shadowfireflame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadowfireflame) wrote2014-01-09 04:47 am
shadowfireflame) wrote2014-01-09 04:47 am
Entry tags:
The Case of John Watson’s Sexuality
This is not being discussed nearly enough for me. :) (Edit: Crossposted here.)
(First off, sorry for scaring people with my speculative His Last Vow fears in the last post. I’ve since stopped freaking out and see lots of valid possibilities of having a moving cliffhanger without killing anybody. So let’s just get through this little wait until Sunday. *breathes into a bag*)
I’ve come to the opinion that this series may actually be a long-form exploration of John Watson’s sexual awakening. Yes, you read that right, for all this talk of virgins and and “How would you know?” and “We’re having a lot of sex” to Sherlock, the show is not so much about Sherlock’s acceptance of his own sexuality as John’s.
I think for many people, the line that sold them on Sherlock as a show is when John and Sherlock are at Angelo’s and John says, “It’s fine. It’s all fine,” referring to Sherlock’s sexuality. How refreshing on television, that a man should (1) talk about this with another man at all, and (2) be so open, honest, and accepting about his new acquaintance’s unspecified preferences. But in light of other evidence, I think that what John was actually saying there was “It’s fine. It’s all fine—for you, though maybe not for me.” Because just one scene prior to that moment, John objects to Angelo putting a candle on the table because of what? Yup, appearances.
I really, honestly don’t see that John’s repeated protestations that “Sherlock’s not my boyfriend, I’m not gay, we’re not going on dates, we’re not lovers...” is the writers using their platform to scold fandom Johnlock shippers. I know a lot of people see it that way, but I think that’s a wild underestimation of this show’s quality and actually quite a petty and cruel thing to do for writers who genuinely appear to love their fandom (I still read The Empty Hearse, and indeed every episode, as a love letter to fandom and admit to being baffled by those who don’t). Instead, in my opinion, John’s protestations are a repeated and consistent characterization of John Watson as a man who is constrained, sexually as well as in many other respects (except his choice of jumpers, clearly), by societal expectations and pressures. Just like many other men, particularly ones associated with the military. And to the detriment of his own happiness.
Take this scene from Reichenbach, for example, as a perfect illustration (transcript from the brilliant![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arianedevere):
SHERLOCK: I don’t care what people think.
JOHN: You’d care if they thought you were stupid, or wrong.
SHERLOCK: No, that would just make them stupid or wrong.
JOHN: Sherlock, I don’t want the world believing you’re ...
SHERLOCK: That I am what?
JOHN: A fraud.
They’re both being honest here. Whereas the only opinions of himself Sherlock cares about are those of people he loves (John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, maybe even Mycroft—subconsciously, of course) or admires (Moriarty), John himself is continually frustrated by how the world sees both of them. Note that John seems fine with all the press they’ve been receiving...until the press calls him a “confirmed bachelor” (i.e. gay).
And of course Sherlock’s right because why should he care about the opinions of people he doesn’t like or even know? But John’s also right because the answer is that people can be cruel and can make your life miserable. I bet during those two years post-Reichenbach, John placed a lot of blame on the press for what he thought was Sherlock committing suicide, and that unfortunately strengthened John’s belief that defying societal pressures and expectations can be dangerous and life-destroying.
Throughout the show, Sherlock’s position on his own sexuality hasn’t really changed: he may have a sex drive, but for the time being, at least, he’s choosing not to act upon it, despite having ample opportunities. I’d like to put forth the theory that this is because he’s slowly become more and more desperately in love with John, and John is too busy dealing with his own sexuality to be ready for Sherlock (and maybe Sherlock wasn’t ready either).
