Gaslighting & Patronizing & Johnlock

I’ve seen a few posts recently by anti’s telling Johnlockers why they need to ‘let it go’ and ‘honestly, we understand you’re disappointed but don’t be such a baby just because it won’t happen’ and all that.

I hate these fandom dramatics, but I just want to say, for the record…

1. TLJC, unlike any other ships, expects johnlock to be canon for a REASON. Granted, I haven’t been in many fandoms. I casually browsed sterek and castiel for maybe a few weeks each only, so I’m not an expert. But isn’t it the case that MOST fandoms do NOT expect their ship to become canon? Has there ever been a ship fandom like johnlock that was so CONVINCED their ship was endgame of the real show? Please educate me if I’m wrong here, but I’m guessing not.

2. People who strongly believe in TLJC don’t feel that way because ‘John and Sherlock would be so cute together! Tee hee hee’. Um, no. That’s not the point. That may be the case for most ships, and again, some johnlockers may be in it for that reason. It’s a big community after all. But TLJC goes much deeper than that for most. It’s based on mountains of work.

3. TLJC was founded on massive amounts of intense meta. Again, this is not a group of 12 year olds idolizing characters. The major contributors to johnlock meta have been grown adult professionals–film scholars, cinematographers, writers, teachers. These are the people who initially watched this show and went ‘Whoa, wait a minute. This is serious shit. Look at what’s going on here’. They came online and wrote meta. Literally thousands of hours worth of very detailed and very convincing meta. That meta includes looking at everything from all the character mirrors, to story structure and narrative arcs, to lighting, to symbolism, to psychology.  Has any fandom ever had this level of meta? Again, if I’m wrong correct me, but I highly doubt it. It wasn’t written on thin air. This material is in the show.

This is not to say that sometimes meta writers can come to conclusions that are dubious and reaching. I don’t agree with everything I’ve read. But 90% of that meta supports johnlock as end game and there’s a ton of cross-referencing evidence for that.

4. There’s also foundational evidence regarding the show’s start. The show was funded by the BBC during an initiative for more LGBT content, and the creators are gay and bisexual. Of course, that is not proof of anything, but it eliminates the opposite argument, the idea that neither the BCC or the creators would ever do a show with johnlock as end game.

5. They would never admit it if TLJC were real, and they’ve told us that. So one the one hand, we have all the evidence that’s been accumulating over the past four years+. And on the other hand we have stringent denials from the creators who have a) told us many times they lie to protect secrets on the show and b) have in fact stringently denied other things in the past than have later occurred on the show. Further, if johnlock is endgame, it is certainly a secret worth moving mountains to protect because they could get crucified in the press before they ever aired the episode, which would be a disaster.

SO, if you come to the johnlock tag and pat us patronizingly on the head and tell us to just get over it, because we’re wrong, bless our hearts, you’re not likely to be thanked for that sentiment. If you want to seriously engage, you might read the top 50 metas or so and refute them point by point. 

No time or energy to do that? That’s fine. I don’t expect anyone to give their free time to this show the way I have. What’s a passion for me is a mild 6-hours-every-three-years amusement for others. But don’t, in that case, pretend to be an expert on what I think and why I think it.

Do Moftiss owe us LGBT characters? No! Absolutely not. Are they ‘queerbaiting’? I couldn’t care less myself. It’s not about that.

The only thing they owe–to the fans, to the actors who have given so much to this show, and to themselves, as writers, is to fulfill and finish the brilliant show they started in the best way possible. What would be a disaster is if it all fizzled out impotently and none of it ever really made sense. To me, a non-johnlock ending would be that kind of impotent fizzle that would make S3, TAB and parts of S1 and S2 make no sense. And that’s not because I’m a fangirl who childishly wants her ship to be real (oh, gosh darn it!), but because that’s the bloody story they’ve been building all along.

You don’t have to see it. That’s fine. Just don’t fucking tell me I’m crazy. 

As for the creators, it’s getting ridiculous now. They’ve in a position of having to gaslight and deny and patronize their strongest fans. For a show that is literally about a genius who can see what others cannot, it’s so bleeding ironic.

BUT, I think they’re doing what they have to to protect the show. I’m personally not interested in spending any more emotion on it. We’ll know for certain once S4 hits. Until then, everyone is welcome to their opinion.

XA