User blog comment:MerlinUSA/Merlin -- The Big Picture/@comment-5102537-20130120143649/@comment-5102537-20130122220209

First of all, MerlinUSA, I prefer debates and conversations that leave much too personal stuff and offenses, even hidden ones, outside of the discussion. It seems that you feel being constantly in a defensive position, and by this you shoot arrows where you don't need to attack anyone. Telling everyone who disagrees with you on the show and the characters is developing a homophobia is indeed a cheap shot, as Duke already said (by the way, Duke, MerlinUSA referred to the Lurker in his response and not to mine. But thanks). It's supposed to bring others who debate with you into a defensive position until they feel the need to apologise for things they haven't done and for feelings and thoughts that they don't have.

Alright, you desperately want me and others to say that we are not homophobic and that we accept and love gays as much as we accept and love others. I've already told you that one of my best friends was gay - and I actually don't need to tell this to anyone in a public forum in order to not being accused of being homophobic. I couldn't care less about anyone's sexual orientation, with the exception of my husband. I would find it quite disturbing if my husband suddenly revealed to me that he was gay...

I actually do wonder why you feel the need to defend yourself and by that offending others and getting personal when you stand up to your sexual orientation. Shouldn't you be relaxed on this subject and accept other people's take on the characters of a fictional show when you are confident with your own sexual orientation? Believe me, and I don't have to say this and I think it won't change your biased opinion: I don't care at all who you love. May it be a man or a woman, it's none of my business and it's your life and your business alone, as much as my private life and sexual orientation is my business alone. So could we please focus on the show instead of on our personal life?

What you wrote here:

"I've had many exchanges with you and have yet to say anything about Merlin that isn't negative. So I'm kinda flying blind here, if you know what I mean. I mention something I like, you shoot it down. The best I can come up with is that you liked the use of magic. But Balinor, in 5-12, tells us that magic is simply the universe we know already -- reality, physics. I don't see how you can be happy with that."

No, I don't know what you mean. I actually have no idea what you're talking about. I cant remember us having had many exchanges except our conversation here on your blog. And I don't know what exactly I'm shooting down of the things you like. If you are referring to Arthur and Merlin's banter that was boring to me, well, you have to live with the fact that not everyone likes the same things. If you think that I liked the use of magic - and I have no idea why you think that - it's not entirely true either. The only thing I still liked on the last two seasons was the plot around the Old Religion. Or better, it was what I was interested in. Everything else has become extremely annoying and boring to me, unlike the first three seasons which I found great. I don't know where you are seeing the problem.

That's why I'm here. I love the first three seasons, they are what actually Merlin used to be about, what was planned (and later changed, unfortunately) and what fascinated me about the show. The first three seasons are seperated from season four and five, I don't consider the last two seasons as a part of the continuation of the  show. It was something different and something new due to the fact that plotlines as well as characters were completely changed, so I don't have to like the two seasons in order to be on this site. And again you're trying bring others into a defensive position. I think it would be much more effective to share your thoughts if you just focused on the show and not on the ones who are responding to you. If you would like to have a private chat about private things, just email me under fimber.wik@aol.com, but please stop accusing people on this site.

And here what you wrote:

"The double standard that allows straights to see and read into every program whatever heterosexual eroticism they find, but that deplores it when gay males  do exactly the same thing, is an example of homophobia.  Again I'll ask: So what if Merlin isn't straight? So what if two males develop erotic feelings or even act on them? What crime have they committed? Whom have they offended? In what way does that weaken either character? "

Again I have no idea what you're talking about. No-one ever said that it would have been a problem if Merlin indeed hadn't been straight. No-one ever said that it would have a been a crime or even a problem. Why are you asking this at all?

If Merlin and Arthur had really been homosexual, it would have been totally fine if they had done it that way from the beginning. The point is that they didn't. I know that you are convinced that it had always been that way between the two of them but it's simply not true. If the show had been about a gay relationship from the beginning I would have enjoyed it the way I did in the first three seasons until they had changed it the way they did in the last two seasons with all this dark and cruel crap. When I read a book, I want to know how the story ends and I don't want to suddenly read a different story in the middle of it.

What you said about the show runners and me saying they lied about many things,. yes, that's quite true. The thing is that what they said in the first three seasons mostly fits with what we saw on the show. Only with the start of season four their comments about the show didn't match what we have seen anymore. They played with the homosexual desires of the fanbase, they even said it in an interview - and then they made clear that there is no gay relationship. As Duke said, it was a gift and most of all it was business. They knew about the fanbase and they didn't want to lose it. Not to mention that by showing mixed messages and by saying untrue things, they want us to do what we are doing here: keep talking about the show. They want the fans to figure out what was behind it, they want us to rewatch and to debate and to keep this show alive. We're actually doing them a favour with our discussion here, it's the best promotion.

Leaving things to our imagination or creating plotholes that simply make no sense are two different things. I'm not watching a TV show to solve riddles and to tell the story to myself. As I've written before, this isn't Kafka or Shakespeare, it's simply a family TV show and it has such huge plotholes that even the Grand Canyon looks like a small tiny mouse hole in comparison to them.

I understand that you especially loved the relationship between Arthur and Merlin. That's okay. If this was enough for you, great. You are lucky that you belong to those who can still enjoy the show. However, there is a huge fanbase and there are a lot of viewers who are disappointed and dissatisfied because the show suddenly dropped plotlines that were the essence of the show and because they changed the characters they've come to love and because they killed characters off that carried the show.

It's not true that the biggest fanbase consists of males over their fourties. As a matter of fact, the most fans can be found between thirteen and twentyfive. And most of those who ship Arthur and Merlin as gays are females.

I don't see what you find odd about someone splaying legs on the bed

. If you think that every man has to press his legs together, otherwise he gives the signal for wanting to have sex, I don't know what to say. Not in my book. And Alexander Vlahos didn't take back his sentence about the platonic love between Merlin and Arthur, I don't know what you are referring to. If the show runners wanted to subsequently show that Merlin and Arthur are in love, well, then they did it subsequently. It was not what the show used to be about. A friendship, a brotherly love, soulmates, yes. But not a gay relationship.

And yes, uniting Albion and restoring magic was indeed the main plot until the end of season five.

@Duke, I had a big laugh on your example about Arthur returning on his mothership... LOL :-D