#is it *just* that the characters been shown women-liking and men-liking to different textual degrees of in-the-author's-eyes validity arguab | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

backwardabyss · 7 years

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i’ve been free of the sh*rlock fandom for many blissful years now and i try not to like, write things on this useless blog of mine but i’ve seen more reactionary anger to the season four finale than i was expecting so i feel compelled to Share My Thoughts regardless of whether or not anyone wants to hear them. full disclosure: i am not a fan of j*hnlock or the conspiracy movement it has inspired so you may not want to read this if you are.

i guess the major thing for me is.........confusion. shipping holmes/watson i wholeheartedly understand, of course, there’s a long and beautiful history of doing it and i’ve always adored the ambiguous queerness of the Canon’s holmes and how that’s been adapted or not adapted in the thousands of films/tv shows/pastiches/etc that have followed it. what i dont?? fucking understand??? is the people who genuinely thought it would become canon, on bbc sh*rlock (2010) OF ALL FUCKING THINGS????

i’m pretty damn far from being a “casual” viewer of the show, it was my primary fandom for several years and i was once-upon-a-midnight-fuckin-dreary completely consumed by my love for it. so as someone for whom that is true but who, unlike most fandom people for whom it is true, has not been sucked into the J*hnlock Meta Echo Chamber, i feel pretty confident in my assertion that there has been really very little in the series itself to suggest a romantic john/sh*rlock endgame. sure, their relationship is at the center of the show and they ofc have been shown to care for each other deeply and enduringly, as holmeses and watsons always do....and, sure, there are without question lines and moments that could be read as revealing a romantic undercurrent to their devotion to each other (particularly on sh*rlock’s end, i think). but that there was a legitimate conspiracy movement convinced beyond all shadow of a doubt that they were going to explicitly get bbc’s sh*rlock and john making out onscreen...i just do not get it, and do not see it, and yes i’ve read the metas, and no they did not convince me and i’m not entirely sure how they convinced anyone but whatever, it’s fine, that’s not the point.

like, for example, i keep seeing people shocked that after the ~EXPLICIT TEXTUAL GAYNESS~ of the lying detective they couldn’t believe the final problem would follow. and i’m just like??? huh? you mean, the hug? the one that happened in the context of a) john mourning his dead wife who he clearly loved very genuinely and b) john hearing sh*rlock receive a text from irene adler and urging him, quite explicitly, to go fuck her and telling him he’d be an idiot not to?? that explicit textual gayness?? WHAT? (i know the Conspiracy People have composed all these half-assed metas about how irene isn’t Really A Character and is just a mirror for sh*rlock or a symbol of his desire to bone john or something, but, lol no offense but fuck that misogynistic bullshit that treats every woman on the show as a literal empty signifier only sitting there to reflect something about sh*rlock and/or john. it’s just not a good reading or a valid interpretation and it’s so sexist i don’t even know where to start lmao. john genuinely wants sh*rlock to find the love of A Good Woman bc he is a hetero and well, the worst, and there was nothing about that scene that felt like a lead-up to the two men in it falling in love like ohhh my god. oh my god.)

and like ok, i got off course there, but how did ANYONE expect a different outcome after this interview, in which gatiss and moffat both told you all in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that they had no romance planned and in fact seemed incredibly miffed by the refusal to be believed when they said that?? gatiss literally says that there is no conspiracy and that even tho they lie about some things in interviews they are not lying about this. and look, i don’t want to defend them, i think the writers of this show are assholes and bigoted in ways they can’t see, but how anyone could accuse them of “baiting them into thinking j*hnlock would be endgame” when they’ve been saying it won’t be the case (often in unnecessarily rude and offensive terms) for literal YEARS??? i don’t get it. I REALLY DON’T. and no, gatiss doesn’t Owe you a holmes/watson relationship just because he’s a gay man himself lmao and when he’s expressed his feelings on the matter countless, countless times. you all chose not to believe him, for whatever reason, so i mean i’m sorry if some of you are hurting but i’m also feeling very congratulationsyouplayedyourself.jpeg about the whole thing.

