I’m having a wee bit of trouble understanding people who are having problems with Doctor Who lately, and Moffat.
Let me preface this by saying that it’s okay to feel this way. It’s okay to not like it, or be pissed about it. I’m just seeing the same arguments pop up and I just want to give my opinion.
I’m gonna say something a lot of people might not like. Some people seem to take this show too damn seriously. It’s supposed to be a fun, timey-wimey, whacky space-time adventure show, and people are treating it like its supposed to be some social justice platform.
Which is where my next point lies. Television and movies are meant to represent all kinds of people. That means that some characters are going to be sexist, misogynistic douches. You know why? Because some people are just like that. If every character was a saint-like, forgiving, nonjudgemental hero, that would get boring awfully fast. You know why? Because nobody is actually like that. So yes, some characters are going to be racist, sexist, or even homophobic. Because that’s how a lot of people are. And television, even Doctor Who, represents that. During my 6 years of drama and theatre classes, the most important thing I learned was that the main hidden objective of theatre, movies, television, and any of the sort is to represent all aspects of human, or in Doctor Who’s case, alien life. So yes, some characters are going to be badass, crime fighting heroes, and some are going to be assholes. So please don’t blame the writers for wanting to represent them to tell a story. Blame people for being terrible.
My big problem is with what people are saying about Steven Moffat. And again, let me say it is perfectly fine to hate him, or love him. I honestly think some of it may be a wee bit unwarranted. I personally love Moffat. I think he’s hysterical. I love the episodes he writes. I think a lot of people take him way too seriously. Let me start with the comments that he is sexist. It didn’t even cross my mind until I saw that people were saying that, and it really confused me. (And before you get pissy, I am a woman myself.) Moffat is a writer. His job is to tell a good story. What makes a good story? Conflict, terrible people, people making mistakes, and people fucking up. Because no one person is a perfect person. Even time lords aren’t perfect.
So no, Moffat’s job is not to write perfect characters who do no harm and make no mistakes. His job is to tell a good story. His job certainly isn’t to make everybody happy. Who knows, maybe he writes some “sexist” lines, or writes the female characters the way he does because he knows people will be pissed off. And when people get pissed off, they actually start paying attention for once. And when people are paying attention, they’ll actually start to see how fucked up this world is, and want to make a change. But instead, he’s being smited for not writing do-no-wrong characters.
So the reason I love Moffat is because he’s not afraid to write things that may piss a lot of people off. Because instead of just glorifying the good, he shines a light on the things we don’t want to think about, so we can see how people really are. Because some people really are devastated by the fact that they can’t have children, and some people are devastated when the love of their life doesn’t even know who they are. People are allowed to mess up, and people are allowed to feel this way.
So yes, it’s okay to be pissed about what Moffat has done. Guess what, he’s a writer. That’s part of his job. Writers want people to start paying attention. They want people to get angry. Because angry people actually get things done, and angry people make change.
So just think about that the next time you want to hate on Moffat.
Wow, that’s… a lot of assuming there isn’t it?
All of that would be viable if Moffat framed his episodes of Doctor Who (or Sherlock) like that. There is no cute “See I’m secretly inverting the trope because I know it’s stupid” Nah, he’s playing that shit straight. The reason I’m 100% sure he’s not clever enough to even try what you think he’s doing?
This interview http://www.scotsman.com/news/time-lad-scores-with-sex-and-daleks-1-1394833
“There’s this issue you’re not allowed to discuss: that women are needy. Men can go for longer, more happily, without women. That’s the truth. We don’t, as little boys, play at being married - we try to avoid it for as long as possible. Meanwhile women are out there hunting for husbands.”
+
Well, the world is vastly counted in favour of men at every level - except if you live in a civilised country and you’re sort of educated and middle-class, because then you’re almost certainly junior in your relationship and in a state of permanent, crippled apology. Your preferences are routinely mocked. There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of respect for anything male.”
