Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left To Lose

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose is a story written by Synecdochic at the end of Season 2 of Stargate Atlantis.
Originally published on 11 March 2006, it was posted to Synecdochic's fanfiction site venus in furs and Dreamwidth, and was later cross-posted to AO3 along with its sequel, And The Band's Playing "Hail To The Chief".
The story took SGA fandom by storm, to the point where it is said to have monopolized fannish headspace at the time, possibly to the detriment of other stories and conversations.
It generated a high number of comments and inspired discussions, meta essays, podfic, and at least one vid.
As of February 2016, the story had 1583 comments on its Dreamwidth post.
==Popularity==
Icarus has suggested that this was the most commented-upon story of the year The story was not only popular on Livejournal, but was also linked at TWOP, Gateworld, Stumbleupon, and other fannish venues. See forum comments at Gateworld, forum comments at Television Without Pity. and that it was popular precisely because it explored the same sort of real-world ethical dilemmas that were being explored in the show itself. In the story, Rodney McKay has become disillusioned with the SGC and the American military, returning to civilian life; this might in some way represent fans' growing disillusionment with the real American military and the ongoing mess of the Iraq War. Icarus had this thought on the reason for the story's popularity:
Posted when the fandom's frustration with their tarnished heroes was at its peak, it resonated not only as a powerful story in its own right, but also because it dealt with the mistakes of the Atlantis team, what they learned, the shaky ethics of Earth (in the form of the NID), and it took Atlantis away from our side, beginning as it does after the Atlantis team's return to our galaxy. 
==Straddled a Genre Divide==
The story straddled the slash/gen divide;See post by abyssinia4077 (now flocked) for a disappointed gen response there was a debate among the story's readers about which genre the story was in, with the author eventually weighing in and saying she intended to portray "a romantic/sexual relationship" and not just "a deep friendship," and "I pretty much flip a coin as to whether I call "Freedom" gen or slash, and my answer changes based on when you ask me.", synecdochic, March 20, 2007
Despite the drama over genre, the story won the Best Drama Award in the "Gen" category of the Stargate Fan Awards.Stargate Fan Awards 2006 (Accessed 6 April 2011)
==Monopolized Fannish Headspace==
One fan commented that other fic posted around the same time was lost in the hullabaloo. "...the story that ate fandom A reference to The Fandom That Ate Fandom. was posted around the same time, and people were so busy processing that and having conversations around that, that (IMO) less new fiction got picked up and spread around."comment by wickedwords on the post Quality vs. popularity in fiction by summerfling at The Cutting Board, March 20, 2006. Another fan commented that this story, when published, monopolized fannish headspace."Yes, "Freedom" has been a bit of a monster in terms of monopolising fannish headspace, hasn't it?" -- comment by cupidsbow at The Cutting Board, March 20, 1006
==Sequels, Remixes, and Other==
MrsHamill wrote a John-centric companion piece, Speaker for the Dead, which inverts Freedom's premise: in this story, John Sheppard struggles to find a life for himself after Rodney's death.
Synecdochic herself later wrote a sequel, And The Band's Playing "Hail To The Chief", and saidComment at FIC SGA: "The Stonemason's Buildings Want For His Hands Again" by Synecdochic, 26 February 2008. (Accessed 6 April 2011) that The Stonemason's Buildings Want For His Hands Again could be read as backstory to it.
Lim's vid This Is How It Works was inspired by this story.
==Author's Comments About Rodney's "Privilege" and the Story's Genre==
The opening comments in a post (see link for many, many more comments on this subject):
==Fan Reactions, Reviews, and Comments==
===Comments on the Story on the Dreamwidth Post===
As of February 2016, the story had 1583 comments on its Dreamwidth post. See the original post: Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left To Lose (Dreamwidth).
==Comments Elsewhere==
===Unknown Date===
===2006===
===2006 Discussion at "The Cutting Board"===
There is a massive discussion regarding this story at The Cutting Board. See trauma as structural conceit and fannish tropes: "freedom" by synecdochic.
===2007===
===2008===
===2009===
===2010===
===2017===
==Discussion/Meta About This Story==
* A few days after this story was posted, cathexys posted a lengthy essay at The Cutting Board. It generated 85 long, substantial comments. See trauma as structural conceit and fannish tropes: "freedom" by synecdochic. Links to the original discussion: archive link and archive link. (March 2006)
* Using "Freedom" as a stepping off point, by natlyn is a post with many comments about defining gen and slash and other. (March 2006)
==Works Inspired By==
* Vid: This Is How It Works by Lim.
* Podfic, read by kuepo, hosted at the Audiofic Archive.
* Cover by In_the_bottle
* Cover by Severusslave
* Speaker for the Dead by MrsHamill
* Sequel: and the band's playing "hail to the chief" by Synecdochic
* Unofficial Prequel/Backstory: The Stonemason's Buildings Want For His Hands Again by Synecdochic
* Alternate Unofficial Backstory: Trading Tomorrows by John Blonde
* Author's DVD Commentary: Meta: DVD commentary for "Freedom's Just Another Word..."
== References ==
Category:Stargate Atlantis John/Rodney Fanfiction
Category:2017 Featured Articles
Category:2006 Fanfiction‎