Showing posts with label Tumblr. Show all posts

25 July 2013

John and Sherlock: A Study in Friendship

About a month ago I decided to broaden my internet presence and get myself my own tumblr* account. An account that none of my friends know about and can't find me on. A place where I can safely obsess over my favourite TV shows with people who watch and appreciate it. I delved deeper into the heart of tumblr, picking up on words and phrases while getting the general just of things. The one thing that I found predominant was the amount of Sherlock and John shippers**.

Image courtesy of tumblr
I knew that there were lots of people out there who placed John and Sherlock together, some even calling it their "one true pairing" (OTP), but I hadn't known the extent of their fandom. When I say together I mean together, like together-together. Which is fine by me and I'll admit it, John and Sherlock are my one true pairing. They go together like all the great combinations, but I don't want them to be together in that sense.

 Throughout the Conan Doyle canon, John and Sherlock have shown a great friendship. Sherlock is quoted multiple times saying "my dear Watson," and let's not forget the fact that he missed Watson sitting opposite him in his study as mentioned in The Empty House. But they were never a couple, they were just friends and that's what I want from BBC's Sherlock. I want a friendship that makes me believe in love and life. Steven Moffat has stated that there is no sexual attraction between them, just a long lasting friendship. A type of friendship that will never fade, a rare friendship that only a few possess in their lifetimes. To me their love for one another is completely non-sexual. It's a love, yes, but it's not that kind of love.

I don't need a big confession and a sex scene for me to know that these two were made for each other, that no one will ever compare to the eternal love they have towards one another. I know this because I've seen this only once before, between two girls who, if you had seen them out together, you would swear that they were a couple. It's something that doesn't just happen straight away, but grows over time. It's that type of love that gives me hope. The type of love where you can get married to someone else, but still go back to them and begin where you finished off. It's that kind of love that Sherlock and John have. It's a romance, but not a sexual attraction. 

 I'm in no way criticising those Johnlock shippers out there who post some of the oddest yet magnificent pieces of art and literature. All I'm saying is, do we really need to have a kiss or sex scene to show us that they love each other? Hasn't Sherlock already proven that in The Reichenbach Fall when he jumped to his death to protect his friends? What further confirmation is needed?
Drawn by Golubaja on Deviantart.
*tumblr - internet blogging platform where people generally share their views on their favourite shows or other things. Sort of like twitter and a blog mixed together.
**shipper -  a person [who] wants two characters to get together and/or shows support for two characters already together. (taken from Urban Dictionary)

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07 June 2013

How Doctor Who Has Shaped Me: The Good and The Bad.

A little over two years ago, I found out about a TV show called Doctor Who, the way I get all my news, via the internet. The first episode I watched was The Lazarus Experiment with Martha and Ten. I wish I could tell you what drew me in about the show, but I honestly can't. Perhaps, it was because it was so different to everything else I watched and seemed more of something that I would enjoy. Truth be told, I've never watched much science fiction shows, but I've always loved the concept of time travel (I even started to write a story about it in grade six) and I absolutely love history. And by love, I mean adore as in I don't mind writing four page essays about the Civil Rights Movement. I've also liked the idea of traveling to new worlds; the Chronicles of Narnia was my favourite series when I was kid and what really seared my love for storytelling. My point is that if you had told me that in 2013 my favourite TV show would be about a time traveling alien who changes his face and has a female companion I would have awkwardly laughed at you and walked away pretending like you weren't a complete mental case.

Then I watched the show and I realised that it wasn't about that at all. It was about love and friendship and fighting for what is right. Doctor Who is about acceptance and being unique, look at the Doctor, he wears silly clothes and doesn't care about what people say. It teaches you to be comfortable in your own skin. It has also reinforced principles that I live by like violence is not always the best answer. Personally, it has taught me to grow as a human. I've learnt that no matter how much a situation seems hopeless, there's always room for optimism. I've learnt to see the inner value of people on a much higher scale and I've learnt that I don't have to be a genius to be special. It has taught me that change, although daunting, is part of growing up and is necessary if we want to move on with our lives. Through Doctor Who I have realised that no dream is too big and that one day I will live my dream of becoming an author. I've also learnt to never give up on what you love and believe in. 

But, it has also brought out the slightly worse qualities in me. I've come realise that I'm three things I hate in a person: jealous, greedy and overprotective. The insecurities I have elevate these emotions incredibly to the point where I almost explode. I initially didn't want anyone I knew to find out about Doctor Who because I wanted it to be a sort of secret. Something that I could share with a select few people and the internet, but I have comprehended that it's too big of a show for people not find out about. There's a part of me that believes that the show will be ruined by people who don’t fully understand it and get excited for no particular reason, but then I realised that it will boost its popularity which means that it has a better chance of staying on air. So, I guess that was just the youngest-in-the-family-and-gets-what-she-wants in me showing a little too much. The overprotective part in me shows through whenever someone comments on an aspect of the show or the show as a whole and I go off on a tangent saying “What the hell? You're an idiot, if you didn't like that episode so much then why you don’t write a better episode!" Note that this takes place in my head as I scroll down to more pleasing comments, but I fear that I may not be able to hold my tongue in real life and I might just go tumblr fangirl meets the Hulk on one of my friends and I'll be ostracized forever. Okay, that was a bit of an over exaggeration, but you never know with me. In short, Doctor Who is such an inspiration to me and has changed me so much that I feel as if it's my responsibility to stop it from becoming something that I'll hate watching or watch for the sake of watching because the people around me have influenced the way I see it. I’m too forgone into this fandom to have that happen to me. To me it is not just a TV show, it has become my life. I have never been so attached to characters and places before, no other book or TV show has done that for me. But I've learnt to control these bad qualities and I seem more accepting, while still having mixed emotions.

Through this wonderful show I've have seen my full potential and found bucket loads of inspiration and maybe my dreams will one day come true. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be writing for Doctor Who. Every time a bad quality starts to inch its way out, a good quality is reflected back at ten times the strength. Doctor Who has shaped me into a good person and made me see the bad that I could become if lose myself. No show has this big of an impact on me and love Doctor Who for that. It will always be there, through the good and the bad.

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