Frequently in the show, John gets offended on Sherlock’s behalf, but John so rarely gets offended on his own behalf. Basically only when his sexuality is called into question. And then it doesn’t take him long to become almost suspiciously defensive. Even when talking to Mrs. Hudson in The Empty Hearse when he still thinks Sherlock is dead, John jumps pretty quickly to yelling out that he’s not gay. But it’s so bad with John that he really hurts Sherlock by jumping in and unnecessarily defending his not-gayness in The Blind Banker (“This is my friend, John Watson.” Sebastian is surprised Sherlock has a friend. John misinterprets this as yet another person questioning his sexuality and corrects Sherlock by saying, “Colleague.” Not because they’re not friends but because they’re not boyfriends.) Maybe John gets offended only because it seems to happen a lot, people jumping to the wrong conclusion about his relationship with Sherlock, but I think there’s something more there.
In The Sign of Three, John moves Sherlock deeply enough to blue-screen him for a “scary” amount of time, simply by telling him that he loves him and that Sherlock is his best friend. That’s how intense this relationship is.
And then there’s the stag night. When they get drunk and John’s inhibitions are lowered, John gets so much more physically intimate with Sherlock, propping his feet on Sherlock’s chair, even putting his hand on Sherlock’s knee and saying with a shrug, “I don’t mind.” Now, there are lots of different ways of interpreting that line, and to me it’s so off-the-cuff, as well as Sherlock’s reaction, that it even seems improvised by Martin Freeman (as well as Benedict’s almost-response)—but they did make the decision to have and keep it in the show, so there it is now.
The way I interpret it is: this is how John really feels about Sherlock. He can’t touch Sherlock in such a frankly sexual way when sober or in public because he’s afraid his actions will be misconstrued as him being gay. And he’s not; he sexually desires women; he’s marrying a woman. But that doesn’t mean that if everyone consents, they can’t all be happy together in an unconventional relationship. And to me, this scene suggests that underneath John’s knee-jerk reflex of not being able to picture himself as being intimate in any way with a man, even Sherlock, John does actually want that on some level.
When Tessa comes to visit and Sherlock and John are on the couch together, still drunk, Sherlock has continued this trend of being more physically intimate with his arm resting behind John on the couch, and then as Tessa talks, Sherlock removes it looking a bit like, “Don’t get too intimate; you know how it makes John uncomfortable [when sober].” Sherlock’s actually very indulgent about John’s hangups in this episode, even when they hurt both of them.
So this is where we are now with John and Sherlock’s relationship. Check out this scene at the wedding reception. Mary basically asks Sherlock to dance as a threesome, John shuts it down because of external pressures and labels instead of what he actually wants (“We can’t all three dance; there are limits”), and Sherlock instantly goes along with John even though, you know, Sherlock loves to dance...because he doesn’t want John to be uncomfortable at his own wedding. I get a sense of resignation from Sherlock there, like, “Oh, right, John, I forgot you were like this.” But this scene makes it clear to me that Sherlock is never going to push John out of his comfort zone when it comes to this; he’s going to suffer in silence for as long as he has to.
We can speculate about why John is like this, other than the fact that he’s a man living in a heteronormative society and has lots of preconceived notions about what men and women do. That was made pretty clear in John’s reasoning that the Mayfly Man just wants sex because he’s a man and that’s what men do. (Whereas badass Best Man Sherlock’s over here Youtubing how to fold serviettes and correcting John that the bridesmaids will be wearing lilac; how’s that for challenging gender norms, John?) We could speculate that as a child, perhaps John’s parents were homophobic and harsh to Harry for being gay, which may have contributed to her alcohol problem, and ever since, John has been subconsciously scared of even acknowledging that he might have some of those desires in himself. I don’t know, and the reason doesn’t matter as much as the result, which is that John is holding himself back from what he really seems to want romantically: full, equal relationships with both Mary and Sherlock.
I truly believe that Mary, at least, is up for a threesome or perhaps even a full polyamorous relationship. Her presence in the series has so far been great at pushing the boys together physically (she encouraged them to meet up in The Empty Hearse and to go on a case and to hug at the wedding!) and emotionally, helping them talk about their feelings to each other, helping them move past what could have been an immovable object: John’s anger at Sherlock over Reichenbach. She flat out told Sherlock she would help him to get back to normalcy with John. And why? Because she can see that Sherlock is good for John. She can see, just as we and everyone else in the show can, how much these men love each other. That relationship could so easily go from intense friendship to romance. And I believe that if John can get over his societally-induced hangups and dig deeper into himself, all three of them could be happier.