OH And his wife getting pregnant
“Your wife turns into a boat, and shortly after that, you never sleep again and you clean shit off someone. It doesn’t seem like a very appealing prospect. Obviously, the moment I saw my child, that was different, but up until that point, I was thinking, ‘how long before she gets back to normal size? Will this damage anything?’”
So yeah, pretty positive he’s not being witty, clever or anything. P. Sure he’s just a jerk…
While it is true Moffat was contacted about re-doing Sherlock for American audiences and he declined, I want folks to really think long and hard why he was contacted to do an American one instead of just showing BBC’s Sherlock here in America?
Real
haaaaarrrd.
CADENCE!
I am a boring, lazy person. I watch a lot of TV
A looooot of TV.
A. Lot
I’ve noticed while it’s certainly possible for people from the U.S to like/enjoy television from the U.K and Vice Versa (duh) it’s not the majority of people’s cuppa. It’s the patter, the way things sound and work, I’mma need more samples, but things just flow differently in different places it seems.
So let’s take The Office. The first, let’s say season of The Office (U.S) was …well not good, because it took the scripts from The Office (U.K) and gave them to people who weren’t used to that kind of funny.
Now looking at The Office today, while it’s still similar it’s greatest asset was breaking free of trying to please people who liked the U.K version, and being…well American. It made it more popular, more accessible to the people that watch.
Has anyone ever seen the pilot to The It Crowd (U.S)? It was the same script, but because it didn’t feel natural so it wasn’t funny, it was English humor being portrayed by Americans (and Richard Ayoade who is flawless). Comedy, and really any type of Television, should flow easily, we as viewers should never feel like a show is trying to be/do something. It should do it/be it (GLEEEEEEEE)
When CBS contacted Moffat while I’m sure he’d have been a consultant of sorts, it was probably more for permission/blessing than saying “here do this for us.” Now, do I think Sherlock (U.S) could have worked? Probably, if nothing else the ho yay and queer baiting would surely bring in some fans, but tbh I don’t really want another Office (U.S) situation where I’m like, mothering the show. “Yes, come on, you can do this, SUCCEED.” (GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
Moffat does not write for American audiences, not really. I do think he’s gotten some of it down, looking at the last season of Doctor Who, but honestly he’s not there yet and while I adored the last season besides River Song it was kinda vapid in terms of Character progression.
So, him saying no was probably the greatest thing. Instead of being allowed to rehash old scripts, while letting different actors learn a proper patter we get FRESH THINGS
TASTY FRESH THINGS
MADE FOR THEM/WITH THEM IN MIND.
JLM isn’t reading things that were written for Benedict, he’s reading lines meant for him. Lucy Liu doesn’t need to mimic Martin Freeman’s acting/relationship with Benedict, she gets to make her own decisions.
FREEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM
Also BBC Sherlock has already lost in the Diversity war so if they don’t fuck up Irene I am forced to declare it better goodbye.
Well that’s because calling his stories complex is quite frankly letting him off too easily - there’s a difference between complex and deliberately inscrutable
See Steven Moffat subscribes to a school of writing previously made famous by JJ Abrams and the rest of the dinguses who wrote Lost in that he understands that being deliberately obtuse about your plot is a cheap and effective way to make people watch your dumb show
I really hate to be that guy singing Russel T Davies’ praises right now because, as Last of the Time Lords, Journey’s End and The End of Time effectively demonstrate, good god is he by no means a perfect writer
But! But but but butt butte he understood that a good story is a good story and that good characters make you care about that good story and what Moffat does instead is beat you about the ears with the same stupid unanswerable questions in an effort to hold you hostage and show up for next week’s episode - and they’re not unanswerable due to complexity, they’re unanswerable because there’s no fucking way you’d know the answer to those questions. What are the Silence? How does River Song know The Doctor? What’s The Doctor’s real name? I don’t feel like watching Sherlock so I can include a Sherlock related question in this list I’m riffing?
