Tag: fandom

We Failed Them

ravenmorganleigh:

constancecream:

sussexbound:

miadifferent:

isitandwonder:

kirkallalong:

welovethebeekeeper:

redpeacoat3:

consultingeastwind:

Steven, Mark, and Sue might even be bewildered at the extreme reaction they got for TFP

  1. All time low ratings
  2. Complaints filed at the BBC
  3. Scathing backlash from reputable news sources
  4. That other hellsite Twitter that they could not run away from like Tumblr
  5. People actually applauding their elaborate farce of an episode as legit

When they were hoping that we would stay clever at the crucial moment

Or did we all abandon them like John did at the lab in TRF?

Maybe this only feels cruel because we expected it to be less clever, i. e., the resolution to every fucky thing, finally

We expected it to be less clever, aka explicit, a spoon-feeding of explanations

We gave more weight to this episode as “more official and legit” when it should have had the same weight as the other episodes

But if we look at this from the mindset that they are still mind-fucking us TAB style, the emotions would not run as high on our side, and will not be as bewildering on their end

They have been doing in S4 what they’ve been doing since TAB

It’s fandom’s reaction that’s different now, suddenly too angry and violent

Suddenly it became dangerous to hope, when we’ve been doing that for years just as they’ve been making this show clever for years

It’s suddenly a hostage situation where it’s “Stop this shit or I’ll kill myself” to the creators and “You’re responsible for people’s mental health so stop giving them hope” to fellow fans

Why did we allow TFP to give license to fellow fans to take our hope and logic hostage

Why did we allow TFP to give license to fellow fans to

suddenly lose their agency over their own lives

Why did we allow TFP to give license to fellow fans to decide that what we’ve been doing for years with the material is suddenly the irresponsible, dangerous, Stockholm Syndrome way to read the text

What we’ve been doing for years, putting together clues, is suddenly a moral failing now

How did we suddenly U-turn in our approach to this material

How is suddenly changing how we examine the text the “voice of reason” now

It was fandom expectation that suddenly made this episode – hell, this season – feel like a betrayal

We are the ones that suddenly refused to engage in the text-reader contract

We are in the perspective of the aggrieved party believing them to have failed us, when they have been consistently delivering what we wanted, a conspiracy that turns out to have been right all along

They teamed up with Amazon, Twitter, Russia’s Channel One, The Telegraph, and BBC News to make us even more engaged than ever

We are the ones who changed, who suddenly left in the middle of the story and blamed the story teller and called it a shit tale when it hasn’t even ended yet

We wanted to be spoon-fed for once and threw a tantrum that we were still treated as grown ups with agency and thought and willingness to feast

We are the ones who failed them, fellow fans, and the material itself

No. We did not fail them. Questioning your interpretation of a television show after being gaslit, big reveal or not, is perfectly healthy.

We are all handling this as we need to. Don’t judge. I have more faith in us than I do in the writers.

Please don’t say this. People were self harming in anguish. I spoke to a few on twitter, there were a few considering suicide. We can’t defend the effect TFP had on LGBTQ youth. If this was a stunt it was badly thought out and went spectacularly wrong. There has to be an accounting for this eventually. We did not fail them.

This is the EXACT rhetoric used against abuse victims. We are a community of queer women and trans people. WE did not fail them, they failed US, not just in TFP but countless other times.
These men do not deserve glory and praise for hurting us, for gaslighting us, for emotionally and mentally abusing us (that’s part of what gaslighting is).
We never deserved this. We don’t owe them a single thing.

Sorry @consultingeastwind. just consider for one moment that it wasn’t a marketing stunt but that they just fucked us. That they took the piss. I won’t defend people who make fun of my hopes or use them for some twisted marketing purposes.

Believe what you want but please stop telling others that criticising Mofftiss is failing them; that they are not real fans when they question what happened with TFP and the whole of S4. This is actually dangerous. We are not a cult, and if we are as smart as we always thought we were we simply can’t have blind trust in people who have proofen so far not to care about us regarding the fallout after TFP.

We haven’t failed them and we owe them nothing. On the contrary, we are entitled to voice our criticism. Because we are an intelligent, thinking fandom, not lemmings.

All of the above. This is not a cult. Critical thinking is not a sign of being a bad fan. And so far the creators did neither interact with us in regards of our criticism nor encourage us to take a closer look at the episode. We can’t fail them because they apparently don’t care about us.

Reblogging for the replies.  

