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chibirhm(Okay, so I posted a shorter version of this on tumblr and was telling ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ella_bane I was surprised about how much it was getting re-blogged, and she was like "oh, put it on LJ!" And I was like "really?" And she was like "YES AND IF YOU DON'T I WILL DO MEAN THINGS TO YOU" and then made threatening motions so fine, here is the expanded LJ version of a letter I would like to send to Julian Murphy, or scream at him until I broke his brain. Alas, alack.)
Dear Julian Murphy,
So you have just given an interview looking back on Season 3 of Merlin, and in it, you are a giant flaming bag of douche. You've actually made me angry. Are you aware of how hard it is to make really and truly angry? Like, not just kind of irritated? Because when you say that "character growth" for female characters only happens if they get a romantic interest or turn evil, and that despite the actress' repeated pleas to play stronger roles, you have ignored them, citing that it's not "period appropriate" when you have never given two flying fucks about even the most rudimentary historical accuracy before, congrats! You've done it. You are officially a jackass.
And don't even get me started on your dismissal of Merlin/Arthur fans. You do realize that they make up a giant portion of your fanbase, and are a disproportionately large percentage the ones that make you money by buying your merchandise and going to your events? But apparently, you think it's a good idea to do just that. In an interview where you also compare the Merlin/Arthur relationship to both Butch/Sundance and Lois/Clark. Because there's nothing romantic about those relationships! And you're right, it's okay to have a prominent plot point in your "family show" be genocide in which you explicitly discuss the drowning of children, but making the main characters gay would be taking it a step too far and furthermore, it would be just so upsetting! Thank you for mansplaining it to me! I guess my tiny lady brain was all confused since I'm not in a relationship or plotting evil.
You know, for a long time, I was very defensive of you, simply because that's who I am. I am an easy forgiver. I am a benefit-of-the-doubt-er. So when there were all these conspiracy theories about the writers being purposefully sexist and homophobic I was like "... really?" Honestly, I did not believe that was possible in this day and age. Surely there could not be a secret cabal of menfolk sitting in a room willfully being that offensive. And I can forgive ignorance. I might not be happy about it, but if you don't know to examine your actions from a certain point of view, you don't know. Whats the point in getting mad over that? How are you supposed to do something you didn't know you were supposed to do? But you made it explicit in this interview that you know. You know exactly what you're doing. And furthermore, you are doing it on purpose because you think it is the right thing to do. And that is inexcusable. That is completely unforgivable.
If you were some sort of transcendent visionary, maybe you could get off on belittling your fans for ~not understanding you creative vision~. But you know what? You're not. You're not even good. If you think the fans watch for the "quality writing" on Merlin, you are insanely deluded. We watch in spite of that. We watch, for the most part, because it's pretty, and because the cast is really, really, really good. Like, way too good for you. Honestly, if you hadn't cast the people you cast, your show would have gone up like the Hindenburg. For fuck's sake, I can write better than you, and I'm not paid to do this shit. You are. And more than ever, I'm convinced that anything that goes right on this show is somehow a happy coincidence. Either that, or it is due to the dedicated effort of a small rebel force, and you are the Death Star, and I am really hoping one of these days they figure out how to jam up your goddamned trash compactor.
There's this delusion many writers seem to have, and it shows up especially in showrunners, that a show belongs to them, or that they understand their show better than anyone because they wrote it. I fucking hate that attitude. That attitude is my number one pet peeve not only in television, but on the top ten of "shit that pisses me off more than anything else, of all time". The first thing any person who is creative learns is that their work stops being theirs the second it is shared. The entire point of creative work is the way it can be re-interpreted and the meaning of it changes for every new fresh set of eyes that looks at it. To say yours is the "better" or "right" version is abso-fucking-loutely ludicrous, and beyond that, it's arrogant. It's like saying that you know ultimate philosophical answers to life's great questions and other people don't. You should never, ever, ever belittle an audience interpretation of your creative work. You may dislike it. Hell, you may hate it. It may hurt you because that work is your baby. I know that feeling. But like all babies, your work has grown up and left you. You can't do anything about it. Deal with it. And more than that, realize that if there's a mass consensus on your work, it is not because you are right in the face of a million people who are wrong, or that there is something fundamentally wrong with those people. It's that you you didn't see something and they did. That should be the whole reason you share your creativity in the first place. And if you can't deal with that, there's a simple solution - don't share. Get over yourself. End of story.
