TJLC and The Real World

 (A conversation about fandom between mid0nz, bookshop, 

pj-gingernuts and greyhairedgeekgirl)

mid0nz:

Fandom is not an escapist respite from the real world. Fandom is a microcosm of the real world. 

There are so many parallels between what’s happened in the Sherlock fandom in the last three years with what’s happened on the global political stage. The same discourses we’ve seen wielded so effectively by Trump, Farage and their ilk are afoot in much of the tin hat fandom. Dogma. Conspiracy. Zealotry. Insularity. Religiosity. Xenophobia. Cultishness. Anti-intellectualism.

First under their attack were the formally-trained intellectuals (acafans) then the writers/artists who thought differently, shipped differently. Then the straw men: “casuals.”

They used dog whistles, gaslighting, trolling, doxxing.

A ray of hope 

If we can shed some light, if we can understand what the hell happened with this conspiracy- how it got legs, why and how it grew, how it is that good people got caught up and STAYED caught up in it even after hearing the history (#notall)- we might gain some insight for how effectively to resist the discourse and the oppressive methodologies of the current regime.

bookshop:

This is exactly the point I made in my article on how shipping has increasingly turned into ideology. My article focuses on the thought processes that go into these ideologies, not the methods — the methods mentioned above are increasingly common tactics for every facet of internet discourse at this point — and how shippers have fundamental thought patterns that feed into the idea of their ship as a crusade which hold true regardless of what the pairing is, regardless of whether the ship fictional (e.g. johnlock) or RPF (e.g. larry).

TJLC is a hugely prominent example of this, but I have seen this pattern play out again and again in fandom after fandom: Fans pick an OTP, then a) create a discourse around that ship being a “true” or “canonical” ship, and then b) use that discourse as a reason to demonize an “other,” whether that “other” is an oppositional ship, or a subset of fans who are shippers but who aren’t invested in the ‘truther’ discourse. (It’s rarely an “other” that exists outside of fandom.)

And once these core ingredients are in place — the rationale for the belief that the ship is “true,” and the existence of an othered minority to attack — the toxicity begins and develops en masse, sanctioned by the unshakeable belief in the truth/canonical nature/rightness of the core belief.

In other words, it plays out exactly like crusaderism has played out for centuries.

mid0nz:

Ok so if this is an age old phenomenon in scores of fandoms WHY? Why does it happen? Why is the pattern similar or more or less the same? What is is about fandom, or shipping in particular that makes it ripe for this kind of situation? How do these crusades tend to end? Is there one or another kind of personality that’s likely to lead the charge? What do they gain? What are their weaknesses? What do their followers gain? Why do they attack the others? HOW do they attack the others? What of their strategies are effective and why? Why is there such an unshakable fetish for “truth”? What kinds of relationships do the crusaders have with the putative author (or showrunner)? What kinds of ships tend to be at the center? Is it conversation that spreads the “truth” of a ship? Meta? Fic? What are the hallmarks of a “convincing” argument for the “truth?” What are the similarities among the ships at the center of these storms? How is it that those who don’t believe in the truth of a ship BECOME the minority, or the perceived minority? HOW, IN SHORT, DO THESE CRUSADES FUNCTION? 

pj-gingernuts:

I can attest to the “identity” part of TJLC. While I was following TJLC I felt I was somehow better than those who didn’t know about it. Difference is I was able to entertain other readings and could let go of TJLC completely once I saw the rest of S4. I was also able to just focus on basic construction of the show instead of The Conspiracy. But then, I’m 42, from a different generation than most of TJLC people. I also don’t “engage” in the fandom much but read it like a magazine.

My theory about TJLC’s implosion has a lot to do with it being kids in their teens and early twenties who are searching. I wonder if exploring the connection of this fandom stuff, identity and social/emotional development for millennials and the like would yield some good insight. Delayed adolescence. That kind of thing.

And this is not to say that all TJLC followers are/were people who have not developed emotionally or are all young. But the ones who are sending hate, who are so tightly latched onto their ideology with the ship and the creators “owing” them something - that is identity development related. I can’t remember what it’s called in psychology but there is a name for people who come out of adolescence with an unexplored identity and I think latching onto TJLC may be a result of some of that need for identity.

greyhairedgeekgirl: 

I’m a lit major with an interest in comparative religion as well as comparative lit. I remember seeing the initial interest in “meta” and thinking “wow, there’s some really interesting critical analysis happening over there, isn’t it great how fandom sparks all kinds of thought and writing?”

And then I saw it turn into a cult. I could see the Prophets emerging, some dueling for primacy, others becoming Apostles. I could see the critical play with words and ideas and images becoming hardened, encoded, treated as fact. Treated as Revelation. There was a Revealed Message in a Shared Text, and there were those who claimed to be able to to interpret that message in the Right Way. There were Those who Believed and Would be Vindicated, and Those who Scoffed and Would Suffer.

It’s one of the things that has convinced me of the basic human trending towards religious behavior and thought, actually. As we become “post religious” in modern democracies, as attendance at the traditional houses of any worship decline precipitously, I’d expect to see more of this. More of this replacement of religion with cult-like behaviors around media, around sports, around political candidates. I think that the need for structures and formative narratives and group behaviors runs very, very deep in the human brain, to the point where these types of “movements” emerge.