Firstly, it might have been an idea for them to speak to more than one 'fan' Ms. Solokov gets herself 5 or 6 mentions in this one article. Secondly, it is repeating old, mis-leading stuff about his being disparaging about JLM. Thirdly, you do NOT 'wrap' a theatre run, darlings!

This article comes across as lazy reporting; nothing new, quite a bit disparaging both to the actor himself and to his female admirers (notice no mention of any male admirers in the whole article). As for the point I think the writer of the article is trying to make about 'fame' well...fame is a tricky thing isn't it. Who knows when true fame starts? It certainly doesn't only start with 'arriving' in Hollywood!

I found the article nothing new,  kind of lazy generalizing,  author not interested in even speaking to more than one 'fan' before writing it. 
Just a bit of fluff, not anything fresh to add, often misleading, but mostly just to be ignored.
Not worth kicking a cat over ?       Ending it on a bit of hyperbole:  "But he will be astonishing on the level of Olivier and Maggie Smith.
We’ll be enjoying his talents for a long time."   What I found more interesting are the numerous lively comments, reactions,
and criticisms that follow it.   Most have put much more thought into their comments than the author did with the article.   such as:


"Cumberbatch is like a new amazing present. You open up the box and there's also sorts of goodies inside.  God like sexy voice, great back
catalogue of interesting  and varied work, a funny raconteur, and charisma by the bucket load. Fans seem very excited by his immense potential and
you can sense the desire to stick with him long term because its going to be an interesting ride."

Davina wrote:

Read that as 'great back' and then realised the sentence continued on the line below! Lol. Agree it is frippery!

So did I. 

"Patronising'?
Only if you are guilty of the behaviour I guess.

I joined this site as a fan of Sherlock; yep, I soon sought out other roles Ben had played & became a fan of his acting, but it seems he has attracted an obsessive group now who ogle at each fart he does.

I can actually agree with much he writes, I thought it daily not so long ago.

I'm quite sure Benedict actually agrees with some of what is written also.
The man's a serious actor, trying his hand at many aspects of his trade.
In doing so, he's somehow picked up this obsessive fan base that only the online world can bring. Tumblr, twitter and even this site has filled rapidly with 'fan gotten'  pictures & stories of him. Those pics & stories get rehashed over & over again as each person thinks they have a 'scoop' on him. It's one of the biggest 'Chinese Whispers' games I have ever witnessed first hand. The Media grasp onto tiny bits from online social media & decide the 'news' is from a friend of a friend of the window cleaners' sister. I've watched it happen with my own eyes, following links & using search engines.

I give one perfect example: this is a man who stated in an interview not so long ago that he detested pictures & vids from mobile phones as they were intrusive & certainly did NOT have his acceptance before they were taken.
Now do a quick search on this forum & tumblr alone and see how many of those kind of shots there are posted by 'fans'. A true fan would not do what he has openly stated he hates would they?
No. That's intrusive obsession.
Benedict has also stated that he found it creepy to included in 'fan art' depicting him in homosexual erotica, yet much of the fan base continue to promote & fantasise that very subject. A 'true fan' would not do that. The man is an openly heterosexual male hoping to find love in his personal life. How intrusive & off putting would these things be to any potential partner he may have?
But that's ok, as long as the fan base is 'allowed to fantasise' openly and publicly about a very dear, sweet & talented man.

Sherlock's fate may well need to be Benedict's if he is to have any chance at being taken seriously.

Ok, I am trying to look at the wider picture and see all sides here.
But 1st, a point of clarification:
This is the 2nd time(I think on this board)  that I have come across the mention of Benedict complaining about his image being used in graphic fan art. Does anybody have a reference for this?  The only interviews I have seen, Benedict is laughing about graphic Sherlock fan art and calmly making the point that it's not his sexuality.
Martin has publically shown his approval of the very Tumblr sites that host this stuff....I suspect they find it hilarious.
I would like to state in my defence, I used to constantly rage about such graphic ' fan art'. Altho I liked it for my personal fantasies, I somehow felt it was wrong for BBC Sherlock and certainly questioned putting it in the public domain. But once I learned that Benedict and Martin seemed to be ok with it, I shut up...as long as we know it is in the realms of fan fiction and not canon for BBC Sherlock.
I STILL rage about stupid photoshops of Benedict and Martin, clearly designed to make their relationship look other than what it(in reality) is.
On the unsolicited photo thing: once again I have (certainly in the past) harped on relentlessly about this, but you know, maybe I just gave up...
But I would certainly be happy for the staff to remove any dodgy photos...we have had discussion elsewhere about this.
I am quite old fashioned(in some ways) and I don't even like people referring to the actors with anything but their professional names.  We all know Benedict's family and friends call him Ben, but we haven't been given direct permission to use that name and so we shouldn't.
I am 1st and foremost a fan of Benedict's work. I personally consider him to be England's finest actor.  As a fat, grey, 50 year old married woman with kids...I hardly have any genuine desires in any other way!
I can only add that I'm glad the Media only seems to get hold of some of the stories...
However, because of a couple of recent fan incidents that the press have thankfully missed I do wonder :
1.  If Benedict will be quote so generous in his time at(for instance) stage doors and
2.  Whether he'll do any more signings.

Last edited by besleybean (October 27, 2012 3:05 pm)

I can't get so worked up about this article. Perhaps we take ourselves a little too seriously.

And just look at this forum. Favorite Benedict Pictures is near the top in number of posts -- lots of which are poor fangirling. (I, myself, only going there for research purposes, as I've explained. ) Anyone looking at the forum could get a skewed view, if, indeed, it would be skewed.

On the other hand, I don't think Sherlock's fandom particularly stands out compared to other fandoms out there.

Last edited by veecee (October 27, 2012 4:44 pm)

I don't think we here on this board are that bad, actually ... even the notorious picture thread is discernibly harmless fun 

Hey, I didn't mean to annoy anybody with my initial comments, though I stand by them. I come to this forum for fun and giggles, which are in short supply in my life right now.

I have seen some of the photoshopped pictures referred to. It may be my age, but I found them to be too silly to bother with. If they were the real thing, though...

Any pictures I post in the Stalking the Batch thread are ones that he has obviously posed for. I would assume that he knows that any photos he is in are going to end up online somewhere. In the past he has asked people not to take pictures because he is tired, or eating alone, and they have abided by his wishes, even though it must just about kill them. Sneaky photos are just rude.

I presume, and this is just my opinion, that fandom occupied about 0.00000001% of his thought processes. It has always been part of fame, dealing with fans, whether polite or crazy. Some people seem to love the publicity (hello, Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, etc) and some people try to remain private. It's about finding a balance that lets you live an authentic life. For both the artist and the fan.

Really don't want to dredge all this up again, or to point the finger and name names...just a few over enthusiastic fan moments. Let's hope we've all moved on.

hepzibah wrote:

It has always been part of fame, dealing with fans, whether polite or crazy. Some people seem to love the publicity (hello, Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, etc) and some people try to remain private. It's about finding a balance that lets you live an authentic life. For both the artist and the fan.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I think as long as both parties are respectful of the other, it's all good. And, when one party isn't the other has the more difficult task of finding a way to deal with it. It's a delicate balance, but I think it works, most of the time, stalkers and Kardashians aside. I mean, I haven't been here very long but you all seem like a great group who Benedict would very much appreciate, not run away from screaming.