Misogyny and Slash Fandom

[effervescent]

So today this happened: Lucy Liu was announced for the role of Watson in the new Sherlock Holmes reboot, Elementary.

My first reaction: Awesome!! I am so thereI feel kind of bad, because I've never been able to stomach the BBC Sherlock. I have a somewhat irrational dislike for the show, given that I've never watched it

Comments

[rogueslayer452]

Just once I'd like a show to come out that isn't like that. I don't want to have to worry that m/m tension is going to come along with rampant misogyny. I don't want to have to worry that hetero-centric show is going to come along with homophobia. I just want shows that make me happy. Like Lost Girl and Rizzoli and Isles and Doctor Who. But I'm not really in the fandom for those, so.

These are my thoughts, exactly. In fact, your paragraph sums up my feelings on this whole issue at the moment.

[furiosity]

While I don't think it's that much of a stretch to suggest that the studio made this casting decision to avoid the audience slashing the leads (and that would indeed be a shitty thing to do), it's just as likely at this point that someone on the production team was, gasp, thinking progressively about the source material they're re-spinning, rather than about the potential fangirls and what they might get up to, ffs. I can't say as much for the fangirls on Tumblr who are running around calling the decision to cast an Asian lady "homophobic".

[author_by_night]

I can't say as much for the fangirls on Tumblr who are running around calling the decision to cast an Asian lady "homophobic".

Yeah, I really don't get that.

And you know... I have gay friends who think the whole "omg I want all male characters to be gay" is not only bullshit, but insulting, because it implies homosexuality just exists to make fangirls and fanboys happy. They obviously don't mind gay pairings, and neither do I, but I cringe at the fact that there's not only sexism in the idea that women get in the way of hot boysex, but homophobia in denial as well.

[furiosity]

Yeah, I also think that "omg I want all male characters to be gay" is pretty insulting, tbh. I do wish there were more queer relationships portrayed in popular media -- portrayed honestly, not played for laughs (or tears) as sideshows or made to represent Every LGBT Person Ever (I was rather fond of Caprica's matter-of-fact portrayal of Will Adama's brother being married to a man). But Everyone is Gay is really not the way to go unless the setting makes it relatable (e.g. Queer as Folk US). I like Everyone is Gay scenarios as fantasy because yeah, from a purely emotional standpoint, it would be really nice to live in a world where people like me are de facto, but expecting it for the sake of ~slash potential~ in things that are meant to reflect current reality is just really gross.

According to Sherlock canon, Watson is a man. According to the same canon, Sherlock is set in the late 1800s. While I realise that Elementary is essentially Hollywood's answer to the BBC, that still doesn't change the fact that BBC Sherlock is one in a

[effervescent]

That 'very male' line is gross. :|

I have more to say, but I have to sort through it in my head, so possibly later.

[author_by_night]

I've never seen more than a few episodes of SPN, so I don't know how valid this argument is, but it's always seemed to me that it was very much about being a "buddy show with vampires" for male fans and a "hot guy fest" for female fans. I know fans who will outright tell you that female characters are a distraction from the hotness that is Sam and Dean. They watch Buffy when they want to see women kicking ass.

But the thing is, why can't you have a "buddy show with vampires" that still includes women? And why beckon to the fans who just want hotness? We get enough of that elsewhere, let something be sacred.

[effervescent]

Yeah, one of the old arguments was actually that some fans felt that the girls weren't ~good enough~ as characters, so that was why they were viewed as just getting in the way. Which is fine in one sense, but not in the other when it leads to tearing apart those characters, vilifying them and turning hatred on the actresses, you know? And then there was the way most of the main female characters were handled by the writers, and it just turned into a huge mess

[heddychaa]

You should just join the tumblr ranks of people pretending this new show has Lucy Liu as Watson, but with Indira Varma as Holmes. And then there are two strong female characters AND lesbian tension yaaaaaaaaay it's the best yaaaay

[heddychaa]

Also, to add, I already watched a show with a brilliant Asian woman in unrequited love with an acerbic white man who mistreats her but she loves him and sticks around anyway and it was called Torchwood and it sucked that time, too.

[effervescent]

I would LOVE a lesbian Watson. Seriously.

All of these points are so true, I guess I'm just hoping that they'll prove me wrong. It could happen! Someday!

[heddychaa]

It would be so amazing

Lesbian Watson, would make me this show's #1 fan tbqh especially if she is a fabulous femme and fkldjfjklsdjfklds can we just write this show?

[nightfalltwen]

I agree with this post. 100%

[effervescent]

Because I am just waking up, yours will be the first comment I reply to, to say that I like your icon. :P

[nightfalltwen]

LOL mine was the easy comment :D