福尔摩斯与华生究竟什么关系

福尔摩斯与华生究竟什么关系

Part of the Internet’s beauty is the space it affords people to take an idea and run with it . . . and run with it and run with it, until they end up miles away from where they started. Among a subset of online superfans of the BBC show “Sherlock,” solving mysteries is mere window dressing for the real story: one about unrequited love between Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman). This sort of wholesale invention, by viewers, of a romance between fictional characters who are not romantically linked on-screen is a form of something known as “shipping” (short for “relationship-ing,” the term can also refer to rooting for actual fictional couples). It is by no means limited to “Sherlock” — any form of pop culture, from “Scandal” to One Direction, is fair game — but that show has inspired vast and vivid fictional worlds, completely imagined by shippers who share screenshots, drawings and even entire books speculating about what a dalliance between Sherlock and Watson (or Johnlock, as it’s known) might look like. These fans wring meaning out of every lingering glance and anguished expression that crosses Cumberbatch’s impressively dimensioned face and superimpose their own dialogue atop these moments, amassing a trove of erotic imaginings that is in some respects more compelling than the canon, at least in the unpredictability of the plot twists. For example, one offshoot of Johnlock, known as Fawnlock, imagines Cumberbatch as an ethereal deer, complete with graceful antlers and a speckled coat — and of course his lover, Watson, cradled in his forelimbs.

互联网的一个美妙之处在于它提供了一个空间，人们在这里产生一个想法，然后开始不断演绎……直至与最初的想法大相径庭。BBC电视剧《神探夏洛克》 (Sherlock)的网上超级粉丝中有一个小团体，他们认为，破案只是个幌子，真正的故事是夏洛克·福尔摩斯(Sherlock Holmes，本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇[Benedict Cumberbatch]饰)与约翰·华生医生(John Watson，马丁·弗里曼[Martin Freeman]饰)之间无望的苦恋。这些虚构人物在原剧中并无恋爱关系，观众对他们恋情的各种想像是“意淫恋情” (shipping，relationship-ing的缩写，它还用以指代对现实虚构情侣的支持)的一种形式。这种意淫绝不仅限于《神探夏洛克》——任何形式的流行文化都可以成为意淫对象，从《丑闻》(Scandal)到单向乐队(One Direction)——但是这部电视剧激发出大量生动的虚构世界，它们完全是“恋情意淫者”(shipper)们想像出来的，他们分享截屏和图画，甚至包括整本意淫夏洛克和华生(粉丝称之为“福华”[Johnlock])调情场面的书籍。这些粉丝从康伯巴奇极具立体感的脸庞上浮现出的每个凝视眼神和痛苦表情中挖掘深意，加上他们自己设计的对话，收集了很多想像出来的暧昧情景，从某些角度讲——至少从情节转折出人意料的角度讲——它们比原作更吸引人。比如，“福华”衍生作品《鹿洛克》(Fawnlock)把康伯巴奇想像成一只神鹿，他有着优雅的鹿角，皮肤上有斑点，当然他的爱人华生会用前臂轻柔地抱着他。