So, I guess the upshot of this little note is this; fuck you. Hard. Wait, let me make this clearer.
No. Just... no.
Sincerely,
Me, potentially co-signed by 90% of Merlin fandom, or at least over 25 people on Tumblr.
ella_bane I was surprised about how much it was getting re-blogged, and she was like "oh, put it on LJ!" And I was like "really?" And she was like "YES AND IF YOU DON'T I WILL DO MEAN THINGS TO YOU" and then made threatening motions so fine, here is the expanded LJ version of a letter I would like to send to Julian Murphy, or scream at him until I broke his brain. Alas, alack.)Dear Julian Murphy,
So you have just given an interview looking back on Season 3 of Merlin, and in it, you are a giant flaming bag of douche. You've actually made me angry. Are you aware of how hard it is to make really and truly angry? Like, not just kind of irritated? Because when you say that "character growth" for female characters only happens if they get a romantic interest or turn evil, and that despite the actress' repeated pleas to play stronger roles, you have ignored them, citing that it's not "period appropriate" when you have never given two flying fucks about even the most rudimentary historical accuracy before, congrats! You've done it. You are officially a jackass.
And don't even get me started on your dismissal of Merlin/Arthur fans. You do realize that they make up a giant portion of your fanbase, and are a disproportionately large percentage the ones that make you money by buying your merchandise and going to your events? But apparently, you think it's a good idea to do just that. In an interview where you also compare the Merlin/Arthur relationship to both Butch/Sundance and Lois/Clark. Because there's nothing romantic about those relationships! And you're right, it's okay to have a prominent plot point in your "family show" be genocide in which you explicitly discuss the drowning of children, but making the main characters gay would be taking it a step too far and furthermore, it would be just so upsetting! Thank you for mansplaining it to me! I guess my tiny lady brain was all confused since I'm not in a relationship or plotting evil.
You know, for a long time, I was very defensive of you, simply because that's who I am. I am an easy forgiver. I am a benefit-of-the-doubt-er. So when there were all these conspiracy theories about the writers being purposefully sexist and homophobic I was like "... really?" Honestly, I did not believe that was possible in this day and age. Surely there could not be a secret cabal of menfolk sitting in a room willfully being that offensive. And I can forgive ignorance. I might not be happy about it, but if you don't know to examine your actions from a certain point of view, you don't know. Whats the point in getting mad over that? How are you supposed to do something you didn't know you were supposed to do? But you made it explicit in this interview that you know. You know exactly what you're doing. And furthermore, you are doing it on purpose because you think it is the right thing to do. And that is inexcusable. That is completely unforgivable.
If you were some sort of transcendent visionary, maybe you could get off on belittling your fans for ~not understanding you creative vision~. But you know what? You're not. You're not even good. If you think the fans watch for the "quality writing" on Merlin, you are insanely deluded. We watch in spite of that. We watch, for the most part, because it's pretty, and because the cast is really, really, really good. Like, way too good for you. Honestly, if you hadn't cast the people you cast, your show would have gone up like the Hindenburg. For fuck's sake, I can write better than you, and I'm not paid to do this shit. You are. And more than ever, I'm convinced that anything that goes right on this show is somehow a happy coincidence. Either that, or it is due to the dedicated effort of a small rebel force, and you are the Death Star, and I am really hoping one of these days they figure out how to jam up your goddamned trash compactor.
