hsavinien

Today I read a harsh critique of Sherlock

, calling the show/writers to task about their white/male/straight (with enough teases about queerness to titillate/amuse and nothing more)/able-bodied/privileged approach to London and to fandom for embracing it. I like Sherlock. I find it clever and interesting and the main (white/male/???) characters and their interactions very engaging. Even when they're assholes and Sherlock needs a smack for treating people like things. Many of the characters I fixate on in fandom are white males. This is partly because that's what are usually on offer as characters in the shows and acting out the tropes I like. Everyone (I hope) has figured out that that is still largely the case in mainstream media. Partly, however, I focus on those characters because I use fandom to address some of those issues. I queer characters a lot, and I acknowledge that. I do it on purpose because I find it sexually and romantically arousing, because it's a good way to critique the source media, and because for a lot of those tropes I like (*cough*buddy cops*cough*) it's actually not too many steps from believably in-character and I like pointing that out.

Sherlock is an ass, probably somewhere on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, and far too full of himself, yet capable of inspiring deep (albeit frustrated) loyalty in John. That does not make the show's treatment thus far of women or characters of color acceptable, and fandom is a way to challenge that. Sgt. Sally Donovan can be awesome (and awesomely snarky) in fandom, where she's had no chance to show herself well in canon. Harry Watson can get page-time and a personality beyond "lesbian with an alcohol problem." The Irregulars can show up more realistically. Sherlock's brilliance and poor people skills can be critiqued and explored beyond a joke about sociopathy.

I love media with strong characters who are queer/female/anyone besides bloody Caucasian cis-straight-males, but I write and read fan stuff for them less frequently because their home canons told their stories awesomely enough that I don't feel like I can add much. It's why I have very little Tamora Pierce or Mercedes Lackey fanfic in my memories; I have found few writers who I felt could add to their work and characterizations.