Looking over the entry, it occurs to me that I should have included a "So these are Mrs. Bradley's redeeming qualities" section, although it's difficult to pin down without giving away most of the plot. I think it's one of those things that relies a lot on the actor's charisma - although there were 66 books in the series in the spawned the TV show, so maybe not?
Actually, rereading the post, I think I spent most of it circling around my point without ever actually getting there: I think the Sherlock articles bothered me because they argued, basically, that the fact that many (note, not nearly all) slash fans just do not care for female characters is just a reflection of issues that society as a whole has with female characters.
And society clearly does have some issues with female characters...but at the same time, society had enough Mrs. Bradley fans, despite her general questionableness as a human being, to pay for 66 books of her. Slash fandom doesn't merely reflect society's issues with women; it magnifies them.
Given how unforgiving fandom can be about problematic issues in shows and books and things, this kind of "Well, there are no female characters like Sherlock because no one would like them anyway!" seems like a weird refusal of responsibility.
I may be remembering the Sherlock articles through the lens of my own crabbiness. I've just seen too many people say that they would write about female characters, except there are no interesting female characters anywhere. Or that they totally want write female characters, but they just can't; because never even trying is clearly the way to learn how to do something.
no subject
Actually, rereading the post, I think I spent most of it circling around my point without ever actually getting there: I think the Sherlock articles bothered me because they argued, basically, that the fact that many (note, not nearly all) slash fans just do not care for female characters is just a reflection of issues that society as a whole has with female characters.
And society clearly does have some issues with female characters...but
at the same time, society had enough Mrs. Bradley fans, despite her general questionableness as a human being, to pay for 66 books of her. Slash fandom doesn't merely reflect society's issues with women; it magnifies them.
Given how unforgiving fandom can be about problematic issues in shows and books and things, this kind of "Well, there are no female characters like Sherlock because no one would like them anyway!" seems like a weird refusal of responsibility.
I may be remembering the Sherlock articles through the lens of my own crabbiness. I've just seen too many people say that they would write about female characters, except there are no interesting female characters anywhere. Or that they totally want write female characters, but they just can't; because never even trying is clearly the way to learn how to do something.
...aaaaand, that was an essay. Sorry about that.