which brings me to my last major point really, which is: WHY WOULD YOU WANT THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE TO BE THE ONES TO DELIVER YOU YOUR QUEER REPRESENTATION?? moffat in particular is just, UGH, i mean, for fuck’s sake, the man wrote an adaptation of a scandal in bohemia where irene identified herself as a lesbian and yet, in the very same episode, fell in love with sh*rlock to such an all-consuming degree that she Lost Her Head and made a silly mistake in their game and got humiliated in defeat. like, what kind of lesbophobic, misogynistic fucking NONSENSE that btw completely deviates from the plot of the actual story in which she beats holmes’ ass and flees away into the night, victorious and safe. that’s the writer you thought was orchestrating a queer endgame for his beloved sh*rlock holmes???? that’s the writer you wanted orchestrating a queer endgame for his beloved sh*rlock holmes?? l o l....ok. that’s not even taking into account all the nasty things he’s said in interviews, like how sh*rlock is ofc not interested in men and ofc he’s not asexual bc asexual people are BORING, sh*rlock is just a latent straight man repressing his urge to bone women!! maybe he’ll marry mrs. hudson in the end tho!! lmao. i....cannot.

and i guess i’m also irritated by this guilting wave on my dash, like i’m obligated to feel sympathy for all these shippers who get duped, or whatever. like, look, even putting my personal feelings about the j*hnlock fandom aside (YOUR SMUG ASSES MADE THE FANDOM LIVES OF ALL RAREPAIR SHIPPERS HELL FOR YEARS, YOU ASSHOLES), after going through what, say, the 100 did to lexa, i’m just.....having a hard time feeling sympathy, i am sorry. oh, your two favorite characters get to live happily together raising a baby in 221b in a scenario that leaves them ripe and open for no end of headcanon and fic that can be totally canon-compliant? boooooo frickin hoooo. HEARTBREAKING.

i realize this probably is like, rude and condescending and invalidating or whatever and well what can i tell u, i’m a rude bitch, but i am tiiiired of reading all these posts like this is the biggest slight against the lgbtqa+ community in media history. it’s not. yeah, you should all be expecting better from your media, for sure. but you should not have been expecting better from this shitpile of a show, which has proven its disregard for women, racial/ethnic minorities, and queer ppl for seasons upon seasons now. it’s 2017, and the tv landscape still isn’t great but there are so many shows out there with actual canonical lgbtqa+ characters that you can be looking to for the representation you want, deserve, etc.

sh*rlock isn’t the queer love story you all wanted it to be, and if i’m not empathetic abt that it’s bc i’m SO DAMN RELIEVED that’s the case, bc it and most of the people involved in its production are hmm, what’s the word.....THE. DAMN. WORST.

#sherlock bbc //#look i put this behind a read more and am not tagging it w anything and attempted to censor anything that might make it come up in searches #so don't @ me with any anger unless it's like a constructive piece of dialogue please #MYTHOUGHTSONTHEBULLSHIT.JPEG

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s0022338-blog · 7 years

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Post C: Textual Analysis Draft

Explore the representation of women in Hick and Violet & Daisy

Both of my chosen films go against the general representation that men are often portrayed as being the stronger model of both sexes. My first chosen film “Hick” was released in May 2012 and directed by Dereck Martini with a budget of seven million dollars. The genre of Hick is described as comedy/drama although throughout the films narrative there are clearly very dark undertones and hidden connotations. Hick follows the story of runaway teen Luli who follows the wrong road in the childlike hope of a better future however, Luli soon crosses paths with a going nowhere loner and a cocaine snorting sweetheart.

On the other hand, Violet & Daisy was released just a year later in June 2013 with a higher budget of 8 million USD by director Geoffrey Scowcroft Fletcher. The genre of the film is described as Action/Comedy but again it is evident throughout the film that there are much darker undertones to it. In my other chosen film ‘Violet & Daisy’ two teenage girls play the role of assassins which creates controversy as it is usually men chosen to play these types of characters in films. Violet & Daisy follows the story of two teenage girls sent on a job to take the life of a man they soon become very close with, making the job a lot harder to complete than expected.

Both of my chosen films go against the general representation of women and how they are stereotyped as gentle and weak. Through the use of action film iconography in both films Violet & Daisy and Hick the teenage girls carry guns which shows they are strong characters. In my chosen sequence for Violet & Daisy through the use of mise on scene it is clear by what the two girls are wearing and the color of it that they are the protagonistic characters. The color of white represents a sense of purity and innocence. Both films partly follow the Bechdel test for movies as they are at least two named female characters that talk to each other and play main parts. However, in both films their main topic of conversation is about men, because although the men in violet & Daisy and Hick are portrayed very differently they are still going to greatly affect the female’s lives forever.

