#wiglock

BBC, Sherlock/Billy Wiggins

One night, Wiggins ended up holding a wrecked, weeping Shezza until he came down.

I’m just going to take this from a conversation happening over the notes!  

Requesting some fic centered around Sherlock Holmes and Bill Wiggins.  

Benedict Cumberbatch filming Sherlock IV

so, are we back to #wiglock?

Let’s divide this up into two questions (since the second question hereisn’t really a question).  

1) does it [whether or not Benedict wears a wig when he plays Sherlock]matter all that much?

Simple answer: No.  

The fate of the free world does not depend on this issue.  Governments will not fall to militarycoups.  There will be no cataclysmic weatherevents in response.  Acts ofterrorism?  Extremely unlikely.  In the grand scheme of the universe, itindeed matters very little whether or not Benedict wears a wig in upcomingepisodes.

Let’s look at a slightly smaller scale. Will it matter all that much to the show?

Answer: Not really, all things considered.

Even if Benedict wears a wig, Moftiss will still write mind-blowingplot twists.  The cast will still provideus with complex, nuanced characterizations. The storylines will still be rich with surprising philosophical themesand daring structural experiments.  Arwelwill continue to pick out stunning new wallpapers and set dressings.  Sherlock’s costumes will likely still be cutso close he risks popping his buttons.  TheBelstaff coat will still swirl and drape evocatively, no matter what Benedict’shair looks like.

Now, let’s address the second question:

Is it that noticeable?

Answer: yes, if you pay attention to these things.  I could tell.

Which is not to say it isn’t a very good wig.  It is. The vast majority of viewers didn’t notice anything at all, and even Ionly found it mildly distracting.  Infact, those be-wigged scenes in TAB are among my favorite in the whole series,because Benedict’s acting is really just incredible in that wholesequence.  The wig’s annoying but ithasn’t ruined anything.

But that aside, I do admit that there is more going on here than just aquestion of whether it “looks right”. In fact, the issue raises a lot of interesting questions of how we feelabout hair.  Historically,culturally…  people’s attitudes towardhair are often not very logical at all. For example, many people find hair on a person’s head to be eroticallyappealing, but that same hair strewn all over a barber shop floor, or (worseyet) clogging a drain becomes an object of revulsion.  There’s something more than strictrationality at play there.

Our culture is littered with stories about the magical, sexual, orsymbolic properties of hair, from Samson and Delilah to Rapunzel to the Gift ofthe Magi.  There have been laws madecontrolling how people cut their hair, or demanding that they cover it.  There are all kinds of religious beliefs andpractices associated with it.

I fully admit, my feelings about Sherlock’s hair are not in the realmof the logical.  After all, I know verywell that Benedict’s hair has always been dyed and styled for the role, so atno point was it really “natural”. What’s the difference if it’s a wig, really?  

And I want to be clear: I don’t think any fan has the right to dictateto Benedict how he wears his hair.  I’mnot interested in what he thinks of *my* hairstyle, so why should he give ashit what I think of his?  It’s his bodyand he’s an autonomous human.  I don’tlove the fact that his *reason* for cutting off the curls is because they makehim feel “effeminate” (because yes, there’s some unexamined misogynygoing on there), but that doesn’t change the fact that he has every right to dowhatever the hell he wants with his own hair. He owes me and the rest of fandom nothing.  

All that said, I really really really love those curls.  And yeah, I can tell the difference, but evenif I couldn’t…  call it superstitious,but knowing it’s a wig *feels* different. It’s not logical, but there you are. And in my opinion, part of the fun of being in a fandom is getting to bea little illogical about the things you love, in the company of people whounderstand and share those feels.