There's this delusion many writers seem to have, and it shows up especially in showrunners, that a show belongs to them, or that they understand their show better than anyone because they wrote it. I fucking hate that attitude. That attitude is my number one pet peeve not only in television, but on the top ten of "shit that pisses me off more than anything else, of all time". The first thing any person who is creative learns is that their work stops being theirs the second it is shared. The entire point of creative work is the way it can be re-interpreted and the meaning of it changes for every new fresh set of eyes that looks at it. To say yours is the "better" or "right" version is abso-fucking-loutely ludicrous, and beyond that, it's arrogant. It's like saying that you know ultimate philosophical answers to life's great questions and other people don't. You should never, ever, ever belittle an audience interpretation of your creative work. You may dislike it. Hell, you may hate it. It may hurt you because that work is your baby. I know that feeling. But like all babies, your work has grown up and left you. You can't do anything about it. Deal with it. And more than that, realize that if there's a mass consensus on your work, it is not because you are right in the face of a million people who are wrong, or that there is something fundamentally wrong with those people. It's that you you didn't see something and they did. That should be the whole reason you share your creativity in the first place. And if you can't deal with that, there's a simple solution - don't share. Get over yourself. End of story.
So, I guess the upshot of this little note is this; fuck you. Hard. Wait, let me make this clearer.
No. Just... no.
Sincerely,
Me, potentially co-signed by 90% of Merlin fandom, or at least over 25 people on Tumblr.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:09 am (UTC)ANYWAY. I agree with you.
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 07:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:29 am (UTC)Excuse YOU, Julian Murphy, but you have a show with a giant talking dragon in it, and it's unrealistic to give Gwen a sword for a second time after she's proven she can use one? What.
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 07:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 07:34 am (UTC)But shhh, inconvenient facts.
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:45 am (UTC)Bottom line: I AGREE. WITH EVERYTHING.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-12-03 08:40 am (UTC)I feel like I can forgive so much and get over even the most ridiculous/obnoxious things that have happened so far as long as they go, "yeah, that was dumb, we screwed up" or even something along the lines of they're playing it by ear (I don't know if you watch How I Met Your Mother but the writers there totally fessed up that their last season was subpar and admitted to their mistakes and dealt with it like grown-ups and made it better). Instead, we get ~[you're] not understanding [my] creative vision~ and it's just really petulant and five-year old and maddening. It wouldn't be so bad if they could just admit they DON'T HAVE A FIVE YEAR PLAN--hell, they don't have a plan at all, rather than all this pretentious visionary bullshit.
Sorry. I have a lot of ~feelings~ and it's times like this that I wish I did not care about this show this much :/
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-12-03 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 10:48 am (UTC)You're not even good. If you think the fans watch for the "quality writing" on Merlin, you are insanely deluded. We watch in spite of that.
Absolutely; they are kidding themselves if they think Merlin is well-written. There are so many plotholes you could join them all together and make a lake
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 11:42 am (UTC)I find it nearly incredible in this day and age that the producers actually seem to hold *contempt* for those who would consider a romantic relationship between A and M a possibility and want to explore that, - and moreover that he feels the need to air that contempt in public. It's like a throwback to the homophobia of the Dark Ages, with the added flavour of hypocricy: However much he protests otherwise, there is no way the B/C quests and certain elements of the show are not in fact in there deliberately to please or placate slashers.
Mr Murphy is medieval period appropriate in his outlook if nothing much else on his show is. And don't get me started on the way he speaks of the show's women. Ugh.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 12:10 pm (UTC)Although, you know, someone on my flist linked to the post of this over at
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:27 pm (UTC)Though to be fair, if they think Arthur/Gwen is what true love looks like, I've doubted the psychology of their female relationships for a looooong time.
Aww! That's so sweet of them! I'm pretty jaded when it comes to that community because it's re-enforced my idea that Arthur/Gwen fans are actually just Gwen stans who think of Arthur as convenient, which pisses me the fuck off, but every time I'm ready to dismiss them as crazy, they do something that's actually kind of astute and heartwarming. Awww, you guys!
