STFU Moffat

tonpetitcoeur asked stfu-moffat:

Can you offer any feedback on The Blind Banker? I’ve known it’s problematic since I saw it, but can you point out some specific problems?

The Blind Banker was the one with the most racial issues. It featured Asian people, but they always fell into the popular Asian stereotypes in media - the ‘gangster’, the ‘maiden’, or the ‘funny shopkeeper’.

Soo-Lin was very much the ‘maiden’ stereotype which feeds into fetishising Asian women. They’re believed to be docile, subservient, and quiet and thus white people always see them as such (look at the glorification of geisha in Western culture). I initially didn’t see an issue with her since I thought she was a pretty cool character, but her ability to stay on the run and gain a job on her own was second to looking pretty (why would she care about makeup when hiding?) and forgiving her murderous brother right before she died. Shan and the rest of the Black Lotus gang were on the opposite side of the equation as the villains. You know, the villains that are more common to Jackie Chan movies and James Bond films. Incredibly stereotypical. The Black Lotus gang also seconded as an entertainment act, since Asians can’t be anything other than entertainment, am I right? The ‘funny shopkeeper’ is still quoted today by fans (‘Lucky cat!’).

Also, look again at Soo-Lin Yao. She’s played by Gemma Chan, a Chinese English actress. I remember hearing her in Doctor Who and she spoke with a perfect English accent. The way they had her speak in Sherlock with that choppy Chinese accent was, again, the Western view of people speaking Chinese rather than, you know, the way Chinese people speak. There was also a bit of Nice Guy moments going on with Andy, the guy who couldn’t take a hint. Even after Soo-Lin told him she didn’t want to date him, Andy went to the curator of the museum and asked about Soo-Lin and was again told to back off. Instead, he went straight to her house! Yeah, that may have proven vital to ‘the case’, but that is unhealthy behaviour and makes people, especially women, feel unsafe. It’s disturbing that people actually ship Soo-Lin with Andy despite that.

But still, the entire Chinese mafia trope is incredibly racist and overdone and feeds into the Yellow Peril period. Soo-Lin was also an illegal immigrant which can be attributed to this. Personally, I wish the fear of Chinese people would be over by now, but given American politics and the idea that China is going to take over the world, that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.

Let’s not forget the generally lazy plot and poor deductions, but they pale in comparison to the racism.

Here are some more accounts of the racism:

http://markwatches.net/reviews/2011/04/mark-watches-sherlock-s01e02-the-blind-banker/

http://www.racialicious.com/2011/09/29/its-orientalization-my-dear-watson-sherlock-holmes-trouble-with-race/