I have officially been in too many fandom wars

[neadods]

I have officially been in too many fandom wars. Because my reaction to finally reading the essay that's caused so much anger in Holmes fandom was to shriek...

... with laughter. Because it's all about someone who couldn't keep those awful Brett fangirls out of his hobby, and now the leaders of the REAL fans are letting in all the Cumberbatch fangirls AND THAT OFFENDS HIS DICKENSIAN PRINCIPLES! If you let in people like that, they'll just go and interrogate the text from the wrong perspective!

The supplanted SMOFs of Trek and Who fandom will doubtless chime in to sing the Butthurt Battle Hymn in harmony.

Me, I'm going to continue to be equally as proud of Watson's Tin Box and Sherlocks NYC and DC. And the canon on my phone is going to have to continue to live pixel-by-pixel with a metric ton of BBC fanfic.

For fuck's sake, has shouting "YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!" ever actually chased the kids off the lawn?

*eyeroll* Here, have Lucy Liu being buried in Pomeranians.

Comments

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

Lucy Liu + Pomeranians = cure for all ills

Can I be linked to this missive? It sounds a stitch, and I can use a good laugh.

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

I admire your icon extremely, Miss Nea.

Hands up everybody for whom "a gentler, more civilized world" means "pick up your petticoats and run away screaming".

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link! I definitely needed the giggle.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

My grandfather actually was a "Get off my lawn!" person (though in his case it was "Stop throwing the frisbee on the roof!"). All it did was make the kids madder and increase the deliberate frisbee-tossing.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Sharing your giggles.

The kids eventually grow up and drift away - or start defending their own lawns.

[dameruth.livejournal.com]

All this gent is doing is ensuring that his little corner of fandom will eventually wither and die for lack of new and enthusiastic blood -- anyone outside his little circle of "approved" individuals having been roundly turned off by the snobbery.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Not only is Philip A. Shreffler a pompous twonk, he's not as knowledgeable as he thinks he is, either. I've just had a look at his essay on Moriarty (it was the only thing of his that I could find on a quick Google) and it's riddled with howlers. Moffat and Gatiss could take him on canon knowledge with one hand tied behind their respective backs.

I'm also a little boggled by his choice of 1895 and (even odder) 1934 as being dates "before the world went awry". I mean, by 1934 we'd had WWI, the Spanish flu, the Great Depression and Hitler had just been elected chancellor of Germany. Untroubled palmy days of plenty it was not.

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

Sad how this scenario plays itself out over and over again, fandom after fandom. You'd think fandom would be having a golden age now that the whole phenomenon has become more mainstream, the internet has made communities of interest so accessible, and there's so much good material to be a fan of. And maybe this IS the golden age, warts and all. But there are always those who will pee in the sandbox.

Fish, barrels, shooting

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

I note that when Doyle killed off Holmes both men and women wore mourning and wrote letters of protest; furthermore William Gillette as Holmes was buried in fanmail. Oh, Lares and Penates, the holy shrine defiled ere it was even built!

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

I knew Phil Shreffler slightly way back when, and I remember reading the first version of this in the BSJ....

"The true Sherlockian devotee presents him- or herself as a gentleman or lady when representing Sherlockians publicly and, one hopes, at all other moments as well."

Visions of the rowdy table at the ASH dinner (Motto: "You can't fall off the floor") belting out "We Never Mention Aunt Clara"....

"The devotee, mindful of the earlier time that saw the genesis of Sherlock Holmes and of the Irregulars, turns out in a suit or a jacket and tie (depending upon the occasion)—or in commensurate attire if a lady; the fan outfits himself with his blue jeans and slogan tee-shirt."

So much for my self-printed t-shirt, "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic rat!" Or the "patriotic VR done in bullet-pocks" one.

"The devotee is comfortable in genteel, dignified Sherlockian surroundings; the fan (dare we suggest this?) is at home at a science-fiction convention."

I seem to recall there was discussion at the time, and some folks thought that Phil was either writing tongue in cheek or had a stick up his kazoo. Not always easy to tell, with Sherlockians.

"As Basil Rathbone is quoted in this issue as having observed about early meetings of the BSI, such commotions were affairs of 'protocol' at which members were on 'their best behaviour.'"

There's a reason why the initial BSI regulations were called "Buy-Laws," as in, "Whose turn is it to buy the booze?" And I can guarantee that at any BSI gathering, the biggest crowd is around the bar. Few of those blokes make it through the evening sober, especially with the open bar at the Saturday cocktail party after the Friday dinner.

The late John Bennett Shaw, a prominent Sherlockian and owner of the largest SH library in North America, at least, famously said that "All you need for a Sherlockian meeting are two Sherlockians and a bottle. In an emergency, you can dispense with one of the Sherlockians."

"one can bang out on the keyboard any ill-considered notion...."

Some years ago, a highlight of the Adventuresses' annual dinner was a presented paper which postulated that Elvis was the offspring of Sherlock Holmes and Wallis Warfield Simpson. For a moment it almost made sense, and it was bloody hilarious.

"How many BSI does it take to change a light bulb?... We don't know, because the BSI never change anything." Unfortunately I started telling that joke the very weekend when the BSI first admitted (gasp!) a few women, so I had to stop. They've admitted women regularly since, but some members were upset about it then and perhaps still are, don't quote me because I don't know.

SOME old-school S'ians agree with Shreffler. Anybody watching Downton Abbey? It's Maggie Smith vs Shirley MacLaine. Let them go their own way, and have fun as you like. There are many S'ian groups with many points of view, so try a few and find a compatible bunch. If they have sticks up their kazoos, they'll just find sitting that much more uncomfortable.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

There's a fandom war in the Sherlock fandom? WHERE? *g*

[shezan.livejournal.com]

...these are two HAPPY Pomeranians, BTW.