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Date: 2010-12-03 12:40 pm (UTC)Not period appropriate? NOT PERIOD APPROPRIATE?! I would be happy to send them a list of every detail, small in large, in their show that isn't period appropriate... but, you know, it would probably just be easiest to send them a copy of their DVDs. And you know what? Late antiquity and the early medieval period had lots of kick-ass independent women in it.
I think I'm having deja-vu to Smallville with the smug knowing-better-than-fans. And the end of Stargate: Atlantis.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:28 pm (UTC)Also... period appropriate? Eleanor of Aquataine and Joan of Arc, bitch, look 'em up.
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Date: 2010-12-03 12:51 pm (UTC)But...
If you think the fans watch for the "quality writing" on Merlin, you are insanely deluded. We watch in spite of that.
That's not true for everyone. It's not true for me, or many of the people I've discussed Merlin with. I am of the opinion that a lot of the writing is good, and interesting. YMMV and that's great, but please don't claim to speak for all fans, or all slash-fans. You do *not* speak for 90% of Merlin fandom. We're all different.
We might not like it, but it is his show - he's being paid to produce it, so the decisions are his, and the ratings are excellent. Why would he want to change anything?
What frustrates me is that these interviews always present such short, media-hype responses. I'd really like to sit down and talk in detail with the producers about Morgana and Gwen. These guys have produced shows like As If and Sugar Rush, with good, strong female roles and gay storylines - in the case of Sugar Rush it centred around lesbianism, and one of the main characters ran a sex shop. I would like to know why they feel Merlin has to be so patriarchal in approach, given all that. (Although clearly they still have an affinity for dildos...)
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:11 pm (UTC)Ugh, really? That makes it even worse, which I didn't know was possible. Like, they're capable of not being awful but are purposefully avoiding it??! What, do they think t might scare small children to see women in proactive roles?
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Date: 2010-12-03 01:33 pm (UTC)I believe I was discussing some of these very issues with Vensre just the other day, and my words then were - "pick a bloody period and stick with it, or stop pleading Historical Accuracy every time you want to fuck up characterisation." Seriously, the "period appropriate" crap PISSES ME OFF. You do not get to plead historical accuracy when it suits you to do so and then ignore it in every other situation. They established both their female leads as characters that can handle themselves and they have reduced them both to stereotypes.
I find that ALMOST as rage inducing as their attitude to 'the gay' in a 'family show' and the fact that no interviewer, once that question has been asked and answered, has ever even slightly called them out on their bigoted responses.
If you think the fans watch for the "quality writing" on Merlin, you are insanely deluded. We watch in spite of that.
So very true. The one thing Merlin fandom has taught me is that fanfiction is consistently higher quality than the writing, plotting and characterisation in the show itself.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 01:49 pm (UTC)"Now Morgana is evil it’s much easier to give her proactive, proper stories.
I could kick him for that! Especially since I feel that they've really messed up Morgana in s03. It would have been nice to see some internal conflict about what she's doing, instead of just plain evil. *sigh*
Don't get me started on the slash denial! *flails about* You said it much better than I could anyway. God, this man! *restrains self*
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 02:16 pm (UTC)I WILL NOT DO MEAN THINGS TO YOU NOW.
FEEEEEEEEEECE.
Cuz, you know. Colin Morgan.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 02:20 pm (UTC)Beautifully put!
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 02:23 pm (UTC)Woooooord. (I hearted this the first time round, right? If not I meant to)
I like the expanded version even better.
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Date: 2010-12-03 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 03:25 pm (UTC)As for the slash thing: My personal opinion is that Julian came off sounding much more dismissive/mean spirited than he actually MEANT/SOUNDED. You know how interviews kinda get lost in translation when they are put to paper/webpage? Yeah. I think this is what happened here. The interviewer also makes mention of this same thing in the comments.
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