8th Dec: Cameron Mitchell

[bluflamingo]

tesserae_ asked me "What is it about Cam Mitchell that makes him interesting to write?"

It seems that a lot of people who don't find Cam interesting don't because they see him as the golden boy/never do anything wrong officer, and find that boring. I actually like the good guys who are decent, so that sort of works for me anyway, but also I'm not convinced he's as golden as people seem to think. And really, what, they wanted a younger clone of O'Neill? Pass.

Cam's the kind of character that I find more interesting with someone else, and with a specific set of someone-else's, than on his own - unlike say John Sheppard, who I'll read about with anyone. With Cam it's the other military characters - John, Sam, Lorne (well, and also Carolyn Lam, but that's cos in my head they're awesome queer friends) - because that gives them a history, especially with Sam, and yet they're all more experienced with the Stargate programme than Cam, and arguably more disillusioned with the whole thing as well.

Plus, also, Cam has a series of canon traumas, and I have a thing for military (or quasi-military) characters with canon traumas (Cam, Sheppard, McGarrett from H50, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Coulson from Marvel, Colby from Numb3rs).

And finally, I got into SGA first, then started watching SG1 in Season 9, which was when Cam first joined up, so he was sort of my introduction to the world of SG1, and the one I latched onto because of that. Which meant I was always going to want to write about him more than any of the others, especially since pairing him with Sheppard was really easy (and he's my all-time favourite forever).

Comments

[shinya_diey]

I somehow always liked Cam, mostly because of Farspce, same with Vala ^^ I found it really hilarious when she showed up, although I was little disappointed she went after Daniel *pouts*

[dirty_diana]

I LOVE CAM SO MUCH. But I also love those classic heroic types with traumas underneath their broad-shouldered surface. (Steve Rogers! etc.)

[ninja007]

Really loved your treatise on this. I loved Cam, but didn't find him 'golden'. I saw a man with flaws and a past. I have you to thank for my pairing obsession with John Sheppard and Cam. I hadn't even thought of them together until you started writing them that way. Still some of my favorite stories with those two.

Brilliant.

[skieswideopen]

CAM!!!

I actually like the good guys who are decent, so that sort of works for me anyway, but also I'm not convinced he's as golden as people seem to think.

I agree with you on both points. I like good guys who can basically be counted on to do the right thing, but yeah, while Cam was definitely a golden boy in terms of how he was perceived by the brass, I don't think that makes him uncomplicated. I don't think he could do the job he does--and possess his intelligence and insight and background--and stay entirely uncomplicated, even if he does seem relatively well-adjusted.

[busaikko]

I'm not convinced he's as golden as people seem to think.

Yes! I agree with this very much. Or at least... Cam's golden in a very socially-acceptable way: he looks great to his Air Force superiors, and he's a good person. But he's also got a lot of privilege that he's blind to, and a lot of what made his episodes interesting were the various ways he got called on that (for example, joking about his fat aunt in Ripple Effect, then getting told by Landry that those kinds of comments "are not appreciated" in Uninvited). *waves tiny flag of Cam/Landry 'ship*

And I entered SG1 in pretty much the same way! I'd read a lot of Jack/Daniel, but there were 8 whole seasons that daunted me. The Cam/Vala/Daniel/Teal'c team was a lot more accessible, plus there was a canon crossover with SGA.

[rhi]

One of the things I love about Cam is that he's a Little Black Dress. It's *hard* to find a character he won't at least talk to. Mostly though, I like him because he's a sweetheart who tries to do the right thing.

[bluflamingo]

Vala and Daniel never worked for me - I always thought she could do better, and be with someone who actually seemed to like and respect her.

[bluflamingo]

Steve Rogers is one of those characters who I like in fic but didn't like so much in canon (though I've only seen him in the Avengers movie). That said, CA2 looks awesome, so I may end up revising that opinion :)

[bluflamingo]

Aw, thank you!

This year's the first time I didn't sign up for the flyboys exchange - makes me sort of sad to think I've got nothing left to say about the two of them :(

[bluflamingo]

I love the good guys who are good in a moral(?) way - that they do the right thing cos it's the right thing, not because it's the best for their friends, or it's a bad thing that they can excuse for a good thing. Very black and white, I guess, but I'm sort of okay with that.

[bluflamingo]

Is Ripple Effect the one with all the alternate teams turning up? Because that was not an episode where Cam was being his best self in several ways.

Did you write Cam/Landry fic once? I feel like I've read something with them, and I'm sort of assuming that if I did, it must have been by you.

[busaikko]

*g* My suspicious fingerprints are all over the Mitchell/Landry tag at AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Hank%20Landry*s*Cameron%20Mitchell/works *whistles*

And yes, that was where there were all the different Cams, so I get that the writers were probably trying to differentiate them, but... yeah. (I think in fandom the episode is best remembered for the loss of Cam's pants. Again.)

[dirty_diana]

Hee! I am actually only moderately appreciative of movie!Steve and Chris Evans tbh. So far, anyway. Comics!Steve is where it's at (and influences some of the fic, I would think.)

[ninja007]

THAT is really sad! On both counts. I found the two together so BELIEVABLE! That comes from your great writing.