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nuraichaToday I read this interview of Benedict Cumberbatch for Out magazine. It's a very enjoyable one, full of interesting opinions of Benedict on homophobia and homosexuality (as this magazine is a LGTB one), but it hit close to heart when the interviewer, as they sometimes do, threw to his face the fanfic issue:
Cumberbatch is referring to the rapacious slash fiction community that has turned his chilly, acerbic, and distinctly asexual Sherlock into a lustful cock monster. “It’s always, like, one of them is tired, one comes back from work, the other is horny, a lump appears in his trousers, and then they’re at it,” he says. “It’s usually me getting it — I’m biting Watson’s dog tags.” Perhaps, I suggest, making Holmes and Watson gay is a way to remove other women from the picture. “Yes, yes,” he replies enthusiastically. “I think it’s about burgeoning sexuality in adolescence, because you don’t necessarily know how to operate that. And I think it’s a way of neutralizing the threat, so this person is sort of removed from them as somebody who could break their heart.”
When I read this, I was angry. The reason he talks about is one I'm familiar, as I have heard it from the mouth of a slasher friend. Yeah, maybe some people do it for that, even if I think it's over simplying it.
But what it hurt the most was the interviewer words and attitude: I believe it's horrible when they do that, when they force a famous person to read fanfiction or show it to them, they have done that to Benedict and he clearly hasn't enjoyed it. He keeps mentioning a fic about Sherlock and John, handcuffed to a bed in space, so clearly that's everything he knows about fic. He doesn't care, he doesn't want to know about it, and still journalists impose it to him. I don't like these declarations of Benedict, but what is worse is what the interviewer did, to him and to us, the fanfic writers.
And this led me to a very interesting article by Elizabeth Minkel that almost fully reflects my views on the matter. I recommend it to you, as this woman really gets fanfiction culture and reach one issue that really worries me: don't force fanfic on the people who are portrayed on it; it might be rude for them, but it's plainly unnaceptable and offensive to the person who created it. Who gave the right to journalists to display in public and show to the people involved with the character stories, when their author didn't agree to it?
Benedict Cumberbatch doesn't understand fanfiction; normal people can't do that. He just does his job, plays a character, and then writers might use that character (or even the character we see in 'real' self) to create fanworks. Journalists clearly don't understand fanworks either, but they choose to mock them in front of the actors/musicians/etc, and they shouldn't. It angries me to not avail.
I write slash because I like the idea of two men having a romance, a relationship, a sex affair, or just pinning because of the other in the distance. I am attracted to men, and I love seeing two male specimen I find hot engaging in sexual activities. I write it because I WANT, I read it because I ENJOY IT, and I don't need to be psycoanalised by a journalist who wants to print out some saucy quotes.
End of the rant.
Cumberbatch is referring to the rapacious slash fiction community that has turned his chilly, acerbic, and distinctly asexual Sherlock into a lustful cock monster. “It’s always, like, one of them is tired, one comes back from work, the other is horny, a lump appears in his trousers, and then they’re at it,” he says. “It’s usually me getting it — I’m biting Watson’s dog tags.” Perhaps, I suggest, making Holmes and Watson gay is a way to remove other women from the picture. “Yes, yes,” he replies enthusiastically. “I think it’s about burgeoning sexuality in adolescence, because you don’t necessarily know how to operate that. And I think it’s a way of neutralizing the threat, so this person is sort of removed from them as somebody who could break their heart.”
When I read this, I was angry. The reason he talks about is one I'm familiar, as I have heard it from the mouth of a slasher friend. Yeah, maybe some people do it for that, even if I think it's over simplying it.
But what it hurt the most was the interviewer words and attitude: I believe it's horrible when they do that, when they force a famous person to read fanfiction or show it to them, they have done that to Benedict and he clearly hasn't enjoyed it. He keeps mentioning a fic about Sherlock and John, handcuffed to a bed in space, so clearly that's everything he knows about fic. He doesn't care, he doesn't want to know about it, and still journalists impose it to him. I don't like these declarations of Benedict, but what is worse is what the interviewer did, to him and to us, the fanfic writers.
And this led me to a very interesting article by Elizabeth Minkel that almost fully reflects my views on the matter. I recommend it to you, as this woman really gets fanfiction culture and reach one issue that really worries me: don't force fanfic on the people who are portrayed on it; it might be rude for them, but it's plainly unnaceptable and offensive to the person who created it. Who gave the right to journalists to display in public and show to the people involved with the character stories, when their author didn't agree to it?
Benedict Cumberbatch doesn't understand fanfiction; normal people can't do that. He just does his job, plays a character, and then writers might use that character (or even the character we see in 'real' self) to create fanworks. Journalists clearly don't understand fanworks either, but they choose to mock them in front of the actors/musicians/etc, and they shouldn't. It angries me to not avail.
I write slash because I like the idea of two men having a romance, a relationship, a sex affair, or just pinning because of the other in the distance. I am attracted to men, and I love seeing two male specimen I find hot engaging in sexual activities. I write it because I WANT, I read it because I ENJOY IT, and I don't need to be psycoanalised by a journalist who wants to print out some saucy quotes.
End of the rant.
