On switching up Sherlock Holmes

[xparrot]

So I heard the news about the casting of Watson in the new American Sherlock remake, and...

I admit, my first thought upon hearing Lucy Liu was going to be Watson was, Oh great, UST. Because sure, it's fine if fangirls slash any version of Holmes/Watson up one side of London and down the other, but if you're going to turn their epic partnership romantic on actual broadcast TV, you better make sure it's het. >.>

I could be wrong; they might not be going there. On the other hand I can't think of a single TV show in pretty much...ever...that stars a male and female of approximately the same age that doesn't have some kind of major romantic tension between them. X-files gave platonic a good run but surrendered eventually - and if the USA!Sherlock actually tries, I'll give them credit for that; but I don't see it happening. And don't get me wrong, I OTP a lot of those shows - but the thought that they've got to genderswap to make the romance palatable leaves an awful taste in one's mouth.

Even so, putting aside the romance angle, there's some awkwardness with gender roles when it comes to Holmes and Watson, when you have Holmes the rational super-intelligent male and Watson the less-clever, more-emotional female...yeah. I'm not saying it couldn't be done well, but it's tricky ground and I confess to a lack of faith in the ability of the average TV writer to negotiate it. (There are other issues with f!Holmes and m!Watson, though gnine pointed out they already have that show; it's called Bones...)

What I really would love is for them to genderswap both Holmes and Watson! Someday, someday...

Then I was thinking about what else I would like to see - like, this version, if it turns out to be male!asexual!Holmes and female!lesbian!Watson, oh god I will watch the HELL out of that show (platonic m+f soulmates ftw!)

And then, since we're race-changing (I do like Asian!Watson!) - black!Holmes, omg yes??? (In that case I would actually want Holmes to be American. Or else played by Adrian Lester. Or both - by the later seasons of Hustle his American accent is pretty spot-on!)

...So now I want black!male!asexual!Holmes and Asian!lesbian!Watson and can someone be getting on that now, please?

Comments

[nijibug.livejournal.com]

Yes to all of this, yes.

[tasabian.livejournal.com]

What I really would love is for them to genderswap both Holmes and Watson!
I think Lucy Liu would make a better Holmes - she plays intelligent & eccentric characters very well. Wish they had cast women in both roles.

[naye]

I knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. All of this is stuff I've thought myself. D: I mean, just looking at the actors they cast, wouldn't it have been AWESOME if Lucy Liu had been Holmes and Johnny Lee Miller had been Watson?

But, no.

Of course the brilliant, arrogant genius with issues has to be a white male WHO ELSE could have as many issues and as much genius as a white dude? >:I

Don't get me started on the UST. I remember watching NCIS and being so disappointed once they set up buckets of UST all around Ziva and Tony. That's the most recent US show I've seen that had a male and a female character who didn't make eyes at each other, and instead have a really interesting friendship. (I guess Abby and Gibbs don't count quite as much because of the age difference? But I do admit that they have something ADORABLE and non-sexual and that makes me happy!)

Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh and I am so pissed at what I perceive as changing an integral part of Watson's character, which is that he is (despite being in awe of the much smarter Holmes) a very capable man, who has done some difficult and dangerous things in his life, and still carries the scars of those experiences. As a matter of fact, if not for those experiences he would never have ended up back in London having to find lodgings at Baker Street in the first place. (And also they're Conan Doyle's own background, so...)

BUT IF SHE'S A WOMAN SHE CAN'T HAVE BEEN AT WAR RIGHT. *facepalm* (Or is it that if she's an American she can't have left the military, and certainly not been damaged by it, because we all know the military is the greatest thing ever and the only war you're allowed to suffer PTSD from on TV is one that ended before 1980.)

You know what, I could go on, but I think you get the general I AM HAVING RAGE picture, so I'll just shut up now.

[rosalui.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this exactly.

