my dear watson.

[introductory]

So Lucy Liu was cast as Joan Watson in Elementary, CBS's adaptation of Sherlock (which, as you remember, is also an adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle books from the nineteenth century), and fandom is, shall we say, displeased. These are my two cents: maybe not the brightest pennies in the box but it's my metaphor and I'll mangle it if I want

Comments

[lillyankh]

I think this is a totally valid argument and I completely agree that it's good to get more diversity in casting. I'm just worried because they've taken away the army aspect AND made her lose her medical license (Whether that's a false accusation and she BAMFs her way back is something to be seen later). Because, why couldn't she have been in the army? Why can't she be a practicing doctor? It just kind of screams WOMEN CAN'T BE AS AWESOME AS THE ORIGINAL JOHN WATSON SORRY GUYS to me ):

[introductory]

I feel that removing Sherlock Holmes from London kind of invalidates the whole Holmes bit, so I'm basically just thinking of this one as CSI: New York 2.0 instead of a Holmes adaptation. I don't know if Joan Watson is going to be written as a strong female character or a "strong female character" or just written terribly altogether; even if she does have those qualities missing from her background, it doesn't mean she doesn't have the potential to still be awesome in a different way. And I think that's the key here: different. Even if she turns out to be a slightly anemic character, I'd rather have that than Sherlock 2.0.

[lillyankh]

Oh I totally agree that it's better to have variety than a whole bunch of cookie cutters. It's just upsetting if that variety looks like it might be a bit flat. However, the show hasn't been made yet and I will reserve judgement until someone I know has seen it and told me about it (as I can't watch it myself). It's still great that there's the potential for an awesome Asian-American character there. Just as long as she isn't butchered by the writing.

[introductory]

I agree, and I also think that poorly-written or stereotypical portrayals of Asian-Americans (or any other minority group) often do more harm than good. But I do also think that, given the choice between a flat group of homogeneous characters and a flat group of diverse characters (and I'm not even touching on other minority identifiers such as sexual orientation or able-bodiedness or neurotypicality), ceteris paribus, I would probably choose the flat & diverse group. Am I wrong? Maybe. I don't know. I don't necessarily think flatness is overwhelmingly harmful in the way that a racist/stereotypical portrayal would be-if Elementary's Joan Watson was an incense-burning Chinese ninja acupuncturist, I'd certainly have problems with that*.

* Which is not to say that I want a whitewashed Joan Watson with no mention at all of her Asian or Asian-American culture. Again, not an ethnic studies major, so I can't provide any real useful commentary on the sliding scale of acknowledgement of one's culture vs. assimilation into Western society

[nagasasu]

on the sliding scale of acknowledgement of one's culture vs. assimilation into Western society
It's a pretty slippery slope between I Am So Asian, Tokenism, and the middle ground between them. Off the top of my head, it's pretty hard to find works where race is important but isn't The Sole Focus of a work.

[karadin]

Yep, that's also my only problem with casting Liu, taken away the army aspect AND made her lose her medical license taking away a lot of makes Watson an amazing character who only in recent adaptations (since Russian Sherlock) has been made a partner to Holmes and not just a sidekick.

The complaint that Watson is cast as female only to avoid homoerotica is just strange, its more likely (and sad) that they cast female to avoid lawsuits from Hartswood Films.

[fer_de_lance]

. Because, why couldn't she have been in the army? Why can't she be a practicing doctor? It just kind of screams WOMEN CAN'T BE AS AWESOME AS THE ORIGINAL JOHN WATSON This, though what I'm hearing isn't quite "women can't be as awesome as the original Watson" as much as it is "women don't need character depth, OBVIOUSLY she's there to be pretty and fawn over Holmes, that's enough right?" Because canon!Watson was pretty much three things: a doctor, handy for backup with his gun, and the one who followed Holmes around. If they've stripped 'doctor' and 'army' away from Liu!Watson, all that's left is... she follows Holmes around

[rubynye]

All of the concerns you list are valid, but none of them are directly caused by casting Ms. Liu.

[fer_de_lance]

You are correct, and I did not mean to imply that it was because they cast Liu that I have these concerns! I'm operating on the assumption that they decided they were open to/interested in having "a female Watson" some time before deciding on Liu, and it's the decisions made at that point that cause me to question their choices.

I'm pretty sure Lucy Liu is going to be awesome even if the rest of it's awful, in fact. :D