I agree with you Liberty, and it's great that he's honest and hasn't allowed himself to be turned into a Hollywood cutout.
On the issue of the fanfic though, he absolutely knows by now how defensive people get about it; he's seen the problems Amanda had for seemingly criticising it, for instance.
Personally I didn't think he said anything too bad about it, and I think his real issue is that he has created his own version of Sherlock that doesn't fit with the version in some of the fics (maybe that proves Ancientgate's point that he's a little self absorbed - I don't know), but either he doesn't care if he risks alienating some fans, or he does need to be careful sometimes, because he was definitely unhappy once before when the Press seemed to turn on him, so I can't imagine him being OK with an outpouring of vitriol towards him from a section of fans.
For the record, I think people who are overreacting to his comments need to relax a bit; he's human and to expect him to be perfect at all times is unrealistic and scary.
Oh, and nakahara - I completely agree with you on the issue of his privacy.

Last edited by Tinks (October 14, 2014 8:45 pm)

Tinks wrote:

On the issue of the fanfic though, he absolutely knows by now how defensive people get about it; he's seen the problems Amanda had for seemingly criticising it, for instance.
Personally I didn't think he said anything too bad about it, and I think his real issue is that he has created his own version of Sherlock that doesn't fit with the version in some of the fics (maybe that proves Ancientgate's point that he's a little self absorbed - I don't know), but either he doesn't care if he risks alienating some fans, or he does need to be careful sometimes, because he was definitely unhappy once before when the Press seemed to turn on him, so I can't imagine him being OK with an outpouring of vitriol towards him from a section of fans.

If it´s true that people are hunting actors down like an inquisition just over the fact that they don´t like fanfiction, then it´s absolutely scary. And disturbing. And wrong.

Even as an avid Johnlocker and a reader of said fanfictions I believe people are fully entitled not to like any of it. Their personal tastes does not hurt my nor anyone else´s enjoyment of those things, if they do not actively try to somehow ban it or remove it from the internet. 

I heard lately that Benedict is a vegetarian. I´m sure most of his fans eat meat. Should we stuff steaks down his throat now just because it fits our gusto? 

People should get over themselves because this is quite childish - and the world has much serious problems we should solve than being pointlessly enraged over stuff some celebrity said.

nakahara wrote:

So this interview caused some bad rap abou Benedict? That´s what I call "a storm in a watercup". 

I read it but I´m quite puzzled what exactly did people find so offensive (it is also not the first Benedict´s interview that threw people into rage over some fairly innocent remark taken out of context, but those previous cases were equally pointless). 

He didn´t like people disturbing his privacy althrough he is a celebrity and he should be used to it by now? But why should he be disturbed at all when he is obviously having a private, possibly serious conversation with somebody else? People don´t own him just because they saw him on TV nor does he own them anything over the fact. He is most polite to people who meet him in conventions and public events where it is expected that he should be photographed and spending time with fans. What he does outside this area is his own thing and he should not be judged too harshly for wanting to have this part of his life solely for himself.

(Not that he was all that rude to the woman who approached him. He refused her quite politely, IMHO.)

Not liking Johnlock fanfiction is similarly not a crime. There are people who hate Johnlock as a whole and are their worse human human beings for it? Probably not.

Of course, we can´t know merely from this interview if he is really pretentious or not, but... if his pretentiousness is only manifested by taking part in charities, playing his roles as good as he possibly can and hating unwanted attention, I see no harm in it. More harmless egoist like this, please!  

 Preach it, sister!

Edgeucated wrote:

 Preach it, sister!

OK. 

I should maybe add that Ben had at one time the most unpleasant experience with a stalker who stalked him in his own home - then posted his every move on a Twitter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9925578/Sherlock-star-Benedict-Cumberbatch-is-cyberstalked.html

And how did he dealt with a woman? Well, upon realising that the person must be his neighbour, he asked his friend to knock at the door of the said stalker and politely asked her to stop.

That´s how unfriendly and pretentious he really is. 

Now, when he sat together with the reporter, reporter saw just those two women - Benedict maybe saw one more piece from the long chain of obssessive people who shadow his every step. 

Goodness, some people should really take a deep breath, walk their dog or something. Amazing, truly amazing. People on tumblr are asking him to apologize because he said rude things. Seriously? Apologize to whom? And for what exactly? For stating his opinion? For being honest? Or for, maybe, having a not so brilliant day to give a brilliant interview that makes the whole fandom happy?
I only hope they printed what he really said and didn't try some 'creative freedom' on his answers. And I'm pretty sure he knew what he was talking about and that some of his answers might not be hailed by the whole fandom. Whatever 'fandom' means anyway, since it consists of so many different people with different opinions, background, history, experiences.

nakahara wrote:

Even as an avid Johnlocker and a reader of said fanfictions I believe people are fully entitled not to like any of it. Their personal tastes does not hurt my nor anyone else´s enjoyment of those things, if they do not actively try to somehow ban it or remove it from the internet.

