146
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Bad fans
Nevertheless, as far as the lead writers are concerned, this mode of informed
consumption should be the pinnacle of engagement for Sherlock’s ideal
viewer. To quote Moffat responding to the question of whether fan ideas and
preferences influenced them as writers: “It’s hugely important, but it’s a oneway thing.” 48 To take fandom any further than one-way consumption is to
risk the lead writers’ mockery. Within the show itself, series three’s opening
episode, “The Empty Hearse,” features a meeting of members of Anderson’s
conspiracy theorist group, which gathers to discuss how Sherlock survived
his fall from the hospital roof at the end of series two. Their flagging levels of
engagement with Anderson’s campaign, and the fact that they understand
so little about Sherlock that they apparently believe he wears the hat as a
fashion choice, and copy it, seems to mark them out for engaged viewers as
“bad fans.” Perhaps that is its deliberate pitch: even viewers who do not know
much about the Sherlock fandom can recognize Anderson’s group as poor,
sloppy members of the fandom. They believe in the hat (one piece of tabloid
misinformation) but disbelieve claims of Sherlock’s fraudulence (a second
piece of tabloid misinformation), when from the privileged perspective of
the informed viewer – who knows Sherlock’s return will be widely known
any moment now – they would have been better off disbelieving both.
In the days around the initial screenings of Sherlock series three, Sherlock
fanfiction writers were also mocked by Caitlin Moran’s stunt (at the BFI
screening of “The Empty Hearse”) of asking actors Cumberbatch and Freeman to read a piece of “JohnLock” slash fiction (an event at which Gatiss was
present on stage). In the BFI post-screening discussion for “His Last Vow,”
Moffat did suggest that the microblogging site Tumblr was full of “lunatics”
who wanted to kill him, but on the whole was slightly more conciliatory
towards fan writers, saying, “you see something you love, you start doing
your own version of it. Then you start disagreeing with the actual version
and think ‘my version’s better,’ and then you discover you’ve made something
entirely different and you go off and do your own thing.” 49 This statement,
however, seems to contradict Moffat’s own experience as a Doctor Who fan
who became a writer for the show, to which he was referring in the passage
quoted. Moffat and Gatiss did not make “something entirely different”; what
they achieved – and what Moffat seems to be reluctant to acknowledge – is
the transition from being fans of Doctor Who and the Sherlock Holmes
48 Mellor, “Sherlock: His Last Vow Q&A.”
49 Ibid.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
Bad fans
Nevertheless, as far as the lead writers are concerned, this mode of informed
consumption should be the pinnacle of engagement for Sherlock’s ideal
viewer. To quote Moffat responding to the question of whether fan ideas and
preferences influenced them as writers: “It’s hugely important, but it’s a oneway thing.” 48 To take fandom any further than one-way consumption is to
risk the lead writers’ mockery. Within the show itself, series three’s opening
episode, “The Empty Hearse,” features a meeting of members of Anderson’s
conspiracy theorist group, which gathers to discuss how Sherlock survived
his fall from the hospital roof at the end of series two. Their flagging levels of
engagement with Anderson’s campaign, and the fact that they understand
so little about Sherlock that they apparently believe he wears the hat as a
fashion choice, and copy it, seems to mark them out for engaged viewers as
“bad fans.” Perhaps that is its deliberate pitch: even viewers who do not know
much about the Sherlock fandom can recognize Anderson’s group as poor,
sloppy members of the fandom. They believe in the hat (one piece of tabloid
misinformation) but disbelieve claims of Sherlock’s fraudulence (a second
piece of tabloid misinformation), when from the privileged perspective of
the informed viewer – who knows Sherlock’s return will be widely known
any moment now – they would have been better off disbelieving both.
In the days around the initial screenings of Sherlock series three, Sherlock
fanfiction writers were also mocked by Caitlin Moran’s stunt (at the BFI
screening of “The Empty Hearse”) of asking actors Cumberbatch and Freeman to read a piece of “JohnLock” slash fiction (an event at which Gatiss was
present on stage). In the BFI post-screening discussion for “His Last Vow,”
Moffat did suggest that the microblogging site Tumblr was full of “lunatics”
who wanted to kill him, but on the whole was slightly more conciliatory
towards fan writers, saying, “you see something you love, you start doing
your own version of it. Then you start disagreeing with the actual version
and think ‘my version’s better,’ and then you discover you’ve made something
entirely different and you go off and do your own thing.” 49 This statement,
however, seems to contradict Moffat’s own experience as a Doctor Who fan
who became a writer for the show, to which he was referring in the passage
quoted. Moffat and Gatiss did not make “something entirely different”; what
they achieved – and what Moffat seems to be reluctant to acknowledge – is
the transition from being fans of Doctor Who and the Sherlock Holmes
48 Mellor, “Sherlock: His Last Vow Q&A.”
49 Ibid.