and your eyes seeing happiness;
feminism. history. zombies run. les misérables.
formerly: halfway-outofthedark
| goodreads | twitter | ao3 | may your ka live,
and may you achieve millions of years,
you who love thebes,
sitting with your face to the north wind,
and your eyes seeing happiness.
-- the wishing cup of tutankhamun
(via vlajean)
THIS IS WHY I LOVE ELEMENTARY
INSTEAD OF THE PUNCHLINE OF THE JOKE BEING “LOL SHE’S ON HER PERIOD” THE PUNCHLINE OF THE JOKE IS HER CALLING HIM OUT AND TELLING HIM HE’S AN ASS
I THINK THIS IS THE FIRST. FUCKING. TIME. I’VE SEEN A SHOW CALL SOMEONE OUT ON THE “WELL CLEARLY IT’S YOUR PERIOD AND THAT’S WHY YOU’RE UPSET” AND CALLS IT EXACTLY WHAT IT IS
I am reblogging this to my main and side blog because fucking yes
Don’t watch Elementary for the crimes. Watch it for Sherlock and Joan. Actually, just watch it for Joan.
(via teamenjolras)
You have two characters. One has a brilliant, once in a lifetime kind of mind, but is introverted and unconventional, bordering on rude. The other is more personable, slightly romantic, caring but with a tendency to be a bit solitary. Note that none of these personality traits are specific to one gender, or one type of sexuality. Now, these two characters solve crime. That is Sherlock Holmes in the tinniest nutshell I can cram it into. Elements such as gender and sexuality are not even peripherally relevant to the narrative and don’t become relevant at all until we take into consideration the social context that the narrative exists in. Playing around with such elements might deviate from very strict canon, but it does bring some fresh variations to the tired world of Holmes adaptation. All good, right?
Yeah, no, a lot of people seem to be pissed that CBS made Watson a woman because this eliminates the element of homo-eroticism that exists in other adaptations, even the source material. A sad day for progressive Holmesians, apparently.
I agree that we need more gay on television. Gay characters need to exist outside of comedy shows, and two strong lead characters being gay would make me happier than you would believe. But I wasn’t getting that from any other Sherlock Holmes adaptation, so I’m not missing it in Elementary. It’s just in Elementary I don’t have the option to write Holmes/Watson slash in my head, like I have done with all the other adaptations.
Is that the problem people are having here?
I have a hard time convincing myself that homoerotic subtext is somehow inherently progressive. The writers of the BBC’s Sherlock series occasionally throw these slashy moments to their audience and so many fans hold them up going “did you see the gay?” Well…no, I didn’t, not really. I saw subtext again, just intended subtext rather than my interpretation. Then I saw the writers pull away and crack the “lol, no homo” joke.
The problem is that, those of us who have spent so long seeing homoerotic subtext in things seem to have forgotten that homo-eroticism can also be text. And in this day and age, when we should be far less cagey about the subject of gayness, we need more homoerotic text. I would love to see a gay Holmes and Watson, but I need us all to be clear that, putting our own fannish interpretations aside, we have not been given that in Sherlock or any other adaptation that I can think of off the top of my head.
So I guess what I’m getting at is, in the fresh, reinvigorated world of a modern day Sherlock Holmes, why is mere homoerotic subtext more progressive than making a traditionally white male character a woman of colour?
And even if we did currently have an adaptation with an actual gay Holmes and Watson, would making another adaptation with Watson being played by a woman of colour be such a travesty? They are neither one more canonical. Such logic would just lead us to the oppression Olympics. Strong LGBT characters and strong characters of colour are under-represented in the media and while Elementary’s Watson being a gay woman of colour would present us with a glorious hat trick of representation, at least Elementary is giving us something.
If homoerotic subtext is your thing, and you really can’t stand to see Holmes and Watson without it, then of course, feel free to skip Elementary. You can even accuse me of being homophobic if it makes you feel better. I’m just gonna love my Asian-American lady Watson and wait patiently for that bona fide gay Holmes and Watson.
(via stfu-moffat)
Reason #898457 Elementary is already better than all your faves:
Can I just say how fucking refreshing it is to see this type of character actually apologize? To a WOC of all people? Like, that shit is fucking miraculous. And it wasn’t the infamous non-apology in which characters like him will use every other word in the English language just to avoid actually apologizing. He said the actual words and meant them. Better yet, he was specific: “for the way I spoke to you earlier”. Just - ugh, the appreciation I feel for this show knows no bounds.
Because we live in a culture that consistently glorifies these type of characters. Assholes (almost always male and always white) who are vehemently unrepentant in their cruelty and borderline sociopathic/sexist/racist tendencies and comments, but also happen to be a “genius” of some sort. And everyone (including the audience) is supposed to forgive them, even love and admire them, because we are conditioned to believe that this character is just misunderstood. That it is our fault (as females, as POC) they’re jerks. That we’re not appreciating their genius enough. That they don’t ever need to apologize. That they’re intelligence matters more than our mental health and even our physical safety.
And Elementary busted through the sea of bullshit and told this tired ass trope to gtfo. Nobody gives a fuck how
whiteintelligent you are, they’re telling us. You’re still going to be held responsible for your actions and words, especially when you’re a dick.So four for you, Elementary, four for you.
It also helps differentiate the show from House M.D., another Sherlock Holmes inspired show where the main character was unrepentantly jerkish to all of his compatriots and sexist to the women around him, as part of his “quirky” character. If House had been say, portrayed by a woman of color, the character would most likely have been described using some sexist or racist choice words, instead of seen as charming by viewers.
(via feministmedia)
I love the way his face lights up when he sees her.Not in a romantic way, or in a sigh of relief that she didn’t call his father about the incident linking to drugs because, in honesty, he doesn’t care about ending up on the streets. It’s more of a you came back, you didn’t give up on me look. Like she is the first person in a long time that has experienced a glimpse of him at his worst and, despite the effect it had on her, refused to walk away.
Holmes: I’m sorry. Not just for your car, but for the way I spoke to you earlier. I knew the death of your patient would be a sore subject, and I just-
Watson: Couldn’t help yourself. Yeah, I’m starting to see how that’s kind of a thing with you.
did somebody say murder
okay guys I reaaaallllllyyy like Elementary.
i’m just basking in the feeling of seeing Sherlock be respectful to a woman, other than Irene Adler (in BBC Sherlock he isn’t even respectful to her most of the time) and not shaming her for her sexuality, looks etc.
it’s kind of wonderful.
I won’t buy the DVDs, but apart from that: people on the internet have my thoughts.
“You’re just embarrassed because I figured out something that you couldn’t”
DOCTOR JOAN WATSON ISN’T TAKING ANY OF YOUR SHIT.
when i find myself in times of trouble
mother lucy comes to me
speaking words of wisdom:
‘elementary.
elementary,
where i’ll be,
and i’ll play perfectly
every straight white guy on tv.’
(via teenforgod)
i am looking forward to “elementary” but mostly i am looking forward to seeing what a fandom built largely upon spite will be like
some interesting fanfiction i’ll tell you what: “and then sherlock placed his lips upon joan’s, who was a woman and also lucy liu. and they kissed. with tongues. neither of them were benedict cumberbatch at all.”
#spoiler alert: a fandom built on spite turned out to be AWESOME
(via wecouldliveonthesun)
I’m just bitter because I wanted a female Sherlock (and a female John).
That’s basically my feeling too.
Genderbend both or go home