In summation, I think that we should trust the person whose job it is to analyze people’s sexual preferences, Irene, when she tells John that while they’re both not usually interested in men, it’s clear they both are interested in Sherlock. How the show will handle this, though, is a different question. But I don’t think we as fans should automatically condemn it as gay-baiting or automatically assume that the writers hate us, as to me it seems like a major arc in the show is an exploration of a person slowly coming to terms with giving himself permission to apply his “It’s all fine” motto to himself and figuring out what he really wants from life, apart from societal expectations. John’s already helped Sherlock to come to the realization that it’s okay to be different; now it’s John’s turn to apply his own teachings. Something is happening here. One of the very best things about this show is that John Watson is just as much of a complex character as Sherlock Holmes. Give him time. So far every time I’ve trusted this show, I’ve been rewarded handsomely, so I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt this time as well.
In other words, IS IT SUNDAY YET???
(First off, sorry for scaring people with my speculative His Last Vow fears in the last post. I’ve since stopped freaking out and see lots of valid possibilities of having a moving cliffhanger without killing anybody. So let’s just get through this little wait until Sunday. *breathes into a bag*)
I’ve come to the opinion that this series may actually be a long-form exploration of John Watson’s sexual awakening. Yes, you read that right, for all this talk of virgins and and “How would you know?” and “We’re having a lot of sex” to Sherlock, the show is not so much about Sherlock’s acceptance of his own sexuality as John’s.
I think for many people, the line that sold them on Sherlock as a show is when John and Sherlock are at Angelo’s and John says, “It’s fine. It’s all fine,” referring to Sherlock’s sexuality. How refreshing on television, that a man should (1) talk about this with another man at all, and (2) be so open, honest, and accepting about his new acquaintance’s unspecified preferences. But in light of other evidence, I think that what John was actually saying there was “It’s fine. It’s all fine—for you, though maybe not for me.” Because just one scene prior to that moment, John objects to Angelo putting a candle on the table because of what? Yup, appearances.
I really, honestly don’t see that John’s repeated protestations that “Sherlock’s not my boyfriend, I’m not gay, we’re not going on dates, we’re not lovers...” is the writers using their platform to scold fandom Johnlock shippers. I know a lot of people see it that way, but I think that’s a wild underestimation of this show’s quality and actually quite a petty and cruel thing to do for writers who genuinely appear to love their fandom (I still read The Empty Hearse, and indeed every episode, as a love letter to fandom and admit to being baffled by those who don’t). Instead, in my opinion, John’s protestations are a repeated and consistent characterization of John Watson as a man who is constrained, sexually as well as in many other respects (except his choice of jumpers, clearly), by societal expectations and pressures. Just like many other men, particularly ones associated with the military. And to the detriment of his own happiness.
Take this scene from Reichenbach, for example, as a perfect illustration (transcript from the brilliant
arianedevere):SHERLOCK: I don’t care what people think.
JOHN: You’d care if they thought you were stupid, or wrong.
SHERLOCK: No, that would just make them stupid or wrong.
JOHN: Sherlock, I don’t want the world believing you’re ...
SHERLOCK: That I am what?
JOHN: A fraud.
They’re both being honest here. Whereas the only opinions of himself Sherlock cares about are those of people he loves (John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Molly, maybe even Mycroft—subconsciously, of course) or admires (Moriarty), John himself is continually frustrated by how the world sees both of them. Note that John seems fine with all the press they’ve been receiving...until the press calls him a “confirmed bachelor” (i.e. gay).
And of course Sherlock’s right because why should he care about the opinions of people he doesn’t like or even know? But John’s also right because the answer is that people can be cruel and can make your life miserable. I bet during those two years post-Reichenbach, John placed a lot of blame on the press for what he thought was Sherlock committing suicide, and that unfortunately strengthened John’s belief that defying societal pressures and expectations can be dangerous and life-destroying.
