XistentialAngst's Blog, page 80

As You Are Me And We Are All Together

inevitably-johnlocked:

overlyanalyticalboswell:

Yes, the title is a line from the Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus”. But unlike that song, this meta’s actually going to make sense ;)

It’s no secret that Arthur Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes by the time of “The Final Problem”. He tried to kill off the world’s most famous detective (suck it, Batman) but he just couldn’t be stopped. Victorian audiences rioted in the street, wore black armbands in mourning, and beseeched Doyle to continue the consulting detective’s adventures, and finally, Doyle brought Holmes back to life in “The Empty House” to reunite with his flatmate and Boswell to save the day once again.

But what Doyle – or even Holmes’s devoted fans – couldn’t know at the time was that Doyle had created a formula for fiction to follow even in modern day. Since Sherlock Holmes is the hero, there would be no story without him, but Doctor Watson is what brings color, romance, and warmth to the tale. The chronicles of Sherlock Holmes were the first buddy cop story. Regardless of how you view slash, Holmes and Watson are, by any definition of the word, soulmates. Every Holmes needs a Watson; the esoteric genius needs the personable straight man to balance out his eccentricity. Where would House be without Wilson? Where would Basil be without Dawson? Where would Phil Lester be without Dan Howell?!

In BBC Sherlock, there is a subtle continuing motif of John and Sherlock being not just being two components of a whole (“there’s always of two of us”, anyone?), but actually being the same person. There is an ancient belief that humans once had two heads, four legs, and four arms, but at some point were cleaved in two, and that’s how soulmates came to being. Finding your literal other half. When we first meet Sherlock and John, while they are drastically different characters, they’re in similar position: both lonely, both without hope, both suicidal (John’s loaded gun in his desk drawer, Sherlock willing to take the cabbie’s killing pill – and it’s not because he wants to prove that he’s a genius). In “The Blind Banker”, John is confused for Sherlock by Chan and the Black Lotus clan. In “The Sign Of Three”, Sherlock, drunk, is trying to guess himself for Rizlets, but thinks that he’s John instead (“I know who I am; I’m you, aren’t I?”).

But to fully explain this concept, we need…eh-heh-heh. A Greek Interpretation. XD

In not only the title card of the Gay Pilot, but also very briefly in “The Blind Banker”, a fountain in London bearing a statue of not Cupid, but actually Anteros, features in Sherlock. Anteros is the son of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology; he’s the avenger of requited love. Clearly, Moftiss decided that the idea of love being reciprocated and justice for denied love was important to the central theme of the show…for some reason. Then there’s Anthea, Mycroft’s assistant. Mycroft Holmes is played by writer/showrunner Mark Gatiss; Anthea is literally a writer’s tool. Anthea is the Roman name of the Greek mythology character Antheia, a goddess of flowers and flowery wreaths, also the goddess of human love. In “A Study In Pink”, when John tries to hit on Anthea in the car, she reminds him of his sexuality: “Bye.” (Bi.)

The idea of two lovers/soulmates being so connected that they are the same person comes from the philosophy of Plato. But firstly, I want to say: Johnlock/TJLC rejecters will describe the relationship between Sherlock and John (as well as most other slash ships, such as Merlin/Arthur from Merlin or Destiel from Supernatural) as “platonic”, but the irony of it is that Plato actually spoke quite widely about homosexual love. So when you call a friendship between two males (or females) as “platonic”, you might actually secretly be calling them gay without realizing it.

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates’ second speech talks for a good bit about the deep, spiritual love between two people (read: men), and boy, if that dialogue doesn’t describe John and Sherlock’s emotional journey to a tee. But in 255, it reads, “[the beloved] sees himself in his lover as in a mirror”. In Symposium, Aristophanes’ section elaborates a lot on finding one’s other half and feeling “whole” when a lover find his counterpart. These ideals are still reflected today in our modern marriage rituals: union. Two individuals joining as one. And it all began with Plato.

