So...fandom...
Jan. 23rd, 2012 06:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charliesmumI get so confused by people in a 'fandom' at times, I really do.
Not the fanfics, or the slash, or the weird pairings or anything like that. I'm cool with that.
What gets me is the weird tendency to find fault with the people who actually created the world/characters they're fandoming in in the first place.
I read this interview with Stephen Moffat on the Guardian that was posted on the SherlockBBC comm on LJ, and it was mildly interesting; he spoke to the rabidness that is John/Sherlock, and to people's speculation that Sherlock is gay/asexual etc, and basically said he is neither gay nor asexual, he's just not interested in sex because it's distracting.
Which is fine. But people went mad, accusing him of being homophobic, or unfair to asexual people. Also he's anti-women; something I've seen on Doctor Who comms, too. (That's something I suppose we could save as a discussion for another day. I get what people say as far as his female characters, but I don't know I fully agree)
Anyway...most of the time the feeling I get is people getting upset because he doesn't agree with them about Sherlock's sexuality. While I think Sherlock/Watson is toats the original slash pairing, I never once for a moment though Doyle or Moffat or Gatis every planned for them to be actually gay.
Does that make slashing them any less fun? No. That's the whole point of it. It isn't canon, but it could be and that is the sandbox in which slash writers can play.
Moffatt and Gatis wrote this Sherlock. It is their right to characterise him any way they want. Heck, it's within their rights to get annoyed at the alternate characterisation of them in fandom, but I get they look at it more in bemusement than horror. They get people do it.
The little 'why do they think I'm gay' digs that were in the recent series did not feel to me like an attack. It felt to me like a fun little nod to the fandom who slashes.
I don't know why people try to vilify the people who brought them such pleasure in the first place. Just enjoy the show, discuss the ending (and seriously, what? Wow.) and write your fanfiction the way you want without expecting the real writers to come to you and say 'Wow. You are so right. You've made the character so much better than I, a professional television writer with several hit shows to my credit ever could. I am going with your vision from now on.'
And as for the whole 'it would be nice if he made Sherlock asexual because asexuals would love to have a role model on tv' thing. Yes, it would, but Sherlock wasn't written to be asexual. Don't get upset that he's not advocating it when he never meant to be in the first place. Yes it would be nice to see that in a story. It's just not happening here.
Not the fanfics, or the slash, or the weird pairings or anything like that. I'm cool with that.
What gets me is the weird tendency to find fault with the people who actually created the world/characters they're fandoming in in the first place.
I read this interview with Stephen Moffat on the Guardian that was posted on the SherlockBBC comm on LJ, and it was mildly interesting; he spoke to the rabidness that is John/Sherlock, and to people's speculation that Sherlock is gay/asexual etc, and basically said he is neither gay nor asexual, he's just not interested in sex because it's distracting.
Which is fine. But people went mad, accusing him of being homophobic, or unfair to asexual people. Also he's anti-women; something I've seen on Doctor Who comms, too. (That's something I suppose we could save as a discussion for another day. I get what people say as far as his female characters, but I don't know I fully agree)
Anyway...most of the time the feeling I get is people getting upset because he doesn't agree with them about Sherlock's sexuality. While I think Sherlock/Watson is toats the original slash pairing, I never once for a moment though Doyle or Moffat or Gatis every planned for them to be actually gay.
Does that make slashing them any less fun? No. That's the whole point of it. It isn't canon, but it could be and that is the sandbox in which slash writers can play.
Moffatt and Gatis wrote this Sherlock. It is their right to characterise him any way they want. Heck, it's within their rights to get annoyed at the alternate characterisation of them in fandom, but I get they look at it more in bemusement than horror. They get people do it.
The little 'why do they think I'm gay' digs that were in the recent series did not feel to me like an attack. It felt to me like a fun little nod to the fandom who slashes.
I don't know why people try to vilify the people who brought them such pleasure in the first place. Just enjoy the show, discuss the ending (and seriously, what? Wow.) and write your fanfiction the way you want without expecting the real writers to come to you and say 'Wow. You are so right. You've made the character so much better than I, a professional television writer with several hit shows to my credit ever could. I am going with your vision from now on.'
And as for the whole 'it would be nice if he made Sherlock asexual because asexuals would love to have a role model on tv' thing. Yes, it would, but Sherlock wasn't written to be asexual. Don't get upset that he's not advocating it when he never meant to be in the first place. Yes it would be nice to see that in a story. It's just not happening here.
no subject
on 2012-01-24 01:21 am (UTC)This is just based off my own fandom. One of the most famous/popular pairings involves a married man in his mid to late 30s. They don't have the ability to write the ending of a 10+ year marriage and his new gay sex life so they just write off the wife in horrible ways. But when anyone threatens this ship they tend to go off. They just don't have the ability to do it. It's a fun thing to read when done well, though.