"I said "I’m going to leave Star Trek because (I was going to say ‘because I have an offer to star in) …I never got that far"
He said "You cannot - you cannot"
and I felt like that little boy Willis "What you talkin’ about dr. king"
(laughs) "But you know I didn’t say that"
"But I was taken aback, and I didn’t say anything, I just looked at him"
He said "Don’t you know understand what this man [Gene] has achieved?"
"I just looked at him" and he said "For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day – as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, but who can also go into space, who can be lawyers, who can be teachers, who can be professors - who ARE on this day, and yet you don’t see it on television – until now…”
"and he went on and I could say nothing, I just stood there, realizing every word that he was saying was the truth"
"and he said, “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave that door can be closed. You see your role is not a black role, and it’s not a female role, he can fill it with anything - including an alien"
"And in that moment the world tilted for me, and I knew then, that I was something else, that the world was not the same. That’s all I could think of, what dr. king said ‘the world sees us as we should be seen’ “and i remember being angry come sunday. “Why me? Why should I have to?…
"Whatever happened come monday morning I went to Gene, and I’m not sure to this day what I was going to say. He’s sitting behind that same dang desk and he had whoever he was talking to leave because I went there first. And I said “Gene, and I told him what happened" and I told him “If you still want me to stay, I’ll stay - I have to" and he opened his drawer and said “God bless dr. martin luther king, somebody knows where I’m coming from" and he took out my resignation — that was torn into a hundred pieces and handed me the pile, and we just stood there looking at each other, and I finally said “Thank you, Gene, and he said “Thank you, Nichelle"
"And my life’s never been the same since, I’ve never looked back, I’ve never regretted it. Because I understood the universe had somehow put me there, and we have choices - are we gonna walk down this road? are we gonna walk the other..and it was the right road for me"
Alright, so I've decided to make a secondary blog solely for the gifs I make. It makes the tags, which I projectile vomit my feelings in often, less messy when it shows up in the show's individual tags.
So! The blog is burntheconfetti. It doesn't really matter if you follow it or not, since I'm going to reblog my stuff here. But if you want to avoid the greatness that is ~all of this~ and just want the gifs, you should follow that instead.
I'm alive, I swear! This is not an abandoned blog. My eight month absence is the result of a series of unfortunate events, beginning with my laptop breaking (like, electrocuting-me-as-one-last-fuck-you kind of breaking), climaxing with my cousin attempting to save our family by shooting an arrow straight into my arm (it scared off the robbers, at least?), and ending with me crashing on a motorcycle (it was awesome, remind me to tell you all about it). There was a lot of other stuff that happened in between, and a rooster bent on Joker-style anarchy may or may not have been a recurring antagonist, but the trauma's still a little too fresh for me to go into specifics.
Either way, my computer's fixed and that cock-a-doodling menace is on the other side of the globe, so I should be posting and reblogging stuff again. Also, I've rediscovered my soul-crushing, life-ruining love for Nikita, so there's going to be a lot of that.
So hello again! I can feel the sheer lack of fucks you all give and it warms my surprisingly still-beating heart.
With the premiere of the megasuperawesome pilot episode of Elementary, I thought it a good time to talk about something that has realllyyy bugged me for the last few months.
I've been in this fandom since we first caught wind that HBIC extraordinaire, Lucy Liu, would be playing Watson, and became a bonafide stan when Elementary kept dishing out consistently awesome stuff (New York! Recognition of canon addiction! A Holmes that's not a special snowflake douche! POCs in important, recurring roles!).
And because being an Elementary fan means having to deal with a bunch of ignorant twats, I've spent most of the last year on livejournal going through argument after argument of thinly-veiled racism, sexism, and queer fetishization. I've only recently become active on tumblr and I'm not even on it much, but a person doesn't need to spend a lot of time here to see that it's more of the same. It's possibly even worse. And though it is great to see so many people unwilling to take such bullshit, even when said bullshit is never-ending and refuses to shut up, for the love of god - there is one statement that anti-Elementary peeps keep churning out that even a few pro-Elementary fans will concede to: the assertion that it would be super problematic, sexist, and homophobic should this version of Holmes and Watson ever enter into a romantic relationship.
And I need you guys, both anti and pro, to realize how much that doesn't make any fucking sense. So I'm going to debunk the most common explanations we've been given of why this would supposedly be omgsooffensive and hopefully, we won't have to bare witness to this again.
The romance will demean Joan Watson, reducing her arc to nothing more than just Holmes' love interest!
Look, can we stop with this weird resurgence of '90s feminism? Much like cornrows on white people, it should be left in that decade, never to be spoken of again.
For those of you unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, '90s feminism is known for its idea that qualities and virtues seen as feminine were somehow lesser for being, well, feminine, and didn't deserve to be taken seriously. That, in order for a woman to be considered a well-written character and a good role model, she must be tough. Physically strong. Show no signs of weakness. A no-nonsense, gun-toting, hard-core rage machine who spits on marriage and submits to no man! In other words, she must abandon all traditionally feminine characteristics, like romance and empathy and other such softer emotions, and embrace masculinity if she wants to be seen and treated as a worth-while individual.
Now, mind you, there's nothing wrong with the character I just described (except, you know, the misogyny she's possibly internalized). But there's also nothing wrong with the alternative. Romance and being in a relationship, wanting those things, does not make a woman (or man or any person) inferior or weak. It doesn't belittle or undermine the kind of person they are, just as lacking physical prowess doesn't disqualify a woman from being a strong person.
