Fannish Thinky thoughts
Aug. 18th, 2010 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piploverI'm bored, so you all get thinky thoughts. This is what happens when work is slow. Also, a bit of a warning. I'm very opinionated, and some of my opinions are not to everyone's liking. If you don't like, polite discussion is encouraged, but flames will be deleted. I'm not trying to shove my thoughts down anyone's throat, and kindly ask you to refrain from the same.
Have I scared you off yet? If not, then please keep reading and let me know what you think.
First off, I'm totally obsessed with Sherlock Holmes these days. The books, the movies, the new BBC series, all of it. There is very little about Sherlock Holmes I don't love. Except, perhaps, the fandom.
I think it's excellent that so many people have discovered this series and fallen in love with the characters. What I hate, however, is how many people are obsessed with forcing women into the stories they write. Whether it's Irene Adler, Mary Morston, or, more recently, Molly and Sarah from Sherlock. Ugh.
Now this is where I'm painted with the anti-feminist and misogynist brush. Which I think is hilarious, because I am very much for women's rights and think women are amazing and powerful. It just so happens then whenever people try to write them they come off bitchy, manipulative, and someone I would never want to talk to, let alone read a whole story about. Which is sad, but there you are.
I love Sherlock Holmes for his relationship with John Watson. And yes, I'm a slasher, but I also love the gen stories where they are just friends. I mean, people, they did everything together for almost 40 years. Most marriages don't last that long. It is that relationship which drew me in, not any romantic entanglement.
I think it's actually very sad that there are so few books and movies which feature realistic, likable women who are not pushovers that people have to shoehorn women into an already established series that really has no place for them save for as supporting characters. I would hate it if the new Sherlock series marries John off, for instance. Because you can't have a relationship with someone and go out adventuring with Sherlock Holmes at a moment's notice. Not without making the woman just a convenient way to affirm Watson's heterosexuality.
Also, I really, with all my being, hope they steer clear of Irene Adler. She was mentioned in one story. ONE. And then ACD killed her off. I honestly don't know where people's obsession with her comes from, as she and Holmes barely exchanged five sentences. I liked her in the story because she was smart, clever, and NOT interested in Holmes. She married someone else, and was perfectly happy, and I thought that was great, because here was a woman who wasn't defined by her love interest of the main character. And yet... People keep trying to force her into that role.
I just think it's a very sad thing where I don't feel comfortable talking to people in fandom about the show, because they are so determined to shove women into in, quite honestly, horrible Mary Sue roles. Rather than enjoy the show for the adventures and the love between the two men.
And that's my final complaint. I think it very sad that romance has to play a part at all. That everyone thinks people have to have sex, or get married and have babies, to be content. Sherlock Holmes is probably one of the few heroes who can be considered asexual or gay. But his love for Watson? It doesn't matter if they ever kiss, let alone anything more, because they love each other so damn much. It's apparent in Watson's descriptions, in his joy in being with his friend, in his dropping everything to be with Holmes. And I think it's even moreso for Holmes, who has no real interest in people, SAVE for Watson, who he goes out of his way to include on his cases. The two of them, quite frankly, care more for each other than they probably will for any other living human being, and that right there is why I adore the characters.
So, in the end, I guess I'm just tired of people trying to force the idea that two people can't love each other, can't go on adventures, can't just be happy living their lives for the thrill, without forcing romance and women into it. I hate that I'm the minority, and that those who share my opinion are labeled as villains because we aren't "modern" or "feminist" enough.
I guess, in the end, it just makes me really sad that I can't enjoy my fandom without having to worry about who the characters are going to be shoved together with next week.
So, there's my opinion. I know, very long winded, sorry about that. And I still don't know if I said what I had hoped to say. But I'm out of words now, and would like to hear what you think, if any of you followed along this far. Talk to me, people!
Have I scared you off yet? If not, then please keep reading and let me know what you think.
First off, I'm totally obsessed with Sherlock Holmes these days. The books, the movies, the new BBC series, all of it. There is very little about Sherlock Holmes I don't love. Except, perhaps, the fandom.
I think it's excellent that so many people have discovered this series and fallen in love with the characters. What I hate, however, is how many people are obsessed with forcing women into the stories they write. Whether it's Irene Adler, Mary Morston, or, more recently, Molly and Sarah from Sherlock. Ugh.
Now this is where I'm painted with the anti-feminist and misogynist brush. Which I think is hilarious, because I am very much for women's rights and think women are amazing and powerful. It just so happens then whenever people try to write them they come off bitchy, manipulative, and someone I would never want to talk to, let alone read a whole story about. Which is sad, but there you are.
