[ SECRET POST #2115 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2115 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Elementary]


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03.
[To Aru Majutsu no Index]


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04.
[Ghostbusters 2]


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05.
[One Piece]


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06.
[Teen Wolf]


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07.
[Big Time Rush]


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08.
[Sherlock]


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09.
[Pitch Perfect]


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10.
[Blue Exorcist & Supernatural]


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11.
[Homestuck]


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12.
[Rose Byrne]


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13.
[khaos komix]


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14.
[Once Upon a Time]


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15.
[The White Buffalo]


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16.
[Teen Wolf]


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17.
[Dawn of the Dead]


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18.
[CSI: Miami]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #302.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ariakas]

I don't know, I like the idea of a female Sherlock, but I also like the idea of a kick-ass female Watson.

That said, I'm still leery about them stripping away the military background from the Watson character. Very leery. Because, well, why? It's not as if the US hasn't been fighting wars for the last decade, and it's not as if there aren't a ton of female medics. One of them even won the Silver Star for bravery in combat, so it's not like she couldn't have had the same experiences as dude!Watson.

It just seemed like such a pointless change. They could have made her lose her medical licence, and focused on that, while discussing her military background very little, but still kept it in. Just... why take it out? It makes no sense to me. None. It's so random. I mean three things about the character: make it American, make it Asian, make it female. American certainly doesn't stop one from being a war veteran. Neither does being Asian. Neither does being female, but.... :/ Female veterans already face erasure when they return home. Why do this? It's so random, and uncool.

People who've watched it - is there a good reason, a plot/character reason Joan Watson couldn't be a veteran?

[maverickz3r0]

Yes, actually!

They're drawing parallels between Joan and Sherlock regarding penance. Watson is an ex-surgeon because she quit after a patient died on the table, and Sherlock has something unspecified in London that he refers to as 'a series of mistakes'. Both of them are where they are because they're repenting (even though he doesn't admit it), for things that may or may not have entirely been their fault.

Now, maybe they could've kept the army thing in, but it probably has a lot more of a negative undertone for a female army doctor to quit (plus they couldn't really have an army doctor quit because someone died since...I'd imagine that's more common than they would like to admit, just due to circumstance) because she lost a patient. They're also showing that she seems to have her owns reasons to it beyond that, for what it's worth, so I don't think it's a question that can fully be answered in the two episodes we have so far.

I know I found someone's post or column or something at one point detailing this better than I put it and I probably missed a few points, but I know the key thing is the parallels.

EDIT: There's also the fact that apparently John Watson never wanted to be in the army either and maybe Joan just had the choice that he didn't.

[ariakas]

...I don't see how any of that would have prevented her from having done a tour of duty as an army doctor, been honorably discharged (as most soldiers are when their service is done), returned to civilian life as a doctor and then lost a patient and quit.

Unless you can enlighten me? None of what you said would have prevented her from having been a veteran, provided it was at least a few years prior.

Didn't see your edit before I responded, but really? Unless that's directly stated in the show, I don't really buy it.

[maverickz3r0]

http://fuckyeah-i-read.tumblr.com/post/33287916248/watson-is-an-army-doctor-except-when-he-isnt

Found that too. I think that's what I recall reading before.

I don't see anything that directly would do it, no, but like I said. Two episodes. Maybe some reference will be made to it or not. But really? Even aside from that she's a good character; altering a part of the background that is not essential to the story they want to tell--or maybe needs to be as it is for the story they want to tell--doesn't change the fact that she's still Watson.

[ariakas]

No, it doesn't make her not Watson, but there was no reason as far as I can see (perhaps you're right, perhaps they'll explain it at some point or it will become clear, but also - perhaps they won't) to make that change, small part of the original character or not. Combined with the fact that female veterans are often erased from public recognition as it stands, it's a unfortunate missed opportunity at best, extremely uncool at worst.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not a "fact" at all - read the actual stories and you will see that what this person wrote is nonsense and based on assumptions not sustainable from the text.

[(Anonymous)]

Indeed. I was leery of the show when I found out they'd genderswapped Watson but NOT Sherlock too, and when I found out they took away Watson's military background I was like "... fuck no." Why even call the character "Watson" when she's 1) not a veteran and 2) doesn't even have a medical license anymore?

Female veterans already face erasure when they return home.
THIS. The show's decision bothers me SO MUCH because of THIS.

[(Anonymous)]

People who've watched it - is there a good reason, a plot/character reason Joan Watson couldn't be a veteran?

Okay, this is kind of complicated and I'm not going to articulate this very well, but I think the main reason for the change was the way the show wants to show murder and its aftermath. Watson's the POV character, and her reactions to things kind of set the tone. The way she's been shocked/saddened/troubled by the bodies of murder victims is the main thing I've noticed, and I'm not sure it would have made much sense if she was coming from a war-zone medic background. I mean the main reason Watson in so many of the other adaptations is kind of blase about seeing death/terrible things is because he does have that background. People were having trouble buying that just as a surgeon, she'd be so shocked by a murder scene as to have to leave the room, can you just imagine if she'd been that shocked as an Army surgeon?

I'm not saying it wouldn't have been great if she had been a veteran, or that you couldn't have even worked your way around to the same kind of reactions to things even if she was. I just feel like that's the reason the change happened.

[darkmanifest]

Well, it's possible to have been in the military and come away with an even greater sensitivity towards death and trauma, due to overexposure leading to PTSD, I would imagine. In fact, they could even say that was why A) Watson didn't stay in the military longer, and B) froze up and lost a patient during surgery after she left. Don't watch the show myself, just speaking hypothetically.

[ariakas]

I see your point - they could have arrived at the same place by having her war experience scar her, or having her compartmentalize that experience separately from civilian life, but that would have been stepping on BBC!Watson's toes a bit.

That could have been a big part of it, though again, if that was so then why not just say so? I can't help but be skeptical, otherwise. Even if it was, it's still a tragically missed opportunity, given how low a profile female veterans are given in the US.

[oroburos69]

I'm going to take a random stab at it, in that I suspect that the plot premise came from someone who was not overly familiar with the original version. Ask ten people on the street what Watson's background is and I bet you that about seven of them will get it wrong and at least one won't even know that he's a doctor. Even in the original short stories, his army background isn't a huge deal 90% of the time.

That having been said? I think that there was a more than a dash of sexism in the works, too. I'm willing to deal with it, on the basis that Elementary is the bakery AU of Sherlock adaptations, and I'm really hoping Joan NOT being a former army medic will lead to less stupid gun shenanigans. (Sherlock. Seriously. You're set in modern day Britain. I know those snipers are just a bunch of people with laser pointers.)

[(Anonymous)]

I think you might be exaggerating. Ask ten people on the street about Watson in America, and they all will have heard of the RDJ Sherlock movies if not seen them. I got soldier and doctor from those, and I've only seen them once.

[oroburos69]

I didn't say they wouldn't know the Sherlock mythos, but that they would not know the details of it--particularly not the details about Watson. He's certainly not the main character.

[(Anonymous)]

I imagine it's partly because, to be a veteran in the modern day, she'd either have to have served in the Gulf War, or she'd potentially STILL be in Iraq/Afghanistan.

[ariakas]

Not necessarily. How else could BBC!Sherlock have been a vet of Iraq/Afghanistan? The troop surges have been over for years; people actually get to go home now.

There were also armed conflicts in Somalia, Bosnia, East Timor and Kosovo between the Gulf War and the war on terror where she could have been deployed.