Canon vs. Fanon, part 13: Infirmary Fanon

Welcome to a new edition of Canon vs. Fanon! And hello to the newcomers to my flist. :) I hope you’ll join the discussion – agreements and arguments are always welcome.

This time, we’re taking a look at the Little Doc’s domain: the infirmary, a favorite setting for drama, hurt/comfort, and angst. Certain basic staples of story-telling appear in nearly every fic that includes a scene in the infirmary, but how many of those are actually based on canon?

Recap: Canon is anything shown onscreen in the movie or show; show supersedes movie, when necessary. (The rebellion against Ra took place five thousand years ago, not ten thousand.) Fanon is defined as popular concepts that occur regularly in fanfic, but have little or no actual canon basis to defend them.

We begin with common fanon concepts, compare and contrast them to the reality of canon, and form a conclusion regarding the fanon’s validity. If I’ve missed something, whether it confirms or contradicts my analyses, please comment and let me know! And please remember that I'm not deliberately trying to mock any specific writer, or even whole groups of writers; I'm only pointing out what's fanon, and what's actually canon.

( Medical team to the Gateroom! It's SG-1! )

( Behave yourself, or I'll pull out the really big needles! )

( Is the happy juice working? Want some ice chips? )

( Goa'ulds and MRIs )

If you’re interested in other common infirmary fanon tropes, previous discussions have included a more detailed comparison of visits to the infirmary (cited above) and Janet’s fangirl nurses.

My personal fanon opinion? The infirmary is a truly wonderful setting for fanfic. You've got all the props Jack needs to play with, the Little Doc (who brightens up any story), and the opportunity for the whole range of emotional drama, from angst to humor and back again. But while team whumping is often too tempting to resist, and will always be part of the fannish consciousness, authors should be aware that it’s not quite as common as many writers would suggest. Janet’s wicked sense of humor is certainly canon, but dire threats of big, dulled needles are not. Ice chips and happy juice are clichés that a writer might wish to avoid. And quite frankly, the MRI fanon bothers me a lot, because I was convinced it was true until I actually did some research. Bad fanon! No biscuit!

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"

ETA August 29th: Whee! Aurora got inspired by this discussion in the comments and came up with this: Trauma Confusion!