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galadriel1010Gwen
It couldn't really start with anyone else, could it? Poor lass. It's no secret that I don't like Gwen, but I try to like her, I really do. It just doesn't work. I think Gwen is so disliked for three reasons:
Audience surrogate
Gwen was our introduction to Torchwood. She's the one we met and identified with, because she was like us and having her eyes opened to a whole new world. Unfortunately, the pushy, slightly clumsy and clueless companion is not who we want to be. Really, did anyone want to be the girl on the TARDIS asking "what does that mean, Doctor?" every episode? Of course not. They wanted to be the Brigadier, or Jamie, or Jack. Recent female companions in Doctor Who have managed to buck the trend and be both the information dump receptacle, and bring something of their own as well. Gwen and, I think, Rose never really managed this. They have nothing to offer other than their enthusiasm and curiosity. And for the character we identify with to be that one... sorry dears, but I alwys wanted to be Jack, Mickey or Ianto, who'd been around and knew what they were doing. And didn't need to be rescued all the time.
On top of this, she is a very good character and a very fleshed out character, but we judge her as we would judge ourselves. If you can identify with her and say 'that could be me', then you're going to look on her more harshly if she does something that you don't want to consider doing yourself. It starts badly, to be honest. Jack's just come back to life and seen his friend shoot herself in the head because she's a mass murderer who got found out, and the first thing Gwen says is "I remember". That's nice, dear. Here, I'll help you forget again. And the lying to Rhys and nosiness that started in the very first episode. Couldn't investigating Torchwood have waited until she wasn't concussed and didn't have to lie to him about where she was going?
So the show set us up with this character who we were supposed to identify with who is shown to be fairly lacking in empathy, a liar who seems to have done it before, nosy and meddlesome, and not particularly good at it. I'll start shopping around for a better character to identify with, thanks.
Main character
She's the main character. The show was supposed to be all about her, but the BBC wouldn't let RTD do it until he proposed this new idea with John Barrowman in it. Gwen remained the main character, but shared the limelight with Jack. And, well, Jack's just prettier. And we already identified with him and, by and large, were at least a little bit in love with him. She took screentime away from Jack, who we were watching for.
And then Ianto came along, and he's prettier than her as well, and he and Jack make such a very lovely picture. And Gwen kept stealing time when they could be kissing. Literally, in Adrift. Yeah, I know Torchwood wasn't about boys kissing but... Meh
Purpose, or lack thereof
She has no specialist skills. She put together the profile on Carys in Day One, which could have been a crowning moment, but it was Tosh who eventually got the information they needed to catch her and Owen who knew what it meant. What is Gwen's purpose there? Extra field agent (who had to be taught to wield a gun and couldn't do any of the research), conscience (who seemed to be only casually acquainted with her own), researcher (who isn't as good at it as either the archivist or the technician)... or is she just there to challenge the others and poke her nose in where it's not welcome? Yeah, they needed someone to do that, but it's a pretty shitty job description, and could have done with a more sensitive touch most of the time.
Tl;dr: We identified with her in the wrong way and couldn't see the point of her.
Jack
If you're not at least a little bit in love with Jack, I think you've misplaced your heart. For starters, that smile
But he's seen as promiscuous and slutty, which is a reather horrible case of slut shaming, as he's spread his sexual exploits out over more than a century anyway, and the only character he's slept with in recent years is Ianto. (If he'd slept with anyone else we'd know about it; Torchwood was not subtle about that. There would have been a hideous blow-up in the Hub). But interviews tell us that he sleeps around, and who are we to argue with them?
Usually first in line, actually.
Jack has allowed a lot more people to be sex positive, but there's still a layer of prudish slut shaming which seems to deny him emotions and connections.
But he's still our leader, and we will still follow him anywhere. We admire him for making the hard decisions and keeping us safe. He's also the last surviving WW1 veteran by now, and the sacrifices he's made to keep us safe are worthy of our respect.
(Yes, I know he didn't actually fight in the war. But he doesn't actually protect us from aliens either)
Ianto
He looks good in a suit. He's also adorably protectable, but will never actually need our protection, very damaged and stil going. He survived things no one should have to, and he gets up and goes on again.
He's also a fantastic role model for bisexual youth, taps into our love of the secret service image that creates our love for James Bond, and gets the guy we all want.
Of course we identify with him, he gets to shag Jack Harkness.
And the only mistake he makes is trying to save the woman he loves whilst everyone around him ignores that he exists, not long after he survived the Battle of Canary Wharf. It's sort of hard not to hate Jack for letting him down.
Even in End of Days, when Lisa appears to him to get him to open the Rift, she doesn't tell him that he'll get her back. She tells him that people will die if he doesn't do it - no promise of her return, just an instruction to keep people safe.
Did I mention that he's pretty?
Tosh
Poor Tosh. It's sort of hard to identify with her. She's quiet and closed off, intelligent beyond most of our capacities for understanding (unless you believe the Torchwood Archives' estimate of her IQ, in which case she wouldn't get into MENSA. As flattering as that statistic was for me, there is no way I'm brighter than Tosh. I am a glowworm to her lava lamp. Or something).
Very good at her job, totally ignored. And pining over Owen, which makes you wonder if she has any sense at all.
But it's hard to identify with computers, and she never got to be much more than an extension of Mainframe.
Owen
Rapist, bully, arrogant arse. At least we can't say that he went from bad to worse, because he couldn't get much worse. Out of all the team, owen is the one I really, really wouldn't want to work with, because I'd just be waiting for him to turn on me. Possibly this is why people like him more than Gwen, because they recognise the bully in him and don't want to get on his bad side.
So there is Galadriel's theories on attatchement to the Torchwood characters. Agree, disagree, seen something I missed? I was trying to work out why so many people dislike Gwen, sort of looking for validity in my dislike, and ended up looking at all of them.
