Sherlock (TV series) - Heteronormativity caught you in a haste? Here some quick replies to copy paste!
bug-catcher-in-viridian-forest:
Since people keep recycling the same heteronormative arguments and I was fed up with repeating myself, I made some standard replies that I could quickly copy paste to them and cover the all the major points.
Feel free to suggest new points, send me useful quotes of interviews, correct grammatical mistakes. I mainly created it for myself, but you can copy paste this wherever you want, editing whatever you want.
I will add links to other people’s meta only with the permission of the author, because these are things that I’m going to repost outside of tumblr in sites where there might be hate and I don’t want to attract hate on other people’s blogs.
Content should be as unattackable as possible, facts and not interpretations, because outside of tumblr interpretations aren’t really welcome if they imply homosexuality and people will just start asking for proofs we don’t have.
I will update this post every time a new heteronormative argument arises.
- THE “JOHN AND SHERLOCK ARE JUST FRIENDS” ARGUMENT:
- The fact that they are friends now doesn’t mean that a romantic relationship can’t develop in the future.
Their relationship is coded like slow burn romance and they will probably end up together near the end of it. Queer people can have slow burn romances like everyone else. Just because they are queer it doesn’t mean that they have to jump at each other and declare their feelings right away, so you can have no doubt about the fact that they are queer and in love. Let the queers take the time to fall in love that the heterosexual couples always have had on TV.
Here the definition of “romance arc”: The journey of two characters from strangers to lovers”.- Here some romantic tropes typical of slow burn romances that have been used on Sherlock:
- Red String of Fate: They meet because they say the same thing to the same person.
- Meet Cute: As soon as they meet, Sherlock deduces many things about him and John is completely amazed, then Sherlock dashes away and winks in a very cute way, leaving John standing there in shock.
- Rescue Romance: John saves Sherlock’s live while he was about to swallow the pill from the cabbie.
- Samaritan Relationship Starter: Sherlock deduces John has killed a man who was trying to kill him and his positively surprised. Sherlock immediately asks John out to dinner.
- Just Friends: John insist they are just friends, but no one seems to believe him. When this trope is not used and they are really just friends, there is no reason to repeatedly bring up the tension by suggesting that they are not.
- Not a Date: John practically says this out loud two times and Angelo doesn’t believe him.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Another romantic trope John cries out loud several times. And no one believes him. Again, it’s a common trope to increase the romantic tension, there’s no other reason to repeat it as the show goes on.
- Will They or Won’t They?: This is what part of the fandom is wondering and, when then this trope is used, usually the answer is “They will”, because fans are emotionally invested.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: The gaze and touch each other and there is tension about it. TV shows don’t code friends with tension. The knee grab is one of the best examples.
- Dance of Romance and Convenient Slow Dance: Sherlock and John have already danced off screen, specifically to a waltz and many times. There is speculation that they might have danced in the deleted gay pub scene which was not released with the other deleted scene, as there is little other reason to make a distinction between a gay and a non-gay pub if it is only shown for a few seconds like the other pubs.
Sherlock also declared that he loves to dance and lives in the hope of the right case, but he is the only one who doesn’t get to do it at the wedding, so we might see them dance on screen in the future.- Everyone Can See It: Everyone thinks they are a couple.
- Held Gaze: Sherlock and John gaze at each other.
- Moment Killer: They are drunk and are starting to act a bit too intimate with each other, where would that have gone without Tessa interrupting them? Do you ever wonder if there was a reason for that scene to end with an interruption?
- Operation Jealousy: Sherlock enters a fake romantic relationship and doesn’t tell John for a while. John looks surprised, but also jealous. He certainly doesn’t look happy about it.
- Romantic False Lead: John’s wife is actually an assassin that has lied to him since the start of their relationship and shoots Sherlock, who is declared dead on the operating table, but he comes back to live because John is in danger. There is speculation that in the next series she could be made even more of a villain.
Sherlock gets a girlfriend, but it’s a fake relationship.- Sleep Cute: John and Sherlock sleeping on the stairs.
- Wrong Guy First: John marries an assassin who shoots Sherlock, who survives only out of fear that John will be hurt.
- Aborted Declaration of Love: Sherlock wanted to confess something to John before going inside the plane, but made a joke instead. He had already confessed his feelings of friendship at the wedding.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: In Series 1 and 2 we see John potentially emotionally interested, but Sherlock has turned him down from the start. John deals with the fact that Sherlock is not looking for a relationship and his interest is unrequited.
In Series 3 Sherlock is finally ready to be emotionally involved, but John has found a new love interest, which is a romantic false lead anyway. Sherlock deals with having lost John forever,- I Have Your Girlfriend: Moriarty kidnaps John at the pool. Magnussen kidnaps John and puts him in a fire.
- Second Act Break Up: At the end of Series 2 they are separated for two years.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Sherlock makes John believe that he’s dead for two years in order to save his life.
- (Relationship Sabotage: This trope is only speculated on some theories. Since it’s a huge coincidence that John’s wife is an assassin, she might have started her relationship with John as an assignment from Moriarty to hurt Sherlock. She may have later actually fell in love.)
- Here some generic romantic tropes that have been used on Sherlock:
- Accidental Hand Hold: John and Sherlock hold hands while trying run away from the police.
- Act of True Love: Sherlock jumps from a building for John, he says he would have jumped even if he couldn’t survive.
Sherlock come back to live after being declared dead on the operating table because John is in danger.
The only vow Sherlock will ever make in his life is to protect John’s family.
Sherlock kills a man and goes to an exile which will lead to his death to protect John’s family.- Betty and Veronica: John between Mary and Sherlock before it’s revealed that Mary is an assassin.
- Declaration of Protection: Sherlock’s last and only vow.
- Finishing Each Other’s Sentences:
SHERLOCK: Don’t compromise the integrity of the…
JOHN: …crime scene!- Shipper on Deck: Mrs. Husdon and Angelo ship them a lot, Irene Adler ships them a bit and Molly and Mycroft seem to believe Sherlock has feelings for John.
- There Is Only One Bed: There is an inversion of this trope, where they are mistaken for a couple and the owner of the hotel apologizes for the lack of a double room. It serves the purpose of creating tension and remembering us that they look like a couple anyway.
There is also the possibility that Sherlock might have tried to share a bed with John, since the owner acts like if he was asked a double room during the booking process and John informs us in his blog that Sherlock once proposed that they should sleep together in the same bed for a case.- Asking directly or indirectly if the other is single, replying that it’s nice they are single.
- Green-Eyed Monster: John being jealous while Irene flirts with Sherlock. He counts how many messages she sends him, Irene herself says he’s jealous and he interrupts them with the baby names comment.
- In the Blind Banker Sherlock grabs John’s head in the dark and John probably thinks he’s going to kiss him.
- This is not a faithful adaption. Even if for many things the creators have stuck to the ACD canon, for many others they have not, there’s no reason why the relationship status cannot be touched while other relevant aspects have been.
Moreover, the possibility that Sherlock and John were in love with each other in the ACD canon has been discussed for decades.
It was illegal in Victorian times to for men to be in a romantic relationship, so, even if Sherlock and John had been compatible enough to wish for a romantic relationship, they would have committed a crime and would have tried to avoid the thought.
Also, the stories were reported by Dr. Watson. This means that, even if they were in a romantic relationship, he wouldn’t have published it, because they could have been arrested.
