be able to see John and Sherlock without being reminded of their Victorian shadows. And now I realized that TAB enabled me to finally recognize modern John and Sherlock in ACD Holmes and Watson.
It worked didn’t it? Beautifully. They tied the characters across the century and melded them seamlessly. Now the Victorian pair are aligned to complete their journey via the modern pair. Well done Mark and Steven.
Dr John H. Watson wears a brown check suit when travelling with Holmes to and from the countryside. The tweed fabric is in a dark and light brown houndstooth check with flecks of blue and orange, and a mustard yellow overcheck. The colours and texture of this suit suggests that it is only appropriate for the countryside, hence his reluctance to visit a morgue in the city without changing first (he had a similar concern for Holmes’ green plaid suit). It is an entirely appropriate suit for the character himself, however – many adaptations have clothed their Watsons in similarly hard-wearing, dependable fabrics in earthy colours and British patterns.
The jacket is not as fitted as Holmes’ but otherwise similar in style, with straight shoulders that extend slightly beyond Watson’s natural shoulders, and roped sleeveheads. The front has four brown horn buttons (he only buttons the top button), a notch lapel and flapped hip pockets. The jacket has no vents on the back, and the sleeves have three buttons on the cuffs. The waistcoat has five buttons and a cutaway hem, with two welt pockets. The trousers have a plain front and bottoms, button fly, and are a little wider than Holmes’.
With the suit Watson wears a white shirt with a starched club collar, a front placket and French cuffs. He wears two different silk ties with this outfit during the episode: one a brown and grey paisley, and the other in a brown geometric pattern with white dots. With both ties he wears a gold tie pin with an orange stone, and a green floral silk pocket square in the breast pocket. He also wears a gold double Albert watch chain.
His shoes are button boots in a dark brown calf leather, uppers in a lighter brown, and a cap toe.
Over the suit he wears a dark green, double-breasted tweed overcoat, with eight shanked leather buttons on the front, flapped hip pockets and three buttons on the cuffs. He also wears a brown felt bowler hat with a grosgrain ribbon, and an olive green wool scarf with a purple and blue windowpane check.
It’s a rousing thought to believe we took a few veiled hints from the writers of BBC Sherlock, a few hidden clues, and created the Johnlock universe in our fictions, art works and on our blogs. We have created, exploded with our obsession, become more than we were, but to believe we emerged from a few scattered hints in a television show is to do disservice to the ones that went before us. If our history is ignored we lose validity. God knows, those outside our fandom try and rob us of our agency , we need a strong foundation to stand on, and we have one.
I won’t go into our genesis as Johnlockers here, just a brief reminder that our birth was written into the canon in such things as the flight of Holmes and Watson during the ‘Invert Stings’ of 1895, Holmes dislike of women’s company, Watson’s abandonment of his wife in favour of Holmes, the frequenting of Turkish bath houses, and the sheer desolation of Holmes on Watson’s engagement. Our Victorian counterparts whispered the anathema idea of the true nature of these two men, the homosexual Victorian subculture found solace in the subtext, and Doyle kept delivering, even as he was denied his seat in The House of Lords due to his sympathy for homosexuals. The Holmes and Watson Romantic School of Thiught, underground, grew throughout the early 1900s, cresting with Rex Stout and his essay ‘Was Watson a Woman’. Johnlockers continued to be black balled from the Holmesian Societies, even as writers began to surface the idea in publications such as The Baker Street Journal, until in the 1970s Billy Wilder attempted to free John and Sherlock from the closet. He regretted not being more overt in his film, he bowed to pressures at the time, but we did get some precious glimpses of a gay Holmes. Granada took up the mantle in the 1980s and decided to ignore Watson’s marriage, they gave us a married same sex couple solving crimes. The fanzines and online forums ignited with creativity, Johnlockers began to emerge from their clusters and we became a subsection of a fandom. Finally two men, talking on a train, had the idea to modernise Sherlock Holmes and fix the wrongs done over the past 135 years.
Moffat and Gatiss had a plan and it was taken up by the BBC, it was timely, meeting an agenda, the project orchestrated and with ASiP the Johnlock community erupted on line. Our creativity stoaked by the show, in its visual tropes, it’s obvious direction, the brilliant casting of the two leads, the costuming and hair of a Byronic Sherlock, the music and the hints of suggestion by a well run PR campaign. We were led by the nose. We didn’t create Johnlock, it had been there all along, only now two of our members were in control of the project, had an international forum, and were challenging us to create. And create we did, aided by technology, we expanded with every episode. Anyone who thinks we are just going on vague hints and wishful thinking doesn’t truly understand the art of manipulation. Manipulation in a good way. We are being led and always have been, from Doyle to Moffat and Gatiss, we are willing fulfilling the agenda.
I knew Johnlockers who lived and loved Sherlock and John in the 1950s, they were as obsessed and creative as we are, they just didn’t have our outlets. Don’t rob those before us of their contribution.
My head canon has been that the equerry in asib is Mycroft’s boyfriend as they are dressed alike. Thinking about him instead as a possible date for John works too, as they are emphasizing his similarity to Mycroft. And Mycroft is clean-shaven (hence gay) in tab, therefore the equerry is gay.
This changes the palace scene from male gaze, isn’t lesbian sex exciting, put down your teacup John – to discretion is necessary, you understand why the princess may want to remain closeted, queer solidarity.
