Musing on Holmes, Fandoms, and Community: An Introduction to Me

[alchemistdoctor]

As one might surmise from my first entry on this DW, I'm a Holmesian, and recently arrived out of a wish to connect with community. 

It's quite odd, because Holmes has been in my life since I was around eight and first read the novels and short stories. Since then, he's been around in various incarnations; from films to telly shows to more books, fanfic, and pastiches. 

I quite liked BBC Sherlock when it first came out. I believe this was for several reasons.  

• I had just moved out of my mother's place, and Holmes felt like home.
• I needed community.
• I'd only recently been told by one of my mother's therapists that I was sociopathic (I'm not, but it hurt quite a lot to be told I was. My mother is an entirely different can of worms). BBC's Sherlock spoke to that hurt.
• It was a new take on an old friend. 

As time went on, the community went from fun, to frantic, to toxic. Fan communities tend to do that; it's the growth spectrum. When a medium is still producing Story, the fandom goes from childlike excitement, to bonding, to teenage judgement and exclusionism, and in five to ten years, when BBC Sherlock is a memory and on old hard drives, it will be a calm and complacent fandom once more, because those who can't get their emotional kicks from speculation and influx of new material will have dropped out. 

However, as a fan, I did slowly become disappointed in the show itself. The racism, sexism, and homophobia only seemed to increase. The twists on Doyle's stories went from fun to offensive. The most recent season made me feel ill at some of the themes portrayed in ways that I couldn't reconcile. 

I've never let go of the original stories; the canon holds a special place in my heart. Granada Holmes is perhaps my favourite Holmes of all time. It's hardly as though BBC Sherlock has ruined my enjoyment of the entirety of Holmesian lore. It never eclipsed it. It simply had the strongest community aspect.

However, as BBC Sherlock degenerated, so did large amounts of the community I had found. I'd had that community since 2011 and watching it dissolve was heartbreaking. I didn't agree with all of the people, and there were quite a few I was glad had left, but the sense of community was fractured and broken, and remembering the joy from the beginning now made my chest ache at the loss. 

I suppose I'm trying to find a semblance of community here, with a more balanced perspective, with the same love of the canon stories and victorian Holmes that I've kept since I was 8 years old and first read A Study in Scarlet for the first time.

AO3 is a marvellous site for reading, but not as much a community site. Tumblr is very large and easy for me to get lost in. LiveJournal has so many nested comment threads that I completely lose track of what's going on. DW seemed well-organised for a newbie. 

So here I am, wobbling my way through the new terminology (is a reading page like a dashboard? What's the difference between subscribing and joining? How do the tagging systems work? What can people see on my profile? What is going on????) and messing with the theme like a 13-year-old on myspace. It's all very new and exciting and I feel a bit silly, but that's part of the fun, I suppose. 

This won't only have Holmesian things; I'm sure I'll have knitting notes, random pictures, rants about my Uni (I'm reading Chemistry with a Pre-Med track, and finals are going to be murder). So you'll get to know a bit more of me, if you want to continue reading. 

In the meantime, my sincerest greetings to the people here. I hope to interact and connect here, and hopefully find joy in our friends, Holmes and Watson.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

And hello again. Can I recommend sherlock60 and holmes_minor both of which I also mod. They are both ACD Holmes, and details are on their profiles. They're more active (neither are very busy) on LJ.

[alchemistdoctor]

Thank you! I just subscribed/requested to join. I don't actively have an LJ, but I've heard it's quite similar to DW, so hopefully as I get used to the platform I'll be able to interact on both.

[smallhobbit]

The LJ entries are copied over to DW by my co-mod, so you should be able to see some of what happens.

[alchemistdoctor]

Wonderful! Thank you for letting me know of both! I'm going to get sucked in quickly, I predict.

[smallhobbit]

Just be warned - there are some terrible puns, and some rather unexpected creatures, like the Ferret.

[alchemistdoctor]

That... that is the opposite of dissuasion. That is persuasion. That is an incentive.

[mafief]

Greetings! I found you through your post on watsons_woes. I read your fic and liked it. The part about Holmes studying Watson’s hands seemed fitting considering how often Watson remarks on Holmes’ hands.

I hope you find the community that you are looking for here. I’m also very new and I’ve found the communities on DW and LJ very friendly. The BBC Sherlock community on Tumblr I find a little, uh, rough. I see that smallhobbit has already suggested a few communities and I’ll second those suggestions. The Ferret is also adorable. :)

Other things, I’m also a scientist (plant geneticist) and I’ve finished grad school. I’m excited to find another scientist in this community. :)

[alchemistdoctor]

Thank you so much for reading my fic! This made me smile; the perfect way to start my day.

I would very much agree with your assessment of the various communities online. Unfortunately, LJ is still confusing to me as far as layout, so I'm sticking on DW for now and hoping to work my head around the differences slowly. I've joined the communities, though, so hopefully, I can expand here and get to know more folk!

Oh my goodness. I'm currently in Bio taught by a professor who does work with conifers. I'm both pleased to meet a scientist and terrified of you because plants confuse me. Humans actually seemed simple in comparison when I was learning the plant chapters. (I recognise this is the opposite of how most people view the two, but... there we are.)

Still, plant genetics is a fascinating field! My uni has at least three (I think?) professors working in the area so I get a lot of enthusiastic talks on their research. It's awesome to meet you!

[mafief]

You’re welcome. :)

One step at a time and no pressure. I find it a little overwhelming to keep up with DW and LJ, but there are a few tricks that help.

Lol, I tried studying mammalian systems before, but I didn’t like killing mice or having my research subjects run away. I’ve found most students are confused by plants. Plants do things a little differently and aren’t as emphasized in grade schools as much as mammals. But, once you get to know them they are rather fascinating. One of my friends who was convinced she was going to do the pre-med route and converted after a few plant classes. She’s now studying plants and birds and all sorts of outdoors biology.

I’m glad to hear that there are a few plant profs at your campus and the conifer prof sounds awesome.

[alchemistdoctor]

Fair point about mammalian research. You also probably get a lot less crying and all the other bodily fluids that come with medicine. Plants are much kinder to their researchers as a general rule, assuming said researchers aren't studying the gympie-gympie or something similar. :)

Our conifer prof is amazing; my only problem is that his voice is so soothing I start to fall asleep in his classes, so I have to bring knitting or something else to keep myself focused. Apparently he takes groups camping over the summers for research, which sounds absolutely hysterical.

[tripleransom]

Howdy! Glad you joined us. And you knit as well? Are you on Rav? Nice to 'see' you here.

[alchemistdoctor]

I am on Rav! I'm SherrinfordH. I'm bicraftual, but knitting's my preferred craft. Unfortunately, I recently cracked the skin on my finger used to shift stitches, so I'm on an enforced break.

[tripleransom]

Heh. I'm Tripleransom there also. I can't manage to keep up with different usernames. Too bad about your finger.