In the opening scene of this sequence one of the teenage assassins (Daisy) is playing pattacake with The Mister she is supposed to be killing. This shows how she has a childlike mindset, tricking the audience into completely under estimating her abilities. It also shows how she has been made to grow up quicker due to her job. This confuses the narrative because she is meant to be taking this man’s life not playing childhood games with him. Both characters in this scene are wearing white which equalizes them in terms of power and makes the female assassin (Daisy) appear no more inferior than the older looking man(The Mister). However, the mise en scene shows the age of the man as he has glasses on a chain around his neck making it obvious his eyesight isn’t very good anymore because of his age. This shows as a disadvantage and makes him appear as a weaker character to Daisy. Therefore, this reinforces how the film goes against the general representation of men been the stronger and more powerful characters.

In the next scene of the sequence four men known as ’Donnie and his crew’ barge in and are all shown from the use of a low camera angle standing over the mister and Daisy pointing guns at them. The use of a low camera angle shot makes Donnie and his crew appear more powerful than The Mister and Daisy as it makes them look a lot bigger especially because of the iconography used of them all holding guns. Therefore, this conforms to the feminist film theory of men being portrayed as the stronger sex. The mise en scene of the four characters’ outfits adds to the powerful antagonistic image as all the men are dressed in black or darker colors compared to the color of The Mister and Daisy’s clothing being pure white. This scene creates juxtaposition to the rest of the film as it reverts to the general representation of men being more powerful than women.

Through the editing technique of the shot reverse shot a long winded conversation takes place between Donnie (the main antagonist) and Daisy, during this scene Daisy is seen as the childlike character almost having a patronizing conversation with Donnie. Unbeknown to himself, this is to stall time until her partner Violet arrives to wipe out ‘Donnie and his crew’, during this scene the film juxtapose the binaries of good versus bad in Daisy’s character as she protects The Mister by shielding him with her own body to protect him from the bullets clearly stating a bond between the two has been formed, though we may question whether is it just the mere fact that she has been assigned a job to carry out and will allow no other to do it for her.

To emphasize the gunshots in this scene foley sound is used which contributes to the genre of the film being action.

In the aftermath of the killing of ‘Donnie and his crew’ the sociopathic tendencies of Violet and Daisy become crystal clear especially when they embark on their ceremonial dance which they have named “ the internal bleeding dance “ this consists of both teenagers unashamedly dancing on their dying victims’ bodies causing them ultimate death whilst giggling and listening to music , this is shown through the use of contrapuntal sound as the song used in this scene is Three Degrees “ When Will I see you Again” ; this callus scene may cause distress and discomfort to the audience. A sense of black comedy is created when humour is created through the lyrics of the song playing in relation to their brutal crime.

My other chosen sequence is from a film called Hick. In the beginning scene of the sequence the audience are introduced to Eddie flipping a gun in his hands. Straight away through the use of iconography the fact that Eddie is holding a gun shows that he has some kind of dominance and power. However, this power is only supported by the fact that he is holding a gun. In the first opening scene an American shot is used to show that Eddie isn’t the only person in the room. Through the use of mise en scene you can straight away see by the clothing the person is wearing that it is a woman. She is wearing pink colored silk clothing and her curved body shape also suggests that she is a woman. This straight away contrasts with Violet & Daisy as Hick supports the general representation of men being the stronger characters than women whereas in Violet & Daisy the women have the same power as the men if not more, going against the general representation. Also through the use of mise en scene the sequence is filmed in a small log cabin with all the blinds shut. This shows the audience that Eddie is trying to hide his wrong doings.

In the following scene from my chosen sequence the cinematography technique of a two shot is shown of Eddie trying to kiss Glinda. The fact that a two shot has been used shows the audience only them two characters are meant to be in the shot. This could connote intimacy and be representing that at one point Eddie and Glinda had a relationship but by Glinda’s reaction to Eddie it shows that it wasn’t a good kind of relationship. It is obvious by the character’s placement that Glinda is trying to get away from Eddie foreshadowing what she has been trying to do her whole life. However, Eddie still doesn’t seem to understand that he has done anything wrong and believes that Glinda could still love him.