I love Sherlock Holmes for his relationship with John Watson. And yes, I'm a slasher, but I also love the gen stories where they are just friends. I mean, people, they did everything together for almost 40 years. Most marriages don't last that long. It is that relationship which drew me in, not any romantic entanglement.
I think it's actually very sad that there are so few books and movies which feature realistic, likable women who are not pushovers that people have to shoehorn women into an already established series that really has no place for them save for as supporting characters. I would hate it if the new Sherlock series marries John off, for instance. Because you can't have a relationship with someone and go out adventuring with Sherlock Holmes at a moment's notice. Not without making the woman just a convenient way to affirm Watson's heterosexuality.
Also, I really, with all my being, hope they steer clear of Irene Adler. She was mentioned in one story. ONE. And then ACD killed her off. I honestly don't know where people's obsession with her comes from, as she and Holmes barely exchanged five sentences. I liked her in the story because she was smart, clever, and NOT interested in Holmes. She married someone else, and was perfectly happy, and I thought that was great, because here was a woman who wasn't defined by her love interest of the main character. And yet... People keep trying to force her into that role.
I just think it's a very sad thing where I don't feel comfortable talking to people in fandom about the show, because they are so determined to shove women into in, quite honestly, horrible Mary Sue roles. Rather than enjoy the show for the adventures and the love between the two men.
And that's my final complaint. I think it very sad that romance has to play a part at all. That everyone thinks people have to have sex, or get married and have babies, to be content. Sherlock Holmes is probably one of the few heroes who can be considered asexual or gay. But his love for Watson? It doesn't matter if they ever kiss, let alone anything more, because they love each other so damn much. It's apparent in Watson's descriptions, in his joy in being with his friend, in his dropping everything to be with Holmes. And I think it's even moreso for Holmes, who has no real interest in people, SAVE for Watson, who he goes out of his way to include on his cases. The two of them, quite frankly, care more for each other than they probably will for any other living human being, and that right there is why I adore the characters.
So, in the end, I guess I'm just tired of people trying to force the idea that two people can't love each other, can't go on adventures, can't just be happy living their lives for the thrill, without forcing romance and women into it. I hate that I'm the minority, and that those who share my opinion are labeled as villains because we aren't "modern" or "feminist" enough.
I guess, in the end, it just makes me really sad that I can't enjoy my fandom without having to worry about who the characters are going to be shoved together with next week.
So, there's my opinion. I know, very long winded, sorry about that. And I still don't know if I said what I had hoped to say. But I'm out of words now, and would like to hear what you think, if any of you followed along this far. Talk to me, people!
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 07:18 pm (UTC)As for the compulsory urge to add sex and romance EVERYWHERE, gee god thank you for pointing that out! Two people can deeply love eachothers and want to spend every moment together WITHOUT there being nothing but genuine friendship and affection. And two people can be "soul mates" on a purely platonic level, and that's one of the most beautiful relationship that exist. I'm a bit on the naive side, so I don't like it when people "see" things that aren't explicit nor implicit. And, although as a slasher it is very enjoyable to see the whole Holmes/Watson relationship as them being in love, I can frankly say it strikes me as perfectly acceptable that they're just two buddies enjoying each other's companies more than any other person. I don't know why nowadays people see this kind of thing as "juvenile", because your most intense relationship is supposed to be with your lover/wife/husband. But, I really think Watson - although heterosexual - connects on a deeper level with Holmes, just as Holmes - asexual or gay of whatever - feels the same for Watson. And I do think Mary's character seemed a bit of a way to assert Watson's sexuality to the readers, rather than an important character.
Also, I can't help but think that Watson's wife was an inconvenience to ACD, because a married man is "hindered" by his marriage unlike a bachelor who can go on his merry way and follow Holmes on their adventures.
As for the BBC version, unlike the books and the movie, I don't really get gay vibes. I mean, John appears perfectly straight and uninterested in Sherlock sexually, and Sherlock appears uninterested in sex. Their relationship is a deep friendship, but it doesn't seem as intense - and therefore, as ambiguous - as the other Sherlock Holmes I've read/watched.
What I rather like about the 09 movies though, is that - at least IMO - the love triangle (or in this case it's more like a square) does work for once. The women have more personalities than in the books/BBC, and I can feel love/tension between Holmes/Irene, Watson/Mary and Holmes/Watson without the other relationships negating one another. It actually works for once, and I think that's why it's my favourite verse.
I'd be very disappointed if BBC!John ended up married and living out of Baker Street, hope this doesn't happen, especially since - except Mrs Hudson - most of the women are kind of meek.
Wow, sorry about the long rant ^^''