I think my biggest problem is the lack of humility on mofftiss’ part. let’s say you work your hardest and your big series finale is a flop. it just…doesn’t work (and clearly there was already fear that this might be the case, hence the hedging beforehand–”if we pull this off” “If we haven’t messed it up”) you start getting criticism, and you take a step back and evaluate. you see fans crying queerbait. you would put out a statement. something to the effect of “while we in no way intended to hurt a portion of our audience, we understand that we may have done so inadvertently and would like to apologize” or something of the sort. you don’t say “well we said” because…you fucking lied about a lot of things, why would we not also assume that was a lie.
and this one has been really bugging me. The first (and only) time I watched TEH, I was devastated. That episode left the worst taste in my mouth. The opening, with the fan theories–it was so cruel. And please remember that Mofftiss specifically put out a casting call for an overweight girl. They made a caricature of who they believed their audience was, strung her up in front of that same audience, and laughed at her. I was crushed by that. By how specific and spiteful it was to an audience that had been holding its breath for this episode. But fandom was able to bring me around, to help me enjoy the rest of the season (although I’ve never forgiven TEH and it remains my least favorite episode of any of them).
But now, in light of this, I’m…i’m just livid. I’m appalled at not just their lack of respect, but their seeming hatred and contempt of their own audience. How…how do you get like that? How do you look at the people making your show successful–the same brand of people who made ACD’s stories successful–and not be thankful? How do you look at them like a parasite, like an intruder? How do you mock them–their ideas, their passions, their hobbies, their fucking appearances?
drag them over the coals, friends–but remember, they dragged you first
The Sheriarty shipper in TEH (much as I love the actress herself) was the writing on the wall for me.
The character description for the casting call was “overweight, greasy hair, probably goth.”
Even Kitty Riley in TGG was masquerading as fan, and Sherlock told her, basically, that fans only come in two varieties: killer/lunatic or groupie/slut.
Their disdain for female, queer, introspective, transformative fans has been palpable for a long, long time.
They told us who they were. I wish more of us had believed them.
“We sort of don’t need to listen to fans. We are fans.” – Steven Moffat
(https://twitter.com/whtbout2ndbrkfs/status/868943974672748544)
Tag: fandom
ik you don’t blog about the show anymore, but what’s your opinion about what happened at Sherlocked??
What I want to say is: PLEASE, WAKE THE FUCK UP, PEOPLE.
I know there was a part of the fandom who still thought that Moftiss were brilliant writers and that we were gonna get the ending we all dreamed of. And I understand that, really I do. But we all need to wake up.
Moftiss admitted they used homoerotic subtext in their series. They knew that would bring people towards the show. All the speculations, the metas, the discussions… that was stuff only the passionate fans would do, not the casuals. And they knew that hinting, implying something regarding Johnlock would bring the “fangirls” and the show would gain popularity. So, they kept doing that for whole 3 seasons (+ TAB).
Then, something happened. I think that they wanted to end the series with S4, but there was a problem. They didn’t want to make John and Sherlock a couple because that was never their true intention, but the situation had gotten away from their hands by that point. (translation = “too gay”) and they panicked.
So what did they do? They wrote S4 sloppily, completely retconning everything, changing the personality of the characters, giving Mary a central role and minimizing the interactions between John and Sherlock. They made that season the most #NoHomo possible because that was their plan all along: Sherlock and John solving crimes together, Sherlock alone and John marrying and then mourning his beloved wife (who shoots nicely, let’s not forget that).
S4 is the true BBC Sherlock they wanted to do but never could because
they were very aware that they wouldn’t have gotten so much success if they did #NoHomo from the beginnin’.Honestly, that was such a smart move because now they are famous and rich and the show is successful and they can tell whatever they want because the series is probably over forever (despite what Moffat says), so they won’t have repercussions of any kind. In fact, they just blame the fans because ugh, they were too stupid, too naive, they should have known that John and Sherlock were straight when they didn’t want to share a bedroom after knowing each other for 10 minutes.
