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I'm going to miss the actual premiere of Elementary - it's on a worknight after my bedtime, so although I'm sure I'll hear *all* about it online, I won't be seeing it until it hits On Demand.
As it is, I'm getting warier and warier. The actual clips aren't half bad - not too surprising, as CBS has climbed to the top of the ratings on detective shows; they can crank out acceptable whodunits in their sleep. But every time I hear something out of the producer, I cringe. Especially from the quotes coming out of ComicCon. Especially the quote about how canonical Holmes is awkward around women (really? Because I can line up a helluva lot of canon that blows that out of the water) and so it would be really funny to have that character stuck living with a woman.
It's my worst nightmare for Elementary. Not that Watson is a woman, but that Watson-the-woman is being pushed, interview by interview, into all the worst cliches about women *and* people of color combined, turning what should be groundbreaking into a collection seen it, been offended by it, why aren't we over this by now?
Look at the list:
- Sherlock is supposed to be bothered by her gender. (Oooo, 50% of the population, boogity! How horrible for him!) Are we supposed to give him cookies and praise if it's only her gender and not her color that bothers him? It's funny if it's misogyny, as long as it's not racism?
- She has lost her career, which took a lot of education and training, through some unspecified fault of her own. (Is anyone ever going to explain why she's the only surgeon in the history of ever to lose her whole damned career over one death?) Because the only way for that to work is not because the patient was too sick or something went wrong; to get busted from surgeon right out of being a doctor at all over one patient takes serious deliberate malpractice. So instead of being someone who lost her career via accident or happenstance (male Watson got shot in action) the woman, the person of color, is a fuckup of the first order.
- She doesn't find him by accident or design, she's hired to be his keeper. The woman having to take care of the man-child. The person of color as the nanny. THERE'S a totally unique role.
CBS could have done something really brilliant and uplifting. And all they had to do was to leave Watson's backstory alone. We've got plenty of wounded soldiers ourselves, women of color among them. They just had to say her hospital was overrun and she was shot in action. Instant dignity, even if they still want to strip her agency and say she's got this job because she's not a surgeon anymore. But no; CBS wants the credit for being edgy and unique while they firmly stuff Lucy Liu into every minority cliche in the book.
As it is, I'm getting warier and warier. The actual clips aren't half bad - not too surprising, as CBS has climbed to the top of the ratings on detective shows; they can crank out acceptable whodunits in their sleep. But every time I hear something out of the producer, I cringe. Especially from the quotes coming out of ComicCon. Especially the quote about how canonical Holmes is awkward around women (really? Because I can line up a helluva lot of canon that blows that out of the water) and so it would be really funny to have that character stuck living with a woman.
It's my worst nightmare for Elementary. Not that Watson is a woman, but that Watson-the-woman is being pushed, interview by interview, into all the worst cliches about women *and* people of color combined, turning what should be groundbreaking into a collection seen it, been offended by it, why aren't we over this by now?
Look at the list:
- Sherlock is supposed to be bothered by her gender. (Oooo, 50% of the population, boogity! How horrible for him!) Are we supposed to give him cookies and praise if it's only her gender and not her color that bothers him? It's funny if it's misogyny, as long as it's not racism?
- She has lost her career, which took a lot of education and training, through some unspecified fault of her own. (Is anyone ever going to explain why she's the only surgeon in the history of ever to lose her whole damned career over one death?) Because the only way for that to work is not because the patient was too sick or something went wrong; to get busted from surgeon right out of being a doctor at all over one patient takes serious deliberate malpractice. So instead of being someone who lost her career via accident or happenstance (male Watson got shot in action) the woman, the person of color, is a fuckup of the first order.
- She doesn't find him by accident or design, she's hired to be his keeper. The woman having to take care of the man-child. The person of color as the nanny. THERE'S a totally unique role.
CBS could have done something really brilliant and uplifting. And all they had to do was to leave Watson's backstory alone. We've got plenty of wounded soldiers ourselves, women of color among them. They just had to say her hospital was overrun and she was shot in action. Instant dignity, even if they still want to strip her agency and say she's got this job because she's not a surgeon anymore. But no; CBS wants the credit for being edgy and unique while they firmly stuff Lucy Liu into every minority cliche in the book.