There’s a point in all this, I’ll get to it right now
It’s this: if you’ve been paying attention to Steven Moffat’s style of writing you’d have known for ages leading up to this headline that he has no respect for his audience
He’s not a master of “mind-fuck”, he’s a master of “hahaha fuck you”
this is a bunch of things i’ve been trying to say and someone else got to it first good job
x1000000
sallyrand asked:I’ve always wondered what made you hate Sherlock so bad?1. Series 2 was boring. And the terrible handling of Irene’s character primed me to not blindly stan it in the first place. I like the last episode but it would’ve been way more interesting if they had played more with the idea of Moriarty being made up by Sherlock. It was a cute nod to a well known theory but they didn’t push it far enough i m o. But that’s fannish critique and you want to know the non-fannish part
2. The massive fucking race-fail. EVERY GOOD GUY OR EVEN BAD GUY THAT IS NONETHELESS CLEVER ENOUGH TO WIN THE ATTENTION OF OUR HERO IS WHITE. EVERY POC IS EVIL, WRONG, OR DEAD
3. The blatant misogyny. Every single female character in the show is a prop for John or Sherlock, there to fawn over them for a bit before being sent away (or to be a snippy bitch like Donovan) . Even Irene Adler had to be knocked down few pegs (all the pegs) at the end because clearly ACD fucked that up by having her get away scott-free at the end. And Sarah who? What happened to her? God forbid Moffat bother to develop a female character.
4. I’m not a huge fan of how they’ve characterized the Sherlock/John relationship and characters in the first place. It doesn’t bother me per se, but I prefer a more amicable quirky Holmes like Brett’s Holmes. I see a lot of Sherlock fans complaining about JLM’s Holmes but give me a break, Benedict’s isn’t even close (and that’s OKAY) Watson is basically just annoying and I don’t really see any particular reason to like him all that much oops(He does that really grating sarcasm thing where half of his lines are bitchy sarcastic quips that are mostly annoying not funny. if Sherlock’s behavior bothers you John then dO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. SHERLOCK OBVIOUSLY DOESNT CARE ABOUT YOUR SARCASM AND NEITHER DO I). Mostly I don’t get why they’re friends. This is probably because they don’t do a lot of character building because they have limited time and they have to tell a story but basically Sherlock is an unrepentant douchebag to everyone including Watson and I guess John just hero worships him? I guess we can assume what their relationship is like because we “know” Sherlock Holmes. My personal preference is a Sherlock and John that are on more equal footing and clearly respect each other, not just when one of them is almost dead
5. I’m not 14 anymore so queer-baiting is really not that cute or funny
6. Ok let’s be honest Steven Moffat is a huge douchebag and thus I hate everything he does and probably would without the above.
7. Same as above except the fandom. The Sherlock fandom is literally the dumbest most unfunny fandom I’ve ever seen including the Klainers. ~NOT EVERYONE OBVIOUSLY. I FOLLOW A FEW SUPER FUNNY AND SMART SHERLOCKIANS.
But the complete fucking morons are loud as hell so y’all should consider collecting your people.
YOU GUYYYYYSSSS
WHAT DID I DO?Just because a woman is in love with someone and depends on them doesn’t make them weak or a bad character. That’s exactly what people do, fall in love and depend on people. There’s nothing misogynistic about that. In fact, it ADDS to the character and makes them stronger. That they accept that they aren’t immune to everything, that they do need help in some situations. And they accept it when they need it, that makes them stronger. And look at Moffat’s characters, he clearly believes in a very fluid definition of sexuality.
