A Scandal in Fandom: Steven Moffat, Irene Adler, and the Fannish Gaze

[jblum]

The thing about the latest round of "Is Steven Moffat sexist?" that's currently flapping round the blogosphere, is that if within the same week you can manage to get accused of hating women by a Guardian blogger, and simultaneously accused of championing women and hating men in the Christmas special by the Daily Mail ... you're probably doing

Comments

[elisi]

I don't have time to go into how much I love this post (although I tried here), but I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate what you do here.

As someone who loves complex characters in particular (the fact that Spike is a monster who is trying to be good - and the conflict from that - is something I relish), I was sat nodding along like Churchill the dog.

(Just one thing:

To give an idea where she's coming from, she's been declaring that Matt Smith simply isn't really the Doctor for some time now.
I find this impossible to wrap my head around. I know people who dislike Eleven, but to see him as un-Doctor-y is just... I see SO MUCH of all the old Doctors in him (Seven especially, and shades of Four), and after Ten (who almost became the antithesis of what the Doctor should be), I am mostly marvelling at how the character has been returned to what he once was. I'm not knocking Ten btw - I am VERY FOND of Ten - I've just been writing meta on this very issue recently. I can link you if you're interested

[jblum]

Bless you! Tickled pink by the "calm and levelheaded" bit. It's nice to have that count for something online for once. :-) Thanks again!

[darthhellokitty]

This is wonderful - yes, as fans we are good at pattern recognition, but we also sort of want to fit EVERYTHING into the same pattern. I agree with many of your conclusions. And I consider Irene's getting Sherlock help her fake her death to be a victory on her part, AND a victory on Sherlock's part over Mycroft, which I suspect is very important to him.

[davecw]

Just a quick point. I was fairly convinced that Moffat's intention was to present Irene and Sherlock as equals. This is evident in several scenes but also here in particular, where essentially, Sherlock is repaying a debt to Irene, who helped to save his life at the start of the episode when her phone call to Moriarty saved Sherlock's life.

I mention it here because you make the point about Irene faking her death, rather than the alt-view, which is that she needed Sherlock in order to save her life.

Anyhow, not going to repeat all my argments, as they are on Foz's page.

[jblum]

...Speaking of presenting them as equals, look who's faking his own death after Reichenbach, and whose hands he seems to have placed his life in...

[davecw]

Well, yes, entirely. A point which is made regarding Holmes' relationships with women is that they improved after his experience with Adler, and there is some evidence to show that has been the case. It all depends on whether or not you feel his initial treatment of Kitty Riley was deserved (by her) or not. Personally, I would say, it was.

All in all though, am I only one who feels that the subtitle for this season should have been: "for those that missed Doctor Who..."? Can't wait for: "I've been too noisy, John, time for me to retreat back into the shadows..."

[itsnotmymind]

I found this linked in a couple places.

I don't watch Sherlock and I don't keep up with Doctor Who, but I always had a soft spot for Irene Adler, and I know fandom. This is a really fascinating essay and I was able to get a lot out of it despite my lack of familiarity with the shows you're talking about. You've given me a lot to think about about the fannish tendency to oversimplify and polarize.

[zhinxy]

This did a wonderful job of articulating some of the thoughts buzzing in my head about fan reactions to this episode.

Bohemia is my favorite in the Sherlock Canon, and I've often had issues with Moffat and Gender, but was actually very pleased with how this story went down. Heh.

Honestly my main problem with Moffat's Irene is that she was much, much too British. How gauche! From Joisey, Our The Woman was!

[jblum]

Heh! I forgave Moffat for that when I found out that the original Irene was probably based on Lily Langtry (from old Jersey, though she settled in America), lover of the eventual Edward VII. Who was one hell of a scandalous woman in her own right -- and I suspect New Jersey was as close as Doyle could hint without getting in trouble. :-)

[macadamanaity]

Was linked here by sahiya and found so much that made me want to jump up and say "THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS" about Irene Adler in Moffat's Sherlock. I remember watching it alone, not having read anything and being so delighted about how queerly all the relationships were portrayed and how the stories told in that episode really foregrounded Sherlock's fucked up issues with women in a way that was hardly touched in other episodes. I was then stunned when the overwhelming response to the episode and Irene in particular was anger at the portrayal of women. I basically had to write off my (feminist!) enjoyment of the episode of one of taking oppositional pleasures in the story, but this framework you've laid out also maps very well onto my enjoyment of Moffat's Doctor Who in contrast to a lot of fannish opposition to it, so I really appreciate your laying it out so clearly and interconnectedly. Bravo.