^^^THIS!!!
APPLAUSE YALL
But lol sorry he died a little totally his fault
I’m trying to think of what to do with my Sherlock DVDs. eBay seems like too much of a pain (and there are lots on there anyway) and I don’t want to donate them anywhere because then I feel like I’m contributing to someone actually watching them. Is there something cathartic or symbolic I could do?
hang them on a string from an eave of the house to keep the woodpeckers away. Toss them like a death frisbee. Shoot them nicely. Beat them with a tire iron. Kick them while they are on the ground. Bury them like our feelings. The possibilities are endless
shoot them nicely
Con bits and bobs
Random stuff while I remember it.
Sue said that season five won’t get planned or written until Ben and Martin commit, and made an offhand comment like “when they’re less busy.” It sounded distant. Steven similarly said that he had no idea at all where the next season would go, and hadn’t thought about it yet. He’s busy with Dr. who now and might take a year off when that’s done.
Something about Mary…..first off, Amanda was supposed to be here but cancelled just a few days ago. Bummer. During my pic signing with Steven I asked him if he felt Mary redeemed herself at the end, or was she still morally dubious. This started a fairly long Mary defense, that she shot Sherlock nicely, that if Sherlock was ok with it why wouldn’t we be, that she had more to overcome in her past thus her moving toward to good had more meaning. He was QUITE QUITE serious, and all my Mary is evil hopes died a sad death. She DID ACTUALLY jump in front of that shot, Steven takes that absolutely for granted, so our pondering of bullet speeds etc. were all in vain. He’s still surprised some people don’t like Mary, and is rather defensive of her.
Andrew Scott
Had an hour with him, only about 10 of us, and holey moley what a treat. He is intelligent and well spoken, but very patient with allowing others to talk. He reiterated that the ENTIRE pool scene was not meant to be shot, only to be used as audition material, was written very quickly by Steven, but they liked it so much they shot it and fit it in.
He’s doing Hamlet onstage currently and expects it will be filmed by the National Theater and shown. When asked what part he’d like to play, he said a romantic comedy, as he hasn’t done one, and “ the longer I live the more I become convinced that everything is about love.” He was also quite philosophical about emotions, that you have to experience your dark side to experience your light, and that “all of the world is like that, two sides of a coin, not separate.”
I feel like there is a conflating of threats/bullying/harassment and people expressing anger, disappointment and profound frustration in fandom spaces. Though on some rare occasions those expressing their anger and frustration in fandom spaces may evolve into someone who is directly harassing and threatening those involved with the creation of the media they consume, the two things are not the same, and I think such evolutions are pretty rare.
Direct harassment and threats are never an acceptable way to deal with your anger over something, that is absolutely true. However, expressing anger, disappointment, disbelief or even profound dislike of media creators (Note I am not talking about fan creators here) in the privacy of fan spaces is not the same thing as threatening, bullying or harassing them.
Politely and articulately filing a complaint to a network about your disappointment with a piece of media they aired, and requesting that they do better is not bullying, threatening or harassment. Politely asking content creators to explain their writing choices, or actors on their feelings/thoughts on the characters they play at cons is not bullying, threatening or harassing. Speaking with your wallet and refusing to financially support media that did not meet your expectations is not bullying, threatening or harassment.
Now granted media creators don’t owe you answers, but if they give you answers and those answers suck, and you want to rant about that here, you have every right. And if stans run to twitter and drag those posts out of the privacy of fandom spaces, and bring them to the attention of their faves, the responsibility for any hurt feelings on their fave’s part is the stan’s fault, not the fault of someone venting their anger and frustration on their own blog, and who had no intention of it ever leaving fan space.
Excuse me, but there is plenty wrong about continuing to complain to creators about their work. If you don’t like the creative work they have offered, don’t partake of it. It’s no more okay to insist on “answers” from professional writers than it would be to badger a fan writer.