Stop defending privileged cis men who don’t give a shit about you except for how much money you can put in their pockets.  Don’t put their over-inflated egos ahead of marginalised people’s desire for representation, and their very real and justified hurt and sense of betrayal.  Don’t blame the victims and defend the perpetrators.  Just don’t do it.  

Mark and Steve don’t need your support.  They’re laughing all the way to the bank.  Your community needs you right now.  Support them.

Stockholm Syndrome speaking…

Reblogging for the replies.

watsonshoneybee:

the thing is, a lot of the plot holes don’t matter. it doesn’t actually matter about how they survived the explosion or got on the boat or got john out of the well. the problem is that the overall conclusion of the episode’s plot, no matter how you look at it, is unnecessary. we didn’t need this episode for Sherlock to realize that he’s better with his emotional connections in juxtaposition to Eurus’s lack of them, because Sherlock realized that exact thing in TAB and acted in accordance with that realization in TST and TLD. we didn’t need Sherlock’s family to be remade in a better image because the underlying love between Sherlock and Mycroft has always been clear, even if it hasn’t been perfect. we didn’t need Sherlock to understand the importance of having or saving a best friend because he realized it in TRF. we understood from the end of TLD that John and Sherlock have reconciled and are now ready to trust each other and work in partnership again (which TFP actually undermined by Sherlock ignoring John’s Vatican Cameos warning, incidentally). we knew Sherlock was willing to die to protect his loved ones two seasons ago. there was no emotional fall-out or gain for the characters on the basis of going through Eurus’s games.

we just…didn’t need a single thing this episode gave us. that’s the plot hole I can’t let go of. that’s what makes this so unsatisfying. it wasn’t just sloppy, it was a waste.

for how long are we getting Reichenbached? not two years, right? ha ha ha. More than two weeks and the general public is bound to forget and not give a damn any more. That’s what I can’t figure out about this whole thing. When are we getting that fourth episode?

221behavior:

monikakrasnorada:

doomsteady:

waitedforgarridebs:

Considering the true Holmesians got Reichenbached for 8 years… lmao, I am in pain. 

But yeah, I can see the 2-3 year gap… like, even Sherlock himself had to be absolved in the papers before he came back, so that is also what could happen to get public attention again shortly before they air the next series. 

Guess we’ll see what’s gonna happen today/tomorrow. 

2 years is too long. The show’s legacy will be ruined by then.

The only reason this didn’t harm ACD the first time is because it wasn’t a case of the author destroying the validity, credibility and character of his stories. He just killed off the character. It wasn’t done unfairly, it was just tragic and sad and people still loved Sherlock Holmes and wanted him back.

What Mofftiss have done with their own ‘Reichenbach’ is make their audience not want any more Sherlock, because they’ve utterly gutted everything that was good about it.

In 2 years, people won’t be chomping at the bit for series 5, they’ll be dreading it.

^^^^^^THIS.

This is true and it genuinely concerns me. The Reichenbach scenario seems more likely than them just leaving it as it is, but the fact that they haven’t done any advertising for the 4th episode at all means that even if they did release it tomorrow, viewership would be low for their big reveal to the public–and they’re the ones they want to see it, not us tin-hat conspirators who’ve already bought in. 

And people are willing to wait for quality content, but the average viewer, who has not been “minding the subtext,” is likely to assume that the show just went downhill. Because, I mean…the sad reality is that most shows do, eventually.

I’ve no doubt another episode is coming and that it’ll explain things, but I really hope they’ve factored interest-over-time into their plans, and don’t mess things up for themselves trying to be edgy.

John Watson will wait and forgive, but that’s what makes him so amazing. The general public does not extend the same courtesy.

WTF went on and WTF should we believe?

welovethebeekeeper:

Well we always said there were only two options; gay or trash. So when we didn’t get the gay/bi confirmation then we felt as if we, not just the show and our beloved men, had been well and truly trashed. Queer baited and denied any legitimacy of our hard work, loyalty and hope over the past few years. This week has been shit. We all scrambled to save ourselves, verging off in different directions. As always I am posting to clear my own thought process on this weeks curves and dips, to clarify for myself where I stand. So if you want to come along on that journey with me, welcome.