In the season 4 teaser trailer, and in the brand new promo pic, we’ve seen John slowly becoming aesthetically closer to Sherlock: dressing nicer, copious product in his hair. From what we’ve seen in the trailer, it seems that John may have to step up and take over some of Sherlock’s responsibilities. Certainly in “The Dying Detective” episode, in which Sherlock will be either ill or feigning illness. And for one last connection, Sherlock and John take a case in which the clients own a website where they explain the true meaning of comic books, when suddenly their explanations start coming true – bit like the TJLCers dissecting Sherlock. This case was called “The Geek Interpreter” on John’s blog, which is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Greek Interpreter” (now you understand my pun from earlier, lol).

And if you think I’m just imagining all this, just remember that the writers have told us point blank: there are no coincidences on this show. Steven and Mark are rarely so lazy.

My information about Anthea and Anteros came from some posts by @inevitably-johnlocked, who is brill and you should check out their blog.

Oh Lovely, I don’t recall ever writing posts about those, but I do reblog them!! But thank you for tagging me, this is SO GREAT!!! I LOVE IT!!!

kriskenshin:reichenfeels:walkintoasylum:Based on this...

kriskenshin:

reichenfeels:

walkintoasylum:

Based on this wonderful post:

Plot Twist: Sherlock and John are totally gay and hopelessly in love, but everybody assumes they’re just friends.

omg

This is the best… ILU!!!

Episode 2 Setlock Recap

thesetison:

Time to talk about episode 2! As with my first episode recap, I am operating under the assumption that everything filmed in the second block is for ep 2, except those pieces where we know for certain that Rachel or Benjamin were directing.

Let’s start with a bare essentials summary of ep 2:

Sherlock grows some scruff
Cardiff University Students’ Union becomes Gedgrave Hospital
Car chase with police cars and a red Aston Martin
A house in Miskin featuring Mrs Hudson with handcuffs, Sherlock in his dressing gown, the mystery woman played by Sian Brooke, the Aston Martin, a limo, an ambulance, and Molly’s arrival
A board meeting complete with IV drips appears in the middle of the street
Sherlock standing in the middle of traffic
Mary goes to Morocco
Mycroft goes black tie
The many adventures of Sherlock and the lady in red: a bright light overhead and a window in the middle of the street, Baker Street in the rain, bus stop fish and chips, a painful collapse on the bridge, the gun in the Thames as the sun rises
The unexpected appearance of Molly and the Watsons’ front door
Mrs Hudson throwing John something (possibly keys) on the street outside 221B
Creepy board meeting part two, this time with creepy nurses

A more detailed recap is below the cut. Again, I’ve summarized the filming by location (mostly chronologically), listed all of Arwel’s tweets from block 2, and included a few other things of note about the episode that didn’t quite fit elsewhere.

Weiterlesen

Sherlock S4 promo release dates (predictions)

eerhtcbb:

TLDR: 

Sunday 4th September: Original British Drama trail including new Sherlock content, at the end of the first episode of the second season of Poldark
Fri-Sun 23-25th September: Episode titles and/or a clip released at Sherlocked 
[possibly] Fri-Sun 6-9th October: Episode titles and/or a clip released at NY Comic Con 

[strong possibility] Wednesday 12th October: Trail or teaser trail at the end of episode 8 of Great British Bake Off
Wednesday 26th October: Trail or teaser trail at the end of finale of Great British Bake Off
Saturday 10th December: Trail during Strictly Come Dancing quarter final

See below the Read More for more detail on how I came to these conclusions.

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Power Placement

thebisonwitheadphones:

tendergingergirl:

thebisonwitheadphones:

Who’s ready for some more discussion on cinematography in BBC Sherlock! (if you have no idea what I’m referring to, check out my other metas.)

So I’m finally taking my first film class (woo-hoo!) and this week we’ve been talking about how where you position characters within the camera frame can have an impact on how you tell a story. Namely, who is on the winning or losing side, who’s brave or scared or weak… and perhaps most intriguing, who holds the most power over others.

Technically speaking power placement isn’t cinematography, but technically I don’t care, so let’s dive in:

A general rule is that when you have a scene where multiple characters are all in the frame, the character closest to the camera/audience is the most powerful and the one farthest back in the weakest in that situation. In some movies like the much-lauded Citizen Kane, the entire movie is about characters physically jockeying for position within the story world. It’s almost like setting a stage.