Why go to a convention to bother the writers about their work? You’re not going to teach them anything. They have no obligation to respond to you or explain their work. Nobody wants to hear your reasons why this or that is wrong-headed, stupid, senseless,or ooc. Nobody cares about your opinion. Enjoy the show or not. But stop harping on about it and trying to justify your rude behaviors.
Plenty of the so-called “constructive criticism” being offered recently in the Sherlock fandom has been thinly veiled insults against the creators and reveals a stubborn mind unable to accept reality. Lots of the “questions” are presented in a passive aggressive manner. The sarcasm and jokes aren’t funny or hip. You’ve created a toxic environment online and irl at cons that we all have to sit in now and I don’t appreciate it.
The show was made, it aired, it’s over. You’re not going to change it no matter how many tantrums you have. This attitude is entitlement at its worst.
Lastly, you are affecting the enjoyment of the show for people who did like it. Constant whining on Tumblr and Twitter for *months* wanting acknowledgement for your butthurt and sending out innumerable posts about how sucky it was ruins the pleasure for others. Why the sour grapes attitude? Why shit all over others in the fandom just because you didn’t get what you want from a television show?
Grow up. Let it go. Move on. You’re irritating the hell out of everybody.
Excuse me, but there is plenty wrong about continuing to complain to creators about their work.
@garunda-dreams-of-rain, firstly, this post specifically isn’t, in any way, about fans directly complaining to creators about their work. It’s actually about the opposite. It’s about fans venting their dissatisfaction in fan spaces, making their concerns about a network’s content known to the network, fans asking polite questions about creators about plot points and characterisation choices that confuse them, and choosing whether they want to support a show anymore or not.
Nowhere did I defend a person’s right to continually complain directly to the writers, producers or crew about the show not fitting their preferences. That would be harassment. This post was in response to people stating that fans venting their anger and disappointment here on tumblr needed to stop because that was somehow harassment of the people directly involved with the making of the show.
If you don’t like the creative work they have offered, don’t partake of it. It’s no more okay to insist on “answers” from professional writers than it would be to badger a fan writer.
👆
So, if we take the creators at their word, the show was hap hazard, driven by a low financial budget, one of the main goals of the endeavour was to develop Mary Morstan’s character out of a client/barely thought about wife in canon into a troubled assassin in need of a redemption arc, and to introduce a new character into the Holmesian universe that will create chaos, make Sherlock a good man, and undermine most plot points in the preceding episodes/character developments? OK! But the overall result was the crucifixion of John Watson, reducing him to a violent, cheating, unwise, angry man and to reduce Sherlock Holmes into an emotional wreck, losing all agency, and, sadly, his sheer joy of life that has always propelled him into people’s hearts. The two historic heros effectively destroyed and for what? Nothing in BBC Sherlock, outside of these two characters, is worthy of that sacrifice. You can’t wipe that slate clean with a final montage and voice over.
I do think it’s over folks for this pastiche. And in all honesty it should be.
Dear fandom
(To add onto the post I just reblogged before this. Go read that 1st)
If you are still in the camp of “something still could happen! Don’t lose hope!” I’m talking directly to you all. If you are in the headspace that hearing anything about M*fftiss makes you angry and hateful, I’m talking to you. If you go out on the internet to discuss how Amanda is an awful person in someway, talk about how Ben’s family isn’t real or anything about the personal lives of the cast/crew, I’m talking to you.
If BBC Sherlock only makes you angry, and you’ve done all you can think of to try and love it in any way again, it’s time to take a step back and reassess.(Whether that be taking a break from Tumblr, blocking people or deactivating for a bit). It’s one thing to criticize TPTB. But hateful things need to stop. I know I may have toed that line in one post or two out of anger, it happens. It’s up to you to decide if you need a break or you need to leave fandom for a bit/or a long while.
And I’m being completely, 100% serious that if you are bashing Ben, Amanda or anyone else in the way that has been going on please go seek help. Go talk to someone, because those actions are really not okay at this point. Concerning posts still cross my dash, even one is too many.
