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Anonymous asked:
What line was a Brecht gay pirate story reference?
the part where sherlock hopped on a boat and said ‘i’m a gay pirate’
cumberbooze-deactivated20230616
So they had enough budget to get a damn Ashton-Martin but not enough to get a few more background actors…
toxicsemicolon
🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
“people like him should be killed, that’s why there are people like me” where “people like him” is the threat of predatory blackmail in the age of the labouchere amendment and “people like me” are beards
johnlocktentacles-deactivated20
OK, so my recent reading included “The Trials of Oscar Wilde” by H. Montgomery Hyde.
As I was reading through the fairly extensive introduction, particularly the contextual information surrounding the first trial, in which Oscar Wilde prosecuted Lord Queensberry for criminal libel, I noticed a few details that I would like to take up with Stephen Thompson and his writing for TRF.
Some of these have been pointed out elsewhere, but I’m including them here anyway:
The Old Bailey:
It’s common knowledge in the fandom at this point that the court where the Wilde trials took place is also the court where Moriarty stood trial in TRF.
Timing:
The first of the Wilde trials began on April 3, 1895, and Wilde was convicted on May 25 of the same year.
Going by the dates on John’s blog, the Baskerville case is dated March 3 and John’s “he was my best friend and I’ll always believe in him” post is dated June 16.
Which means that the Wilde trials and TRF took place at the same time of year and the dates on John’s blog fairly neatly bracket the dates that the Wilde trials would have occurred.
Show Off:
During Lord Queensberry’s trial for libel, Wilde himself was the prosecution’s primary witness. During his cross-examination, Lord Queensberry’s lawyer and the judge were both annoyed by Wilde’s sass. According to the intro:
“Wilde could not resist the temptation to show off, a temptation which was later to prove damaging when he was in the box at the Old Bailey. Almost his very first answer called down a mild reproof from the bench.”
In TRF, as we know, Sherlock’s showing off lands him in contempt of court.
No Defense:
In Lord Queensberry’s trial, the defense never had a chance to present its evidence or call witnesses. In this case, it’s because Wilde’s cross-examination during his earlier testimony was so incriminating, that Wilde’s lawyer interrupted Queensberry’s lawyer during the defense’s opening statement in order to withdraw the charges.
In TRF, Moriarty’s lawyer opts not to present a defense at all, because the whole point is to show that Moriarty has the power to walk free without his lawyer even trying.
In both cases, the defendant was acquitted without presenting a defense at trial.
Sending a Message:
Lord Queensberry elected to send a message rather than pay a visit, but this is from the introduction:
“As soon as he had obtained his discharge from the Court, the victorious defendant sent a characteristic message to his adversary, on whom the tables were now to be savagely turned. ‘If the country allows you to leave,’ said Queensberry, ‘all the better for the country; but, if you take my son with you, I will follow you, wherever you go, and shoot you!’”
Moriarty, of course, in TRF, chose to call at Baker Street in person, and leave his ominous IOU that way.
Both defendants, immediately upon acquittal, lost no time in getting in touch with the opponent in order to make threats of what was to come.
Arrest:
There are two things here. First, once the warrant for Wilde’s arrest was issued, a friend came to let him know about it before the police arrived to arrest him. Wilde refused to see the friend who came with the news, and sent his other friend, Robert Ross, who was with him, to receive the message instead.
In TRF, warning Sherlock that the officers were on their way to pick him up falls to Lestrade, who makes a phone call to John.
And then when the police arrived, Wilde put on his coat, picked up his gloves and book, and went with the police without any trouble.
In TRF, as the police are arriving, we see Sherlock putting on his coat and scarf and putting out his hands for the officer to cuff him. (I mean, things went to shit a couple of minutes later, but that’s irrelevant.)
Brook/Brookfield:
I’ve saved this bit for last because honestly it fucked me up the most. This is the part where I could no longer explain away the similarities as mere coincidence.
“It is a curious fact, which does not seem to be generally known, that the most damning clues were provided by an entirely voluntary agent who received no fee for his services. This was the actor Charles Brookfield, who had conceived a violent hatred of Wilde…”
“The subject of Oscar Wilde had by this time developed into a positive obsession with Brookfield. Consequently, when the Queensberry storm broke, he went round London getting up opposition wherever he could against the unfortunate dramatist.”
“… after Wilde’s conviction Brookfield and some friends entertained Queensberry to dinner in celebration of the event. These details are confirmed by the journalist who introduced Brookfield to Queensberry’s solicitor.”
An actor named Brookfield provided the worst of the evidence against Wilde, and was put in touch with Queensberry’s lawyers by a journalist.
Moriarty provided all of the false evidence of Sherlock’s crimes and destroyed Sherlock’s reputation… by posing as an actor named Richard Brook and talking to a journalist.
obviously she’s waiting to be revealed as the villain, and therefore must still be alive for that reveal to have impact, therefore [hand waves] something something, all is not as it seems, moving on
@marsixm i just feel like i am not gonna read this right without knowing what went down with mary….. like for all i know part of the plan was that john had to shoot evil mary but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, and it came back to bite him
@thepineapplering see i feel that too, and the whole “were you married?/i was/what happened?/she died” exchange while john is staring at sherlock and sherlock is like [cannot make eye contact] is just like…………… he’s talking about trf???? that’s?? what that is?
@marsixm RIGHT right, ok, very “my priorities just got a woman killed”. okay…… so bc he can’t kill [the part of him that loves sherlock ?], both he and mary end up dead ….
@marsixm yeah, definitely big vibes of that, though i also feel like they really emphasize the failure of john’s morals, he killed two people instead of one, etc. conforming to heteronormative life he only kills himself, but *not* conforming he kills… ___ and ___ ??
@ anyone on speaking terms with s4: what’s the game with the governor’s wife all about. anybody got a hot take
the ending of tfp is the most fake, like intentionally fake, THEY REBUILD A SET HELLO
when you get to the brecht part of your absurdism background reading and stumble right into “good man” sherlock’s gender trouble
this play literally like: she was so soft and selfless and helped literally everyone who came to her in need, to the point of ruining her own business and attracting the police, so she created a DFP alter-ego so that she could keep helping people without being taken advantage of–
At first, Shui Ta only appears when Shen Teh is in a particularly desperate situation, but as the action of the play develops, Shen Teh becomes unable to keep up with the demands made on her and is overwhelmed by the promises she makes to others. Therefore, she is compelled to call on her cousin’s services for longer periods until at last her true personality seems to be consumed by her cousin’s severity. Where Shen Teh is soft, compassionate, and vulnerable, Shui Ta is unemotional and pragmatic, even vicious; it seems that only Shui Ta is made to survive in the world in which they live.
ohhhhh my godddd
me in january: wow, it really seems like they’re emphasizing the decision sherlock has to make to embrace sentiment if he wants to save john, by simultaneously exploring the potential outcome of each side of that decision tree. huh.
brecht: helloooooo any time you feel like reading further bitch……….
“traditionally, it’s a great honor to be the audience member brought onstage for a role in the panto” so that’s what ashlo, jules and grace were doing in s4
me about S4:
JOHN: You said circus. This is not a circus. Look at the size of this crowd. Sherlock, this is … (he grimaces with distaste) … art.
………there’s NO other reason for that episode to be so weird… it’s so specific……… a brecht reference……. [whispers] what the fuck