2 episodes
Gay or Trash: A Cultural History of TJLC Willow R.
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- TV & Film
In January 2014, an episode of television aired that would help shape the conversation about LGBT representation in TV. It provoked disussions about queerbaiting and audience expectations, at the same time as a group of dedicated fans embarked on the development of an audacious theory that would change a fandom forever.
"Gay or Trash" is about that theory, its adherents, and the fandom it changed.
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Beginnings
When people get into fandom, what draws them to one particular thing? There's so much media out there. What is the secret sauce that makes some fandoms into juggernauts that can shape pop culture and sell out conventions, and leaves others in obscurity? If it were formulaic and easy, everyone would be making the next Buffy or Harry Potter. What was it, then, that led so many LGBT+ teenagers to not just enjoy Sherlock, but dedicate an enormous chunk of their free time to blogging about it? In Episode 1, I discuss why the show was so popular with such a specific demographic, what made me personally love the show, and what the fandom looked like before TJLC even happened.
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Introduction
In 2013, LGBT+ representation on TV wasn't what it is now. The promise of good representation, especially representation in genre fiction and popular media, was irresistable to young people who identified as anything other than cisgender and straight. That was the atmosphere into which The Johnlock Conspiracy (TJLC) was birthed. In Gay Or Trash, we explore the factors that created the theory, that led so many people to believe, and that eventually created durable fan communities that lasted long past the seeming demise of the BBC's Sherlock.
"Gay or Trash" is a podcast about representation, television, popular culture, and growing up gay.