Fandom March Madness!

[tardis_stowaway]

Watch out, y'all. It's that time of year again.



Fandom March Madness!

That's right it's time to pit characters from different fandoms against each other in a seemingly pointless yet really HIGHLY IMPORTANT competition. Right now it's perhaps the most heartbreaking round, the preliminaries where you have to choose just one character from within each fandom. Seriously, how am I supposed to choose just one character from all of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane Adventures when there are so many fantastic individuals in the Whoniverse? (Spoiler Alert: I picked Donna. She's the most important woman in the universe, plus a strategic vote to get past Amy Pond and unite the fandom in later rounds.)

Go tear your hair out in frustration at these impossible choices VOTE!  Also, enjoy all the pretty gifs and capslock flailing in the comments.  Voting on the preliminaries lasts until 1-2 pm Eastern on Thursday. 

Might I suggest:

John Watson for Sherlock.  We'd be lost without our blogger. 

Donna Noble for Doctor Who.  She is our household god!

Neville Longbottom for Harry Potter.  I am honestly confused about how he is not sweeping this bracket.  He's the biggest BAMF in the series and also a really great guy. 

Comments

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

I feel this way too. I get cranky at Moffat as much as the next feminist, but the hate is a little much. I think a lot of the legit social justice criticism is being used a bit as a shield to cover for just being irritated by the ubiquity/popularity of the fandom ( kind of understandable? We are SQUEEING IN EVERY CORNER OF THE INTERNET right now), along with people just generally deciding to make Sherlock and the Eleventh Doctor personal avatars for Moffat for taking out their feminist rage on.

Mostly because if it were really about Sherlock being a privileged asshole starring in a sausage fest, you'd see a similar (and much stronger) campaign being lobbied against Tony Stark, who is really really a privileged asshole, a quality that the viewer is meant to find endearing (unlike in Sherlock, where we are meant to like Sherlock despite the way he treats people/women, not because of it). But (and granted I only made it halfway through the comments) I haven't seen a similar anti-Stark campaign.

*shrugs*

I might be taking it a bit personally, though, as I actually really identify with the BBC interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

Still voted for John, though. He's the better person! How can you not love him?

[joking.livejournal.com]

I might be taking it a bit personally, though, as I actually really identify with the BBC interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

See, there's the thing. It's all too rare to have protagonists who have Asperger's/whatever it is that Sherlock has in shows that don't turn it into the disability version of the "Magical Negro" who is so saintly and wonderful because of the hardship they have to go through because of their Asperger's/OCD/what have you. And I think that's an entry point for a lot of fans. (Not saying that's the reason why you identify with him, but it's a reason a lot of fans identify with him, and I think it's great.)

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

Oh totally agreed. I mean, I kind of hate Moffat a whole lot of the time? But I think he's actually really good with invisible disability, both including it a representing it. He had a kid with dyslexia in Doctor Who, the mention of a woman with diabetes, the fantastic Vincent episode happened under his watch, and Sherlock -whether Aspie or not- definitely isn't entirely neurotypical, but like you point out, it isn't treated as a magic power or as an excuse.

I identify with Sherlock mostly as someone who was told a lot by teachers and parents as a kid, "Your making the other children feel bad" when I did something differently or "better" than others. I remember spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the right response to that was as a kid, whether it was moral to hide myself to make others feel better and whether it was moral to keep doing well if my doing well discouraged other kids from trying. It pretty much came down to "Do I care if it makes the other kids feel bad?" - my answer was a little yes and a little no, but I get the feeling Sherlock faced a similar conundrum as a kid and decided "No. I don't care." and decided to make that his identity. And I find that incredibly understandable and relatable.