We Come To This Place . . .

 I see Nicole Kidman a lot. Sometimes once a week. Sometimes more.

I'm referring, of course, to her monologue before every movie shown at the local AMC theater. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link to it. Her monologue is like part of a church ritual that brings the faithful together for what is about to take place. Is she turning AMC audiences into a cult? Could very well be. But being in a certain other fandom cult, I know cults aren't always about sexual slavery and drinking poisoned Kool-Aid.

"We come to this place . . ." Nicole begins, eventually closing with ". . . stories feel perfect and powerful. Because here [dramatic pause] they are."

A lot of that speech applies to Sherlock Holmes as well as AMC Theaters. Not all stories, like all movies, are actually perfect or powerful. A whole lot of them suck. But even the bad catch some of the radiance of the good, elevating them at least to a level where they get noticed.

But lately, with Sherlock Holmes and this hobby we call Sherlockian, I've begun to ponder why we do come to this place. It's a large and diverse city-in-miscrocosm of a hobby, with neighborhoods that each have their own personality, posh venues, long-standing institutions, and back alleys that can make our Sherlockopolis look a bit different for each of its citizens. It may look like one single entity from a distance, but, oh, it is not even close to the simplicity of what any one view can take in.

And we all come to this place, this Sherlockopolis, for our own reasons. Community, connections, creative outlets, and, primarily, the chance to go somewhere outside our normal lives. And since it's a place of imagination, it can be whatever we need it to be . . . for us, for our own escape from the day-to-day. But there are other minds, with other imaginings here too. John Watson's everyman quality, spread across a world of people, makes him a secret legion of perceived John Watsons.

One of the best terms to come to any fandom in recent decades . . . and the Sherlockopolis is a fandom city, make no mistake about that . . . is "headcanon." Headcanon is the simple acknowledgement that we all have our own interpretation of the characters and stories that we share with the world. There are, of course, those who are sure their headcanon is actual Canon, whether due to innocence or narcissism, and they do like to interrupt a conversation to speak their truth on occasion. But its their truth, not always ours, and not what we came to this place for.

We come to this place for the things we share. The things we enjoy together. The things we want to learn together. Some of us may be like farmers, who enjoy living outside the city and growing ideas, writings, art, or presentations, but every now and then we have to come to town to share our produce, talk to the other farmers, and catch up on the news. Or take a little vacation there.

But our Sherlockopolis has no Nicole Kidman, framing our coming experience with a little monologue that just will not go away before every outing. We have to decide why we come to this place on our own.

And sometimes that bears thinking about.