Changes in Sherlock Holmes fandom over time

[damned_colonial]

So, this came up in a sub-thread on the asexuality post, and was threatening to get pretty tangential/deraily, so I thought it was worth creating a new post for it.

Sherlock Holmes fandom goes back a very long way, of course. And people have been writing H/W slash for a long time, too. Now we have this new movie, there's a whole new generation coming to the fandom who don't have experience with the older phases of the fandom, and while there is a lot of interesting stuff coming out of the newer fans' engagement with the canon, there are also older fans shaking their walking sticks at those kids on their lawn.

Personally, I'm fascinated by older Sherlock Holmes fandom even if I don't feel very much a part of it. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who was involved with Holmes fandom in its earlier/older incarnations -- any of the Sherlockian societies, or zine-based slash fandom, or mailing lists, or even LJ/DW fandom prior to the 2009 movie -- about your experiences and the changes you've seen.

And to bring it round to the subject of this comm, I'm especially interested in talking about how different groups or generations of Sherlock Holmes have addressed his (potential) queerness. Obviously it's changed over time -- we can have another go-round on the Watson Was a Woman thing and whether or not Stout was really trying to point out Holmes and Watson's queerness, if you like, and if anyone has any other pointers to older Sherlockiana on gender/sexuality issues I would love to know about them!

As for fic-writing fandom, I know when I read older H/W slash online I find it has a different aesthetic and different tropes than modern LJ/DW-centred slash fandom commonly uses. We're Not Gay, We Just Love Each Other is part of it, for sure. I feel like slash fandom has really changed the way we address homosexuality in recent years, based on the fic I've read. We seem much more likely to show our characters having had previous homosexual experiences, or being happily and openly bisexual, or being connected to a homosexual subculture, or being non-heteronormative in other ways (genderqueer/transgendered, asexual, kinky, etc.) At least, I *think* we're more likely to do that... am I missing stuff from the older fic, and if so, where can I find the fic that talks about these things? And, is this happening because newer generations of fans are more likely to be queer, more likely to be out as queer, more likely to be used to discussing and dissecting queerness online?

Bringing in another post that I found this morning (via), by obsession_inc on the subjection of "Affirmational" vs "Transformational" fandom, do you think Holmes fandom is shifting from affirmational to transformational, and is that a generational shift? (I like obsession_inc's observation that "fixing" the story so that our beloved characters have sex is one of the most common forms of transformation.) I found myself pointing at obsession_inc's post and saying YES THIS and I know I'm going to be pointing to it a lot in future because it resonates very strongly with me, and I'm definitely feeling that resonance in what I see of Sherlock Holmes fandom in its various incarnations.

What do you think?

ETA: I know we're getting linked pretty regularly in LJ comms like holmesian_news, so if anyone comes in from there and would like a DW account to comment on posts here (or post your own), here are three invite codes:

SYMVMRXY9SGCNAAADRN7
ARHCWS7ZK2V66AAADRN8
3AKGFN8AF8B5XAAADRN9

Comments

[spacefall]

Short answer: not quite. IMO, pre-movie slash fandom was already increasingly likely to explore queerness and historical context, possibly due to a shift in fandom as a whole. Fans have frequently used H/W to explore ideas around Victorian sexuality and identity.

I've been personally involved in Holmes fandom since around 2004, though I had contact with zine and online fandom before that, and knew the canon and Granada. I was aware of the fandom in a fan studies context long before I allowed myself to be sucked in. :)

I would say that in online Holmes Slash there has been long-running trend towards exploring the historical setting, ideas of queerness, the history of sexual identity and so on. Certainly in the active fandom, pre-movie, there was a lot of exploration of what it meant to be queer in the 1880s - early 20th century. Hell, that is a large part of what interests me in Holmes fandom (see my bookshelf for details ;D) I don't think that post-movie fic goes noticeably further in that direction, but I do think that the older fanbase and fan material online was more mixed, so perhaps newer fandom gives a stronger reflection of recent trends in fandom? I have certainly been aware of new fans re-treading the exploration of the canon in queer terms, just as pre-movie fans had done, and I personally see it as a point in common rather than a division...though that may be my own selfish desire to see Holmes fandom continue in this direction. :)

I think that part of a perception of older fic as 'less queer' might be the use of a Watson/canon-styled POV, which tries to incorporate Victorian views on sexuality, or the language of the canon. Not that some tales don't deal bluntly with H&W as queer men, but stories are IMO more likely to play with the identities available to Holmes and Watson at the time. The overcoming of internalised homophobia is a common plotline in H/W, and Watson especially is often portrayed as grappling with perceptions of being 'normal', 'not like that', etc. Rather than an attempt to argue for TNGTJLE, those sorts of plotlines can often be about the difficulty H&W have in forming an identity for themselves and their relationship. For every Holmes who embraces his sexual difference, or Watson who is at ease with his physical passion for men, there are a handful of HWs with hangups up to their ears, trying to fit their affair into some framework they can accept. I don't think those stories are any less about being queer, but perhaps less likely to allow Holmes and Watson the comfort of newer* sexual identities. The constraints imposed by 19th century ideas of sex/love can be a sharp-edged plot point when compared to the relative freedom enjoyed by some of us as modern readers.

* in the sense of 'more common in the present time' rather than recently-created. While I do follow a lot of constructionist arguments, I veer away from seeing modern identities purely in terms of a response to legal and sexological definitions. Plenty of early queer writers had already described their own sense of sexual difference, and some had tried to define their desires in remarkably familiar terms. That's not to say that every man or woman had access to these ideas (indeed, for some women it was probably less helpful to do so) but they were part of a mix of identities, alongside those views that define sex in terms of what one did rather than what one was. The types of self-identification available to Holmes and Watson were certainly a lot broader than those applied from outside, legal, medical, or moral.

FWIW, I recommend ...

Lyra's links at http://liquidfic.net/Holmes_Watson.html and her own stories, which frequently explore queer topics. The links page is no longer updated, but Lyra often mentions stories with queer plotlines which she has enjoyed. See also Katie Forsythe who's been more recently active on this topic.
The Slasher's Annotated Sherlock Holmes
http://jane3gar.springnote.com/

Decoding the Subtext - Neko's epic writings - I disagree with some of the interpretations of language, but a very rewarding read.
http://nekosmuse.com/sherlockholmes/subtext.htm

To go into tropes...a while ago I made a database of online fic(pre-movie) by canonical reference and it was clear that certain stories commanded more interest than others. In particular, Charles Augustus Milverton is the focus of a lot of fan activity. Victorian blackmail was far more frequently centred on same-sex activity than you'd think from Doyle ;D and writers have used CHAS to explore restrictions on identity and activity. The Sign of Four is also a jumping off point for discussions of Watson's sexual identity, marriage, form, and so on. I think this is a fairly common trend in the active H/W community, in common with other fandoms. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of fic conforming to older zine-era styles, but I would say that cox_and_co and HolmesSlash on Yahoo have both seen a good deal of discussion of queerness.

Back to Holmes fandom as a whole, I have an interest in all sorts of 'writings on the writings', and although I have struggled to find much discussion of queerness (even 'In Bed With Sherlock Holmes' veers off into semiotics at that point!) it's not entirely un-trodden territory. I have been a bit critical *cough* of the attempts to dismiss queer readings of the canon as naive or shallow, but that's an interesting topic in itself! One for another day, maybe ;D I have a long list of writers-who-should-know-better, and spurious arguments against H/W in otherwise rigorous books!