{"id":206102,"date":"2014-06-15T09:58:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T09:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/06\/15\/mild-lunacy-thisissignalfire-those-looks\/"},"modified":"2018-09-18T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:08:18","slug":"mild-lunacy-thisissignalfire-those-looks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/06\/15\/mild-lunacy-thisissignalfire-those-looks\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-206102 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/06\/15\/mild-lunacy-thisissignalfire-those-looks\/attachment\/206103\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_lzg7hlnU9u1qllxw5o1_500-150x150.gif\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_lzg7hlnU9u1qllxw5o1_500-150x150.gif 150w, https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_lzg7hlnU9u1qllxw5o1_500-300x300.gif 300w, https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_lzg7hlnU9u1qllxw5o1_500-100x100.gif 100w\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/mild-lunacy.tumblr.com\/post\/83651181929\/thisissignalfire-those-looks-the-way-sherlock\" target=\"_blank\">mild-lunacy<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/thisissignalfire.tumblr.com\/post\/17665565011\/those-looks-the-way-sherlock-is-watching-john-as\" target=\"_blank\">thisissignalfire<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Those looks.<\/p>\n<p>The way Sherlock is watching John as he\u2019s buttoning up his jacket. He\u2019s not looking at his own reflection, he\u2019s looking at John.<\/p>\n<p>And then John\u2019s eyes flick over to him.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a pretty intense look, boys.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Something about that look, man. Something about it makes me feel it just encapsulates them, in a way (and the blatant mirror imagery doesn\u2019t hurt, what with the mirroring everywhere in the show and <a class=\"tumblelog\" href=\"http:\/\/tmblr.co\/mY2CWQCFOlutRAOmntYhrUA\" target=\"_blank\">stephisanerd<\/a>&rsquo;s <a href=\"http:\/\/mild-lunacy.tumblr.com\/post\/78546935699\/stories-and-fairy-tales-why-sherlock-is-actually-a\" target=\"_blank\">meta on the parallels with \u2018Through the Looking Glass\u2019<\/a>). \u00a0I mean, John\u2019s very concertedly <em>not looking<\/em>\u00a0to see the obvious on Sherlock\u2019s face\u2014 except he is, of course he is. They\u2019re getting dressed (not undressed), but the very fact that there\u2019s this fleeting tension is blatantly eroticizing the moment, underlining all the barely concealed, sublimated potential.<\/p>\n<p>The thing is, and this is so great: one of my favorite things about BBC Sherlock is how it consciously plays with viewers\u2019 assumptions and expectations, and with the longtime cinematic coding of queer desire in film history. This is what \u2018hiding in plain sight\u2019 means. This is actually amazing, because people can look at this moment\u2014 this <em>utterly transparent moment<\/em>, on one level\u2014 and not see it, because even if we\u2019re looking (just like John is), we\u2019re not <em>really<\/em> looking, because, in the end, we\u2019re looking in the mirror. We\u2019re seeing ourselves; we\u2019re seeing what we <em>want<\/em> to see, even as Sherlock watches.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not simply about the broad cultural heteronormativity at work, because many people who \u2018see\u2019 the slash still don\u2019t think it\u2019s really happening, <em>because it can\u2019t<\/em>. It can\u2019t be happening, therefore it isn\u2019t; therefore if there\u2019s any romance, surely it\u2019s with Sherlock and Molly (for example). Even though we don\u2019t even have a tenth of this kind of subtext with them, certainly not with the <em>frequency<\/em> that moments like this occur between Sherlock and John, it all flies past, invisibly coded. At most, people cry \u2018queer-baiting\u2019 because of moments just like this. And that\u2019s the beautiful, beautiful thing, because I feel in a way that this show is a small bit of redemption not just for \u2018The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes\u2019, but for <em>all<\/em> the films where things never moved beyond the coded looks.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe I\u2019m overstating things; certainly, it\u2019s too early to celebrate. But I\u2019m just so happy, you know? Because I see it, and the fact that it does currently exist in silent looks doesn\u2019t make it any less \u2018real\u2019 to me; the fact that it\u2019s a queer coded dynamic <em>and<\/em> an actual building romance is just so beautiful. \u00a0It\u2019s an homage. And it\u2019s about damn time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>mild-lunacy: thisissignalfire: Those looks. The way Sherlock is watching John as he\u2019s buttoning up his jacket. He\u2019s not looking at his own reflection, he\u2019s looking at John. And then John\u2019s eyes flick over to him. That\u2019s a pretty intense look, boys. Something about that look, man. Something about it makes me feel it just encapsulates &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/06\/15\/mild-lunacy-thisissignalfire-those-looks\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[129,1810],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206104,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206102\/revisions\/206104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}