.  Sci-fi has always done that, they’ve always put strong women out there. (2008)

It is clear that the characterisation of Samantha Carter is positioned within a rich history of wanting strong female protagonists, and the development of all aspects of Carter has influenced both audiences and other sci-fi shows.  In the next chapters I will examine how Carter is positioned within the team, and how she functions both as team member and as leader, how she is defined in her relationships with other characters, and particularly with O’Neill, and, how her character is formed within the plot and developed throughout the ten year span of the hugely successful show Stargate SG1 and the various spinoff programmes. 

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  Creator, Joss Whedon.

Children of the Gods, Pilot episode. Stargate SG1, 1997, MGM

Clover, Carol J.  Men, Women and Chainsaws, Gender in the Modern Horror Film, 1993,

Den of Geek denofgeek.com/…/Amanda_tapping_int published 1 May 2008, accessed 26 March 2011.

Gwenllian Jones, Sara, Virtual Reality and Cult Television, 83, Cult Television. Ed. Gwenllian Jones, Sara and Pearson, Roberta E, University of Minnesota Press. 2004

Jenkins, Henry.  Science Fiction Audiences, Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek, Tulloch, John and Jenkins, Henry, 199, 1995, Routledge

Pearson, Roberta Kings of Infinite Space, Cult Television Characters and Narrative Possibilities,  Scope November 2003,

Red Sky, Stargate SG1, S5, episode 

Roberts, Adam, Science Fiction (The New Critical Idiom)  2000:9

Rowe Karlyn, Kathryn.  I’m Not My Mother: Scream and the 3^rd Wave Feminism, Genders Online Journal, 38, 2003

Sanctuary, 2008 – present, creator Damien Kindler, Sanctuary 1 Productions, Stage 3 Media.

Scream , 1996, Dir, Wes Craven, Dimension Films, Woods Entertainment

Tuszynski, Stephanie,”Way smarter than you are”:  Sam Carter, Human Being. Reading Stargate SG1, ed, Beeler, Stan and Dickson, Lisa, 2006. IB Tauris

V 2009-2011, The Scott Peters Company, Warner Bros Television.

Voyager , Star Trek, 1995 – 2001, Paramount Television