Throughout the show, Sherlock’s position on his own sexuality hasn’t really changed: he may have a sex drive, but for the time being, at least, he’s choosing not to act upon it, despite having ample opportunities. I’d like to put forth the theory that this is because he’s slowly become more and more desperately in love with John, and John is too busy dealing with his own sexuality to be ready for Sherlock (and maybe Sherlock wasn’t ready either).
Frequently in the show, John gets offended on Sherlock’s behalf, but John so rarely gets offended on his own behalf. Basically only when his sexuality is called into question. And then it doesn’t take him long to become almost suspiciously defensive. Even when talking to Mrs. Hudson in The Empty Hearse when he still thinks Sherlock is dead, John jumps pretty quickly to yelling out that he’s not gay. But it’s so bad with John that he really hurts Sherlock by jumping in and unnecessarily defending his not-gayness in The Blind Banker (“This is my friend, John Watson.” Sebastian is surprised Sherlock has a friend. John misinterprets this as yet another person questioning his sexuality and corrects Sherlock by saying, “Colleague.” Not because they’re not friends but because they’re not boyfriends.) Maybe John gets offended only because it seems to happen a lot, people jumping to the wrong conclusion about his relationship with Sherlock, but I think there’s something more there.
In The Sign of Three, John moves Sherlock deeply enough to blue-screen him for a “scary” amount of time, simply by telling him that he loves him and that Sherlock is his best friend. That’s how intense this relationship is.
And then there’s the stag night. When they get drunk and John’s inhibitions are lowered, John gets so much more physically intimate with Sherlock, propping his feet on Sherlock’s chair, even putting his hand on Sherlock’s knee and saying with a shrug, “I don’t mind.” Now, there are lots of different ways of interpreting that line, and to me it’s so off-the-cuff, as well as Sherlock’s reaction, that it even seems improvised by Martin Freeman (as well as Benedict’s almost-response)—but they did make the decision to have and keep it in the show, so there it is now.
The way I interpret it is: this is how John really feels about Sherlock. He can’t touch Sherlock in such a frankly sexual way when sober or in public because he’s afraid his actions will be misconstrued as him being gay. And he’s not; he sexually desires women; he’s marrying a woman. But that doesn’t mean that if everyone consents, they can’t all be happy together in an unconventional relationship. And to me, this scene suggests that underneath John’s knee-jerk reflex of not being able to picture himself as being intimate in any way with a man, even Sherlock, John does actually want that on some level.
When Tessa comes to visit and Sherlock and John are on the couch together, still drunk, Sherlock has continued this trend of being more physically intimate with his arm resting behind John on the couch, and then as Tessa talks, Sherlock removes it looking a bit like, “Don’t get too intimate; you know how it makes John uncomfortable [when sober].” Sherlock’s actually very indulgent about John’s hangups in this episode, even when they hurt both of them.
So this is where we are now with John and Sherlock’s relationship. Check out this scene at the wedding reception. Mary basically asks Sherlock to dance as a threesome, John shuts it down because of external pressures and labels instead of what he actually wants (“We can’t all three dance; there are limits”), and Sherlock instantly goes along with John even though, you know, Sherlock loves to dance...because he doesn’t want John to be uncomfortable at his own wedding. I get a sense of resignation from Sherlock there, like, “Oh, right, John, I forgot you were like this.” But this scene makes it clear to me that Sherlock is never going to push John out of his comfort zone when it comes to this; he’s going to suffer in silence for as long as he has to.
We can speculate about why John is like this, other than the fact that he’s a man living in a heteronormative society and has lots of preconceived notions about what men and women do. That was made pretty clear in John’s reasoning that the Mayfly Man just wants sex because he’s a man and that’s what men do. (Whereas badass Best Man Sherlock’s over here Youtubing how to fold serviettes and correcting John that the bridesmaids will be wearing lilac; how’s that for challenging gender norms, John?) We could speculate that as a child, perhaps John’s parents were homophobic and harsh to Harry for being gay, which may have contributed to her alcohol problem, and ever since, John has been subconsciously scared of even acknowledging that he might have some of those desires in himself. I don’t know, and the reason doesn’t matter as much as the result, which is that John is holding himself back from what he really seems to want romantically: full, equal relationships with both Mary and Sherlock.
