Yes, BUT... (Canon and Sherlock S3)

[neadods]

So I'm finally catching up on tumblr, and The Science of Johnlock has a post complaining that Moffat has taken two stories where the woman took decisive plot-resolving action - Scandal in Bohemia; The Worst Man in London (nee Charles Augustus Milverton) - and in the remake given the plot-resolving actions to Sherlock, complete with him saving the woman in question's life in some form or another.

The word misogynistic got used. A lot.

YES, Moff/tiss changed the plotlines and put the hero in the center of them. BUT - no, I don't see this as a burning need on Moffat's part to strip agency away from women in general, which seems to be the charge laid against him.

So I have a few questions:

Why is it a crime that Moffat changes the stories of the women involved, but nobody screams "misandry" when he changes the stories of the men involved? In canon Jeff Hope was supposed to be a tragic hero, not John's target practice dummy; Mycroft and Sherlock were not at open war; Holmes never told a police constable that he "lowered the IQ of the entire block," and Moriarty wasn't phoning in his plans from low orbit around Mars -- so where's the ZOMG, Moffat hates men!!!!!111eleventy1! ?

(I have seen Moffat's interview where he protests that he doesn't see Irene, who solves her problems with a hasty marriage and a night flight, as a particularly strong woman. I don't agree with his interpretation, but it can be argued as valid from the text. With that viewpoint, I can see why he handled Irene the way he did.)

How does "Moffat strips women of agency" fit in with Mary and Molly? Mary may be Moffat's favorite "badass international woman of mystery" cliche, but "badass international woman of mystery" is hardly the description of someone who is helpless, hapless, or lacking agency. If someone's going to keep defaulting to a female trope, I'd personally prefer it be Jane Bond.

As the complaint is that Moffat isn't treating women like they were treated in canon, do let us look back at canon for a moment. Mary? In canon? More sweet than proactive, mostly honored in the breech (as in "love ya Mary, but I'm going to go have epic bromance with no notice again, tell my patients to go next door m'kay?") and then finally stuffed into the ice house (there being no refrigerators back then.)

The specific anti-Mary argument appears to be that she didn't shoot CAM. Which is explained in text - John would be a suspect, therefore, Mary spared John. It's the same reason that Sherlock waited until Mycroft and the police were Right. There. before he pulled the trigger of John's gun -- so that the one truly innocent person in all of this would not be suspected.

And then there's Molly. Molly who doesn't appear in canon. Molly who isn't a badass, but who is an *achievable* role model in the real world. Molly who went from quietly sucking up Sherlock's flatly abusive treatment of her in S1 to slapping him silly in S3 and forcing him to apologize. That's not agency?

I haven't even gotten to Mom Holmes yet...

Comments

[zinelady.livejournal.com]

And you could argue that Sherlock did tell the girl whose stepfather was pretending to be her fiance the truth rather than refusing to tell her like ACD in a Case of Idenity. If you want to talk about the word misogynistic, you don't need to go much further than ACD's Sherlock Holmes.

“And Miss Sutherland?”
“If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
Persian saying, ‘There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and
danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.’ There is as
much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the
world.”

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

nobody screams "misandry" when he changes the stories of the men involved?

Because misandry isn't real and for all it's faults the Sherlock fandom has yet to be infected with the MRA whiners who insist it is?

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Mary doesn't shoot CAM in the original, either; the Lindsay Duncan character does. Who is also a strong woman who stands up to a blackmailer, at the cost of her husband's suicide, in this version.

[penguineggs.livejournal.com]

Another woman whose story Moffat changes. Stapleton in Hounds. Not an abused wife/reluctant henchperson/honey-trap. Single mother, professional scientist, assists them in resolving the crime.