All he has to do when the subject of johnlock comes up is to keep it light. Smile and say, "Not my cuppa, I don't get it, but hey, that's what makes a horse race--  everyone likes something different," or words to that effect. No reason to make generalizations and exaggerated statements about something he knows absolutely nothing about, after all. I am not personally offended by what he said about johnlock, because I can see that he's ignorant about the truth about who writes it and why, and who reads it and why (whole college courses have been offered about this subject, after all, lol), but I wish for his sake that he could make his peace about it and stop repeating the same silly things about it over and over. I've seen him saying the line about S and J being chained together on a bed floating through space, in both print and TV interviews with him, at least 5 times, over the last several years.

But yeah, everyone needs to take a breath. I think if Ben did, his fans might find it easier to as well. Just a thought.

 

SolarSystem wrote:

  .........whatever 'fandom' means anyway, since it consists of so many different people with different opinions, background, history, experiences.

And fandom skews young, especially tumblr, from what I understand. There's nothing like the passion of a young person involved in their first serious celeb crush. Says me, who almost *perished* of Beatlemania, back in the day. If we'd had the internet in the 60s, OMG, I cannot imagine it.
 

ancientsgate wrote:

tonnaree wrote:

A couple of things in the interview made me a little sad.

Me, too. In fact, a lot of it did. It might be what the article's author chose to pick out and use out of that interview, of course, or the slant that an "Out" reader would expect from that particular magazine, I don't know. As an older, straight female, of course nothing in the magazine would be "aimed at" me in any way, shape or form, editorially, so I shouldn't be surprised that any type of article in "Out" didn't exactly do it for me.

He sounded a bit trapped by his new life, and that's sad. Not surprising, but a bit sad. He seems very self-absorbed-- a wife and kids would soon burn a lot of that out of him, of course, but as long as it's just he, himself and him, not even a dog as a pet, then he can buy into the idea of the whole world seemingly revolving around him and his own needs.

I was frankly surprised by his disdain for the fans gawking at him in public and of his deliberately refusing photos and autographs, but I don't know why it surprised me. I remember a year or so ago, when someone on the internet  posted photos of him and and a female friend in some public cafe, draping napkins over their heads and faces because they were sick of being looked at. That's okay, but if you don't like it, stay home. Or wear a disguise. It wouldn't be difficult to escape most notice.

I dunno. Whatever. He lives in a world that I can only imagine, so I should shut up. Shutting up now......
 

I am not at all surprised at his disdain for the "florals" who were starting to gawk at him and take notice, (and did in fact charge over and interrupt the interview) in fact I was relieved to hear that he's NOT the nicest guy in the world and that it does bother him and most important that he sets boundaries and politely sticks to them. I don't see why he should stay home rather than be gawked at.  Don't people have any manners at all?  I would never in a million years approach him if I saw him at a restaurant or someplace where he's clearly not working (or even if he is). Firstly, I don't know him. I recognize him, but I don't know him.  So would I interrupt his personal business to say I'm a fan (I'm sure he couldn't care less at that point) and then ask him for something? No! How awkward. My mother taught me to mind my own business, intruding on someone's personal space and demanding something of them is just beyond rude. I can't imagine doing it OR putting up with the constant intrusion by people who don't have the good sense to recognize a boundary and not cross it.  Happy to hear that he won't accommodate everyone every time they ask, he doesn't have to, he owes us nothing.
 

Ah, so here´s where the "Out"-discussion is. 

I don´t want to add to it, I liked his interview and his attitude is completely understandable if you keep in mind he is a normal human being (I can´t find anything self-absorbed in the fact he sometimes likes his privacy and isn´t completely educated about the different dimensions of fanfic-culture).

Just wanted to say I find the pictures absolutely stunning and thud-worthy.. 

SolarSystem wrote:

Goodness, some people should really take a deep breath, walk their dog or something. Amazing, truly amazing. People on tumblr are asking him to apologize because he said rude things. Seriously? Apologize to whom? And for what exactly? For stating his opinion? For being honest? Or for, maybe, having a not so brilliant day to give a brilliant interview that makes the whole fandom happy?
I only hope they printed what he really said and didn't try some 'creative freedom' on his answers. And I'm pretty sure he knew what he was talking about and that some of his answers might not be hailed by the whole fandom. Whatever 'fandom' means anyway, since it consists of so many different people with different opinions, background, history, experiences.

 
Absolutely nothing to add!!!

And tobe, a pic in a picture thread? I love this one!!!