Speaking generally about all the above: if you aren’t having fun anymore, being in the fandom right now might be dragging you down and you may be unaware of it. Constant rage and anger can hurt your life outside of the Internet.
Even if you think you’re 100% good, and you may be, take a second to look how you’ve been acting towards the show, the creators, other fans, etc. That’s all I ask of you.
Hey, i know many, many people are angry with TPTB but you know what? They fucking *know* you’re angry. They *know* it. They are getting figuratively slaughtered by critics and fans both in person and online and have been since January. This image fans perpetuate online of an oblivious, arrogant production team is not how they are in person. They know the grave they dug for themselves. They know. They’re not getting just valid criticism, they’re getting the worst of the worst. They are not oblivious. I’ve seen awful, threatening things online about them. They’ve seen it too. And i don’t know about you guys, but I’ve had enough of just letting anyone scream and rant about them online. Anyone saying anything harassing, anything other than valid, constructive critism will be blocked from my page. Harassment is not acceptable, i don’t care how you validate it. And I think it’s time we started holding ourselves and everyone we interact with to a higher standard. If i don’t meet it, please block me, too.
Seconded
People are actually threatening them? I can’t believe I have to say this, but I don’t care how much you hate a celebrity. You do NOT threaten them, or anyone for that matter.
Paige put it perfectly. The harassment and threats are out of control. Meeting TPTB and the actors this weekend was an excellent reminder for me that they’re humans, yes humans who write and act on television, but humans all the same. If you’re salty and don’t like something and want to complain about it, right on, that’s valid. I’m super salty about series 4 and the aftermath, and I’ve complained.
But you know what I haven’t done? Threatened Steven Moffat’s life. Spewed hate at Amanda about her partnership with Martin. Dug so deep into Benedict’s life that I feel entitled to say his family is a sham and harass him to the point where he feels unsafe and uncomfortable around his “fans”.
It’s disgusting and not at all how adults who dislike or disagree with something should behave. There’s a reason people think Johnlockers/TJLCers are batshit and entitled, and that’s why. It’s a shame to those of us who act like civilized human beings and don’t harass other human beings.
Abso-fucka-lutely!!!
You don’t share my opinion and still want to be a bully?
Go and freaking unfollow me, don’t reblog my stuff and certainly don’t like…Yes ! for god sake when I heard about the people who was a the point to say that Ben’s child weren’t real I was like, what the hell is wrong with you ??? people go to far !
All those people seriously need help. Like therapy or something. I’m being honest right now. They literally need to stop and get their priorities straight before they do any more damage. This is important.
I know that some of my follower are part of this group of people and seriously guys, you need help, what you do is toxic for yourself. I know it’s hard, I know you don’t find that it’s as a big deal that what we say, but it is. Pls take a break, talk to psy, do everythting that you can to to pull through yourself out of this. take care of yourself ❤
I had the opportunity to talk with Sue twice, and she was very kind to me. I could tell she was comfortable in my presence. She asked my username for trivia, I told her. I also told her not to Google it because my Sherlock blog is a bit not good (I meant it as a “there’s a lot of Sherlock getting rimmed”, but i didn’t want to just say that). Her face froze for a split second, as if she just figured it out. “You don’t… you don’t hate on us there, do you?” I was taken completely by surprise. She wasn’t jovial about it, she seemed legitimately afraid. Afraid that the fan who had gained her trust over the last 10 minutes was actually someone who crucifies her online, that laughs at her and perpetuates the cycle of hate. That threatens their safety. That allies herself with people like that. I didn’t realize how bad it was until this convention. And I’m not being silent about this anymore. Everyone in this Fandom, dear god above! YOU WILL HOLD YOURSELF TO A HIGHER STANDARD.
^this. I’ve got beef with the writers but they are still people. And I KNOW some of my followers are in the dig deep camp to badger the actors about their lives. Enough. Please.
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