When we apply this to BBC Sherlock we get stuff like this:

Now if we’re just listening to the first part of this scene, we’d think that Irene was winning, right? But if we pay attention to how the characters are laid out, Sherlock is in front, far enough forward to seem a world away from the other two and blurry (we don’t know his thoughts). Sherlock sitting out in front tells a watchful viewer that he will eventually triumph.

Of course, for most of the show we simply view characters over other’s shoulders or bounce around from different angles, but sometimes this concept of positioning characters to hint at who is (at least temporarily) in charge brings out some really interested results:

The whole rooftop scene is a merry-go-round of who thinks they have the upper hand.

Jim trying to win attention and power over John, leaving Molly’s side where he used to stand in the background. But Sherlock makes the ultimate decision of not giving a fuck.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that if the character with the most power has their back turned it often means they hold an unspoken or underhanded power. In other words, not what they seem, or perhaps a hint at something ominous.

*ahem*

You might think this is an exception but at this point Sherlock is actually helpless, and the tension is between the taller CAM and the shorter John. It’s only later that Sherlock walks up to stand near John, and then walks forward to CAM, who is way out front and very confident.

I’m sure there’s plenty more, but I just find it interesting that in scenes where a lot of powerful/dangerous people are involved, the characters must physically fight for power over the other, not just in a battle of wits.

Dutch Angles // Low Angles // Top Shots

(tags under the cut)

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This is very good. It will help a lot for S4. That part “…an unspoken or underhanded power…” Reminds me of the Magic world and what they call that The Reveal or The Prestige. This jogged my memory of this post from @cinnkegan John chose sherlock not mary which might tie in.

Ooh, yes I forgot about that scene. Also a very good example: John is at the center and Mary in the background as she doesn’t hold much power at that point. And of course Mrs. Hudson in the very back as she has no idea what is going on.

Sherlock's Terrible Sense of Self Worth and How Mary [Maybe] Exploits It

archipelagoarchaea:

Before we get started: I’m not a fan of Mary-the-person, though I’m sincerely hoping for Mary-the-villain in Series 4 and would greatly enjoy her character in that role (assuming it’s well-written). If you think Mary genuinely ‘performed surgery’ and loves John and Sherlock in a meaningful way, well… move along. You won’t like this. And for the record: I don’t think there’s enough evidence in Series 3 to either prove or disprove the Mary-is-a-psychopath theory, but it’s the one I’m leaning toward, so I’m going to write a bit of meta based on that.

Premise 1: Sherlock’s sense of self-worth revolves entirely around his intellect and [later] his utility as a source of adventure for John.

Premise 2: Mary exploits this lack of self-worth for her own gain in Series 3.

Keep reading

gloriascott93:skulls-and-tea:bullets-in-my-wall:skulls-and-tea:INTERVIEWER: What did you...

gloriascott93:

skulls-and-tea:

bullets-in-my-wall:

skulls-and-tea:

INTERVIEWER: What did you discuss at your first Sherlock meeting with Steven and Mark? 

SUE VERTUE: The first meeting we had was rather glamorously in Monte Carlo, as we were there for an awards ceremony.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I took them to lunch outside.  

I said, ‘Tell me everything about Sherlock Holmes.’ Stupid thing to say!!!  A few hours later I knew quite a lot (all of which you know and I didn’t).  

That John got married, that Sherlock had a brother, that we don’t know that much about their back story (but Mark and Steven can discuss for hours the kind of childhood they think Mycroft and Sherlock had!), that Conan Doyle sometimes forgot people’s names, placements of wounds and once wrongly named John as James.  

That most of the stories were short and, quite importantly, that Conan Doyle had once replied to William Gillette who had written for permission to marry Sherlock off in a stage play, “You may marry him or murder him or do whatever you like with him”.  

In a way, this is important for us because, although Mark and Steven are such die-hard ACD fans they wouldn’t stray beyond the boundaries of what they believe is acceptable but also, it allows for the cherry picking of Doyle’s stories which I think the boys do to great effect.

