So I've been reading this really looong article by Dan Simmons about genre fiction and the friendship between Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson.  (It also talks about the friendship between Henry James and HG Wells, but I've just gotten to that part.  It's, um, really, really long.)  It's a fascinating article so far, and I recommend it to anyone interested in such things.  Here's a link.

There's a specific part that got me to thinking, though.  It's about the largely absent women (and girls) from the traditional boys adventure stories.  And it got me to thinking about Stargate: Atlantis (with some mentions of Peter Pan and Harry Potter eta: ooh, and Star Wars!) and the way women are portrayed in those stories, and how being a mother-figure is kind of a kiss of death in some ways.

Dan Simmons wrote:

[Quote]
James could have been speaking about science fiction or other future genres when he pointed out that heroines were almost totally absent from Robert Louis Stevenson's fiction. “The idea of making believe,” wrote James, “appeals to him much more than the idea of making love.”
I think of this as the Donald Duck Universe aspect to our SF and adventure genres up to recent years – a world in which there are no important women, no families to speak of (certainly none of the restrictions that women and parents and families set upon us in real life), and where all the boys are nephews to the older men who take them on exciting adventures.
“Though he takes such an interest in childish life, he takes no interest in the fireside,” wrote James. “To his view the normal child is the child who absents himself from the family-circle.”
[/quote]

So the husband and I are getting caught up on our TiVo, and we've finally seen the season end to Torchwood.   And it got me to thinking...  Jack Harkness is kind of a crap leader, and he might get some benefit from taking a page or two out John Sheppard's book.

(Major spoilers through 1x13 "End of Days" for Torchwood, but nothing plotty for Stargate: Atlantis to follow)