1. Queerbaiting is real, and has been happening since the beginning of this show, and I am not surprised by its continuation
2. I am (unfortunately) not surprised that a fanwork (which BBC Sherlock is) made by two middle-aged cis white guys did not speak to the needs of a group of diverse young people with a contemporary vision of what media can and should be
3. There is no reason why we cannot take the work we did and expand it into our own continued readings and writings
4. I have every confidence that in the near future someone from this community will produce an openly queer Holmes and Watson for the ages
5. What is special about Sherlock is the community around it. There are a hundred great TV shows out there, but Sherlock inspires readings and fanworks which are some of the best I have ever come across in my interactions with fandom on both academic and personal levels
6. Authorial intent is bullshit, the author is dead, and a text is what you want it to be. It is ok to be mad with the writers for stringing folks along, but make no mistake, this media belongs to YOU, not them
7. Please don’t delete! This is an opportunity to write the story how you want it to be told! Even if that doesn’t mean making things, it means talking about and interfacing with media in a way that values the things that you value, and changing the conversation changes the future
Thanks for getting in touch about ‘Sherlock’ episode The Final Problem
recently.
We note your concerns regarding the portrayal of the character Eurus and the
subject of mental illness as featured in this show’s storyline.
While we appreciate your feedback, it’s important to recognise that this is
a fictional drama. Our characters aren’t intended to be representative of all
people with similar conditions, and any individual characteristics and
personality traits are specific to the particular characters and storyline. Although we don’t always condone the things our fictional characters do or say,
it’s important for the sake of the drama that they be allowed to express these
behaviours.
That said, we’re sorry if you were unhappy with the portrayal here and thank
you again for your comments. We’ve put your complaint on a report that’s made available
to all members of the BBC, including the production team of ‘Sherlock’ and
senior BBC management. This ensures your comments and others we receive are
considered across the BBC.
Kind regards
BBC Complaints Team
Ah, so when one complains about the portrayal of mental illness it at least gets taken a Bit more seriously. Of course they Defend their Show, but at least they acknowledge that some people find it difficult. This is a way more proper Response than the others concerning queerbaiting. Quite telling…
I’m concerned that they think some of us may be unaware this is… a fictional drama? No shit there Sherlock (writers), our critiques are that representation matters and strangely enough mental illness doesn’t get the best representation in television. Or LGBT people for that matter.
‘We can only reiterate that the BBC does not accept any of the allegations levelled at ‘Sherlock’ or its writers, and we wholeheartedly support the creative freedom of the writers to bring their vision to the screen…
We do not believe your complaint has raised a significant issue of general importance that might justify further investigation.’
They really don’t think there’s a problem. It doesn’t matter that we’ve complained in our thousands about their poor treatment of lgbt people, the bbc truly wholeheartedly don’t give a shit. so.
I got the same answer. I wholly doubt they’ve read my letter. This is bs.
lmao why the fuck did they ever do that report on lgbt audiences then jesus christ I hate them so much
“Kind regards” my ass
I’m fucking gonna punch them with John.s foot I got back from the well.
“We do not believe your complaint has raised a significant issue of general importance that might justify further investigation. We will not therefore correspond further in response to additional points, or further comments or questions, made about this issue or our responses to it.”
Awful. Proof that LGBTQ issues are not given weight by leading corporations.
Because I knew so many tumblr users were making complaints about LGBT representation, I specifically chose not to mention it and focus on a different issue I had with the series just to see what sort of response I would receive.
is the communications/broadcasting regulator responsible for all TV and radio programmes in the UK. Since the BBC isn’t taking our complaints seriously let’s go a step higher.
They ask to submit a complaint within 20 working days of the broadcast of the programme so there’s still a bit of time, even though it’s not much. However, even if you’re hitting it close in a week or so: Tell them that you’ve sent a complaint to the BBC and you only received the reply very recently (or that you’re still waiting) AND let them know that the way the BBC has handled this so far has not been satisfying in the least and that’s why you’re taking this issue to Ofcom in the first place.
The BBC flat-out refuses to acknowledge the accusations of queerbaiting and actually shot us down with their “Sherlock and John have never shown any romantic or sexual interest in each other” comment. They also refuse to acknowledge and address any of the other issues that have been brought up in the complaints so far:
increase in violence, yet never acknowledging it as domestic abuse
queercoding villains as sexual predators
awful portrayal of women
misrepresentation of mental illness
bad writing, drop in quality
the fact that the BBC released misleading promo material (”I love you” trailer, “Sherlock’s back & he’s in love” BBC iplayer tweet) that made them directly complicit in the queerbaiting
this is a non-exhaustive list, I’m sure you have more ideas
They ask you to:
Please note the complaint is your sole chance to set out your case to Ofcom. Therefore, please provide us with full details of how you believe the programme was unfair to you and/or how it unwarrantably infringed your privacy. Your complaint should include relevant examples of how and why unfairness/infringement of privacy was caused to you.
Unfortunately there’s a stupid word limit so try and be as short and precise as possible.
Important: DO NOT publish the complaint you’re sending to OFCOM. Once you send it you agree to their non disclosure agreement which means as long as they’re investigating the case no details (”correspondence, documents and other material concerning the complaint”) can be released to the public. It is ok to say that you have sent a complaint though. [x]
Results of the investigations will be published here and there’s an overview with numbers of complaints here.
The Broadcasting Code, in case you’re interested. Our issues probably belong to section 2: Harm and offence.
Now it would make most sense if people who live in the UK could send a complaint. You have to enter your address details. (Not sure how they deal with international complaints, if anyone could shed a light that would be marvellous!) Maybe some people could try it anyway?
So are you telling me they sent out 25,000 identical “Johnlock isn’t real you fucks” response letters? Because my head is swimming in the madness of it all.
No source for 25,000 complaints? but I imagine it was in the thousands. Probably.
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