– Interview with Sue Vertue, Sherlockology site [x]

this. is. gold.

For reference, this interview is from October 2012, during the hiatus between S2 and S3.

Re: previous post - It strikes me that the thing that stuck out to Sue and was thus presumably a big part of the conversation was the inconsistencies in canon and the freedom to play with canon.

I agree that this implies Mary was an important part of the long term story arc from the start. My guess is either because she is Moriarty (or Moran) or because she is the obstacle that keeps John and Sherlock’s romantic arc from culminating (for a while). Also possibly she is part of the Our John Watson is bi theme.

calliopecookiejar:darlingsherlock:conversationswithjohnlock:...

calliopecookiejar:

darlingsherlock:

conversationswithjohnlock:

happierstill:

Looks like it’s going to be darker.

The next one will be pitch black, no characters seen. They’ll call it ‘hiatus’

People who worried about John looking away in promo pic, you can see it is not new.

^^^^Thank God!

Good

Photo

gloriascott93:1895itsallfine:gloriascott93:I’m in love...

gloriascott93:

1895itsallfine:

gloriascott93:

I’m in love with this shot. It’s a stunning bit of portraiture. But what pushes it over the edge is John looking so definitely away and off camera - it’s creating a narrative.
John: defensive stance, keeping watch?, seeing something Sherlock doesn’t. He’s not looking away from Sherlock or off in the distance, he’s clearly meant to be pointedly looking at something or someone.
It suggest they were standing side by side, a little apart but looking ahead and something caught his attention. John hasn’t moved a muscle but turned only his head. Sherlock meanwhile is in classic focused thinking mode, eye fixed on a target. And what’s interesting is how his being turned away changes how we read how they are standing in relation to one another - if they were both facing the camera they might seem distant from each other. A less tight shot of them than we are used to. But Johh looking at something further off makes them by comparison closer together. it creates a sense of wider space and a story around them that we can’t see and thus reduces the significance of the gap between them.
Post HLV and TAB that seems rather fitting. And bodes well for some of our hopes for John’s role in “the game” in s4.

Yeah it looked very protective or defensive to me too. I like that idea that he was looking forward and suddenly looked off.

Agreed. It suggests body guard or guard dog mode. It fits so well with various speculations about s4’s character arc and where we are right now in hiatus with the sense that TAB told us: whatever we think we have seen or whatever happens next we have to trust that Sherlock’s deep confidence in John’s unfailing loyalty to him is, and will continue to be, warranted.
Mycroft has given him a very clear mission: look after Sherlock. One way or another we can expect external forces or even Sherlock himself to test that.

I don’t think it’s remotely unintended that this image - reading as photos do from left to right - lands on John and his perspective. We look at Sherlock’s stare and the framing pulls our eye away to John and from John toward an unknown. And given his stance of defensive protection it suggests a potential threat.

@welovethebeekeeper will have better insight I suspect on this but the folded arms seem fitting too in an *emotionally guarded* sense - it fits with the frustration of s3, that for as much as we saw John’s emotions - sometimes explosively - in s3 he increasingly felt closed off. We weren’t seeing the world from his perspective.

But this image implants an idea: watch John. He sees something Sherlock doesn’t. And that too fits exactly with another important element TAB told us. Sherlock knows John is smarter than he looks. That his perspective has weight and insight and shouldn’t be underestimated.

ETA: eagle eye @221beestings has noted how John’s left eyebrow is hidden but going by the crease in his forehead is clearly raised. Suggesting surprise & intrigue. Something has definitely got his attention.

I like this interpretation and hope it’s correct. What I see when I look at the photo is (unfortunately) John not engaged with Sherlock but looking away at something else. That coupled with the distance between their bodies worries me. I certainly hope we don’t get another entire season of them not communicating and John playing his own long game while seemingly distancing himself from Sherlock (possibly for Sherlocks own protections, but still…) There was enough distance between them in S3. I want to see John working on his own agenda, I just hope it’s not an entire season of him doing that while keeping Sherlock at arm’s length. I want to fucking see them working together again, hopefully by episode two at least. But then, we did see relatively little of them filing together in setlock.