In admiration/disappointment...

[lozenger8]

This post is all about my complicated, one-sided love/hate affair with Matthew Graham (and to a lesser extent, Ashley Pharoah), so if you're not in the mood for me being just a lot crazycakes, maybe don't click on the cut.

Comments

[mountland]

As far as tollerating him being a dick goes I used to be able to cope with it. (I mean, at least he isn't Moffat, although they have many similar traits especially in regards to treating fans badly) But he crossed a line for me with the comments about PG, because thats not selling himself out, or his characters or possibly the fans, thats hurting a real person who brought his characters to life and did nothing wrong. That was the end of any admiration I could have for him as a person. As a writer I agree with you that he is great but I don't think he'll ever be good, he makes the same mistakes again and again and by doing so throws away somany opportunities that it makes him a wasted talent.

I enjoyed your post and like seeing someone like him, but his treatment of fans makes me too uncomfortable to ever want to get close enough/ involved to see if I too could become a fan again.

Also not so sure about your comment of "there are so many shit-headed critics around these days, and way too many people who choose to hate something simply for the novelty of hating it" as people brand anyone who criticises with the same brush, as far as I'm concerned aslong as you have a good argument your crit is valid even if you only came up with that view point because you are bored. (But I do know that my initial argh at reading that is due to trauma from the Irene Adler episode of Sherlock and the way fandom responded to any sort of intelligent criticism).

But thanks for posting this, it was interesting to read and think about.

[lozenger8]

Ah, see, the thing with Phil still confuses the ever-living fuck out of me. I can't shake the feeling that something more was at play there. That could just be random speculation, but, I suppose I like to believe the best in people. I absolutely think Matthew made a mistake, but I don't, for instance, know how hurt Phil was. He seemed to take it all in stride. Should Matt have got up in arms about that one line? Well, he's entitled to. I think I might be slightly annoyed if someone tried to claim my wit as their own (had it been a better line.) Should he have gone on a twitter rampage? Absolutely not. He hasn't got another public twitter, though, so maybe he needed to remove himself from temptation. And, really, he was mildly insulting, but he wasn't horrible to Phil, He was mostly just... Matthew. (Okay, calling it a 'deluded ego trip' was pretty harsh. But once again, Matthew.)

I look at this from the perspective of someone who has, every now and then, acted like a monumental dick herself. And I can't even tell you the number of posts I haven't made because I realised it would be incredibly stupid of me to do so, and I may well hurt others. I am a naturally bitchy person in so, so many ways, and I carefully self-censor.

There are a lot of critics around these days who don't exactly back up their criticism with a solid argument. They'll make sensationalist statements just to court controversy, or just to be cool. Those are the shit-heads. I think it's probably the distance between critique being entirely subjective and yet feigning objectivity. I don't know, I may be feeling tender because so few people Got Eternal Law and I feel like its merits were completely overlooked (which is not to say it wasn't sometimes not the best it could be, or likely to appeal to a more specific audience than perhaps they were expecting.) There does seem to be this climate of "you have had your success, tall poppy, NOW WE MUST BRING YOU DOWN" and I hate that, it's disingenuous.

But, obviously, I still think there is plenty of valid criticism out there.

Thanks for your comment. I understand that MG is not for everyone, but hell, he still has me. Lucky, lucky boy.

[lozenger8]

I don't think it's purely British. It certainly happens in Australia. It truly is depressing.