[serrende.livejournal.com]

There was an old black and white comic book in the early 90s that was based on the idea of genderswapped Holmes & Watson: Baker Street by Guy Davis and Gary Reed. But the characters had different names - last names too, I mean - and backgrounds from the original: the Holmes, Sharon Ford, was ex-cop turned private detective for punk outcasts in a steampunk 1980s Britain, while the Watson, Susan Prendergast, was an American exchange student of medicine. Their basic personalities were the same, though, and so was most of their dynamics except for an important third character, a woman who was already living with Sharon when Susan moved in.

So it wasn't quite the kind of thing you're thinking of (they were both white), but I'm mentioning it anyway since it was a pretty fresh and memorable comic, though it only ran for a short time - nine or ten issues, I think. The second arc was particularly interesting, delving into some pretty dark stuff with lots of character development.

[beckerbell.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this. I really, really want to like this show (for Lucy Liu if nothing else, she's the first thing that's really sparked my interest in it at all) and there are some very interesting places they could go with it! And I'm not out and out opposed to shipping it (I don't know that the gender was changed to male the idea of a relationship between them more palatable so much as I suspect it was just that they had to put their own stamp on it somehow--beyond being a US version--and this is what they thought of) and CBS has some really good shows to its name.

It's just... does anyone really trust that this show is going to do any of those potentially good/interesting things? Does anyone believe that, with what we know of how they're changing the Watson character to be a disgraced surgeon rather than an honorated war veteran, this doesn't have a far higher chance of being awful than it does of being good? Sigh.

[sholio]

ADRIAN LESTER, YESSSSS. (Adrian Lester should play everything. <--is not at all biased XD)

But ... yeah. A number of shows, at least, have decent platonic relationships among the secondary cast; actually it's one of the things I like about White Collar -- yes, it's your typical straight-white-guy buddy show, but there are lots of male-female platonic pairs among the whole ensemble, who get nice relationship scenes and everything. And now that we're watching Burn Notice, I'm finding Fiona and Sam hilarious (they have an awesome blend of accidental partnership and more-or-less genuine hate). But a show where the primary protagonists are a man and woman who don't get involved ... yeaaaaahhhhh, not so much. If Elementary does it, it'll be ... well, not a first, I'm sure, but very unusual and definitely bucking the trend.

Even leaving that aside, though, my first thought when I heard that Watson was going to be female and Holmes male -- and this was even before I started reading details about the rest of it -- was discomfort with the idea of Watson ending up in, basically, a Girl Friday role. This is ironic because I actually have a huuuuuge and slightly guilty weakness for that particular trope in general -- helpful Girl Friday plus older/more experienced/higher-in-the-chain-of-command man (like Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye in FMA, or the old Jimmy Steward movie "Rear Window", or "Jane Eyre" - my id, like most people's, is not very progressive at times). But it frustrates me because this is one of those unfortunate situations where genderswapping the role actually runs a huge risk of making it even less progressive than the original -- and this is leaving aside the issues of how they're choosing to set up Watson's character, which make me even more worried. :/ And, also, there is a general trend that when they genderswap or raceswap a character in a popular franchise, it's always the supporting, sidekick, or assistant-type character, rather than the central, iconic, "cool" character. It's a black Ford Prefect, not a black Arthur Dent; a female Christopher Robin, not a female Winnie the Pooh.

I've seen quite a bit of squee for the idea of a female Watson around my corner of the Internets, so I don't want to rain on anyone's parade. But ... I don't know, I just feel like there's so much potential "do not want" that I'm having a hard time feel optimistic about it.

[alasen.livejournal.com]

On the other hand I can't think of a single TV show in pretty much...ever...that stars a male and female of approximately the same age that doesn't have some kind of major romantic tension between them.
I'm watching my way through Warehouse 13, which was pimped me to me on the fact that the two leads (although it's really more ensemble-y) had no romantic chemistry. The two (spoilery!) points that I was specifically told about were (though i haven't encountered the second yet):
a) male character knew that female character was possessed because she kissed him, and she would never kiss him even to save their lives
b) they wake up in the same bed naked with no memory of the night before, and realise that they've put themselves in this situation so they'll know to investigate, because they'd never sleep together.

i enjoy the show - the friendship between them is great, they develop a cute brother/sister vibe, no romance with each other whatsoever.