1. Your burn was not sick enough for me to be dismissed.
2. That’s not really what my tweet was about.
3. Sit down cause it’s time for class.
I would, as a queer person, love to accept the idea that Moffat has a very fluid idea of sexuality, and yes I agree that sexuality is fluid. The problem is he’s very bad at it. For every person who slides around on the scale there are many who are in their spot and happy with it. It would also help this argument if Irene wasn’t the only lesbian on the show. She’s all the representation of lesbians (I think there was another Homosexual dude but he was a bad guy wasn’t he?) on the show…and she falls in love with a man. Cool. (Don’t even get me started on River Song, I don’t even curr)
And what adds insult to injury is she doesn’t even seem to know him, she just loves him because how can you not fall in love with him? Oh look even lesbians swooon over him. Please, gag me with a spoon.
My tweet was about how Moffat wants to complain that Elementary has changed too much and he wonders if it’s going to ruin the brand. Yet he takes a character and makes such radical changes (such as her loving Sherlock and her being the one that won) without any repercussions.
Irene in the stories didn’t need help, she outsmarted Sherlock, then wrote him a letter saying how she did it, then moonwalked out of his life. That’s what made her special, yet Moffat turned her into a cool lady who at the end didn’t really win and Sherlock has to save her.
Sure that’s protecting the Sherlock brand isn’t it?
YOU GUYYYYYSSSS
WHAT DID I DO?This argument. I’m utterly sick of it. She didn’t need Sherlock to save her and she wasn’t a damsel in distress because she didn’t WANT Sherlock to save her. At the end with the terrorists she knew she was going to die and all she did was send a text to say goodbye. She accepted that her life was going to end that night and she was going to die with her pride instead of beg for help. She didn’t ever expect that Sherlock would know where she was and she was genuinely shocked when she heard the text alert. After all she had done to Sherlock, she was surprised that he’d go this far because she knew she had hurt him by pretending to be dead the first time.
As for her being a lesbian and being in love with Sherlock, I don’t see why that’s a big deal either. She’s the flip side to John and she even told him that. John remarked “I’m not gay.” and Irene replied, “Well I am. Look at the both of us.” indicating that they both were in love with Sherlock despite their sexual preferences.
How is that everyone raises hell about IRENE loving Sherlock but not JOHN loving Sherlock? Is it because she’s a woman and he’s a man? For gods sakes, John was a solider and Irene was a dominatrix. Irene is far from weak so I don’t see why it’s perfectly alright for everyone to think straight John loving Sherlock is sweet but lesbian Irene loving Sherlock is ruining her character.
She’s the woman that beat Sherlock, literally and figuratively. She is Sherlock’s equal just the way John is his equal and Sherlock treats them as such, the only difference is she has a vagina.
So to everyone that thinks Irene Adler was ruined because she loved Sherlock. You really ought to check yourself. And to everyone that thinks Irene Adler was ruined because Sherlock showed up ON HIS OWN WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE to help her escape, you’re just being incredibly sexist because if it had been a male in the role of Irene, none of you would have given a damn.
Wow.
I need address this cause no.
I don’t care that John is in love with Sherlock, I care that Moffat dares to say Elementary will ruin the brand when he went against the grand rule of the original stories.
Irene was not in love with Sherlock in the orginal stories. I’m upset that Moffat raises a stink against the things that Elementary is changing and yet he committed what I’m willing to consider a Sherlock Holmes sin.
Irene was the woman who beat him, not almost beat him, not kinda sorta beat him, she walked away free and there was nothing he could do but be in awe.
What Moffat did to Irene upset me because he sets her up to be something great! And all her fire goes away because at the end of the day Irene still needed to be saved and Sherlock still walks away the ultimate winner. It was written in a way to keep Sherlock from losing and that’s not really the point of The Woman.
So no, my anger isn’t really at what happened in the story, but how DARE Moffat say he’s trying to protect a brand that isn’t his, yet his own “superior” product made radical changes as well?
That’s what my tweet was about, he cares so much about this “brand” that he’s the only one allowed to change whatever he wants to change because “Daddy knows best.” Fuck that noise. Moffat is a jerk, always has been a jerk and always will be a jerk.