I truly believe that Mary, at least, is up for a threesome or perhaps even a full polyamorous relationship. Her presence in the series has so far been great at pushing the boys together physically (she encouraged them to meet up in The Empty Hearse and to go on a case and to hug at the wedding!) and emotionally, helping them talk about their feelings to each other, helping them move past what could have been an immovable object: John’s anger at Sherlock over Reichenbach. She flat out told Sherlock she would help him to get back to normalcy with John. And why? Because she can see that Sherlock is good for John. She can see, just as we and everyone else in the show can, how much these men love each other. That relationship could so easily go from intense friendship to romance. And I believe that if John can get over his societally-induced hangups and dig deeper into himself, all three of them could be happier.
In summation, I think that we should trust the person whose job it is to analyze people’s sexual preferences, Irene, when she tells John that while they’re both not usually interested in men, it’s clear they both are interested in Sherlock. How the show will handle this, though, is a different question. But I don’t think we as fans should automatically condemn it as gay-baiting or automatically assume that the writers hate us, as to me it seems like a major arc in the show is an exploration of a person slowly coming to terms with giving himself permission to apply his “It’s all fine” motto to himself and figuring out what he really wants from life, apart from societal expectations. John’s already helped Sherlock to come to the realization that it’s okay to be different; now it’s John’s turn to apply his own teachings. Something is happening here. One of the very best things about this show is that John Watson is just as much of a complex character as Sherlock Holmes. Give him time. So far every time I’ve trusted this show, I’ve been rewarded handsomely, so I will continue to give them the benefit of the doubt this time as well.
In other words, IS IT SUNDAY YET???
no subject
no subject
no subject
We have both John and Sherlock in a state of flux. John has to work on being comfortable with himself in spite of conventions, as you said. Sherlock has to let flaunting his antisocial tendencies go so he can integrate into the rewards that becoming social offer. It's a great dynamic and I love this show to pieces.
Thanks for posting this. You're right-- we definitely need more discussion! Come Sunday, we'll be shellshocked and mourning for who knows how many years? I'm going to enjoy the week while I can. :)
no subject
Come Sunday, we'll be shellshocked and mourning for who knows how many years?
Oh God...no, I'm trying not to think about this... :)
no subject
But the second episode, oh, how much I love it, and this is such a lovely insightful essay about it. a major arc in the show is an exploration of a person slowly coming to terms with giving himself permission to apply his “It’s all fine” motto to himself and figuring out what he really wants from life, apart from societal expectations. YES. That's what I want.
I told a friend that I feel honored we've been able to watch Sherlock grow into the good man that Lestrade told John he could be, but you're right that this has also been a story of John's growth. Lovely work -- thank you!
no subject
no subject
YUP. I've already seen some heart-warming OT3 stories popping up. Thank goodness for fanfiction and the endless ingenuity of its authors!
no subject
All the claims of gay-baiting have made me uncomfortable, and you've explained why. Thank you.
no subject
no subject
no subject
This this this. I mean, just in The Empty Hearse, John admits in the train car, "I find it difficult, this sort of stuff."
We know it's hard for him; it's hard for them both--that's why Sherlock engineered that whole bomb situation. And yet John is trying, and in The Sign of Three, John actually ends up telling Sherlock how much Sherlock means to him not once but twice (when asking him to be Best Man and then when assuring him on the bench outside that nothing will change). I'm convinced Mary is a large part of the reason behind these changes.
no subject
Please accept some quiet squee instead. squee!
IS IT SUNDAY YET????