This scene could also evidence that Glinda is potentially showing traits of Stockholm syndrome in the way in which she still seems to have an empathic feeling of protectiveness towards Eddie. This is shown with the use of diegetic sound when Glinda says “what more could I do for you?” clearly stating that she goes out of her way just to try and please him. This could be seen as a desperate plea from Glinda.

Eddie then goes on to accidentally shoot Glinda. This is made clear with diegetic sound when Eddie says “This was a fucking accident babe”. The use of the word ‘babe’ continues to support the fact that Eddie still thinks he has something with Glinda even now after all the torment he has caused her during her life which has resulted in her demise at the hands of Eddie. In this shot you can see all three characters featured as Eddie is kissing Glinda showing his undying but possessive love for her. Although Eddie has caused himself a great deal of upset and pain from killing Glinda, killing someone is the ultimate way to possess someone forever.

Toward the end of the scene the camera cuts to Luli holding a gun up directly facing Eddie. Using iconography, it is made clear that Luli has the possession of a gun because of her vulnerability. Luli has carried this unused gun with her from the beginning of the film which shows the audience that she is most probably going to need to use it at some point in the film and now is that time. The camera slowly zooms towards Luli showing her shaking body and worried facial expression. As this is going on asynchronous sound is used to display Luli’s blank thoughts at this traumatic time. The sound of a gunshot is not displayed in the moment that Luli shoots Eddie, instead a voiceover of Luli saying “pop.” Is used. This shows how Luli is still just a child and must create some sort of distraction to take her mind off the fact that she is shooting someone. Once Luli has shot Eddie she goes on to say “sorry” whilst crying using diegetic sound. This also shows vague signs of Stockholm syndrome within Luli as she feels bad for killing someone who has abused her both mentally and sexually. This scene supports the feminist film theory in a really upsetting way as it shows the reality of the bad influences controlling men can have over young girls. However, it also shows how in films they only ever show men as the antagonists in scenes like this creating a bad stereotype for men in real life.

At the end of the scene a crane shot is used to show the aftermath of the events which took place in the log cabin. With the use of mise en scene and character placement Glinda’s arm is placed under Eddies neck as they lay there peacefully dead in a pool of their own blood. The way they are both laid could be representing their relationship in the past and the way that they now look so peaceful and at ease could be to represent that all the bad things in their life have now gone forever. During this part of the scene the song ‘Patsy Cline – I fall to pieces’ is played as part of the films sound track. The lyrics used in the song ‘I fall to pieces each time I see you again’ represent the relationship between Glinda and Eddie completely as every time they see each other life goes terribly wrong, making the song fit perfectly with the scene shown on screen. As the camera continues to follow all the objects in the room with an Ariel view it then zooms to some rope and a drawing on the bed which Luli was placed on for most of the scene. With the use of mise en scene the rope shows that Eddie was holding Luli hostage and the drawings support that she was at such a young age and that she used them as a happy distraction to take her mind off the reality of what was actually happening to her. The end of this scene completely goes against the general representation of men being the stronger characters as Luli takes control of the twisted situation at such a young age and kills the poison in her life (Eddie).

In conclusion, I believe that both of my chosen films go against the general representation of women and how men should be perceived as the stronger sex. Although the films show it in different ways I see the women as stronger characters both mentally and physically. In Violet and Daisy, the women’s overtaking power is shown with the use of iconography as they both carry a gun due to them being such strong characters (assassins). However, their leading power is also shown with their smart and manipulative word choice helping them get out of situations which could cost them their lives. In Hick, the power of women isn’t always made apparent as both characters Glinda and Luli have been held hostage by Eddie mentally and physically. However, Glinda’s strength is shown when she tries to find young Luli knowing that there is a strong possibility that she will come across Eddie again in her life. Luli’s dominating power over the male character is shown when she shoots Eddie. This shows an aging mental power as she is only young but she still knows what he has done to her and Glinda is not acceptable.

SELF ASSESSMENT COMMENTS:

To improve my essay further and achieve a higher grade i need to include more about the feminist film theory throughout my essay. I also need to go through my essay and check that i am using all terminology correctly and analyse my evidence in a lot more depth.

MARK: 23/40

GRADE: D+

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