At the start of s4, with T6T, I decided that it was real events but shown via the perspective of Sherlock, I posted on that idea. Then came TLD, and I propose it was the best episode of s4. I could live with the idea that Mary was being used as John’s inner self, a visual prop to allow viewers into his inner dialogue. Plus we saw John’s utter confusion and desperation in the ‘hug’ scene when he is angrily telling Sherlock to find love, take the chance, and still John cannot bring himself to suggest to Sherlock that he take that chance with him. But Sherlock hears him, embraces him, and because Sherlock is the best and wisest man, he gives John time to heal. TLD held so much promise for a brighter future for Sherlock and John, and it set us up for the much anticipated confirmation in TFP. But then they pulled the fucking rug on us and said, sorry no homo. Bastards. Anger and heartbreak ensued.

As I stupidly, regretfully, attended the BFI screening of ‘The Fucking Problem’ as I am now referring to the episode, I had an early start, 3 days in fact, on my emotional breakdown. It was the Ian Hallard tweet day all over again. I cried till my eyes were swollen and my chest hurt. How I got on the train to travel home from London, I don’t know. Thanks to a handful of Tumblr angels, I made it through and by Sunday’s airing I was just pissed. As a lifelong fighter in the LGBTQ trenches, I did what I always do, I contacted all the advocacy agencies to alert them. I also ended up supporting several LGBTQ young people on Twitter and on here, through their pain. Representation denied yet again. [BTW the LGBTQ Oxford Students Union Office were great, if the Masterclass with Steven at the Oxford Union hadn’t been cancelled, they were ready to go and demand answers]

Other johnlockers reacted by diving into the meta of the episode, thank God, as it became the tin foil hatting movement which rose up to comfort many. Several johnlockers needed to go away to heal, and several more kept their cool heads above water and helped guide the rudderless fandom into a saner, safe harbour.  We are such a great fandom! 

But the big question of this week became ‘The Case of The Secret Fourth Episode’ and does it exist. There are various metas on this, I suspect we have all read the posts and know the pros and cons of believing in this idea. I am divided. On one hand my setlock brain tells me no, we saw no evidence to support it. But then my experience of television shows tells me that creators never let their product go even if it is sinking fast in the public eye, they keep on milking it [X Files is a prime example] and if they get funded then they keep on plugging away. Would Steven and Mark make a secret episode, a secret special, or mini ep? Of course they would. Right up their street. Would it be wise to do this to the viewers? No. Why not just make TFP good, put all the best stuff in that one episode? Well, they have given us shitty episodes before, and they have indulged in multi layer story telling outside of their shows timeline. So the precedent for more is there. Would they alienate casual viewers? Yes. Because at this stage I don’t think they care. This is their vanity project. It’s for them. It’s a work in many parts that will not be judged correctly until it is completed. So do I believe in The Case of The Secret Fourth Episode? I think its more likely to be The Case of the Next Special, or The Case of the Mini Episode. But yes, I think there maybe more filmed than we have seen.

TFP could very well be John’s TAB. It makes more sense for it to be John versus Sherlock, as it’s not gothic, it’s mainstream cultural which we know describes John Watson’s preferences in film and television. And I do believe that Steven and Mark are twisted enough to make The Final Problem be The Three Garridebs. Because if this is John’s TAB after being shot by his fake therapist, then everything in ep 3 is his Garridebs moment when he realises how much Sherlock does love him and envisions how life could really be for them. The concept also fits the brief; it’s a romance/love story about a detective, so then the most pertinent moment in the original material is the 3GAR moment of revelation, which then means THAT is the answer to the Final Problem.

Not excusing Steven and Mark. They have behaved badly, brutal at times. They should be called on it. Steven’s treatment of the person who questioned him on johnlock at the BFI was disgusting, it was bullying. There IS a line. And protecting your product, keeping secrets, should never result in harm to others. Their treatment of the johnlock fandom has led to so much pain. We should be given an apology. It has tainted the show for me. even if we do now get the long  awaited for confirmation and representation, it was gained by hurting people, and that is unacceptable. There should be a reckoning.  

I am here as a Holmesian, but a Watson Holmes romo, a veteran of disappointment, ridicule, ostracization, I came to the fandom not because I fancied one of the actors, or found a new show to obsess over, I came because I thought that finally the ‘boyfriend then?’ question from John Watson was opening up the closet door. My whole purpose of entering this fandom was for John and Sherlock to be allowed out of the closet. I spent series 1 and 2 hopeful, series 3 and TAB convinced and now at series 4, I am scrambling for a foothold to remain. Believing in a resolution to TFP maybe clutching at straws, unwise, but it is all that we have left if we plan to stay. I for one can’t let go just yet. So tin foil hat is on head.