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I'm with you much of the way- Mary definitely seems to be thinking about polyamory, I have no trouble reading Sherlock as silently attracted to John and I did quite a lot of thinking about John's struggles with homophobia back when I wrote Black Hole back in series 1. But, without those useful slash goggles on, I just cannot get any vibe of John as physically attracted to Sherlock. He might just be repressing very heavily, I suppose, but I can't see it. Love, yes, but sexual attraction? No.
But there are a few thousand Johnlock shippers who'd disagree with me, so you could be right!
no subject
I don't think the "I'm not gay!" is either a dig at the fans or played entirely for laughs- the writers are doing something with it. The question is what!
That's really the question. I suppose I couldn't see where else they could take it at this point, but it's possibly just wishful thinking on my part. Either way, I'm on board and very happy with everyone's characterization. And in particular Mary's. :) (A little off topic, but Molly says that she can see Sherlock when nobody else is looking--well, I think Mary has a little bit of that as well, seeing Sherlock when John's not looking. Which is nice to see.)
no subject
My own observation of John is a man comfortable in his own skin. Aware of conventions and tending to conform to society's expectations. His job as a doctor and a soldier mean that he must not appear to step too far out of line.
I think that he met Sherlock and was in awe of him and totally fascinated by him. Sherlock arrived in his life just when everything seemed bleak and bare and offered him excitement and companionship. They become friends and slowly become essential to each other. They loved each other deeply but neither were 'in love' with the other. Sherlock appears to be straight - he was certainly taken with Irene Alder on a number of levels, but mainly disinterested. John is straight and keen on women.
The crux of the matter and the reason John becomes exasperated at people's assumptions in regards to his and Sherlock's relationship is possibly two fold.
1. John likes things to be open and correct as that is his nature and
2. For all that he loves Sherlock deeply and wants to be around him and working together with him, Sherlock is about as far from John's idea of a perfect lover/partner as it is possible to be (look at the delightful, funny, sensitive, understanding and caring Mary for a direct contrast) plus he's male and John Watson, as we have seen time and time again, is a ladies man.
I think we do the love between friends a huge disservice by constantly assuming that only romantic love would push John and Sherlock to care so deeply about each other. Good, deep friendship is wonderful. It often outlasts romantic love and best friends are the people for whom we'd scale mountains for, were it possible, and who make life so much more meaningful.
I'd add that I totally adore reading about Sherlock and John as a couple and can totally see the chemistry on screen. I adore this show, it is just so exciting and dynamic. It never stands still and congratulates itself but constantly moves forward. It is ultimately a show about a 'detective' and his companion, one of the most delightful bromances ever written.
no subject
This, omg, yes. And I suppose lingering in one stage or another and giving them time to sink in is the realm of fanfic. I'm so grateful for all our brilliant writers.
I guess I see John's reaction whenever his sexuality is called into question as more than just exasperated, though. He actually yells at Irene and Mrs. Hudson. And I'm certain that at his wedding, he would have preferred dancing with both Mary and Sherlock to cutting Sherlock out enough that Sherlock ends up leaving early, but he can't because he's concerned with how things will look.
I do buy that Sherlock might be far from John's vision of an ideal lover, though Sherlock and Mary aren't that dissimilar: they're both clever, often funny, and can be manipulative to get what they want. And of course they both love John.
Anyway, it's possible that all this drama about sexuality is to just build a deeper friendship between John and Sherlock. But I do think that something is going on that's not easily explained. I can't wait to find out!!!
no subject
Neither can I, but I guess we have to... roll on Sunday. :-)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I don't see John's refusals as the writers trying to put the fandom in their place. It was said before that John was supposed to be the complete opposite from Sherlock. So where Sherlock is very "I don't care either way who you sleep with", John is very traditional. He doesn't mind much when others are gay or bisexual (he has a gay sister whose sexuality doesn't seem to play a role in their problems with each other) but when it concerns himself, he reacts like many traditional men do - refusing to acknowledge that he might be bisexual (or gay) and have feelings for another man.
no subject
no subject
I wrote a bit about this over at my own blog, but mainly I wanted to thank you for your very well-thought out and convincing thoughts on this matter. What a gift to the fandom as we head into this final episode!