Sure, romance can often be difficult to write without getting into cliches, but does that mean it's some development-sucking vacuum of doom? No! If the character suddenly becomes an out-of-character love-zombie when ~feelings enter the equation, it's not the romance ruining them. It's the writers being stupid as fuck because they're shitty and lazy and they don't understand their characters or what the fuck they're doing. Hell, if it's done correctly, romance can actually inform the narrative of the entire show.
And we've already been assured by the producers/directors/actors/the entire world jfc, time and time again, that Watson will be fleshed out and explored both dependent and independent of her relationship to Holmes. And why shouldn't we trust this, when nothing we've seen or heard so far can dispute it? Already in the first episode, Watson not only contributes to the case, but it is because of her input that it's solved at all. More importantly, her input is valued and credited. It's treated with the respect it and she deserve. In the first episode.
So if Watson gets to be a three-dimensional character and treated as one, while still remaining HBIC, what's the problem here?
I'm fine with Watson being turned into a woman, but for her to become romantically involved with Holmes is homophobic! It would just prove that they turned Watson into a woman in order to avoid a homosexual relationship.
Okay, you guys are aware that in order for their potential union to be homophobic, it would require the original version of Holmes and Watson to be actually, canonically gay. Which they were not. At all. Elementary isn't avoiding anything since, well, there's nothing to avoid.
I know, I know. But what about the interpretations? The subtext? The HoYay? Trust me, I get it. God knows I've also been dying for more representation of queer relationships (at least, I hope that's why you're pulling for a relationship between Holmes and Watson, and not because you're being gross and fetishizing them) since I was ten and realized that Haruka and Michiru were totally boning each other - and that it excited me in new and very interesting ways. But Doyle's stories weren't depicting a gay couple. If they were, we wouldn't have to jump through hurdles of interpretation just to see them as such. HoYay, as validating as it sometimes feels, is nothing but personal perception. Which, reminder, is not canon. And don't we deserve better than that? Better than just subtext? Don't we deserve indisputable fact?
Yes, this does indeed suck heteronormative balls. Yet another reminder that your own versions of Holmes and Watson, whether it be BBC or Guy Ritchie's films or even House, will never get together. But here's the thing: none of that is Elementary's fault. They're not the ones teasing you with hints of possible homosexuality while never following through. They're not the ones turning it into a giant joke. They're not the ones outright mocking you. They don't deserve your very appropriate outrage - so why are you angry with them? Shouldn't you be angry with, I don't know, the people who are pulling the queer-baiting, no-homo spiel on you for shits and giggles and basically turning all of you into a spectacle? Direct your righteous fury at the people who deserve it and please leave the show that's actually progressive out of this mess.
I'm tired of the will-they-won't-they. For once, I just want it to be shown that men and women can be platonic friends and aren't always attracted to each other!
I may get a little heat for this part, but whatever, this is the explanation that has always bothered me the most.
All of you pressing for Lucy Liu's Watson to remain just a friend because you "don't see enough platonic friendships between men and women" in media? I understand where you're coming from, but please. Stop. This is a white people problem. POCs don't have that issue because we are never the love interest. We don't get that consideration. We'd have to be recognized as actual human beings with feelings and opinions and a point of view for that to happen.
We're either a passing fancy that is primarily referred to as "that totally exotic black/asian/latina chick I banged that one time" or a friend the main protagonist keeps around to avoid looking racist. Actually, scratch that - friend is too strong a word. We're the brown person everyone turns to when they need a laugh or when shit hits the fan and their asses need to be saved. We are there to impart some ~infinite wisdom that only us POC folk can apparently provide and then we fade back into the mist, waiting to be of use to the white people once more.
We don't get love stories. We don't get UST. We don't get to be the person the main protagonist pines for throughout the series/films/books and has tortured, conflicted feelings about. We don't get emotionally resonant scenes of lingering touches, heartbreaking looks, and tender kisses. We're never told by the main protagonist, or anyone really, that they'll wait for us. That no one else could ever matter so much. That we'll always be the one. These things have always been reserved for white people.
So one of the few times we might actually get a chance at it, get the validation of being a person worthy of a love story, of love, with the main protagonist on network television no less, you're going to try to assert your white problems upon us and make it all about you? No. Stop. Stop assuming that your struggles are our struggles. They're not.
And honestly, I'm not so sure people aren't so adamant about them staying friends because she's Asian. Had they casted someone like Carey Mulligan to play Watson, I doubt everyone would be nearly as adamant in their stay-platonic-5eva position as they are now. Sure, you'd all still protest; still fight the good "friends-only" fight. But the sheer disbelief? The sheer DNW stamped all over everyone's tumblrs and livejournals? The unrelenting insistence that they never get together? Yeah, no.
Am I calling all of you racist, even fellow POCs? Not necessarily (don't rule it out, though). What I'm saying is that perhaps we've so long seen POCs as just friends, as tools to be used even, that it's hard to picture them as actual love interests now. As someone that has wants and needs and deserves to have those fulfilled; whose attractiveness and suitability as a potential partner is acknowledged and explored. From the moment we're born, we're conditioned to view POCs as less important, less human than white people, so is it much of a stretch to think it might be affecting your judgement on this, as well?
Okay! So that's pretty much it. I know at this point, people usually write a nice closing paragraph that ties everything together, but fuck you all, this was long and now I'm lazy. I'm taking a shortcut.
So romance ≠ bad (it doesn't necessarily equal good, either; it's just neutral). Holmes and Watson: not actually gay in the books. Elementary's not homophobic. White people, your struggles are not our struggles. POCs need love, too. Hatred isn't the only way racism manifests (far, far from it).
Basically, if they don't get together? That's cool. If they eventually do? That's pretty cool, too.
