Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Lucy Liu and Fandom Freakouts: A Retraction

Apparently the news that Lucy Liu had been cast in CBS's Elementary broke yesterday. And then a fandom war broke out, like, instantly.

I wasn't actually aware of it until after I posted my knee-jerk reaction on Tumblr.

My knee-jerk reaction:

I really do think that casting a woman as Watson was to keep the homoerotic subtext fairy away, and also so that Watson and Holmes could have a romance instead of just subtext. If I could side-eye it any harder my eyes would pop out of my head
One of the problems with social media is how easily you can say something that you later regret. I have thought about it (having had time to digest it) and I can't see it as anything worse than BBC Sherlock's "No, we're definitely not gay!" standpoint. And I love the show, but it is seriously problematic in its treatment of women and POC (Start with Sally Donovan and slut-shaming and move on from there). I'm not sure how accurate the Game of Shadows movie was in regards to Romani culture, either, and I've gone on record about how much I hated what happened to both Irene Adler and Mrs. Watson in that movie. (Augh!)

And it's not like the subtext was anything more than subtext in any of those, ever. So we're losing subtext buried under casual homophobia at best, and we don't know what we're gaining out of it yet, other than a WOC in a lead role on TV.

So I formally retract my earlier statements. Having read the concept of the show, it looks like they're trying to do something new and different with it, which I support. Whether it will be awful or not, I don't know. But normally I'm much more reserved about shit like this, and I apologize. I want to judge the thing on it's own merits when it airs- and rest assured, I WILL be watching.

Ending on three notes. 1: CBS is also responsible for HIMYM which I kinda love. 2: Lucy Liu is awesome. 3: Elementary will not end with Holmes in a hot air balloon chasing his brother in a flying metal dragon over London, and that's terrible.

Seriously, you have to watch this movie.

2 comments:

  1. LOL at the reference to the Asylum movie.

    I too am interested to see how the CBS adaptation turns out.

    Have you tried the Russian adaptation with Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes.

    Cheers!

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  2. The Asylum movie is one of the most fantastic things I've ever seen. I have an unending fondness for Mockbusters, though, so I'm biased.

    I have heard of the Russian adaptation, but I have not sat down and worked through it, yet. It's on the list of things I intend to do at some point, though, no worries.

    Thanks for coming by!

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